Knowra Bestiary Bestiary An illustrated medieval compendium of real and mythical animals, often interpreting each creature as a Christian moral lesson. Its entries combine descriptions of creatures with symbolic readings.
Physiologus : An early Christian collection of animal stories that assigns creatures symbolic and moral meanings. Its animal allegories supplied the model for many medieval bestiary entries.
Illuminated manuscript : A manuscript decorated with painted images, ornament, or gold and silver leaf. Many bestiaries use painted scenes to make animal stories visually memorable.
Aberdeen Bestiary : An illustrated English bestiary made around the beginning of the thirteenth century and preserved at the University of Aberdeen. Its richly decorated pages exemplify the genre’s integration of animal lore and Christian teaching.
Medieval encyclopedia : A medieval reference work that organizes knowledge across multiple subjects. Unlike broad encyclopedias, bestiaries focus on animals and their symbolic meanings.
Medieval animal symbolism : The use of animals in medieval art and writing to represent moral, religious, or social ideas. Bestiaries helped establish a repertoire of animal meanings used across medieval culture.
Medieval zoology : The study and description of animals in medieval European learning. Bestiaries belong to a wider tradition that mixed observation with inherited authorities.
Medieval illumination : The painting and decoration of handwritten books in the medieval period. Its conventions shaped the colors, figures, and visual emphasis of bestiary images.
Ashmole Bestiary : An illustrated English bestiary from the early thirteenth century, now held by the Bodleian Libraries. Its sequence and images offer a major comparison with other medieval bestiaries.
Herbal : A book describing medicinal plants and their properties. Herbals share the illustrated natural-history format but center plants rather than animals.
Medieval art : Art produced in Europe during the Middle Ages, including painting, sculpture, and manuscript decoration. Bestiary imagery circulated within a wider visual culture of Christian symbols and narratives.
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