Bestiary Studies
The field of “bestiary studies” is an active one in medieval history, because there is still a fair amount that we do not know. Beyond the lion, the unicorn, the phoenix and the battle elephant, there are countless real and imaginary medieval animals that held varying levels of significance in medieval religious and social life. However, the most important thing to understand about the medieval bestiary is that these images, much like explicitly religious iconography, were intended to be instructional about everything from day to day life to proper religious practice. And it is striking then, to think about how such ‘instructional’ images were taken up time and again in the present, and used multiple times to tell different stories. For with each century that passes, such images acquire even more allegorical connections and continue to shape the way we think.
MS. Douce 151, folio 011v-A griffin baring his talons. In a fourteenth century, Latin manuscript (England), at the Bodleian library.
MS. Bodl. 764, folio 071v-Three cinnamon birds perched in a tree, potentially in its mythic cinnamon nest. There are two hopeful men underneath, probably after some of that prized cinnamon. A thirteenth-century Latin manuscript (England), housed at the Bodleian library.
MS. Bodl. 764, folio 025r- Oh the unconquerable manticore! Did you ever see such a frightening beast? He is supposed to have a human head, a lion body, and a scorpion tail. And in this image, it looks like he is also feasting on human flesh. This is a thirteenth-century, Latin manuscript (England), at the Bodleian library.
Ms P.A. 78, folio 36v -A pelican looking over its shoulder. The pelican is thought to be a symbolic representation of God. In a thirteenth-century, French manuscript, located at the Bibliothèque Municipale de Lyon.
Royal MS 12 F XIII, folio 38v-Man riding bridled camel with no shoes and big weapon in his hand. A Latin and French manuscript at the British Library.