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Crossing paths in the Middle Ages: the Physiologus in Iceland - Lear

Crossing paths in the Middle Ages: the Physiologus in Iceland - Lear

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VITTORIA DOLCETTI CORAZZA<br />

<strong>the</strong> f<strong>in</strong>al biblical references have been kept s<strong>in</strong>ce <strong>the</strong>y exhort to good behaviour.<br />

Thus <strong>the</strong> two <strong>Iceland</strong>ic Physiologi, <strong>in</strong> which tradition and <strong>in</strong>novation<br />

m<strong>in</strong>gle profoundly with each o<strong>the</strong>r, became <strong>in</strong>dispensable books for <strong>the</strong> local<br />

clergy <strong>in</strong> many occasions: <strong>the</strong>y may be supposed to have been used for <strong>in</strong>dividual<br />

meditation, as schoolbooks for <strong>in</strong>struct<strong>in</strong>g novices, for be<strong>in</strong>g read<br />

aloud to an audience of monks and especially for prepar<strong>in</strong>g sermons for<br />

which <strong>the</strong>ir texts and illustrations provided a good deal of material. 52<br />

52<br />

For similar conclusions see <strong>the</strong> analysis of <strong>the</strong> chapter deal<strong>in</strong>g with <strong>the</strong> kite (<strong>Physiologus</strong> B<br />

16) by Faraci (1990: 108-126).<br />

240

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