A treatise on beasts; esp., one of the moralizing or allegorical beast tales written in the Middle Ages.
Descriptions and tales of animals, birds, fantastic creatures and stone, real and imaginary, which are imbued with Christian symbolism or moral lessons.
Sculptural decoration representing animals and monsters, inspired by medieval works describing fanciful characteristics of animals.
a medieval book (usually illustrated) with allegorical and amusing descriptions of real and fabled animals
a book, from medieval times, that has short descriptions of various real or imaginary animals, birds and even rocks
a collection of descriptions and illustrations of all sorts of animals, both real and imaginary, that often include an accompanying moral
a collection of short descriptions about all sorts of animals, real and imaginary, birds and even rocks, accompanied by a moralising explanation
a description of the animal world in moral terms, based ultimately in an early Christian text "Physiologus" with a variety of additions
book containing stories about and descriptions of diverse animals, with an overlying moral content
A bestiary, or Bestiarum vocabulum is a compendium of beasts. Bestiaries were made popular in the Middle Ages in illustrated volumes that described various animals, birds and even rocks. The natural history and illustration of each beast was usually accompanied by a moral lesson.
