bestiary

a moralizing medieval collection of descriptions of real and mythical animals

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

bestiary

A collection of medieval allegorical fables about animals, each with an interpretation of its significance to good or evil; in medieval churches, a group of highly imaginative and symbolic carved creatures.

bestiary

In a medieval church, a group of carved or painted creatures, often highly imaginative and symbolic.

Mentioned in

References in periodicals archive

In the meantime, it is still possible to evaluate the extant material on its own terms, because Reynard the Fox evolved as the archetype of the beast epic. The central focus of the series is a single significant episode--Reynard's healing of the sick lion, in most versions--and other stories are spin-offs from this episode, all involving moralistic messages.

Reynard the Fox

Fans of his early folkier work will appreciate Beast Epic's warm acoustic tones and restrained vocal performances, which lay the groundwork for perhaps Beam's best album in a decade.

BEAST EPIC

Donalson (foreign languages and history, Alabama School of Mathematics and Science, Mobile) reflects on the wolf in the Jewish and Christian Scriptures and compiles with observations and commentary on the wolf in patristic, classical, and medieval literature from fables to beast epics. His chronological account also traces how the wolf in western culture descended from a useful metaphor and instrument for the morals of fabulists, to an object of hatred and misunderstanding.

The history of the wolf in Western civilization; from antiquity to the middle ages

's fables or in beast epics. Fairy tales, having no basis in fact, emphasize miraculous happenings and fantastic transformations, as in Cinderella.

Folklore

Isengrim or YsengrinGreedy and dull-witted wolf who is a prominent character in many medieval European beast epics. Often cast as a worldly and corrupt churchman, he appears first as the main character in both the Latin Ecbasis captivi (c.

Isengrim