The Book of Beasts: Being a Translation from a Latin Bestiary of the Twelfth Century

by T.H. White

Book Overview

If a serpent swallows the spittle of a fasting man, it dies. Trees felled in the wrong season breed termites. If eels are drowned in wine, those who drink it get a loathing for liquor.
These and similar flights of fancy were articles of faith in the twelfth century -- the era of the fascinating Latin prose bestiary translated in this volume. The translator is T. H. White, author of The Once and Future King and outstanding medievalist. Of The Book of Beasts, White writes: "No Latin prose bestiary has ever before been printed, even in Latin. This is the first and only English translation in print."
The bestiary was a bestseller in the Middle Ages, a kind of natural history cum-zoological survey that presumed to describe the animals of the world and to point out the human traits they exemplified. Combining the surprisingly accurate with the endearingly phantasmagorical, the bestiarists came up with a bewildering array of real and exotic creatures. The behavior or attributes of the animals often functioned as a metaphor for teaching religious, moral, and political precepts.
In addition to a multitude of real mammals, birds, reptiles, and fish, described here with varying degrees of zoological accuracy, the bestiarist introduces a swarm of fanciful denizens thought to haunt the Dark Ages: manticore, a creature with a man's face, a lion's body, and a ravenous appetite for human flesh; dragon or draco, the biggest serpent and the embodiment of the Devil; amphivia, a fish that could walk on land and swim in the sea; jaculus, a flying serpent; the familiar phoenix; the griffin; and other exotic fauna. Much of the charm of this edition lies in the copious footnotes compiled by T. H. White. With immense erudition, wit, grace, and a singular lack of condescension, the author illuminates literary, scientific, historical, linguistic, and other aspects of the bestiarist's catalog. He further enhances the volume with informative discussions of the history of the bestiary from its origins in remote oral traditions; through Herodotus, Pliny and Aristotle; during the medieval period and the Renaissance; and up to Sir Thomas Browne's Vulgar Errors (1646). Both amusing and amazing, The Book of Beasts is not only a rich survey of the proto-zoology on which much of our later science is based, but also a revealing, illustrated examination of how pre-scientific man perceived the earth's creatures.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0486246094
• ISBN13: 9780486246093
• Release Date: December 2010
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.83 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.7" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

brilliant

Surprisingly entertaining animalia analysis from the medieval ages, mixed with the moralistic nonsense as expected of that period, with the owl being symbolical of the jews, who "repulse their saviour and thus value darkness more than light", and female vultures generating their offsprings without any conjunction with their male kind "in resemblance of the Virgin Mary"

marvelous illustrations

Ever wonder what a manticore looks like? Or a griffin? Or even common animals like lions and cats? This book has a wealth of information, complete with reproductions of the medieval manuscripts of the various beasts. The definitions and the illustrations are very interesting. Of course, some of the information given seems to have no basis in science.The lynx's urine is supposed to harden into a precisous stone, bird dung is good for eye problems, that sort of thing. But if you're just reading for fun as opposed to writing a report, this is a very entertaining book to read. I recommend it highly.

12th Century Biology

This is indeed an excellent book for those interested in history and biology. ~The Book of Beasts~ is a translation from Latin of a Twelfth century bestiary. It was written as a serious scientific study of zoology, despite giving equal precedence to dogs, horses, lions, dragons, and unicorns. This was the world of wildlife as the people of the 1100's saw it. It includes such beliefs as "when a lioness gives birth to her cubs, she brings them forth dead and lays them up lifeless for three days - until thier father, coming on the third day, breathes in thier faces, and makes them alive." (direct quote) The book also has an extensive appendix, detailing the history of the original manuscript of this bestiary, and information on ancient bestiaries as a whole. Further, the author tells us "No Latin prose bestiary has ever before been printed, even in Latin. This is the first and only English translation in print. . ." This is an invaluable reference to any students of historical sciences, especially biological/zoological sciences, or to any simply interested in the subjects. Very highly recommended.