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Bestiaries
The earliest bestiaries were based on Physiologus, a Christian Greek text written somewhere between the 2nd and 4th century AD that used animals as parables.
Later bestiaries incorporated parts of De bestiis et aliis rebus (Of Beasts and Other Things) by Hugues de Fouilloy and Etymologies of Isidore of Seville. These texts continued to treat the natural world as a morality tale which made many natural animals seem mythical. Such is the case of the panther who was often conflated with the lion and depicted as a multicolored colored beast that represented Jesus.
As access to written material increased bestiaries began incorporating information from many other works such as Hexameron by St. Ambrose. There begins a shift from the using nature to support Christian ideology, to attempting to describe the natural world. Though these works still combined mythical creatures with actual animals, there the bestiary starts to become a catalog of knowledge. Some of the natural animals were given a more fantastical nature due to misunderstood colloquialism such as the vegetable lamb, which could represent cotton. If the beast was unknown in Europe it’s exoticness could also influence its depiction, as is the case with the Kokedrill (Crocodile).
Eventually this catalog comes to include gems, technology, and species of humans. The latter being mostly mythical monsters used to explain populations in other area or birth defects. With the coming of the Renaissance bestiaries entered what would be their final academic incarnation. There was a push to remove myth from intellectual inquiry and explain the unknown in more scientific terms, and so many of the later bestiaries focused exclusively on birth defects and their etiology.
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11th Century |
Bodley Herbal and Bestiary |
This text is a combination of the Herbal of Pseudo-Barbarus, and Medicina de quadrupedis
~ Oxford, Bodleian Library MS. Bodl. 130
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12th Century |
Aberdeen Bestiary |
Though the manuscript was written in the 12th century it passed through the hands of several wealthy owners, including Henry VIII, before being acquired by Aberdeen University in Scotland.
~ Aberdeen University Library MS 24
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Ashmole Bestiary, 1462 |
This bestiary is comprised of various texts and includes sections on herbology, animals, and medicine. It appears to be based on an expanded form of the Bodley Herbal and Bestiary. Like its predecessor avoids most of the fantastical beasts often seen in other bestiaries, but still includes the mandrake legend expanding it and giving the male root a female counterpart.
~ Bodleian Library, MS. Ashmole 1462
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Morals about Birds |
Moralitates de avibus is a bestiary of birds written and illustrated by Hugh of Fouilloy.
~ Beinecke MS 189
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13th Century |
Ashmole Bestiary |
The popularity of bestiaries peaked during the 13th for various historical and social reasons. The Ashmole Bestiary represents the apex of this type of work. Carefully drawn and gilded images grace almost every page, and the text for each entry was expanded from simple quatrains to something resembling a modern encyclopedia.
~ Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Ashmole 1511
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Bestiary of Pierre de Beauvais |
This bestiary was commissioned by Bishop Philippe de Dreux of Beauvais from a mysterious Pierre de Beauvais, who’s identity is lost to history.
~ Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Fr. 13521
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Bestiary of Philippe de Thaon |
This text has primitive drawing of various animals, but included sections on astronomy and precious stones.
~ Oxford, Merton College MS 249
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Bodleian Bestiary, 764 |
In addition to a gilded bestiary, this text includes parts of Moralitates de avibus and an herbal. It is one of the few texts to include an entry on the mythical barnacle geese.
~ Oxford, Bodleian Library MS. Bodl. 764
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Dragon Bestiary |
Though this bestiary lacks gilding, the line drawings and coloration are very well done. It is unique because it includes a section on “Wyrms”, an early term for dragons.
~ Bibliothèque Nationale de France, lat. 6838B
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Divine Bestiary |
The Bestiaire divin was written by William the Cleric also know as Guillaume le Clerc de Normandie. It combines a bestiary with an ecclesiastical discourse.
~ Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Fr. 14970
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Ecclesiastical Bestiary |
A collection of miscellaneous ecclesiastical texts with a bestiary towards the end. Its inclusion indicates the importance of animal allegory in 13th century religious ideology.
~ Bibliothèque Nationale de France, lat. 2843E
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Fouilloy Bestiary |
Hugh of Fouilloy was a Benedictine theologian who’s work became the basis for some of the most beautiful illustrated manuscripts in history. This work had images drawn with rare pigments and covered in gold leaf. It was completed several centuries after his death.
~ Getty Museum, Ms. Ludwig XV 3 (83.MR.173)
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Harvard Bestiary |
This text starts out with colorful illustrations of birds, animals, and mythical creatures. The drawings are full page and without text. The second half of the book is unfinished and includes written entries with space left for pictures that were never completed.
~ Harvard, Houghton Library, MS Typ 101
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Leiden Herbal |
An herbal with an index of animals at the end. It its interesting because it does not include any mythical creatures. Though the depiction of the mandrake is a bit fantastic, it is based on cultural understanding of the plant.
~ Universiteitsbibliotheek Leiden, BPL 1283
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Northumberland Bestiary |
What makes this bestiary unique is the quality of drawings, and lack of gilding. The images are more proportional and less fantastical, many of the animals depicted are recognizable by the modern viewer. The texts over 100 illustrations of creatures including the infamous bonnacon.
~ Getty Museum, Ms. 100 (2007.16)
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On the Nature of Things |
This bestiary contains a copy of Liber de natura rerum as well as sections on humanoid monsters, herbology, and astronomy; all illustrated in full color.
~ Biblioteka Cyfrowa, R 174
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Philosophy of the World |
This is one of the most complete bestiaries including the popular chapters on birds, beasts, and monstrous humanoids. It also included a surprisingly accurate account of celestial phenomena.
