Bestiary

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Monoceros and Bear. Bodleian Library, MS. Ashmole 1511, The Ashmole Bestiary, Folio 21r, England (Peterborough?), Early 13th century. 85-Oxford 1511 - Unicorno.jpg
Monoceros and Bear. Bodleian Library, MS. Ashmole 1511, The Ashmole Bestiary , Folio 21r, England (Peterborough?), Early 13th century.
"The Leopard" from the 13th-century bestiary known as the "Rochester Bestiary" RochesterBestiaryFolio007rLeopard.jpg
"The Leopard" from the 13th-century bestiary known as the "Rochester Bestiary"
The Peridexion Tree Perindens.jpg
The Peridexion Tree

A bestiary (Latin : bestiarium vocabulum) is a compendium of beasts. Originating in the ancient world, bestiaries were made popular in the Middle Ages in illustrated volumes that described various animals and even rocks. The natural history and illustration of each beast was usually accompanied by a moral lesson. This reflected the belief that the world itself was the Word of God and that every living thing had its own special meaning. For example, the pelican, which was believed to tear open its breast to bring its young to life with its own blood, was a living representation of Jesus. Thus the bestiary is also a reference to the symbolic language of animals in Western Christian art and literature.

Contents

History

The bestiary — the medieval book of beasts — was among the most popular illuminated texts in northern Europe during the Middle Ages (about 500–1500). Medieval Christians understood every element of the world as a manifestation of God, and bestiaries largely focused on each animal's religious meaning. Much of what is in the bestiary came from the ancient Greeks and their philosophers. [1] The earliest bestiary in the form in which it was later popularized was an anonymous 2nd-century Greek volume called the Physiologus , which itself summarized ancient knowledge and wisdom about animals in the writings of classical authors such as Aristotle's Historia Animalium and various works by Herodotus, Pliny the Elder, Solinus, Aelian and other naturalists.

Following the Physiologus, Saint Isidore of Seville (Book XII of the Etymologiae ) and Saint Ambrose expanded the religious message with reference to passages from the Bible and the Septuagint. They and other authors freely expanded or modified pre-existing models, constantly refining the moral content without interest or access to much more detail regarding the factual content. Nevertheless, the often fanciful accounts of these beasts were widely read and generally believed to be true. A few observations found in bestiaries, such as the migration of birds, were discounted by the natural philosophers of later centuries, only to be rediscovered in the modern scientific era.

Medieval bestiaries are remarkably similar in sequence of the animals of which they treat. Bestiaries were particularly popular in England and France around the 12th century and were mainly compilations of earlier texts. The Aberdeen Bestiary is one of the best known of over 50 manuscript bestiaries surviving today.

Much influence comes from the Renaissance era and the general Middle Ages, as well as modern times. The Renaissance has been said to have started around the 14th century in Italy. [2] Bestiaries influenced early heraldry in the Middle Ages, giving ideas for charges and also for the artistic form. Bestiaries continue to give inspiration to coats of arms created in our time. [3]

Two illuminated Psalters, the Queen Mary Psalter (British Library Ms. Royal 2B, vii) and the Isabella Psalter (State Library, Munich), contain full Bestiary cycles. The bestiary in the Queen Mary Psalter is found in the "marginal" decorations that occupy about the bottom quarter of the page, and are unusually extensive and coherent in this work. In fact the bestiary has been expanded beyond the source in the Norman bestiary of Guillaume le Clerc to ninety animals. Some are placed in the text to make correspondences with the psalm they are illustrating. [4]

Many decide to make their own bestiary with their own observations including knowledge from previous ones. These observations can be made in text form, as well as illustrated out. [5] The Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci also made his own bestiary. [6]

A volucrary is a similar collection of the symbols of birds that is sometimes found in conjunction with bestiaries. The most widely known volucrary in the Renaissance was Johannes de Cuba's Gart der Gesundheit [7] which describes 122 birds and which was printed in 1485. [8]

Bestiary content

The contents of medieval bestiaries were often obtained and created from combining older textual sources and accounts of animals, such as the Physiologus . [9]

Medieval bestiaries contained detailed descriptions and illustrations of species native to Western Europe, exotic animals and what in modern times are considered to be imaginary animals. Descriptions of the animals included the physical characteristics associated with the creature, although these were often physiologically incorrect, along with the Christian morals that the animal represented. The description was then often accompanied by an artistic illustration of the animal as described in the bestiary. For example, in one bestiary the eagle is depicted in an illustration and is said to be the “king of birds.” [10]

