History of Monsters. 38. Ulisse Aldrovandi.

Beyond the teeth, King Charles VII of France, according to Fulgosus, observed a corpse in the mountainous part of Narbonne Gaul, near Valence, whose dimensions reached thirty feet. Furthermore, Textor records that the corpse of Orion, measuring forty-six cubits, was found on a steep mountain in Crete. Additionally, the body of Pallas was found in Rome in the year 1039 (according to Vincent), and its height equaled the walls of the city.

Beyond this, according to the same author, Saint Malo, a British bishop who traveled to the Fortunate Isles for the sake of spreading the Christian faith, beheld and marveled at the buried body of a giant. He commanded the giant be restored to life against the laws of nature; this giant then taught the Saint much about the other world and, having been purified at the sacred font of baptism, lived a long life.

It is also told that in the time of Pope Paul III, there were certain human bones of monstrous size, and today in Venice, in the Church of the Cruciferi, a femur of Saint Christopher is preserved. Although it is somewhat broken in parts, it is of such great size that the truth of what is read concerning this man’s height can be confirmed by sight.

What more can be said? Here in Bologna, in the parish church of San Lorenzo di Porta Steri, a giant's corpse is buried. For when the Emperor Charles V came to Bologna to receive the imperial crown from the Supreme Pontiff Clement VII, he had in his retinue a servant of remarkable size; however, his height did not exceed seven feet. This man died of a lethal fever and was buried in the aforementioned church with an epitaph of this nature, which indicates the man’s stature, name, surname, and homeland:

FLANDERS HAS GIVEN, NOT AS A FABLE, BUT AS A FACT, ANTONIUS POPULIER, A GIANT SEVEN FEET TALL; A SOLDIER NOT AGAINST THE STARS, BUT AGAINST THE ENEMIES OF CHARLES V; STRUCK DOWN NOT BY A LIGHTNING BOLT, BUT BY A FEVER, BURIED NOT UNDER MOUNTAINS, BUT HERE, IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD’S SALVATION, 1530.

What has been written so far about the tall stature of men should also be understood to include tall women. Indeed, the author of the *Book on the Nature of Things* mentions a woman of remarkable height found in the western regions. We also read that in earlier centuries, under Justin the Thracian, a woman of immense bulk was brought from Cilicia; she stood an entire cubit taller than even the tallest men. Finally, Saint Augustine mentions a giantess who was seen in Rome to the greatest admiration of all, before the city was attacked and destroyed by the Goths.

Following the great height of men is the shortness of stature, a category that encompasses Pygmies and Dwarfs—that is, "homunculi" and "pumiliones." Looking toward this subject, Mantuan sang: "Among Pygmies, one is not ashamed to be short."

"Pygmies" refers to people who measure a *pygmē*; a *pygmē* is a measure spanning the distance from the elbow to the closed fist. Likewise, those with bodies close to the ground are called Dwarfs (*Nani*) and midgets (*pumiliones*). Indeed, the word *nanus* is derived from the privative *nē* and *anō*, meaning "to grow," because these sorts of little men neither increase in size nor grow further.

Furthermore, opinions vary among approved authors regarding the lives of Pygmies, just as they do with giants. Aristotle, for one, accepts the existence of Pygmies, and his testimony should be enough to grant them some credibility, as he was the greatest investigator of natural things. Pliny declares that Pygmies live in Thrace; it is well known that there are many cranes in this region—called "Strymonian" after the Strymon river in Thrace—with whom the Pygmies are said to engage in battle. Pomponius Mela records that Pygmies once inhabited interior Arabia. Indeed, Philostratus, while he considered many of the human monsters mentioned by Apollonius to be fables, made an exception for the Pygmies, writing that their nation is by no means imaginary. Olaus Magnus asserts that Pygmies exist. Among more recent authors, Jovius vouches for them, placing Pygmies beyond Japan in his account of the Muscovite embassy. Now too, the Portuguese have spread reports that there are many dwarfs in Tartary. Gemma Frisius tells of a Pygmy boat seen in the North, driven by storms to the kingdom of Norway. Odoric, in his account of Indian matters, reports that Pygmies