Product Description

The medieval bestiary was the culmination and apogee of allegorical functions for animals, assembling stories and pictures of beasts and birds for purposes of moral instruction and courtly entertainment. It is indisputable that the bestiaries were an important medieval contribution to didactic religious literature. But far from comprising an isolated, specialist's genre available only to the religious and literate elite, bestiaries addressed concerns central to virtually all walks of Christian life. Art historical and literary essays with consistent emphasis on text and image analysis explore a variety of important issues treated both in the bestiaries and in their fore-runner, the "physiologus". These issues include the Church, the monarchy, anti-semitism, fantastic beasts, classical thought, romance, sex and death. Together, the essays clearly demonstrate how bestiaries both address and further develop some of the most important concerns of the Middle Ages, ultimately playing a significant role in the creation of their own cultural milieu.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #840421 in Books
• Published on: 2000-07-27
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 252 pages

From the Back Cover
The medieval bestiary was a contribution to didactic religious literature, addressing concerns central to all walks of Christian and secular life. These essays analyze the bestiary from both literary and art historical perspectives, exploring issues including kinship, romance, sex, death, and the afterlife.

About the Author
Debra Hassig Ph.D. is a Reader at the Institute of Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the University of Edinburgh

Maragaret Haist, Mariko Miyazaki, Carmen Brown, Debra Hasig, Valerie Jones, Pamela Gravestock, J. Holli Wheatcroft, Alison Syme, Michelle Bolduc

Customer Reviews

The beast is yet to come
The Mark of the Beast is a book of nine essays about medieval bestiaries, dotted throughout with low quality monochrome images pertinent to the text. Its contributors tend to be arts based graduates, some are 'independent scholars' and one (erk!) is 'an artist and independent scholar'. "Did imaginary animals exist?" asks one of the essays - conjuring up an image of Harry Hill sarcastically slapping his head with bafflement in his response to the TV 'documentary' called "Could Noah's Ark have held all the animals on earth?". In fairness nothing in this book aspires to be a categoric 'statement' about bestiaries and most are endearing examples of self-directed study. Pamela Gravestock's question about 'imaginary animals' turns out to be a review (stretching back to the 4th century rationalist Palaephatus) of attempts to 'explain' bestiaries with reference to zoology. In what is on balance a glossary, the various authors throw out noteworthy curios - none more so than Debra Hassig whose interest in mediaeval sexual mores must make her a hoot at parties. Did you know that Pope Innocent III offered extra spiritual rewards to men who married (and reformed) prostitutes? Or that - if they obeyed all the religious injunctions - mediaeval married people could have sex only 44 times a year (Wow... as often as that?!). This is neither an example of historical discovery, not a book of general interest: but a book for the amateur enthusiast. And actually... there's nothing wrong with that at all.