Bestiaries

 Bestiaries

What Is a Bestiary?

              The Bestiary, also known as the "book of beasts," is a medieval encyclopedia to animals, and was one of if not the most popular illuminated text during the middle ages (1). Not only was the the bestiary a showcase for the animals of old and new, these books also served a large religious purpose during the time as well (1). The Getty Museum states, "Because medieval Christians understood every element of the world as a manifestation of God, the book largely focused on each animal’s religious meaning" (1). In other words, bestiaries are a collection of descriptions and images of real and imaginary beasts and their ties to Christianity (2).

A Unicorn as depicted in a bestiary
found at the University of Oxford (1).

The Predecessor of the Bestiary

        Bestiaries weren't the original compendium of animals during the middle ages, as that title belongs to a book known as the Physiologus (2). The Physiologus was written by an unknown writer from Alexandria. The text was later translated to Latin by the early 6th century (3) . Much like the Bestiary, the Physiologus contained descriptions of animals, and some plants, along with their religious associations and allegorical stories (3). The Bestiary adapted and added on to a lot of the stories found within the Physiologus (4).

Image of a Phoenix as depicted in a Bestiary (5).

Real and Imaginary Beasts

            Not only are there images and depictions of the living animals such as Lions and Leopards, but there are also images and allegories associated with imaginary beasts as well. Along with the Phoenix (seen to the right) and the Unicorn (above), there is a multitude of imaginary animals shown throughout the Bestiary. Dragons, Basilisks, Centaurs, and Manticores are shown in the bestiary as well as the afore mentioned Unicorn, Phoenix and many others (5).

A pelican and its children, representing Christs
death upon the cross (5).

Allegorical/Moral Representations

            As mentioned in the above paragraphs most, if not all of, the animals depicted in the bestiaries have some sort of Christian depiction. One of the most notable is that of the Pelican (left) (5). According to David Badke's Bestiary website, "The pelican is Christ, who humanity struck by committing sin; the pelican cutting open its own breast represents Christ's death on the cross, and the shedding of his blood to revive us (5)." Like the pelican the animals of the bestiary all have a level of religious significance.

Works Cited:

(1) “The Getty Museum.” Getty Museum, www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/bestiary/inner.html.

(2) “The Bestiary: Medieval Legends of Mythical Beasts.” TheCollector, 7 Sept. 2021, www.thecollector.com/medieval-bestiary/.

(3) “Physiologus.” Wikipedia, 8 Apr. 2023, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physiologus.

(4) Wikipedia Contributors. “Bestiary.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 17 Dec. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bestiary.

(5) Badke, David. “Medieval Bestiary : Beasts.” Bestiary.ca, bestiary.ca/beasts.htm.