IMC 2011: Sessions
Session 1216: From Poor and Plain to Richly Illustrated: New Research on the Latin Bestiary
Wednesday 13 July 2011, 14.15-15.45
Sponsor: | Centre for Medieval & Early Modern Studies, University of Kent |
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Organiser: | Diane Heath, Centre for Medieval & Early Modern Studies (MEMS), University of Kent |
Moderator/Chair: | Helen Gittos, Centre for Medieval & Early Modern Studies, University of Kent |
Paper 1216-a | The Latin Bestiary in Eastern Europe (Language: English) Index terms: Art History - General, Language and Literature - Latin, Manuscripts and Palaeography, Religious Life |
Paper 1216-b | The Bestiary in Canterbury: Perception, Reception, and Usage (Language: English) Index terms: Art History - General, Monasticism, Religious Life, Teaching the Middle Ages |
Paper 1216-c | 'Est autem in Babylonia alia bestia': Animals of the Holy Land - Bestiaries in Crusading Literature (Language: English) |
Abstract | Bestiaries span the whole range of rich and poor, from gilded and expensively illustrated versions such as the Aberdeen Bestiary, to mistake-ridden, unillustrated copies in tatty, hole-filled parchment monastic 'collectiones'. This panel explores bestiary production in the British Isles and Europe and the transmission and patronage of this medieval core text, bringing together the most recent research-findings to problematize and contextualize its fundamental place in medieval mnemonics, rhetoric, theology, literature and illustration. Natural, unnatural, or numinous, bestiary animals inflect, infuse, and enlarge our understanding of the medieval worldview, from the benign bee to the monstrous manticore. |