A French modeled English bestiary: Wormsley Library MS BM 3747

Abstract

In the 2nd to 3rd centuries A.D. in Alexandria an anonymous author wrote a tractate in Greek titled Physiologus ( The Naturalist). Its text comprised chapters on various real and mythological animals, birds, and magic stones. The sources of this compilation, whose original we do not possess, were the works of classical and Christian authors, the Bible, and fables. The approximately fifty chapters of this work were organized by the following principle: the first part dealt with the zoological and pseudo-zoological characteristics of animals, while the second gave a moralized interpretation of the creatures1 characteristics and habits. The purpose of Physiologus was to use animals and other creatures to provide Christians moral lessons which they must follow in their lives. Physiologus became a very popular book and was quickly translated into various languages. 1 By the 4th to 5th centuries Physiologus was translated into Latin and by the 9th to 10th centuries was widespread in Western Europe. By the 12th century it reached England where by additions from Isidore of Seville's Etymologiae it was transformed so as to create the bestiary, which in the early stages of its existence differed little from Physiologus. As the bestiary developed during the 12th to 15th centuries in England it came to differ more and more from the Physiologus: the number of chapters increased, their order changed, and material was added from various authors, e.g. Soliņus, Plinius, Hrabanus Maurus, Gregory the Great, and Isidore of Seville. M. R. James has divided bestiaries into four different groups or "families" according to their texts.2 Bestiaries were one of the most popular genres of medieval literature and like Physiologus were used primarily as an instructive text in monastic schools and by preachers in the compilation of their sermons. The so-called Second Family, the largest, includes more than thirty manuscripts and continues to "grow". Thus, during the past several years the "collection" has been enriched by two additional entries: the St. John's College bestiary and the Durham