Comments for Chimaera

Comment on Italian Beasts by Sherry

Sherry — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 18:34:23 +0000

Thank you for the work you do on this site. When working on a book a few years ago, I came here frequently.

Comment on An Italian Bestiary by Simon

Simon — Fri, 24 Oct 2025 10:51:47 +0000

Ridiculously late to respond to this, and you probably already have an answer but anyway…I got interested in the stellino, and it seems plausible (although I can’t really prove this) that it is the starling/star-ling/little star=stellino. This would be a folk etymology; starling and star are not actually related words. As for being a bird of great beauty? Well, it has iridescent plumage, and if you lived back in the day and didn’t often see parrots or peacocks (and hadn’t already labelled it as a pest), you might consider the starling a beautiful bird. But the main clue for me is that starling eggs are (quite) frequently found lying on the ground, because starlings practise intraspecific brood parasitism, laying their eggs in the nests of other starlings. When they do this, it is suggested that they lay one and chuck one out so the numbers remain the same, or, that the mother of the parasitised brood recognises and chucks out the foreign egg. Either way there’s a starling egg on the ground, and they’re easily recognisable to the layman, being sky-blue. Obviously the chick does not emerge unharmed…

Comment on Psalters! by RAHMAT

RAHMAT — Tue, 10 Sep 2024 02:30:23 +0000

I think I will write an email as if I wrote 6 comments already in this blog only one got published… I have a list of digital bestiaries links for the ones that says “none known”. Some of them already updated by you some not.

greetings!

Comment on Psalters! by Jakeukalane

Jakeukalane — Sat, 14 Jan 2023 10:23:46 +0000

greetings!

Comment on Psalters! by Beastmaster

Beastmaster — Sat, 07 Jan 2023 18:10:20 +0000

In reply to Jakeukalane. You are right, it should have been, and after the next update it will be.

Comment on Psalters! by Jakeukalane

Jakeukalane — Sat, 07 Jan 2023 16:26:09 +0000

Hello!
Shouldn’t be Morgan Library, MS M.832 marked as illustrated?

ps. I hope this comment reaches, my comment never reach the posts.

Thank you!!

Comment on Bestiaire d’amour by Beastmaster

Beastmaster — Tue, 01 Nov 2022 03:51:14 +0000

In reply to Tanya. Cerberus is from Greek mythology; he is the monstrous three headed dog that guards the gates of Hades. Cerberus does not appear in any medieval bestiary or encyclopedia, and so is not on my site. There is, of course, no end of information on the beast on Greek mythology websites.

Comment on Bestiaire d’amour by Tanya

Tanya — Sun, 30 Oct 2022 23:51:33 +0000

I too have very muched enjoy this site for many years.
I came today to see if I could find the Cerbera/ Cerberus beast. I can’t seem to find it. Are you able to help me?

Kind regards
Tanya

Comment on Bestiaire d’amour by Giada

Giada — Thu, 29 Sep 2022 18:12:44 +0000

Thank you so much for everything you have done over the years! I am writing a dissertation on Richard de Fournival’s Bestiary of Love and your site has been a great help to me. Greetings from Bologna, Italy!

Comment on Really big update! by Falchionne

Falchionne — Tue, 16 Aug 2022 01:46:05 +0000

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I so love this site and am so appreciative that you’ve decided to take the challenge of keeping it alive. I plan on exploring the updated site to my heart’s content. Oh, I do wish I could somehow help, but still, I’m just so glad to see this update! Thank you!!