Bestiaries were organized in different ways based upon the sources they drew upon. [11] The descriptions could be organized by animal groupings, such as terrestrial and marine creatures, or presented in an alphabetical manner. However, the texts gave no distinction between existing and imaginary animals. Descriptions of creatures such as dragons, unicorns, basilisk, griffin and caladrius were common in such works and found intermingled amongst accounts of bears, boars, deer, lions, and elephants. In one source, the author explains how fables and bestiaries are closely linked to one another as “each chapter of a bestiary, each fable in a collection, has a text and has a meaning. [12]

This lack of separation has often been associated with the assumption that people during this time believed in what the modern period classifies as nonexistent or "imaginary creatures". However, this assumption is currently under debate, with various explanations being offered. Some scholars, such as Pamela Gravestock, have written on the theory that medieval people did not actually think such creatures existed but instead focused on the belief in the importance of the Christian morals these creatures represented, and that the importance of the moral did not change regardless if the animal existed or not. The historian of science David C. Lindberg pointed out that medieval bestiaries were rich in symbolism and allegory, so as to teach moral lessons and entertain, rather than to convey knowledge of the natural world. [13]

Religious significance

Adam naming the animals, in a detail from the 12th century Aberdeen Bestiary AberdeenBestiaryFolio005rAdamNamesAnimalsDetail.jpg
Adam naming the animals, in a detail from the 12th century Aberdeen Bestiary

The significance shown between animals and religion started much before bestiaries came into play.  In many ancient civilizations there are references to animals and their meaning within that specific religion or mythology that we know of today. These civilizations included Egypt and their gods with the faces of animals or Greece which had symbolic animals for their godly beings, an example being Zeus and the eagle. [14] With animals being a part of religion before bestiaries and their lessons came out, they were influenced by past observations of meaning as well as older civilizations and their interpretations.

As most of the students who read these bestiaries were monks and clerics, it is not impossible to say that there is a major religious significance within them. The bestiary was used to educate young men on the correct morals they should display. [15] All of the animals presented in the bestiaries show some sort of lesson or meaning when presented. Much of the symbolism shown of animals. Much of what is proposed by the bestiaries mentions much of paganism because of the religious significance and time period of the medieval ages.

One of the main 'animals' mentioned in some of the bestiaries is dragons, which hold much significance in terms of religion and meaning. The unnatural part of dragon's history shows how important the church can be during this time. Much of what is covered in the article talks about how the dragon that is mentioned in some of the bestiaries shows a glimpse of the religious significance in many of these tales. [15]

These bestiaries held much content in terms of religious significance. In almost every animal there is some way to connect it to a lesson from the church or a familiar religious story. With animals holding significance since ancient times, it is fair to say that bestiaries and their contents gave fuel to the context behind the animals, whether real or myth, and their meanings.

Modern bestiaries

In modern times, artists such as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Saul Steinberg have produced their own bestiaries. Jorge Luis Borges wrote a contemporary bestiary of sorts, the Book of Imaginary Beings , which collects imaginary beasts from bestiaries and fiction. Nicholas Christopher wrote a literary novel called "The Bestiary" (Dial, 2007) that describes a lonely young man's efforts to track down the world's most complete bestiary. John Henry Fleming's Fearsome Creatures of Florida [16] (Pocol Press, 2009) borrows from the medieval bestiary tradition to impart moral lessons about the environment. Caspar Henderson's The Book of Barely Imagined Beings [17] (Granta 2012, University of Chicago Press 2013), subtitled "A 21st Century Bestiary", explores how humans imagine animals in a time of rapid environmental change. In July 2014, Jonathan Scott wrote The Blessed Book of Beasts, [18] Eastern Christian Publications, featuring 101 animals from the various translations of the Bible, in keeping with the tradition of the bestiary found in the writings of the Saints, including Saint John Chrysostom. In today's world there is a discipline called cryptozoology which is the study of unknown species. This discipline can be linked to medieval bestiaries because in many cases the unknown animals can be the same, as well as having meaning or significance behind them. [19]

The lists of monsters to be found in video games (such as NetHack , Dragon Quest , and Monster Hunter ), as well as some tabletop role-playing games such as Pathfinder, are often termed bestiaries.

