Oxford Bestiary

Oxford Bestiary

Toward the end of the 12th century, a new book genre became very popular in England: the illuminated bestiary, a Christian didactic book about animals. Otto Mazal discusses this in his Buchkunst der Romanik (Graz 1978): “At the root of this book type lies the Greek Physiologus, a Christian handbook of late antique, allegorical natural history. Mythical traits were attributed to real and imaginary animals, for which material was drawn from ancient authors, and these were interpreted allegorically in relation to Christ, the Church, humanity, and demons.” The animal allegories, which gradually became part of the common knowledge of Christian societies, enjoyed great popularity in the Middle Ages. The Latin prose text served as the basis for the compilation of the medieval bestiary. The earliest manuscripts, dating from the 8th to the 10th century, have been preserved. They represent various editorial versions. There is no direct link to the bestiaries of the 12th century, whose sudden emergence represents an fascinating historical phenomenon.

Fabulous Images of Animals on Rich Gold Leaf

The books were part of the encyclopedic tradition of the 12th and 13th centuries, which was linked to a newly awakened interest in nature that was understood as a divine creation. This interest is also evident in contemporary translations and copies of texts by Pliny, Solinus, Isidore, and Aristotle, as well as in independent works on natural science. The images are scattered irregularly throughout the text; occasionally, an animal is characterized by several of the described traits. By modern standards, the animals’ forms are often quite bizarre: a crocodile with a dragon’s head and bird’s feet, a horned panther, and unnatural color schemes are just a few examples of the fascinating iconography, which, far from being based on nature studies, draws freely on literary models.

130 Vibrant Miniatures

Dating from the early 13th century, the marvellous bestiary manuscript held by the Bodleian Library in Oxford is arguably one of the most beautiful of its kind. This codex, magnificently adorned with gold leaf, captivates not only with its magnificent, vibrant tempera painting and the clear memorability of its depictions of animals, plants, and humans, but also with its preference for calm symmetry, delicate ornamentation, and often lovingly patterned backgrounds.
The 130 miniatures in the 105-leaf book block illuminate not only chapters on the nature of four-legged animals, birds, snakes, the properties of snakes, worms, fish, trees, flint, and the nature of humans, but also the Christian history of creation with particularly large and vividly narrative images at the beginning of the book.

Of Unicorns and Famous Doves

The abundance of represented creatures is incredible. This list is intended to name just a few, to give a sense of the manuscript’s richness:
lion, tiger, panther, antelope, unicorn, lynx, elephant, ibex, hyena, monkey, satyr, deer, goat, bear, fox, wolf, dogs, lamb, camel, dromedary, donkey, weasel, hedgehog, ant, dove, the dove of Christ, the dove of David, the dove of Noah, north wind, south wind, falcon, sparrow, pelican, raven, hoopoe, rooster, parrot, swallow, blackbird, eagle owl, bat, stork, partridge, moose, waterfowl, crow, peacock, eagle, bee, dragon, lizard, otter, lizard, salamander, worms, whale, dolphin, guinea pig, crocodile, fig tree, blackberry, walnut tree, oak, beech, fir, cedar, cypress, plane tree, elm, willow, boxwood. … The list could go on almost indefinitely, for such is the abundance of the living world depicted and described. Hardly any of the other surviving bestiaries is as rich as the Oxford manuscript.