"At the beginning of the ninth century, the caliph of Baghdad sent an extraordinary gift to Emperor Charlemagne: an elephant named Abul-Abbas. The kings were very happy - but Abul-Abbas was not!What must it have been like to travel with a homesick elephant and his grumpy companion, Isaac? Go on a medieval adventure with illustrations inspired by historic manuscripts and treasures."

While historiography is dominated by attempts that try to standardize and de-individualize the behavior of animals, history proves to be littered with records of the exceptional lives of unusual animals. This book introduces animal biography as an approach to the re-framing of animals as both objects of knowledge as well as subjects of individual lives. Taking an interdisciplinary perspective and bringing together scholars from, among others, literary, historical and cultural studies, the texts collected in this volume seek to refine animal biography as a research method and framework to studying, capturing, representing and acknowledging animal others as individuals. From Heini Hediger’s biting monitor, Hachikō and Murr to celluloid ape Caesar and the mourning of Topsy’s gruesome death, the authors discuss how animal biographies are discovered and explored through connections with humans that can be traced in archives, ethological fieldwork and novels, and probe the means of constructing animal biographies from taxidermy to film, literature and social media. Thus, they invite deeper conversations with socio-political and cultural contexts that allow animal biographies to provide narratives that reach beyond individual life stories, while experimenting with particular forms of animal biographies that might trigger animal activism and concerns for animal well-being, spur historical interest and enrich the literary imagination.

Amidst the chaos and violence of Europe in the eighth century, Charlemagne became king of the Franks and established a large empire. As Charlemange's power grew, so did the stories attached to his name. This book explores the myths and legends of the great king Charlemagne, from the stories about his mother, Bertha Bigfoot, and his youthful adventures with the thief, Basin, to his fantastical journeys to Jerusalem and Constantinople. It also retells the stories of his most famous knights, the Paladins. These brave warriors were all heroes in their own right, and included many famous names such as Roland, Ogier the Dane, Oliver, Archbishop Turpin, and Guy of Burgundy. Together with his Paladins, Charlemagne established a court to rival Camelot and led the Christian kingdoms of Europe in their ongoing struggles with the armies of the East. Although this great ruler eventually passed away, quietly in his bed, the legends say that he now sits on his golden throne beneath the mountain, waiting until the need of his people calls him forth again.

Charlemagne's daughter must call on her own magic and the power of a young Breton and a special elephant to save her father from a deadly Byzantine spell.

Elephants have fought in human armies for more than three thousand years. This is the largely forgotten tale of the credit they deserve and the sacrifices they endured.

During the First World War, President Woodrow Wilson bought a flock of sheep to trim the White House grounds to save money on groundskeeping. One of the sheep, called Old Ike, even became a public phenomenon for his ornery disposition and his penchant for chewing tobacco. Included here are hundreds of well-researched accounts of the fascinating animals that have played vital roles throughout history. Featured animals include Able, who flew on a space mission; Bayou, Salvador Dali's ocelot companion; and G.I. Joe, a pigeon who saved more than 100 people during World War II. These and many other stories detail the unexpected contributions of our animal companions in settings of war, space travel, stage and screen. The book is organized alphabetically by the given name of each animal, and entries feature compelling factual descriptions in a storytelling format.

This collection explores multiple artefactual, visual, textual and conceptual adaptations, developments and exchanges across the medieval world in the context of their contemporary and subsequent re-appropriations.