Dissertation on Birds of Prey and the Sport - the Falconry Heritage ...
Dissertation on Birds of Prey and the Sport - the Falconry Heritage ...
Dissertation on Birds of Prey and the Sport - the Falconry Heritage ...
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Christian allegorical interpretati<strong>on</strong>^.^' The Physio/ogus <strong>and</strong> its first Latin imitators make<br />
no menti<strong>on</strong> whatsoever <strong>of</strong> falc<strong>on</strong>s or hawks.<br />
A major change to <strong>the</strong> Latin text occurs sometime around <strong>the</strong> tenth century. The<br />
text is greatly exp<strong>and</strong>ed, both in <strong>the</strong> number <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> length <strong>of</strong> entries, by additi<strong>on</strong>s from<br />
Isidore <strong>of</strong> Seville's Etymologiae. From this family <strong>of</strong> manuscripts, named versio B-Is by<br />
McCulloch, descend most <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> vernacular bestiaries that will be written over <strong>the</strong><br />
following centuries. However, falc<strong>on</strong>s <strong>and</strong> hawks remain absent from B-Is, despite<br />
Isidore having included <strong>the</strong>m in his own work. Indeed, birds <strong>of</strong> prey do not find <strong>the</strong>ir<br />
way into bestiary works until <strong>the</strong> twelfth century. At this time, a sec<strong>on</strong>d transformati<strong>on</strong><br />
<strong>of</strong> bestiaries occurs. A huge expansi<strong>on</strong> <strong>of</strong> c<strong>on</strong>tent, adopted from Isidore <strong>of</strong> Seville <strong>and</strong><br />
c<strong>on</strong>temporary encyclopedists such as Bartholomaeus Anglicus, is combined with a<br />
reorganizati<strong>on</strong> <strong>of</strong> material into discrete secti<strong>on</strong>s <strong>on</strong> beasts <strong>and</strong> birds, following Isidore's<br />
divisi<strong>on</strong>s, <strong>and</strong> also a change in interpretati<strong>on</strong>: allegorical <strong>and</strong> mystical Christian<br />
interpretati<strong>on</strong> <strong>of</strong> animals' behavior usually, but not always, gives way to moral teachings<br />
about everyday life. Occasi<strong>on</strong>ally, moralizing interpretati<strong>on</strong>s are eliminated altoge<strong>the</strong>r.<br />
With <strong>the</strong> new expansi<strong>on</strong> <strong>of</strong> c<strong>on</strong>tent, falc<strong>on</strong>s <strong>and</strong> hawks are finally included, <strong>and</strong> given<br />
entries that seem to be taken in <strong>the</strong>ir entirety from encyclopedic sources.<br />
Italian versi<strong>on</strong>s <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Latin bestiaries begin to appear in <strong>the</strong> thirteenth century,<br />
though <strong>the</strong> known manuscripts are from <strong>the</strong> fourteenth century or later.22 Occasi<strong>on</strong>ally<br />
<strong>the</strong>y may be bound toge<strong>the</strong>r with falc<strong>on</strong>ry manuals: Kenneth McKenzie tells <strong>of</strong> a<br />
manuscript in <strong>the</strong> Bibliothkque Nati<strong>on</strong>ale, numbered Ital. 450, that has a Libro degli<br />
21 For <strong>the</strong> history <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> evoluti<strong>on</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> allegory over time from <strong>the</strong>se bestiaries through vernacular<br />
versi<strong>on</strong>s, see Luigina Morini, Bestiari medievali (Torino: Giulio Einaudi editore, 1996), <strong>and</strong> Kenneth<br />
McKenzie, "Unpublished Manuscripts <strong>of</strong> Italian Bestiaries," PMLA 20 (1905).<br />
22 McKenzie discusses <strong>the</strong> dating <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>se manuscripts, 382 ff.