Werewolves in the Middle Ages

We've covered the walking dead, and now, we'll look at another horror that stalked the medieval night: the man-wolf, the werewolf. Many medieval people believed in werewolves, although learned churchmen doubted their existence. And in the panic of the early modern witch hunts, people often came to suspect their neighbors of being this horrible creature that preyed on human flesh.

Further Reading

Primary Sources

Marie de France. The Lais of Marie de France: Text and Translation, edited and translated by Claire Waters. Peterborough, Ontario: Broadview, 2018.

These lais include the werewolf of Bisclavret, but they're all worth reading. They have a somewhat otherworldly quality to them, something almost, well, elvish. They also include Lanval, which I mentioned last season.

Secondary Sources

de Blécourt, Willem, ed. Werewolf Histories. New York and Longon: Palgrave McMillan, 2015.

A collection of scholarly essays on the history of the werewolf in European thought, from ancient times to the present.

Bynum, Caroline Walker. Metamorphosis and Identity. New York: Zone Books, 2001.

A scholarly examination of how Europeans of the period around the twelfth and thirteenth centuries dealt with the issue of transformation and whether it was possible. I used her translation of Gerald of Wales's account of the werewolf.

Ginzberg, Carlo, and Bruce Lincoln. Old Thiess, a Livonian Werewolf: A Classic Case in Comparative Perspective. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2020.

A deep dive into the trial of Thiess of Kaltenbrun, the Livonian werewolf. Includes a translation of the transcript of his trial, as well as a look at how Thiess's story might connect to deeper shamanistic roots in the Baltic.

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