The problem of H Family Bestiaries

This study reexamines the origins, structure, and influence of the H Family bestiaries, a group of texts long misrepresented in scholarly discourse. Despite over a century of research on medieval bestiaries, the H Family remains poorly understood, shaped more by assumptions than systematic analysis. Persistent misconceptions, uncritically repeated in academic literature, have obscured its significance. This paper challenges these assumptions and introduces new evidence that reshapes the understanding of this textual tradition. The study makes three key contributions. First, it revises the dating of the H Family prototype, demonstrating that it was likely produced nearly a century earlier than previously thought, between 1107 and 1120 in France. This finding establishes the H Family as the second major bestiary tradition in Europe after the BIs Family, underscoring its role in the early transmission of bestiary knowledge.Second, it dispels the assumption that Dicta Chrysostomi existed outside the bestiary tradition. This study demonstrates that Dicta, alongside the BIs Family, played a pivotal role in shaping the H Family. Third, it overturns the belief that the near absence of bird chapters in H Family texts resulted from their frequent binding with Aviaries, suggesting a shared origin. Instead, this study establishes that the association was incidental and had no impact on the text itself. Additionally, this study resolves longstanding uncertainties regarding the relationship between the H Family and H-type BIs manuscripts, as well as the presence of dog and wolf chapters in certain BIs texts. It also reexamines textual overlaps between the H Family and the so-called Hofer Bestiary. Additionally, this study identifies several previously unknown Physiologus, BIs, and H Family bestiaries. It also reevaluates the H Family’s influence on later bestiary traditions, particularly its borrowing into one Third Family manuscript.