■ As teacher of my native tongue, Dutch I am very interested in not only the literature of the Middle Ages, but also in antique and medieval herpetology. I am a keeper of a modest number of snakes myself: a couple of Zamenis persica. Moreover I am a member of the European Snake Society and editor of the herpetological magazine of this Society, Litteratura Serpentium. In April 2001 I took my PhD at the Rijksuniversiteit Leiden. My thesis, Dat seste boec van serpenten deals with the snake part of the magnificent London Manuscript of Jacob van Maerlant's famous bestiary Der naturen bloeme (±1270). See the Summary for an extensive description of my investigations. My thesis has been published by Verloren in Hilversum, ISBN 90-6550-646-2. Its price: € 38,-. In 1993 I have published Van serpenten met venine, a predecessor of my thesis. This study has also been published by Verloren in Hilversum, ISBN 90-6556-014-6, € 22,-.

It looks like Maerlant has written a lot of nonsens about snakes, but a closer look on this material has pointed out that old naturalists had made some clear observations about snakes, observations they have written down. These books had to be copied by professional copiists who hadn't the slightest ideas of real snakes. So it is obvious that all kinds of mistakes, while copiing a book, could have strange snakes as a result, f.e. the famous basilisc, the twoheaded snake that is called 'ansibena', the dragon, the boa etc. Or snakes could get strange properties, f.e. the peculiar fertilization of the vipera.

There were no explanations for the strange properties of the ancient serpents, so I had to search for them myself. Of course the serpents themselves could give no answers to the extreme disproportions between Maerlant's information and the properties modern herpetologists have discovered during the last centuries. It became obvious that men's way of looking to nature has radically changed. In the Middle Ages, zoology was not a science sui generis with a scientific way to investigate things. What one knew about animals, could be read in books. These books have been written by auctores who had not made investigations themselves. Nevertheless the autority of these auctores was quite unassailable.

Animals were not written about for their own sake, they also became provided with human properties. In this way animals got symbolic properties. They also could  be the motive to create moralistic reflections. It was no problem at all that this early menagery was the home of fabelouss of mythic species.

In my thesis I have investigated the explanations for all these strange properties. It pointed out to be a fascinating quest, that gave me some answers. But many questions remained unanswered. In the following part have written down <some questions>. If anyone know an answer, I would be much oblighed to hear from him of her.

Click here for a summary.
Also online: bibliography.