This site refers to many medieval manuscripts, mostly bestiaries and aviaries, but also others that incorporate full or partial bestiaries or contain bestiary-related images or text. The manuscripts are of several types, including Bestiaries, Aviaries, Miscellanies, Psalters, Missals, and Books of Hours.

The information in the manuscript descriptions has ben gathered from a variety of sources. I have not seen any of these manuscripts myself (except in facsimile). Corrections, comments and additions can be sent to the Webmaster for review.

Note: The Gallery pages for each manuscript can contain many images and may load slowly.

Lists

The manuscript list is available in several formats; click one of the links below to view the format you choose.

Location/Shelfmark  :  Sorted by manuscript location (institute) and shelfmark.

Shelfmark  :  Sorted by manuscript shelfmark.

City  :  Sorted by the city where the manuscript is (a common format in manuscript lists).

Categories

You can also explore the manuscripts organized in several categories.

Family  :  Organized according to a standard classification system.

Author  :  Some manuscripts contain the work of a known (or commonly attributed) author: The Aviarium of Hugh of Fouilloy; the Bestiaires of Gervaise, Guillaume le Clerc, Philippe de Thaon, and Pierre de Beauvais; the Etymologiae of Isidore of Seville; the De naturis rerum of Hrabanus Maurus; and the De proprietatibus rerum of Bartholomaeus Anglicus.