The Beast Within offers a unique exploration of the use of and attitude towards animals in medieval society. Joyce E. Salisbury surveys the ways in which inhabitants of Western Europe thought of and dealt with their animals from the 4th to the 14th centuries. She explores the impact of Christianity on our views of animals, and demonstrates the rediscovery, in the 12th century, of the idea of an animal side to humans that made people start thinking of themselves as animals.