BESTIARIES. — Didactic-moral books of the Middle Ages, in Latin or in the vernacular, in verse or in prose, containing descriptions of some dozens of animals (quadrupeds, birds, fish, and reptiles), real or fabulous, with the aim of making known their nature and drawing allegories about the relationship between man and God, Jesus Christ, the Church, and the devil.
These writings derive from the Latin versions of the *Physiologus*, but the “properties” of the animals are interpreted not so much from an exegetical, dogmatic, and mystical point of view as in a moral sense; at times they serve as a starting point for a thesis on love, as in *Le Bestiaire d’amour* by Richard de Fournival of the 13th century (ed. C. Hippeau, Paris 1860), also translated into Italian (ed. G. Grion in *Il Proprio gnatore*, 2 [1869], pp. 147-79, 273-89) and into Middle Low Franconian (ed. Holmberg, Uppsala 1925). One of the Latin versions is probably earlier than 386 (cf. F. J. Carmody, *Physiologus Latinus*, Paris 1939, p. 7). It is certain that in the 6th century there circulated a version attributed to St. Ambrose and a *Liber de natura bestiarum* ascribed to St. John Chrysostom.
Among the surviving manuscripts, none is earlier than the 8th century. The great diffusion of Latin bestiaries is confirmed by the large number of manuscripts preserved; about a hundred were known up to 1914 (P. Meyer, p. 365). Most of these manuscripts derive, according to Carmody, from three translations. From the recension represented by manuscripts AB (published by C. Cahier, *Mélanges d'archéol.*, II-IV, Paris 1851-56) derive most of the medieval bestiaries. That entitled *De bestiis et aliis rebus* has been attributed to Hugh of Saint-Victor. The text published by V. Bartoccetti (*Studia Picena*, I [1925], pp. 76-102) is to be identified with the metrical recension of the 11th century attributed to Theobaldus. The 12th century is the period of greatest development for Latin bestiaries. Parallel to these, those in the vernacular also developed, but their flourishing belongs to the following century.
The earliest trace of a bestiary in a national language is the poetic adaptation of three chapters in Old English from the 8th century (A. S. Cook, *The Old English Elene, Phoenix and Physiologus*, New Haven 1919). The other Germanic bestiaries are later: two in Old High German from the 11th and 12th centuries, based on the *Dicta Chrysostomi* (one edited by F. Lauchert, *Geschichte des Physiologus*, Strasbourg 1889, pp. 280-99), one Flemish and another Icelandic, preserved fragmentarily. The most important are the French ones: *Le Bestiaire* of Philippe de Thaon, from 1121 (ed. Walberg, Lund 1900; study by M. Fr. Mann in *Anglia*, 7 [1884], pp. 420-68, and 9 [1886], pp. 391-450); *Le Bestiaire divin* of Guillaume le Clerc, around 1210 (ed. C. Cahier, op. cit.; Hippeau, Caen 1852; Reinsch, Leipzig 1892; study by M. Fr. Mann in *Französische Studien*, 6 [1888]); *Le Bestiaire* of Gervaise, 12th-13th centuries (ed. P. Meyer, in *Romania*, I [1872], p. 420 ff.) and *Le Bestiaire* of Pierre de Beauvais, before 1217 (ed. Cahier).
The Italian bestiaries are a century later. About twelve manuscripts from the 14th-15th centuries are known (ed. Goldstaub-Wendriner, Halle 1892; K. McKenzie-Garver, in *Studi Romanzi*, 8 [1912], pp. 1-100; M. S. Garver, in *The Romanic Review*, 9 [1918]), but the Tuscan archetype has not been traced. A *Bestiaire moralisé*, in sonnets, from the 13th century was edited by Mazzatinti and E. Monaci (*Rendic. Accad. Lincei*, 4th ser., 5 [1889] pp. 718-29); a Waldensian bestiary, perhaps from the 13th century, by A. Meyer (in *Romanische Forschungen*, 5 [1890], pp. 392-418) from a 15th-century copy.
In the other Western Romance languages, the bestiary is less represented, and the first Romanian translation of the *Physiologus* was made only in 1693. In the rest of Europe, bestiaries proper are less known than translations of the Greek *Physiologus*. For the comparative history of the Slavic *Physiologus* cf. the study by St. A. Gecev (Sofia 1938).
The influence of bestiaries on medieval spiritual life was very extensive. Some were used as school manuals, as is evident from the glosses inserted in the text attributed to Theobaldus, or from the phrase found in the Waldensian one: *car yo non l'ai composta per li savi, mas per enformar alcuns meo scholars*. Others were absorbed into various encyclopedias: the *De natura rerum* of Thomas of Cantimpré, the *De proprietatibus rerum* of Bartholomew the Englishman, the *Speculum naturale* of Vincent of Beauvais, and the *De animalibus* of Albert the Great. The Church made wondrous use of all of these in its exegetical, mystical, and moral work, in the liturgy, in various collections of *exempla*, in some hagiographical legends, in religious poetry, and in the works of preachers such as Ælfric, St. Peter Damian, Maurice de Sully, St. Anthony of Padua, Orm, John of Saint-Gimignano, and many others.
Bestiaries provided many motifs to folklore and European literature. Some literary themes conveyed by bestiaries achieved almost universal circulation: a typical example is the charming motif of the turtledove. And in the artistic field, with their iconographic types pervaded by Christian symbolism, they were the richest source of subjects for medieval sculptors, painters, and miniaturists (v. Allegorical Animals).