A bestiary, or Bestiarum vocabulum is a compendium of beasts.

Bestiaries were made popular in the Middle Ages in illustrated volumes that described various animals, birds and even rocks. The natural history and illustration of each beast was usually accompanied by a moral lesson. This reflected the belief that the world itself was the Word of God, and that every living thing had its own special meaning. For example, the pelican, which was believed to tear open its breast to bring its young to life with its own blood, was a living representation of Jesus. The bestiary, then, is also a reference to the symbolic language of animals in Western Christian art and literature. The Middle Ages Bestiaries were particularly popular in England and France around the 12th century and were mainly compilations of earlier texts. The earliest bestiary in the form in which it was later popularized was an anonymous 2nd century Greek volume called thePhysiologus, which itself summarized ancient knowledge and wisdom about animals in the writings of classical authors such as Aristotle's Historia Animalium and various works by Herodotus, Pliny the Elder, Solinus, Aelian and other naturalists. Following the Physiologus, Saint Isidore of Seville (Book XII of the Etymologiae) and Saint Ambrose expanded the religious message with reference to passages from the Bible and the Septuagint. They and other authors freely expanded or modified pre-existing models, constantly refining the moral content without interest or access to much more detail regarding the factual content. Nevertheless, the often fanciful accounts of these beasts were widely read and generally believed to be true. A few observations found in bestiaries, such as the migration of birds, were discounted by the natural philosophers of later centuries, only to be rediscovered in the modern scientific era. Two illuminated Psalters, the Queen Mary Psalter (British Library Ms. Royal 2B, vii) and the Isabella Psalter (State Library, Munich), contain full Bestiary cycles. The bestiary in the Queen Mary Psalter is found in the "marginal" decorations that occupy about the bottom quarter of the page, and are unusually extensive and coherent in this work. In fact the bestiary has been expanded beyond the source in the Norman bestiary of Guillaume le Clerc to ninety animals. Some are placed in the text to make correspondences with the psalm they are illustrating.[1] The Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci also made his own bestiary.[2] The Aberdeen Bestiary is one of the best known of over 50 manuscript bestiaries surviving today. Mediaeval bestiaries are remarkably similar in sequence of the animals of which they treat. Modern Bestiaries In modern times, artists such as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Saul Steinberg have produced their own bestiaries. Jorge Luis Borges wrote a contemporary bestiary of sorts, the Book of Imaginary Beings, which collects imaginary beasts from bestiaries and fiction. Nicholas Christopher wrote a literary novel called "The Bestiary" (Dial, 2007) that describes a lonely young man's efforts to track down the world's most complete bestiary. John Henry Fleming's Fearsome Creatures of Florida[3](Pocol Press, 2009) borrows from the medieval bestiary tradition to impart moral lessons about the environment. Writers of Fantasy fiction draw heavily from the fanciful beasts described in mythology, fairy tales, and bestiaries. The "worlds" created in Fantasy fiction can be said to have their own bestiaries. Similarly, authors of fantasy role-playing gamessometimes compile bestiaries as references, such as the Monster Manual for Dungeons & Dragons. It is not uncommon for video games with a large variety of enemies (especially role-playing video games) to include a bestiary of sorts. This usually takes the form of a list of enemies with short descriptions (e.g. the Metroid Prime and Castlevania games, as well as Dark Cloud and Final Fantasy) and may even be central to the plot (Pokemon series).

First family These appeared in the 10th - 13th century are based upon the "B" version of the Physiologus and the writings of Isidore of Seville: Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 22 London, British Library Royal MS 2.C.xii London, British Library Stowe MS 1067 Los Angeles, Getty Museum Ludwig XV 3 Los Angeles, Getty Museum Ludwig XV 4 Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Bodley 602 Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Douce 167 Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Laud Misc. 247 Paris, Bibliothque Nationale Nouv. acq. lat. 873 Vatican, Cod. Palat. lat. 1074

The following are all late 13th century texts, based upon the same version of the Physiologus, with the text of De bestiis et aliis rebus by Hugues de Fouilloy. Cambridge, Sidney Sussex College 100 Chalon-sur-Sane, Bibliothque Municipale MS 14 Paris, Bibliothque Nationale lat. 2495A Paris, Bibliothque Nationale lat. 2495B Paris, Bibliothque Nationale lat. 3638A Paris, Bibliothque Nationale lat. 14429 Valenciennes, Bibliothque Municipale MS 101

These. appearing from the 12th to 14th century, incorporate material from other sources: Northumberland Bestiary (Alnwick Castle, MS 447) Cambridge, Trinity College R.14.9 Leningrad, Rossiiskaia natsional'naia biblioteka Q.v.V,1 London, British Library Royal MS 2.B.vii London, British Library Royal 12.C.xix Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek gall. 16 New York, Morgan Library M. 81

Second family The works in this group are based principally on Isidore's Etymologi with significant additional material from Saint Ambrose, Rabanus Maurus, Solinus and others: Aberdeen Bestiary (Aberdeen University Library MS 24) Brussels, Bibliothque Royale 8340 Brussels, Bibliothque Royale Hs 8827-42 Cambridge, Corpus Christi College MS 53 Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum MS 379 (C, W(B)) Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College MS 109/178 Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College MS 372/621

Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College MS 384/604 Cambridge, University Library Ii.4.26 Canterbury, Cathedral Library Lit.D.10 Chartres, Bibliothque Municipale 63 (125) Copenhagen, Kongelige Bibliotek Gl. Kgl. 1633 4 Douai, Bibliothque Municipale MS 711 Le Mans, Bibliothque Municipale 84 London, British Library Additional MS 11283 London, British Library Harley MS 3244 London, British Library Harley MS 4751 Rochestery Bestiary (London, British Library Royal MS 12.F.xiii) London, British Library Sloane MS 3544 Los Angeles, Getty Museum, Salvatorberg Bestiary Nmes, Bibliothque Municipale 82 New York, Morgan Library MS M. 890 Oxford, Bodleian Library MS. Ashmole 1511 Oxford, Bodleian Library MS. Bodley 533 Oxford, Bodleian Library MS. Bodley 764 Oxford, Bodleian Library MS. Douce 88 A Oxford, Bodleian Library MS. Douce 151 Oxford, St. Johns College MS. 61 Oxford, St. Johns College MS. 178 Oxford, University College MS. 120 Paris, Bibliothque Nationale lat. 3630 Paris, Bibliothque Nationale lat. 11207 Paris, Mazarine Library 742 (1115) Vatican, Apostolic Library Reg. 258

Third family These, from the 13th century, expand on the above with various races of humans, mythological creatures, and sometimes wonders of the world from Bernard Silvestris and others: Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum 254 Cambridge, University Library MS Kk.4.25 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. e Musaeo 136 Oxford, Bodleian Library MS. Douce 88 E Westminster Abbey Library MS 22

Fourth family The sole work in this family, from the 15th century, is distinguished by its incorporation of writings by Bartholomaeus Anglicus: Cambridge, University Library MS. Gg.6.5