In Medieval times, from the 11th – 14th centuries, people believed in mythical and magical beasts. Monks made books called bestiaries, describing all the animals in the world. These books had descriptions of real and mythical animals, but the medieval people thought all the animals described were real.
Bestiaries were written by monks in rooms called Scriptoriums. They used a quill pen and ink, and wrote on paper called papyrus from Egypt, and later, on parchment or vellum. These books also had drawings of the animals. The books could take between three months to a few years to finish. Some of these books can be seen today in university libraries, museums, and private collections.
Bestiaries often contained descriptions of animals such as the camel, manticore, horse, bonnacon, unicorn, gryphon, crocodile, wolf, mermaid, panther, yale, serpent, hyena, satyr, elephant, tiger, phoenix and lion.
In medieval times people believed that lions ate and drank on different days, that they slept with their eyes open and were not afraid of anything except fire, the sound of wheels and white cockerels. If a lion was pursued, they believed it would hide its tracks by sweeping the ground behind it with its tail.
Check out Questionable Creatures: a bestiary to find out more.