Reading Nature in the Early Middle Ages

Anna Dorofeeva points out in her important first monograph, Reading Nature in the Early Middle Ages, this emphasis on scholastic writing not only sidelines noninstitutional, or "folk," knowledges but also occludes the innovations of writers in previous centuries, who are often dismissed as mere compilers of preexisting ideas. Dorofeeva argues that compilation—whether within a single text or in the sense of producing a composite manuscript—was itself an intellectual and creative exercise. Her evidence consists largely of meticulous studies of manuscripts containing the Latin Physiologus, a collection of short descriptions of animals, plants, and stones that influenced later medieval bestiaries. The result is a compelling narrative that treats manuscript studies as integral to the history of knowledge. [...]

[R]readers will appreciate Dorofeeva's ability to comprehensibly summarize large areas of scholarship. Granted, her primary audience will likely be scholars of early medieval Europe, but her rigorous codicological and paleographical analyses lay crucial groundwork for studies of the text's reception in later centuries as well. Portions of Reading Nature, such as the panoramic first chapter, may even interest environmental humanists concentrating on other periods. This is an important book for anyone invested in premodern views of nature, ordinary manuscripts, and the political agendas that influenced both.

-- Aylin Malcolm * Manuscript Studies: A Journal of the Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies 10, no. 1 (Spring 2026): 247-50, https://doi.org/10.1353/mns.2025.a9655