Liber Monstrorum

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The Liber Monstrorum (or Liber monstrorum de diversis generibus) is a late seventh-or early eighth-century Anglo-Latin catalogue of marvellous creatures,{{cite book|first=Andy|last=Orchard|authorlink=Andy Orchard|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hU8DdkwXbDEC&pg=PA86|title=Pride and prodigies: studies in the monsters of the Beowulf-manuscript|publisher=U of Toronto P |orig-year=1995 |year=2003|isbn=9780802085832 |page=86}} which may be connected with the Anglo-Saxon scholar Aldhelm. It is transmitted in several manuscripts from the ninth and tenth centuries, but is often studied in connection with the better-known text Beowulf, since the Liber also mentions King Hygelac of the Geats and that he was renowned for his large size. Some scholars argue that the Beowulf-poet was in fact inspired by the Liber Monstrorum.{{cite journal|first=Giovanni|last=Princi Braccini|title=Tra folclore germanico e latinita insulare. Presenze del Liber Monstrorum e della Cosmographia dello Pseudo-Etico nel Beowulf e nel cod. Nowell|journal=Studi Medievali|volume=series 3 25|year=1984|pages=681–720}} The book contains extraordinary people, such as Hygelac; some clearly historical reports of actual peoples, such as the Ethiopians; and some obviously mythological reports, such as the cyclopes and centaurs.