Circulation of information, ideas, news and their media - The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville and the English bestiaries: transformation and continuity

• Grant number: 24/05718-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: June 01, 2024
• End date: May 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - History - Ancient and Medieval History
• Principal Investigator: Ana Paula Torres Megiani
• Grantee: Muriel Araujo Lima Garcia
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 21/02912-3 - A connected history of the Middle Ages: communication and circulation from the Mediterranean Sea, AP.TEM

Abstract

Bestiaries are among the most lavishly illustrated manuscripts produced during the medieval period, although there are still few studies dedicated specifically to the images in these books or the relationship between image and text. Textually, the bestiaries share a number of common influences, including the writings of Isidore of Seville (especially book XII of his Etymologies). This project therefore aims to map the textual instances in which the Etymologies were used in the content of the bestiaries, and how this content is presented in terms of adaptation and transformation, as well as any direct references to Isidore of Seville (named as the author or figuratively in the images). In the figurative field, we will try to understand the difference in the presence of images in the two types of manuscripts, and how these images relate to the text that accompanies them.