What is the bonnacon?
A bull-like beast that escapes pursuers by expelling burning excrement, according to the Aberdeen Bestiary, folio 12r.
Source status
This profile follows one manuscript account, not a zoological identification or a synthesis of versions. The anonymous manuscript was made in England around 1200. The edition used is the University of Aberdeen's digital facsimile, transcription and translation; Jane Geddes is credited as editor and commentator in the digitisation project record. The consulted folio does not name its translator or specify a translation publication date.
- record type
- creature
- tradition
- Medieval Latin bestiary tradition in England
- period
- Circa 1200
- source scope
- Anonymous Aberdeen Bestiary, Aberdeen University Library MS 24, circa 1200, folio 12r, De bonnacon; University of Aberdeen digital transcription and English translation.
Source account and appearance
The beast has a bull's head and body and a horse-like mane. Its curled horns cannot wound an attacker. Flight and the heat of its discharge supply its defence. The translation describes fumes travelling over “three acres”; this wording should not become a precise modern range. Folio 12r.
Source realm
The account places it in Asia without a narrower habitat. This is the manuscript's geography, not evidence of modern distribution. Folio 12r.
The manuscript illustration
The manuscript illustration adds a detail absent from the accompanying creature account: a hunter uses a shield for protection. The edition's commentary notes that this defence occurs in other texts, but not in the passage on this folio. It also identifies the hunter's axe extending outside the picture frame and overlapping the writing. These details distinguish the illustrated encounter from the description of the beast's body and escape. The shield belongs to the image's presentation of pursuit; it should not be reported as advice given by this manuscript's prose. Folio 12r, commentary.
Interpretive limits
The adjacent hyena passage concerns another animal. Its magical properties must not be transferred to the bonnacon. Folio 12r.
Bibliography
- Anonymous. Aberdeen Bestiary, MS 24, circa 1200, folio 12r, De bonnacon. University of Aberdeen digital edition, transcription and English translation; undated web edition.
- University of Manchester. The Aberdeen Bestiary, Research Explorer project record. Manuscript dating and digital-edition responsibilities; project dates 2015.