Medieval Bestiaries: Real and Imaginary Beasts

An honorable knight fighting a dragon to save a princess in distress, or a mighty gryphon, a legendary hybrid beast with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle. A pelican that brings its dead chicks back to life using its own blood. Sounds interesting? Well then, what is the connection between a unicorn and a young girl? Nothing yet? Let me tell you then: according to legends, only a young girl can catch a unicorn. If this is not enough, how about a whale that is so huge that, according to some sailors, they mistook it for an island, set up their camp, and lit a campfire on its back? All these creatures come from the medieval bestiary, which is a book of beasts that was one of the most popular kinds of illustrated books in 12th- and 13th-century England and France. Some animals were real, some of them were imaginary, and some of them were a bit from both worlds. The whole point was never really zoology, and every one of these creatures carried a hidden lesson about God and the Devil, good and evil, and how to live your life properly. Now let me show you what these strange and wonderful books were, and what their monsters actually mean.

What was a medieval bestiary?

A bestiary was a collection of short descriptions of animals, birds and sometimes stones, each one followed by a moral or religious meaning. Most were written in Latin, and the finest copies were richly illustrated, with a picture for nearly every creature. They were especially popular in England and northern France in the 1100s and 1200s, and were made in monasteries and, later, in workshops for wealthy owners. For how such books were made, see how illuminated manuscripts were made.

Two of the most famous surviving examples are the Aberdeen Bestiary and the Ashmole Bestiary, both made in England around 1200 and both glowing with gold leaf. Their pictures show lions, eagles, dragons and unicorns in bright colours, often set against gleaming gold backgrounds.

Where did the medieval bestiary come from?

Do you think the idea came in a dream? Or was it materialized through magic? Not exactly. The bestiary has its roots in a Greek text called the Physiologus, “the naturalist”, a text that was probably written in the city of Alexandria in the early centuries AD. It was not a text that had a huge amount of information, only about fifty animals, stones and plants. As in the medieval bestiary, each of them came with a lesson, a Christian lesson to be more precise.

As time went by, medieval authors added material from other sources, especially from Pliny the Elder, who was a Roman writer, and from the 7th-century encyclopedia of Isidore of Seville. He tried to explain the world by explaining the origins of words. The result was a growing collection of animal lore that mixed careful observation, travelers’ tales, ancient legend and pure imagination. Fascinating facts if you ask me, and I am happy to share them with you!

The real animals, with a twist

Many bestiary animals are perfectly real, but their habits were described in ways that would surprise any modern zoologist:

• The lion was said to sleep with its eyes open, to wipe out its tracks with its tail so hunters couldn’t follow, and to breathe life into its cubs, which were born dead, on the third day. The lesson: Christ rising from the dead on the third day.
• The pelican was believed to kill its chicks and then, after three days, revive them by piercing its own breast and sprinkling them with its blood. It became one of the most popular symbols of Christ’s sacrifice.
• The elephant supposedly had no joints in its legs, so it slept leaning against a tree. Hunters only had to cut the tree almost through, and down came the elephant.
• The hedgehog rolled on fallen grapes so they stuck to its spines, then carried them home to its young, a warning about the devil stealing the fruit of the soul.

Unicorns, dragons and other impossible beasts

Then there were the creatures no one had ever seen. The unicorn was described as a small but fierce animal with a single horn, so strong that no hunter could catch it. The only way was to place a young virgin in the forest. The unicorn would come, lay its head in her lap and fall asleep, and then the hunters could take it. The lesson was about Christ, born of the Virgin Mary.

The dragon, the largest of all serpents, was a symbol of the devil. The phoenix, a bird that burned itself on a pyre and rose again from the ashes, stood for the resurrection. The basilisk, the king of serpents, could kill with a single look, although, according to the bestiaries, it could be defeated by the humble weasel. And the griffin, with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle, was strong enough to carry off an ox.

Some of the strangest entries sit somewhere between real and imaginary. The giant sea creature sometimes called the aspidochelone was described as a whale so vast that sailors anchored beside it, thinking it was an island, and lit a fire on its back, only for it to dive and drag them down. That, the bestiary explained, is what happens to those who trust the devil. Another famous story claimed that barnacle geese grew on trees or on driftwood by the sea, which is how some people justified eating them on fast days, when meat was forbidden.

Did medieval people believe all this?

As funny as it may seem, and you may have a good laugh thinking about some of the medieval people believing in those creatures, you are really missing the point of medieval bestiaries. The authors of the medieval bestiaries weren’t trying to write a field guide. They truly believed that God created the world as a kind of book, full of signs and lessons, and that you can actually learn something about morality and faith from each and every one of the creatures. Whether dragons really existed or a pelican could really revive its chicks mattered less than what the story meant. It is a naive point of view if you think about it, but if you look outside the box, it is really interesting how the authors saw the world around them.

Medieval readers weren’t all gullible, either. Some writers questioned particular claims. In the 1240s, the emperor Frederick II, a keen falconer, wrote a book on birds based on careful observation, and he investigated the barnacle-goose story and concluded there was no evidence for it. Many scholars who copied the bestiary stories probably saw them as traditional wisdom rather than literal fact. For other things we assume medieval people believed, see our article on medieval myths.

My own bestiary entry: the dragon

If I were a medieval author, the first beast that I would write about is the dragon. I would imagine the dragon to be an old being, and apart from the dangerous claws, fangs and spikes on its body, I would think mostly that a dragon took part in and saw a lot of things that happened through its lifespan. If one brave knight dared to come to its lair bearing gifts of gold, and didn’t try to kill it and take its treasure, he might ask the dragon one question, and one question only, maybe why are we born, or what is our mission here, and he might receive a proper response from it. Well, that’s just my interpretation of it, and the lesson I give here is that, instead of choosing violence, one might seek wisdom instead, because in the end, information is more precious than getting rich.

The medieval bestiary’s long afterlife

The bestiary’s creatures escaped from the page and spread everywhere. Lions, griffins, dragons and unicorns crowded onto coats of arms, church carvings, tapestries and the margins of manuscripts, where artists often turned them into jokes, as you can see in medieval marginalia. The unicorn and the lion still face each other on the royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom, and the pelican feeding its young appears on church windows and badges to this day.

You can actually see things in our language today that remember them, for example, the idea that crocodiles weep false tears over their victims. Does it ring a bell? Of course it does! It’s the phrase “crocodile tears”. It traces back to antiquity, but it was the medieval bestiaries and travel books such as Mandeville’s that made it widely known. As a bonus, we have all heard about dragons in TV series, movies or books. A lot of industries should thank those medieval books of beasts. To see how these beasts fit into the bigger picture, explore medieval art.

Frequently asked questions

What is a medieval bestiary?

A medieval book describing real and imaginary animals, each followed by a religious or moral lesson. The finest copies were richly illustrated.

When were bestiaries popular?

Mainly in the 12th and 13th centuries, especially in England and northern France.

Did medieval people think unicorns were real?

Many probably did, as they had no way to check. But the unicorn’s main importance in the bestiary was as a symbol of Christ.

Where did bestiaries come from?

They grew out of a Greek text called the Physiologus, written in the early centuries AD, with additions from Pliny the Elder, Isidore of Seville and other writers.

Sources

• Wikipedia, Bestiary
• Wikipedia, Physiologus
• Wikipedia, Aberdeen Bestiary
• University of Aberdeen, The Aberdeen Bestiary
• Encyclopaedia Britannica, Bestiary