The Medieval Church · c. 842–847
On the Nature of Things
De Rerum Naturis
Rabanus Maurus · c. 780 – 856
What it is
Twenty-two books rebuilding Isidore's Etymologies with a second layer added: after each thing is defined, Rabanus gives what it signifies in scripture, so that a reader looking up a lion, a stone, or a colour finds both the natural fact and the allegory.
Why it lasted
The reference book behind medieval symbolic reading. When a twelfth-century sculptor carves a pelican or a preacher expounds a mountain, this is where the meaning was looked up.
Scripture it works from
Where to read it
Public domain and free to read in full, though not held here. The archives below have it.
These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.
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