science

List of medieval bestiaries

List of medieval bestiaries is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand List of medieval bestiaries rather than just read about it. In short: This is a list of medieval bestiaries. The bestiary form is commonly divided into "families," as proposed in 1928 by M.

Key takeaways

List of medieval bestiaries belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
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Connect List of medieval bestiaries to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of List of medieval bestiaries from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

This is a list of medieval bestiaries. The bestiary form is commonly divided into "families," as proposed in 1928 by M. R. James and revised by Florence McCulloch in 1959–1962. In the absence of popular culture books, people in the Middle Ages in Europe took superstition for granted, and the unthinkable can easily be accepted as the undisputed truth. Today, everyone knows what a dog or a bee is, but at that time, fabulous stories were considered non-fiction. In the Middle Ages, stories glorified boring times, and people value them. At that time, people particularly liked stories about animals. As there were no other sources of information, the most sought after these bestiaries/”animal books”.

Latin bestiaries

First family The subfamily designated the "B-Is" version, dated to the 10th–13th centuries, are based upon the "B" version of the Physiologus and the writings of Isidore of Seville:

Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 22 London, British Library Royal MS 2.C.xii London, British Library Stowe MS 1067 Los Angeles, Getty Museum Ludwig XV 3 Los Angeles, Getty Museum Ludwig XV 4 Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Bodley 602 Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Douce 167 Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Laud Misc. 247 Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale Nouv. acq. lat. 873 Vatican, Cod. Palat. lat. 1074 The "H" versions, late 13th-century, which in addition to a base Physiologus text, adds and arranges the content according to the "H" text or Book II of De bestiis et aliis rebus of Hugues de Fouilloy (olim of Pseudo-Hugo de St. Victor).

Cambridge, Sidney Sussex College 100 Chalon-sur-Saône, Bibliothèque Municipale MS 14 Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale lat. 2495A Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale lat. 2495B Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale lat. 3638A Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale lat. 14429 Valenciennes, Bibliothèque Municipale MS 101 The "Transitional" group, appearing from the 12th to 14th century, incorporate material from other sources used by second family bestiaries:

Northumberland Bestiary (Alnwick Castle, MS 447) Cambridge, Trinity College R.14.9 Leningrad, Rossiiskaia natsional'naia biblioteka Q.v.V,1 London, British Library Royal MS 2.B.vii London, British Library Royal MS 12.C.xix Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek gall. 16 New York, Morgan Library M. 81

Second family

The works in this group are based principally on Isidore's Etymologiæ with significant additional material from Solinus, Saint Ambrose's Hexameron, Rabanus Maurus and others:

Aberdeen Bestiary (Aberdeen University Library MS 24) Brussels, Bibliothèque Royale 8340 Brussels, Bibliothèque Royale Hs 8827-42 Cambridge, Corpus Christi College MS 53 Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum MS 379 (C, W(B)) Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College MS 109/178 Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College MS 372/621 Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College MS 384/604 Cambridge, University Library Ii.4.26McCulloch|1960 Canterbury, Cathedral Library Lit.D.10 Chartres, Bibliothèque Municipale 63 (125) Copenhagen, Kongelige Bibliotek Gl. Kgl. 1633 4° Douai, Bibliothèque Municipale MS 711 Le Mans, Bibliothèque Municipale 84 London, British Library Add MS 11283 London, British Library Harley MS 3244 (ff. 36r-71v) London, British Library Harley MS 4751 Rochester Bestiary (London, British Library Royal MS 12.F.xiii) London, British Library Sloane MS 3544 Los Angeles, Getty Museum, Salvatorberg Bestiary Nîmes, Bibliothèque Municipale 82 New York, Morgan Library MS M. 890 Oxford, Bodleian Library MS. Ashmole 1511 Oxford, Bodleian Library MS. Bodley 533 Oxford, Bodleian Library MS. Bodley 764 Oxford, Bodleian Library MS. Douce 88 A Oxford, Bodleian Library MS. Douce 151 Oxford, St. John's College MS. 61 Oxford, St. John's College MS. 178 Oxford, University College MS. 120 Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale lat. 3630 Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale lat. 11207 Paris, Mazarine Library 742 (1115) Vatican, Apostolic Library Reg. 258 Zirc, Országos Széchényi Könyvtár Cod. Lat. 506

Third family These, from the 13th century, expand on the above with various races of humans, mythological creatures, and sometimes wonders of the world from Bernard Silvestris and others:

Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum 254 Cambridge, University Library MS Kk.4.25 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. e Musaeo 136 Oxford, Bodleian Library MS. Douce 88 E Westminster Abbey Library MS 22

Fourth family The sole work in this family, from the 15th century, is distinguished by its incorporation of writings by Bartholomaeus Anglicus:

Cambridge, University Library MS. Gg.6.5

Dicta Chrysostomi These works were attributed in their time to John Chrysostom and appeared, mostly in Germany, from the 12th to 15th century:

Bad Windsheim, Ratsbibl. Cod. 28 Brussels, Bibliothèque Royale 18421-29 Chicago, Newberry Library MS 31.1 Epinal, Bibliothèque Municipale 58 (209) Göttweig, Stiftsbibl. Cod. Ms. 154 Göttweig, Stiftsbibl. Cod. ms. 200 Harvard University, Houghton Library MS Typ 101 Leningrad, Gos. Publ. Biblioteka Saltykova-Shchedrina lat. Q.v.III,1 Leipzig, Universitätsbibl. Paul. fol. 351 Leipzig, Universitätsbibl. Paul. 4° 1305 Linz, Studienbibl. Cod. ms. Cc.II.15 London, British Library Sloane MS 278 Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek clm 536 Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek clm 2655 Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek clm 3221 Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek clm 5613 Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek clm 5921 Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek clm 6908 Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek clm 9600 Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek clm 14216 Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek clm 14348 Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek clm 14693 Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek clm 16189 Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek clm 19648 Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek clm 23787 New York, Morgan Library MS M. 832 Paris, Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal lat. 394 Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale lat. 10448 Uppsala, Universitetsbibliotek C 145 Vienna, Osterreichische Nationalbibliothek 303 Vienna, Osterreichische Nationalbibliothek 1010 Vienna, Osterreichische Nationalbibliothek 2511 Vienna, Osterreichische Nationalbibliothek 4609 Vienna, Osterreichische Nationalbibliothek 13378 Wolfenbüttel, Herzog August Bibliothek 35a Helmst. (Manuscript digitized)

Single Author manuscripts Many manuscripts contain portions of bestiaries that can be attributed to a single author. These include works by Isidore of Seville's Etymologiae, Thomas de Cantimpré's Liber de Natura Rerum, and Hugues de Fouilloy's De avibus

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Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with List of medieval bestiaries

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what List of medieval bestiaries claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to List of medieval bestiaries before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about List of medieval bestiaries ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of List of medieval bestiaries

In research: List of medieval bestiaries appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses List of medieval bestiaries in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: List of medieval bestiaries is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Bestiaries, Illuminated manuscripts, Lists of books, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for List of medieval bestiaries outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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Frequently asked questions

What is List of medieval bestiaries in simple terms?

This is a list of medieval bestiaries. The bestiary form is commonly divided into "families," as proposed in 1928 by M.

Why does List of medieval bestiaries matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study List of medieval bestiaries?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

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