Lauchert, F. Geschichte des Physiologus. Strassburg, 1889.
In the popular mediæval epic, "Reynard the Fox," animals, very realistically portrayed, yet with satirical symbolism, are the actors in a story full of interest to the modern reader. This is accessible in the following English versions:
Caxton, W. Reynard the Fox. Percy Society, Vol. XII. London.
Morley, H. Early English Prose Romances. E. P. Dutton and Company, New York, 1912.
Jacobs, J. The Most Delectable History of Reynard the Fox. Macmillan and Company, London, 1895.
LAPIDARY
Selections from Lapidaries
Marbodus, Bishop of Rennes in the twelfth century, was the author of the lapidary which was best known during the Middle Ages. This book, called "De Gemmis," was written in Latin verse, and gives the strange superstitions about the virtues and efficacies of sixty stones. Many of these stones are now unknown to us. There was so much interest in this lapidary that it was frequently translated into French, both in verse form and in prose, and was popular in England as well as in France. The traditions about stones developed two sorts of treatise: one in which the purely pagan beliefs are represented, as they were handed down by Aristotle, Pliny, Marbodus, and others; and a second in which the pagan superstitions are inwrought with Christian teachings and associated with Scriptural passages. In translating Marbodus, a Christian clerk would add and alter material in such a way as to impress religious symbolisms upon his readers, through the popular interest in all the lore of stones.
Information regarding the lapidaries, as well as editions of various French and other lapidaries, will be found in the following books:
Pannier, L. Les Lapidaires français du moyen-âge des XIIe, XIIIe, et XIVe siècles. Paris, 1882.