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Aberdeen Bestiary</i> 12th-century English manuscript

The Aberdeen Bestiary is a 12th-century English illuminated manuscript bestiary that was first listed in 1542 in the inventory of the Old Royal Library at the Palace of Westminster. Due to similarities, it is often considered to be the "sister" manuscript of the Ashmole Bestiary. The connection between the ancient Greek didactic text Physiologus and similar bestiary manuscripts is also often noted. Information about the manuscript's origins and patrons are circumstantial, although the manuscript most likely originated from the 13th century and was owned by a wealthy ecclesiastical patron from northern or southern England. Currently, the Aberdeen Bestiary resides in the Aberdeen University Library in Scotland.

<i>Physiologus</i> Didactic Christian text

The Physiologus is a didactic Christian text written or compiled in Greek by an unknown author in Alexandria. Its composition has been traditionally dated to the 2nd century AD by readers who saw parallels with writings of Clement of Alexandria, who is asserted to have known the text, though Alan Scott has made a case for a date at the end of the 3rd or in the 4th century. The Physiologus consists of descriptions of animals, birds, and fantastic creatures, sometimes stones and plants, provided with moral content. Each animal is described, and an anecdote follows, from which the moral and symbolic qualities of the animal are derived. Manuscripts are often, but not always, given illustrations, often lavish.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siren (mythology)</span> Half-woman, half-bird creature who lures sailors with her singing

In Greek mythology, sirens are female humanlike beings with alluring voices; they appear in a scene in the Odyssey in which Odysseus saves his crew's lives. Roman poets place them on some small islands called Sirenum scopuli. In some later, rationalized traditions, the literal geography of the "flowery" island of Anthemoessa, or Anthemusa, is fixed: sometimes on Cape Pelorum and at others in the islands known as the Sirenuse, near Paestum, or in Capreae. All such locations were surrounded by cliffs and rocks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manticore</span> Mythical lion beast in Persian folklore

The manticore or mantichore is a legendary creature from ancient Persian mythology, similar to the Egyptian sphinx that proliferated in Western European medieval art as well. It has the head of a human, the body of a lion, and the tail of a scorpion or a tail covered in venomous spines similar to porcupine quills. There are some accounts that the spines can be launched like arrows. It eats its victims whole, using its three rows of teeth, and leaves no bones behind.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bonnacon</span> Legendary creature

The bonnacon is a legendary creature described as a bull with inward-curving horns and a horse-like mane. Medieval bestiaries usually depict its fur as reddish-brown or black. Because its horns were useless for self-defense, the bonnacon was said to expel large amounts of caustic feces from its anus at its pursuers, burning them and thereby ensuring its escape.

<i>Ashmole Bestiary</i> 12–13th century English illuminated manuscript

The Ashmole Bestiary, an English illuminated manuscript bestiary, is from the late 12th or early 13th century. Under 90 such manuscripts survive and they were studied and categorized into families by M.R. James in 1928. The Ashmole Bestiary is part of the Second-family of manuscript Latin bestiaries, wherein it is one of forty eight. The "Second-family" bestiary is the most popular and widely distributed type of these manuscripts. It is of English origin, with a spiritual text that catered to the prevailing culture of the church at the time. The stimulating illuminations are not just decorative, as many people were illiterate or semi-literate in England at the time. All true Latin Bestiaries take their origin from the Greek work Physiologus, though the word can colloquially be used with less specificity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cultural depictions of salamanders</span>

The salamander is an amphibian of the order Urodela which, as with many real creatures, often has been ascribed fantastic and sometimes occult qualities by pre-modern authors not possessed by the real organism. The legendary salamander is often depicted as a typical salamander in shape with a lizard-like form, but is usually ascribed an affinity with fire, sometimes specifically elemental fire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aspidochelone</span> Fabled sea creature

According to the tradition of the Physiologus and medieval bestiaries, the aspidochelone is a fabled sea creature, variously described as a large whale or vast sea turtle, and a giant sea monster with huge spines on the ridge of its back. No matter what form it is, it is always described as being so huge that it is often mistaken for a rocky island covered with sand dunes and vegetation. The name aspidochelone appears to be a compound word combining Greek aspis, and chelone, the turtle. It rises to the surface from the depths of the sea, and entices unwitting sailors with its island appearance to make landfall on its huge shell and then the whale is able to pull them under the ocean, ship and all the people, drowning them. It also emits a sweet smell that lures fish into its trap where it then devours them. In the moralistic allegory of the Physiologus and bestiary tradition, the aspidochelone represents Satan, who deceives those whom he seeks to devour.

