Produced: France (Abbaye de Saint-Amand), 13th century

Language: Latin

Author: Thomas de Cantimpré
Illustrator: 
Scribe: 

Binding: 
Media: Parchment
Script: 

Folios: 198  Height: 23 cm   Width: 15.6 cm

Manuscript type: Bestiary

Location: Bibliothèque Municipale de Valenciennes, Valenciennes, France

Family: First; H

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The Liber de natura rerum. Begins: "Naturas rerum in diversis actorum scriptis late per orbem sparsas inveniens...".

Color initials, some of gold; small paintings in the decorated letters; many small painted illustrations.

This richly illustrated manuscript includes the twenty books of the encyclopaedia written about 1240 by the Dominican Thomas de Cantimpré. It is a compilation of all knowledge of the time on natural science, and draws on sources as varied as Isidore of Seville, Aristotle, Pliny the Elder, and the Physiologus. The artist does not appear to have imitated a model, but rather followed the indications which were written in the margin, in French, by the head of workshop.

Digital facsimiles: Bibliothèque Municipale de Valenciennes (partial)