~ Getty Museum, Ms. Ludwig XV 4 (83.MR.174)
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Psalter of Queen Isabella |
This lavish book was a betrothal gift to Queen Isabella of England, who is also depicted in the text. The work features gilded sections on the houses of the zodiac, a copy of the Book of Psalms, and a bestiary. There are gilded pictures inset throughout the text, and illustrations across the bottom of many pages.
~ Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Gall.16
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The Image of the World |
L'Image du monde is a 13th century encyclopedia written by Gautier de Metz.
~ Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Fr. 24428
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14th Century |
Bestiary of Love in Rhyme |
This copy of Bestiaire d'amour is entirely in rhyming verses. There are many differences between this text and the standard Bestiaire d'amour, and it is unknown if these differences are simple poetic license or due to the writers attempt to reconstitute a text to which he did not have direct access. This latter explanation would account for the additional creatures are only seen in the Bestiaire d'amour rimé
~ Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Fr. 1951
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Fürstenfelder Physiologus |
This encyclopedia was written by Abbot Englebert. It includes sections on animals, plants, precious metals, gems, celestial events, and anatomy.
~ Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm 6908
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The Lady's Response |
This copy of Bestiaire d'amour includes La Réponse de la dame which is a response to the pining potential paramour that also uses animal allegories. The Lady's Response is a much rarer text than the Bestiary of Love and only a few copies are known to exist.
~ Bibliothèque Municipale de Dijon, Ms. 526
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Leipzig Bestiary |
The animals in this bestiary are even more fanciful than most, causing even natural beasts to seem fantastic. The addition of illustrations of mythological creatures not usually depicted in bestiaries suggests that the illustrator had very little contact with the natural world the text was describing and attempted to reconstruct the images of the animals from text and folklore.
~ Universitätsbibliothek Leipzig, Cod. gr. 35
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On the Nature of Things |
This is a extended copy of Liber de natura rerum. Though the text is similar, there are more illustrations than the 13th century version.
~ Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Pal. lat. 1066
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15th Century |
The Book of Nature |
Das Buch der Natur was written by Konrad von Megenberg. It represents an evolution in the bestiary that would continue throughout the next several centuries. Though based on earlier works in format, Konrad attempted to update the information for more scientifically accurate information. The depictions of animals have become more naturalistic and less fabulous.
~ Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg, Cod. Pal. germ. 311
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Flower of Nature |
A later edition of Jacob van Maerlant’s Der Naturen Bloeme.
~ Universitätsbibliothek Bremen, Ms. 0039
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Wellcome Beastiary |
This bestiary represents the progress made during the 15th century. The illustrations of animals are recognizable, and often depicted in their natural environments.
~ Wellcome Collection, MS. 132
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16th Century |
Bestiary of Love |
This copy of Le Bestiaire d’amours was produced on a printing press for mass distribution. It is evidence of the continued popularity of the text throughout the centuries. However this monochrome manifestation is a far cry from the colorfully illustrated texts of centuries past, and demonstrates the impact commodification on cultural ideas and artifacts.
~ Bibliothèque et Archives du Château de Chantilly
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Codex Granatensis |
The Taqwīm aṣ-Ṣiḥḥa, latinized as Tacuinum Sanitatis, is a 11th-century Arabic medical text by Ibn Butlan of Baghdad. It’s inclusion in the Codex Granatensis with the Liber de natura rerum is evidence of the increasing influence Arabic thought had on the Renaissance in Europe.
~ Biblioteca Universitària de Granada, C-67
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Pseudo-Physiologus |
The title of this text is Physiologus, but is quite different from any other copy known to exist. It was rumored to have originally ben written by a Greek monk named Angelos Gregorios sometime in the 16rd century.
~ Getty Museum, Ms. Ludwig XV 2 (83.MR.172)
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Tudor Pattern Book |
This text went the opposite direction from the mass-produced Bestiary of Love. It is devoid of text except for a few titles but has included imagery from prior bestiaries and herbals, redrawn by a skillful hand in full color. No longer serving as a nature or moral guide, it is instead examples of illustrations to be used in other crafts.
~ Oxford, Bodleian Library MS. Ashmole 1504
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17th Century |
De Monstruorum Causis |
Translated into English this text is called “On the Reasons, Nature, and Differences of Monsters”. It was written by Fortunio Liceti, a professor of natural philosophy and medicine, in the 1600s. It is interesting in that he attempts explanations of monsters and fabulous creatures instead of just documenting their “existence”. Even more intriguing is that he includes several examples of congenital birth defects as types of monsters, suggesting that unlike his predecessors he believed himself to have first hand knowledge of some of the entries in his catalog. All of Liceti’s explanations are of course supernatural in origin and should be seen as a study of medieval folk medical practice rather than medically sound reasoning.
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Monstrorum Historia Memorabilis |
Translated into English this text is called “Unforgettable Story of Monsters: Monstrous human births and other wonders”. It was written by Johannes Schenk von Grafenberg. All of the monsters included in this work are the unfortunate victims of birth defects. Interestingly enough he seems to follow the behavioral patterns of earlier bestiaries by including fanciful accounts of congenital defects along with some very real examples. Much like Liceti, Grafenberg often attributes these deformities to supernatural origin.
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19th Century |
Bestiary of Love / The Ladies Response |
This printed copy of Le Bestiaire d’amours that includes Suivi de la Réponse de la dame. It was produced in the late 1800s making Le Bestiaire d’amours one of the longest produced bestiaries in history. The line drawings are even more rudimentary but the continued cultural value of the text is evident by its distribution centuries after the first manuscript.
At this point however such texts were novelties, and this work represents the final decline of the bestiary.
~ Oxford, The Taylor Institution
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