The idea that there are specific marine counterparts to land creatures, inherited from the writers on natural history in Antiquity, was firmly believed in Islam and in Medieval Europe. It is exemplified by the creatures represented in the medieval animal encyclopedias called bestiaries, and in the parallels drawn in the moralising attributes attached to each. "The creation was a mathematical diagram drawn in parallel lines," T. H. White said a propos the bestiary he translated. "Things did not only have a moral they often had physical counterparts in other strata. There was a horse in the land and a sea-horse in the sea. For that matter there was probably a Pegasus in heaven". The idea of perfect analogies in the fauna of land and sea was considered part of the perfect symmetry of the Creator's plan, offered as the "book of nature" to mankind, for which a text could be found in Job:

But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.

<i>Historia animalium</i> (Gessner book) 16th century book by Conrad Gessner

Historia animalium, published in Zurich in 1551–1558 and 1587, is an encyclopedic "inventory of renaissance zoology" by Conrad Gessner (1516–1565). Gessner was a medical doctor and professor at the Carolinum in Zürich, the precursor of the University of Zurich. The Historia animalium, after Aristotle's work of the same name, is the first modern zoological work that attempts to describe all the animals known, and the first bibliography of natural history writings. The five volumes of natural history of animals cover more than 4500 pages. The animals are presented in alphabetical order, marking the change from Middle Ages encyclopedias, or "mirrors" to a modern view of a consultation work.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Legendary creature</span> Supernatural animal

A legendary creature is a type of fantasy entity, typically a hybrid, that has not been proven and that is described in folklore, but may be featured in historical accounts before modernity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rochester Bestiary</span>

The Rochester Bestiary is a richly illuminated manuscript copy of a medieval bestiary, a book describing the appearance and habits of a large number of familiar and exotic animals, both real and legendary. The animals' characteristics are frequently allegorised, with the addition of a Christian moral.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Worksop Bestiary</span>

The Worksop Bestiary, also known as the Morgan Bestiary, most likely from Lincoln or York, England, is an illuminated manuscript created around 1185, containing a bestiary and other compiled medieval Latin texts on natural history. The manuscript has influenced many other bestiaries throughout the medieval world and is possibly part of the same group as the Aberdeen Bestiary, Alnwick Bestiary, St.Petersburg Bestiary, and other similar Bestiaries. Now residing in the Morgan Library & Museum in New York, the manuscript has had a long history of church, royal, government, and scholarly ownership.

Icelandic <i>Physiologus</i>

The Icelandic Physiologus is a translation into Old Icelandic of a Latin translation of the 2nd-century Greek Physiologus. It survives in fragmentary form in two manuscripts, both dating from around 1200, making them the earliest illustrated manuscripts from Iceland and among the earliest Icelandic manuscripts generally. The fragments are significantly different from each other and either represent copies from two separate exemplars or different reworkings of the same text. Both texts also contain material that is not found in standard versions of the Physiologus.

Philip de Thaun was the first Anglo-Norman poet. He is the first known poet to write in the Anglo-Norman French vernacular language, rather than Latin. Two poems by him are signed with his name, making his authorship of both clear. A further poem is probably written by him as it bears many writing similarities to his other two poems.

<i>Northumberland Bestiary</i> 13th c. illuminated manuscript

The Northumberland Bestiary is an illuminated manuscript and bestiary dating from 1250-1260. It was originally known as the Alnwick Bestiary as it resided in Alnwick castle from the eighteenth century until 1990 when it was sold to a private collection. In 2007 it was acquired by the Getty Museum and still resides there today. Sources for the Northumberland Bestiary include the Greek Physiologus and Hexaemeral literature. Bestiaries traditionally fall into four families however the Northumberland Bestiary is a transitional manuscript which draws upon the first and second families of manuscripts. It is a small Quarto measuring only 8" x 6" and it contains chapters regarding the creation of man, naming the animals, beasts, birds, fish, serpents, the condition of man, and trees. Bestiaries in general function as teaching aids for clerics. In modern scholarship, the Northumberland Bestiary and other bestiaries entries on Hyenas have been an area of research for both transgender and Jewish histories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peridexion tree</span> Medieval Christian mythological tree

The peridexion tree or perindens is a mythological tree discussed in the Physiologus, an early Greek-language Christian didactic text and compendium, and popular in medieval bestiaries. It is described as growing in India, attracting doves and deterring serpents, making for a fable about Christian salvation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zirc Bestiary</span>

