Medieval animal literature dealing with crocodiles is usually described as uninventive, mimicking, and based on copying authorities without any objectivity or critical thinking. This paper presents excerpts from medieval travelogues in order to show that objective descriptions of the crocodile are indeed possible to find, but that they depended greatly on the expectations of the audience. Felix Fabri wrote in two languages for two different types of audience and his works are used here as a case study to show that objectivity and critical thinking in describing crocodiles in the Middle Ages were applied when needed. - [Abstract]

Language: English