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Claudius Aelianus
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Aesop's Fables
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Animal tales from the 6th century BCE, which continued to have an influence throughout the Middle Ages.
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Saint Ambrose
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Bishop of Milan (374-397), author of the Hexaemeron, a commentary on the biblical account of the six days of creation, that influenced the bestiary.
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Augustine of Hippo
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Early Father of the Catholic Church; held a cautious belief in some of the beast fables.
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Bartholomaeus Anglicus
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Thirteenth century English Franciscan living in Paris, author of De proprietatibus rerum (On the nature of things), a natural history encyclopedia.
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John Chrysostom
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Fifth century Patriarch of Constantinople, incorrectly thought in the Middle Ages to be the author of the Dicta Chrysostomi, a version of the Physiologus.
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Gervaise
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Norman poet and cleric; wrote a verse Bestiaire in the Norman French dialect around the beginning of the thirteenth century.
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Giraldus Cambrensis
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Gerald of Wales, 12th century chronicler of travels in Wales and Ireland
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Guillaume le Clerc
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Thirteenth century cleric of Normandy, author of a French verse Bestiaire.
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Hrabanus Maurus
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Ninth century abbot and archbishop, author of the natural history encyclopedia De rerum natura.
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Hugh of Fouilloy
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Also known as Hugo de Folieto, this French Augustinian prior of the twelfth century is the author of De avibus, a moralized treatise on birds.
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Hugh of Saint Victor
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Often given credit for the works of Hugh of Fouilloy.
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Isidore of Seville
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Born in the latter half of the sixth century, died around 636 CE, was bishop of Seville and the author of the Etymologies.
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Lambert of Saint-Omer
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Twelfth century Benedictine monk and abbot; author of the Liber Floridus, a natural history encyclopedia.
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Lucan
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Roman poet, author of Pharsalia, a history of the civil war between Julius Caesar and Pompey
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Jacob van Maerlant
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Thirteenth century Flemish poet; author of Der Naturen Bloeme, a natural history encyclopedia.
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Konrad von Megenberg
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Fourteenth century German scholar; author of Das Buch der Natur (the Book of Nature).
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Misericords
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"Mercy seats" used by medieval monks; usually carved, often with beast images.
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Ovid
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First century Roman poet, author of The Metamorphoses, a work often quoted in bestiaries.
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Philippe de Thaon
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Twelfth century Anglo-Norman poet, author of Livre des Creatures and the first French Bestiaire.
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Physiologus
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The original "book of beasts", a moralized Greek text written in Alexandria around the third century CE.
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Pierre de Beauvais
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Also known as Pierre le Picard, author of a French prose Bestiaire in the early thirteenth century.
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Pliny the Elder
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Born 23 CE, died 79 CE. Latin author of Natural History, a compilation of what was known about the world of the first century.
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Strabo
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Strabo was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher
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Theophrastus
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Greek scholar (c. 370 - 285 BC), author of Enquiry into Plants, On the Causes of Plants, History of Physics, On Stones.
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Thomas of Cantimpré
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Thirteenth century Dominican writer, preacher and theologian; author of the Liber de natura rerum, a natural history encyclopedia.
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Vincent of Beauvais
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The Dominican friar Vincent of Beauvais (c. 1190 – 1264?) wrote the Speculum Maius, the main encyclopedia that was used in the Middle Ages.
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