The Aberdeen Bestiary - MS 24 View the Manuscript Special Collections , Library, Special Collections and Museums , University of Aberdeen , Bedford Road, Aberdeen, AB24 3AA

The Aberdeen Bestiary (Aberdeen University Library MS 24) is considered to be one of the best examples of its type due to its lavish and costly illuminations. The manuscript, written and illuminated in England around 1200, is of added interest since it contains notes, sketches and other evidence of the way it was designed and executed.

The style of the Aberdeen Bestiary is highly accomplished and confident. Each picture is set in a frame with a background of burnished gold. The colours are rich and bold, with a predominating impression of saturated blues and reds setting off the gold background.

A bestiary is a collection of short descriptions about all sorts of animals, real and imaginary, birds and even rocks, accompanied by a moralising explanation. Although it deals with the natural world it was never meant to be a scientific text and should not be read as such.

The Aberdeen Bestiary. Manuscript Index - 206 items. Search the Bestiary Keywords Search . The Creation. Folio 1r. Creation of the Waters and the Firmament. Folio 1v. Creation of the Birds and Fishes. Folio 2r. ... The University of Aberdeen is a …

The Aberdeen Bestiary (Aberdeen University Library MS 24) is considered to be one of the best examples of its type due to its lavish and costly illuminations. The manuscript, written and illuminated in England around 1200, is of added interest since it contains notes, sketches and other evidence of the way it was designed and executed.

In this respect Aberdeen f.1r and f.1v are closer to the continental models than the Ashmole Bestiary (f.4v) where a zig-zag pattern has appeared. The four rocks at the base may represent the four elements, earth, air, fire and water (Zahlten 1979, 12).

The Aberdeen Bestiary. Folio 65v - De serpentibus; Of snakes. De draconibus; Of the dragon. Previous Page. cannot come near you. Take heed, therefore, O man, and stay within the catholic faith, live within it, remain steadfast within it, within the one catholic church. Be as careful as you can that you are not caught outside the doors of that ...

The Aberdeen Bestiary. Folio 11v - Ibex, continued. De yena; the hyena. Previous Page. who are accustomed to manage whatever problems they encounter, with the harmony of the two Testaments as if with a sound constitution; and, supported as by two horns, they sustain the good they do with the testimony of readings from the Old and New Testament ...

omen, that is, neither faithful nor faithless, but are without doubt those of whom Solomon says: 'A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways'; (James, 1:8) of whom the Lord says: 'You cannot serve God and mammon.' (Matthew, 6:24) This beast has a stone in its eyes, called hyenia; anyone who keeps it under his tongue is believed to foretell the future.