The ''Liber Monstrorum'' (or ''Liber monstrorum de diversis generibus'') is a late seventh-or early eighth-century Anglo-Latin catalogue of marvellous creatures, which may be connected with the

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

scholar

Aldhelm Aldhelm ( ang, Ealdhelm, la, Aldhelmus Malmesberiensis) (c. 63925 May 709), Abbot of Malmesbury Abbey, Bishop of Sherborne, and a writer and scholar of Latin poetry, was born before the middle of the 7th century. He is said to have been the so ...

. It is transmitted in several manuscripts from the ninth and tenth centuries, but is often studied in connection with the more well known text ''

Beowulf ''Beowulf'' (; ang, Bēowulf ) is an Old English epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and most often translated works of Old English literature. The ...

'', since the ''Liber'' also mentions King

Hygelac Hygelac ( ang, Hygelāc; non, Hugleikr; gem-x-proto, Hugilaikaz; la, Ch(l)ochilaicus or ''Hugilaicus''; died 521) was a king of the Geats according to the poem ''Beowulf''. It is Hygelac's presence in the poem which has allowed scholars to ...

of the

Geats The Geats ( ; ang, gēatas ; non, gautar ; sv, götar ), sometimes called ''Goths'', were a large North Germanic tribe who inhabited ("land of the Geats") in modern southern Sweden from antiquity until the late Middle Ages. They are one of th ...

and that he was renowned for his large size. Some scholars argue that the ''Beowulf''-poet was in fact inspired by the ''Liber Monstrorum''.{{cite journal, first=Giovanni, last=Princi Braccini, title=Tra folclore germanico e latinita insulare. Presenze del ''Liber Monstrorum'' e della ''Cosmographia'' dello Pseudo-Etico nel ''Beowulf'' e nel cod. Nowell, journal=Studi Medievali, volume=series 3 25, year=1984, pages=681–720 The book contains extraordinary people, such as Hygelac, some clearly historical reports of actual peoples, such as the

Ethiopians Ethiopians are the native inhabitants of Ethiopia, as well as the global diaspora of Ethiopia. Ethiopians constitute several component ethnic groups, many of which are closely related to ethnic groups in neighboring Eritrea and other parts of ...

, and some obviously mythological reports, such as the

cyclopes In Greek mythology and later Roman mythology, the Cyclopes ( ; el, Κύκλωπες, ''Kýklōpes'', "Circle-eyes" or "Round-eyes"; singular Cyclops ; , ''Kýklōps'') are giant one-eyed creatures. Three groups of Cyclopes can be distinguish ...

and

centaur A centaur ( ; grc, κένταυρος, kéntauros; ), or occasionally hippocentaur, is a creature from Greek mythology with the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse. Centaurs are thought of in many Greek myths as being ...

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External links

* A translation, done by Andy Orchard, is available at https://web.archive.org/web/20050118082548/http://members.shaw.ca/sylviavolk/Beowulf3.htm * Lapidge, Michael. 'Beowulf, Aldhelm, the ''Liber Monstrorum'' and Wessex', ''Studi medievali'', 3rd ser., 23 (1982), 151-91 Latin texts of Anglo-Saxon England 7th-century Latin books 8th-century Latin books

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