List of medieval bestiaries


This is a list of medieval bestiaries. The bestiary form is commonly divided into "families," as proposed in 1928 by M. R. James and revised by Florence McCulloch in 1959–1962.

Latin bestiaries

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:
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.
These. appearing from the 12th to 14th century, incorporate material from other sources:
The works in this group are based principally on Isidore's Etymologiæ with significant additional material from Saint Ambrose, Rabanus Maurus, Solinus and others:
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:
The sole work in this family, from the 15th century, is distinguished by its incorporation of writings by Bartholomaeus Anglicus:
These works were attributed in their time to John Chrysostom and appeared, mostly in Germany, from the 12th to 15th century:
Many manuscripts contain portions of bestiaries that can be attributed to a single author. These include works by Isidore of Seville's Etymologiae, Thomas de Cantimpré's Liber de Natura Rerum, and Hugues de Fouilloy's De avibus

Hugues de Fouilloy

The French bestiaries are all derived from works with commonly attributed authorship, and are divided as such:

Bestiaire in Verse by Philippe de Thaon