The long-term aim of the project is the compilation of the current knowledge about the presentation, meaning, and function of animals in the literature of medieval Europe in form of an alphabetically ordered encyclopaedia. As a consequence, the encyclopaedia aims to provide:

• Finding Aid: The encyclopaedia lists relevant text passages where the animal under discussion plays a central role. Furthermore, it refers the reader to already existing encyclopaedic articles and other relevant literature
• Research Overview: By summarizing publications on well-studied animals the encyclopaedia compiles, revises and resumes the current research on animals in medieval literature.
• Pioneering Work: the encyclopaedia serves as a pioneering work with respect to the less studied animals. This will probably be the case for about half the animals of the corpus.
• Impetus for further research on animals in literature: The encyclopaedia combines basic research with innovative approaches. The encyclopaedia thus addresses not only medievalists and literary scholars but also students of other fields of study, such as cultural history, history of art, history of the book, cultural anthropology, etc. The encyclopaedia is designed to give the reader a concise and sound overview of the presentation, meaning and function of animals in medieval literature.

Language: German/English/French