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Edward Topsell (''circa'' 1572 – 1625) was an English cleric and author best remembered for his
bestiary A bestiary () is a compendium of beasts. Originating in the ancient world, bestiaries were made popular in the Middle Ages in illustrated volumes that described various animals and even rocks. The natural history and illustration of each beas ...
. Topsell was born and educated in
Sevenoaks Sevenoaks is a town in Kent with a population of 29,506, situated south-east of London, England. Also classified as a civil parishes in England, civil parish, Sevenoaks is served by a commuter South Eastern Main Line, main line railway into Lo ...
, Kent. He attended
Christ's College, Cambridge Christ's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 250 graduate students. The c ...
, earned his B.A. and probably an M.A., as well, before beginning a career in the
Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...
. He served as the first rector of East Hoathly in
Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...
, and subsequently became the perpetual curate of St Botolph's, Aldersgate (1604). He was the author of books on religious and moral themes, including ''The Reward of Religion'' (1596) and ''Time's Lamentation'' (1599), among others. Topsell's ''The History of Four-footed Beasts'' (1607) and ''The History of Serpents'' (1608), both published by
William Jaggard William Jaggard ( – November 1623) was an Elizabethan era, Elizabethan and Jacobean era, Jacobean printer and publisher, best known for his connection with the texts of William Shakespeare, most notably the First Folio of Shakespeare's pl ...
, were reprinted together as ''The History of Four-Footed Beasts and Serpents'' in 1658. An 1100-page treatise on
zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...
, Topsell's work repeats ancient and fantastic legends about actual animals, as well as reports of mythical animals. Topsell, not a naturalist himself, relied on earlier authorities, most notably the '' Historiae animalium'' of the Swiss scholar
Conrad Gessner Conrad Gessner (; ; 26 March 1516 – 13 December 1565) was a Swiss physician, naturalist, bibliographer, and philologist. Born into a poor family in Zürich, Switzerland, his father and teachers quickly realised his talents and supported him t ...
. "I would not have the Reader," Topsell writes, "... imagine I have ... related all that is ever said of these Beasts, but only
hat A hat is a Headgear, head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorpor ...
is said by many." Topsell's work is remembered chiefly for its detailed and vigorous illustrations, including the famous image known as '' Dürer's Rhinoceros''. The illustrations have been widely reproduced in many contexts, and Topsell's bestiary has been reprinted in various modern editions, usually in greatly reduced form.


Superstitions about actual animals

Topsell, repeating ancient legends, assigns exotic attributes to actual animals. He writes, for example, that: *
True toad A true toad is any member of the family Bufonidae, in the order Anura (frogs and toads). This is the only family of anurans in which all members are known as toads, although some may be called frogs (such as harlequin frogs). The bufonids now ...
s have a toadstone in their heads that protects people from poison. * Weasels give birth through their ears. *
Lemming A lemming is a small rodent, usually found in or near the Arctic in tundra biomes. Lemmings form the subfamily Arvicolinae (also known as Microtinae) together with voles and muskrats, which form part of the superfamily Muroidea, which also inclu ...
s graze in the clouds. *
Elephants Elephants are the Largest and heaviest animals, largest living land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant (''Loxodonta africana''), the African forest elephant (''L. cyclotis''), and the Asian ele ...
worship the
sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...
and the
moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...
and become pregnant by chewing on
mandrake A mandrake is the root of a plant, historically derived either from plants of the genus '' Mandragora'' (in the family Solanaceae) found in the Mediterranean region, or from other species, such as '' Bryonia alba'' (the English mandrake, in the ...
. *
Apes Apes (collectively Hominoidea ) are a superfamily of Old World simians native to sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia (though they were more widespread in Africa, most of Asia, and Europe in prehistory, and counting humans are found glo ...
are terrified of
snails A snail is a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial molluscs, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name ''snail'' is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class Gas ...
. Of the
procreation Reproduction (or procreation or breeding) is the biological process by which new individual organisms – "offspring" – are produced from their "parent" or parents. There are two forms of reproduction: asexual and sexual. In asexual reprod ...
of mice, Topsell writes, it "is not only by copulation, but also nature worketh wonderfully in ingenduring them by earth."


Fantastic animals

Relying on the authority of "sundry learned men", Topsell includes the
Gorgon The Gorgons ( ; ), in Greek mythology, are three monstrous sisters, Stheno, Euryale, and Medusa, said to be the daughters of Phorcys and Ceto. They lived near their sisters the Graeae, and were able to turn anyone who looked at them to sto ...
, the
Sphinx A sphinx ( ; , ; or sphinges ) is a mythical creature with the head of a human, the body of a lion, and the wings of an eagle. In Culture of Greece, Greek tradition, the sphinx is a treacherous and merciless being with the head of a woman, th ...
, the
Manticore The manticore or mantichore (Latin: ''mantichorās''; reconstructed Old Persian: ; Modern ) is a legendary creature from ancient Persian mythology, similar to the Egyptian sphinx that proliferated in Western European medieval art as well. It ha ...
, the Lamia, the Winged
Dragon A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the Hi ...
and the
Unicorn The unicorn is a legendary creature that has been described since Classical antiquity, antiquity as a beast with a single large, pointed, spiraling horn (anatomy), horn projecting from its forehead. In European literature and art, the unico ...
. He does, however, express skepticism regarding the Hydra.


Other quotations

"It is as necessary, or rather more necessary, for most men to know how to take mice, than how to take elephants."(Auden & Kronenberger 1966)


Gallery from ''The History of the Four-footed Beasts and Serpents'', 1658

File:Megafauna1.jpg,
Rhinoceros A rhinoceros ( ; ; ; : rhinoceros or rhinoceroses), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant taxon, extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates (perissodactyls) in the family (biology), famil ...
woodcut File:OftheAfricanBugil-Cow.jpg, African Bugil-Cow woodcut File:Baboon-Tartarine.jpg,
Baboon Baboons are primates comprising the biology, genus ''Papio'', one of the 23 genera of Old World monkeys, in the family Cercopithecidae. There are six species of baboon: the hamadryas baboon, the Guinea baboon, the olive baboon, the yellow ba ...
-Tartarine woodcut File:Bloodhound-Eng.jpg,
Bloodhound The bloodhound is a large scent hound, originally bred for hunting deer, wild boar, rabbits, and since the Middle Ages, for tracking people. Believed to be descended from hounds once kept at the Abbey of Saint-Hubert, Belgium, in French it is ...
woodcut File:Sea-Horse.jpg,
Hippopotamus The hippopotamus (''Hippopotamus amphibius;'' ; : hippopotamuses), often shortened to hippo (: hippos), further qualified as the common hippopotamus, Nile hippopotamus and river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Sahar ...
woodcut File:Ofthetiger.jpg,
Tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is a large Felidae, cat and a member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Asia. It has a powerful, muscular body with a large head and paws, a long tail and orange fur with black, mostly vertical stripes. It is ...
woodcut


See also

* Apollonian and Dionysian


References


Bibliography

* Auden, W.H.; Kronenberger, Louis (1966), The Viking Book of Aphorisms, New York: Viking Press *


External links


Topsell’s Beasts
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20060909061151/http://www.library.rdg.ac.uk/colls/special/featureditem/topsell/ Page at University of Reading*175 images from Topsell's book, ''The History of Four-Footed Beasts and Serpents'', can be viewed at th
University of Houston Digital Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Topsell, Edward 1570s births 1625 deaths Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge 16th-century English naturalists 17th-century English naturalists 16th-century English writers 16th-century English male writers 17th-century English writers 17th-century English male writers 17th-century English Anglican priests People from Sevenoaks Parson-naturalists