BESTIARIES. - Didactic-moral books of the Middle Ages, in Latin or in the vernacular, in verse or in prose, containing the description of several dozen animals (quadrupeds, birds, fish and reptiles) real or fabulous, with the purpose of making their nature known and of drawing from them allegories concerning the relations between man and God, Jesus Christ, the Church and the devil.
Such writings derive from the Latin versions of the Φωτολόγος, but the "properties" of the animals are interpreted not so much from the exegetical, dogmatic and mystical point of view as in the moral sense; sometimes they serve as the starting point for an amorous thesis, like the Le Bestiaire d'amour of Richard de Fournival of the 13th century (ed. C. Hippeau, Paris 1860), also translated into Italian (ed. G. Grion in Il Propugnatore, 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 codices, none is earlier than the 8th century. The great diffusion of the Latin bestiaries is confirmed by the large number of surviving manuscripts; about a hundred were known up to 1914 (P. Meyer, p. 365). The majority of these manuscripts derive, according to Carmody, from three translations. From the redaction represented by manuscripts AB (edited by C. Cahier, Mélanges d'archéol., II-IV, Paris 1851-56) derive the majority of the medieval bestiaries. The one bearing the title De bestiis et aliis rebus has been attributed to Hugh of St. Victor. The text published by V. Bartocetti (Studia Picena, 1 [1925], pp. 76-102) is to be identified with the metrical redaction of the 11th century attributed to Theobaldus. The 12th century is the period of greatest development for the Latin bestiaries. In parallel, those in the vernacular also develop, but their flourishing belongs to the following century.
The oldest trace of a bestiary in a national language is the poetic adaptation of three chapters in Old English of the 8th century (A. S. Cook, The Old English Elene, Phoenix and Physiologus, New Haven 1919). The other Germanic bestiaries are more recent: two in Old High German of 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 de Philippe de Thann, of 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 de 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 de Gervaise, 12th-13th centuries (ed. P. Meyer, in Romania, 1 [1872], p. 420 ff.) and Le Bestiaire de Pierre de Beauvais, earlier than 1217 (ed. Cahier).
A century later are the Italian bestiaries. The manuscripts of 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 B. moralizzato, in sonnets, of the 13th century was edited by Mazzantini and E. Monaci (Rendic. Accad. Lincei, 4th series, 5 [1889] pp. 718-29); a Waldensian bestiary, perhaps of the 13th century, by A. Meyer (in Romanische Forschungen, 5 [1890], pp. 392-418) from a copy of the 15th century.
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, not so much the bestiaries are known as the 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 the bestiaries on medieval spiritual life was very extensive. Some were used as school manuals, as appears from the glosses inserted in the text attributed to Theobaldus, and from the phrase that is read in the Waldensian one: car yo non l'ai composta per li savi, mas per enformar alcuni meo scholars. Others were absorbed by the various encyclopedias: De natura rerum of Thomas of Cantimpré, De proprietatibus rerum of Bartholomew the Englishman, Speculum naturale of Vincent de Beauvais, De animalibus of Albert the Great. The Church made wonderful use of all of it in its exegetical, mystical and moral work, in the liturgy, in the various collections of "exempla", in certain hagiographic legends, in religious poetry, in the work of preachers such as Aelfric, St. Peter Damian, Maurice de Sully, St. Anthony of Padua, Orm, Giovanni di S. Gimignano, and many others.
The bestiaries have furnished many motifs to European folklore and literature. Some literary themes conveyed by the bestiaries have achieved an almost universal circulation: a typical example is the graceful motif of the turtledove. And in the artistic field, with their iconographic types pervaded by Christian symbolism, they have been the richest source of subjects for medieval sculptors, painters and miniaturists (v. ANIMALI ALLEGORICI).
Bibliography15 works
Demetrio Gazdaru