After many centuries, the name Pierre was rescued from oblivion in the mid-19th century thanks to the work of Father Charles Cahier. By publishing his important dossier on Latin and French bestiaries in his Mélanges d’archéologie, d’histoire et de littérature, Father Cahier revived the man he nicknamed “Pierre le Picard” and whom we know, since the note dedicated to him by Gaston Paris, under the name Pierre de Beauvais. And it is precisely the “Long Version” of the Bestiary, the version that will be discussed here, that Father Cahier made known to the scholarly community. From the outset, therefore, the name Pierre is inextricably linked to this version of the work. Now, there are two very distinct versions of Pierre de Beauvais's Bestiaire: one, called the "Short Version," which contains thirty-eight chapters, and the other, the "Long Version," which contains seventy-two. With rare exceptions, critics have been inclined to believe that the Short Version, which remains very close to the Latin Physiologus both in the number and in the order and content of the chapters, was written first. A careful study of the two versions confirms this hypothesis: the combined evidence of internal and external clues leaves no room for doubt. In passing from the Short Version to the Long Version, the text was completely reworked: not only did thirty-four new chapters appear, but also the order and content of the original thirty-eight chapters were often modified. - [Author]

Language: French