Full Text
RR 2011/94
The Medieval Bestiary
David Badke
Victoria, BC
URL: http://bestiary.ca/index.html
Last visited September 2010
Gratis
Keywords Animals, Electronic media. History
Review DOI 10.1108/09504121111114351
This comprehensive online resource attempts to provide a detailed listing and description of the contents of the medieval bestiary, manuscripts that provided extensive information and illuminations of the wonderful and varied beasts, both real and imaginary, that were known in the Middle Ages. It appears that this resource is the work of one person, David Badke, whose research focuses on this topic.
In a time period when the production of manuscripts involved a huge investment in manpower and in precious resources based on the consumption of coloured inks, the medieval bestiary can best be described as the "colour atlas" of the Middle Ages. The last update recorded on this web site is January 2010, which seems rather long ago in web time, but the compiler has invested a tremendous amount of energy and research in making sure that everything contained in this resource has the correct permissions and legalese necessary, and thus requires little to no continual maintenance.
The front of the web page presents some of the richness and variety of the medieval bestiary, and the user can immediately see a listing of 12 neat links:...