Fossil Folklore in the Liber Monstrorum , Beowulf, and Medieval Scholarship

Bibliographic Data

ID8935005
AuthorsTimothy J Burbery (0009-0006-8932-8847, corresponding author)
Year2015
Volume126
Issue3
Pages317-335
Publication date2015-09-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueFolklore (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0015-587X • E-ISSN: 1469-8315
PublisherRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/0015587x.2015.1082817
OpenAlexW2289465676
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited21

For millennia, fossilized remains have been adduced as proof of various myths and legends, including those featuring giants. This article presents a possible instance of this phenomenon, recorded in the Liber Monstrorum de Diversus Generibus (Book of monsters of various sorts). The article argues that a medieval discovery of what were probably the bones of a woolly mammoth could have inspired the legend set forth in the Liber that King Hygelac was a giant. It also explores how this misidentification possibly influenced the composition of Beowulf, and how the methods of geomythology, which originated in folkloristics, may enrich ecocritical analyses of medieval literature and culture

Art · Folklore · Folkloristics · Legend · Literature · Mythology · Old Norse · Scholarship · Classics · Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies · History · Medieval Literature and History · Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices

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