The Zirc Bestiary is a 15th-century Hungarian illuminated manuscript copy of a medieval bestiary, a book describing the appearance and habits of a number of familiar and exotic animals, both real and legendary. The animals' characteristics are frequently allegorized, with the addition of a Christian moral. The Latin-language work was kept in the Cistercian Zirc Abbey, now it belongs to the property of the National Széchényi Library (OSZK).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Animal representation in Western medieval art</span> Themes and motifs in medieval art

Animal representation in Western medieval art is diverse in its artistic forms and animals depicted, whether real or imaginary. These medieval representations are influenced by Christianity: they are decorative and, at the same time, symbolic. In this period, animals can represent Creation, Good and Evil, God and the Devil. They were popular in churches, on stained glass windows, bas-reliefs, or paving stones, the only learning media for the illiterate who made up the majority of medieval society. Animals were sculpted on church capitals and ivory plaques, painted in manuscript illuminations and church frescoes, as well as in goldsmiths’ and silversmiths’ work, seals, tapestries, and stained-glass windows.

References

Notes

  1. ↑ James, Montague Rhodes (1931). "The Bestiary". History. 16 (61): 1–11. doi:10.1111/j.1468-229X.1931.tb00001.x. JSTOR   24400559.
  2. ↑ "The Renaissance | Boundless World History". courses.lumenlearning.com. Retrieved 2022-05-03.
  3. ↑ Friar, Stephen, ed. (1987). A New Dictionary of Heraldry. London: Alphabooks/A&C Black. p. 342. ISBN   0-906670-44-6.
  4. ↑ Stanton, Anne Rudloff (2001). The Queen Mary Psalter: A Study of Affect and Audience. American Philosophical Society. p. 44ff. ISBN   978-0-87169-916-9.
  5. ↑ Cohen, Simona (2014). "Animal Imagery in Renaissance Art". Renaissance Quarterly. 67 (1): 164–180. doi:10.1086/676155. S2CID   191615584.
  6. ↑ Evans, Oliver (Oct–Dec 1951). "Selections from the Bestiary of Leonardo da Vinci". The Journal of American Folklore. 64 (254): 393–396. doi:10.2307/537007. JSTOR   537007.
  7. ↑ de Cuba, Jean (1501). Garden Of Health (in French). Verard Antoine (Paris). Archived from the original on 2016-11-15. Retrieved 2014-09-15.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  8. ↑ Hortus sanitatis deutsch. Mainz (Peter Schöffer) 1485; Neudrucke München 1924 and 1966.
  9. ↑ Clark, Willene B.; McMunn, Meradith T. (2005). "Introduction". In Clark, Willene B.; McMunn, Meradith T. (eds.). Beasts and Birds of the Middle Ages. The Bestiary and Its Legacy. Nation Books. pp. 2–4. ISBN   0-8122-8147-0.
  10. ↑ "British Library". www.bl.uk. Archived from the original on 2022-02-16. Retrieved 2022-05-03.
  11. ↑ McCulloch, Florence (1962). Mediaeval Latin and French Bestiaries. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. p. 3.
  12. ↑ Henderson, Arnold Clayton (January 1982). "Medieval Beasts and Modern Cages: The Making of Meaning in Fables and Bestiaries". Publications of the Modern Language Association of America. 97 (1): 40–49. doi:10.2307/462239. JSTOR   462239. S2CID   164019988.
  13. ↑ Lindberg, David C. (1992). The Beginnings of Western Science. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p.  354-356. ISBN   0-226-48231-6.
  14. ↑ "Animal Symbolism (Illustrated)". Open SIUC.
  15. 1 2 Lippincott, Louise W. (1981). "The Unnatural History of Dragons". Philadelphia Museum of Art Bulletin. 77 (334): 3–24. doi:10.2307/3795303. JSTOR   3795303.
  16. ↑ "Fearsome Creatures of Florida by John Henry Fleming". Fearsomecreatures.com. Retrieved 2016-12-06.
  17. ↑ "The Book of Barely Imagined Beings". Barelyimaginedbeings.com. Retrieved 2016-12-06.
  18. ↑ "Religion News Association & Foundation". Rna.org. 2016-11-21. Archived from the original on 2014-10-19. Retrieved 2016-12-06.
  19. ↑ Dendle, Peter (2006). "Cryptozoology in the Medieval and Modern Worlds". Folklore. 117 (2): 190–206. doi:10.1080/00155870600707888. JSTOR   30035486. S2CID   55397570.
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