On the borders of humanity

Abstract

The Liber de natura rerum is a thirteenth-century encyclopedia that reflects the naturalistic interests of its author, the Dominican friar Thomas of Cantimpré (ca.1200/ 01–ca.1270/ 72). Despite his realistic focus, Thomas was a man of his time and he introduced elements in his work that may seem bizarre to a modern reader. The purpose of this article is twofold. Firstly, it analyses how the Friar treats these different elements, whether they were widespread in thirteenth-century culture (e.g. Amazons, wild men, mermaids, etc.) or discussed for the first time by the Thomas himself (e.g. giants of Vienna, wolf-girl of Burgundy, etc.). Secondly, the paper highlights some very interesting and new aspects of Thomas’s work that shed light on his way of thinking and on his encyclopedia.