The Grand Medieval Bestiary: Animals in Illuminated Manuscripts

by Christian Heck, Remy Cordonnier

Now in an affordable edition, a splendid pageant of the animal kingdom as the Middle Ages saw it

As the 587 colorful images in this magnificent volume reveal, animals were a constant--and delightful--presence in illuminated manuscripts throughout the Middle Ages. They were illustrated not only in bestiaries--the compendiums of animal fact and fable that were exceedingly popular in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries--but in every sort of manuscript, sacred and profane, from the Gospels to the Romance of the Rose.

This book is arranged in manner of a proper bestiary, with essays on the medieval lore and iconography of one hundred creatures alphabetized by their Latin names, from the alauda, or lark, whose morning song was thought to be a hymn to Creation, to the vultur, whose taste for carrion made it a symbol of the sinner who indulges in worldly pleasures. The selection includes a number of creatures that would now be considered fantastic, including the griffin, the manticore, and of course the fabled unicorn.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Medieval, History

620 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2011

Reviews

[xenia]

little dudes with big ideas!

[Ihor Kolesnyk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Чудова книга. Наркотики, вбивства, химерні пригоди, рейв-вечірки тощо. Вдячний Центру Шептицького за можливість почитати, подивитися паперовий примірник)

[Alex Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read and reread for fun and then research; an endlessly inspiring portrait of imagination and ignorance in equal measure.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Didn't know when I asked the hubs to bring this home for me from the library that I was gonna add 15 pounds to his load.

[Maze · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book ever made. Endless fun.

[Geof Sage · Rating 4 out of 5]

Please note that the purchase price of this book does not include the draft horse you require to take it home, as it is too heavy for anything smaller than a Ford F-350.

[Emma McGilvray · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was cool to see medieval depictions of animals i know well and ones that i don’t. there were a lot more animals that don’t exist in this than i thought there would be and a lot of them i hadn’t heard of before. but the writing is super dense and uses unnecessarily difficult words to describe simple concepts.

[Rachael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful collection of medieval art. Each section was incredibly informative about the characteristics and beliefs of the time. The colors are represented well making it easy to discern different forms of media used to create the illuminated manuscripts.