It was not exasperation…. It was anger for the relentless force of evolution that insisted on endowing man with increased powers without removing the vestigial vices that prevented him from using them.
Alfred Bester, The Demolished Man (1953)
Werewolves, the mystical, savage beasts of the night who people are taught to fear under the glow of a full moon. Personally, they are a favorite occult figure for me, having been born through the cursed arts and witchcraft to encourage man to be their most primal selves. Although, modern interpretations also consider lycanthropy an infectious disease not unlike vampirism – thank you, sir Morrowind! They are a staple in supernatural fiction and fantasy games, assumed to be a creation during the Medieval and/or Early Modern periods in and around Europe and the Mediterranean. The werewolf is far older than the 600 year history that is presented. In literature, the classical man-wolf date thousands of years B.C, though general werebeasts are indeed works of popular fiction in the last 300 years.
The Salem Witch Trials are a well-referenced account of a group of young girls accusing others in Salem Village of witchcraft and heresy, resulting in over 150 deaths by hysteric villagers in an attempt to save their children from bewitchment. However, 200 years before this, the Werewolf Trials were very little different, as official courts in Europe began convicting both men and women of becoming werewolves and mutilating the bodies of small children, something not chalked up to cannibalism at the time.
As practices in the occult rose in socio-normative traditional fears, punishments between witches and werewolves were equally as brutal. Serial killer Peter Stumpp was skinned, beheaded and flayed at the stake for supposed witchcraft, his head mounted with precision to a pole painstakingly carved as a wolf. His history is beautifully recounted in George Bores’ London Chapbook of 1590, describing Stumpp as being in league with the Devil to gain a form best suited for tearing and devouring. A sentiment too common in the Middle Ages. Bores writes:
And no sooner should he put off the same girdle, but presently he should appear in his former shape, according to the proportion of a man, as if he had never been changed.
Stubbe Peeter herewith was exceedingly well pleased, and the shape fitted his fancy and agreed best with his nature, being inclined to blood and cruelty. Therefore, satisfied with this strange and devilish gift, for that it was not troublesome nor great in carriage, but that it might be hidden in a small room, he proceeded to the execution of sundry most heinous and vile murders; for if any person displeased him, he would incontinent thirst for revenge, and no sooner should they or any of theirs walk abroad in the fields or about the city, but in the shape of a wolf he would presently encounter them, and never rest till he had plucked out their throats and tear their joints asunder.
George Bores’ London Chapbook of 1590
The drive to eliminate the occult was deemed both necessary and justified to maintain the survival of others, and to justify religious extremism and persecution, given that Christianity and communal determination were cornerstones of what may now be considered oppressive faith. During the 15th, 16th and parts of the 17th century, superstition was rampant and scapegoats – often beggars or immigrants – were tortured for confessions to murders regardless of the truth. That said, Stumpp reveled in his beastly form.
With his new form in hand, he found it easy to remain civil and human-shaped during the day, hunting when it suited his appetite, with unaware maidens and children his favorite targets due to the tarnishing of assumed innocence by the weaker or younger. Savagely, he would tear fetuses from their wombs, eating the hearts and vital organs before committing the unforgivable sin of rape on his own “damsel” of a daughter and morphing her into an unthinking concubine as well as his sister, begetting himself rage from God. This later included murdering his son in wolven form and tore apart his brain to eat, content that his appetite would be filled. At the behest of the Devil, Stumpp was noted to lust for any woman which sent him into a frenzy.
Bores offers the solemn warning to those who would bewitch their fellow man:
This, Gentle Reader, have I set down the true discourse of this wicked man Stub Peeter, which I desire to be a warning to all sorcerers and witches, which unlawfully follow their own devilish imagination to the utter ruin and destruction of their souls eternally, from which wicked and damnable practice, I beseech God keep all good men, and from the cruelty of their wicked hearts. Amen.
ibid
Not unlike modern interpretations of the werewolf, the commonality with all that is lycan is the association with black magics. But it didn’t begin that way.
Lord Guide Us, Far be From the Sin: Origins of the Werewolf
If the werewolf is not new, where did it come from? The epic literature older than dirt, The Epic of Gilgamesh offers us the earliest example of primal transformations. This werewolf was no different than a normal wolf, built to destroy as an affront. The modern werewolf (not the twilight type, pls, think Elder Scrolls) appeared later in Ancient Greek and Roman histories, poems and philosophical musics.
Beginning with the Neuri tribe, a Western Baltic group detailed by Herodotus, tells the story of a voracious group of men capable of shifting into wolves over the course of several days. With the tribe being located in Scythia, now Russia, the furs were grown in specific patterns to adapt to the permafrost with the quadruped form aiding in hunting. Although, these “wolf shapes” may have been tribesmen disguising themselves as wolves to hunt, or protect themselves and probably did not transform literally into wolves.
Later Arcadian history tells a definitive story of Lycaon, the mythical king described as the protector-become-tyrant remembered best for raising the ire of Lycean Zeus (“Wolf Zeus”). For etyomological analysis, the term “Lycan” in lycanthropy is derived from Lycaon, in turn lykos, the “wolf”. In the Latin transcripts of the Metamorphoses and the Fabulae, trademark werewolf behavior of ferocity, murder and heresy is retold. Fabulae tells this story through the plight of Lycaon’s youngest son, having been sacrificed to lead an affront against the chief divine Zeus. This affront lacked power, but was imbibed with trickery as Zeus was foiled into eating Lycaon’s youngest son, not unlike Cronus’ own trickery from Zeus into consuming the potion of herbs to release the other Olympian Gods. Clockwork came Zeus’ rage, killing the remainder of Lycaeon’s sons with his constructed lightning and cursing Lycaeon himself to assume the wolf form as punishment.
Ovid’s Metamorphoses adds in a passage, Lycaon mutilating the a man while in wolf form, but received consequences. In fact, Ovid’s version painstakingly describes the act of transformation in a way we understand best through visual cues on television (thanks Wolfman/Vampire Diaries). The behavior of the wolf overtaking Lycaon’s humanity is told to destroy his form and rebuild it anew:
…He tried to speak, but his voice broke into
an echoing howl. His ravening soul infected his jaws;
his murderous longings were turned on the cattle; he still was possessed
by bloodlust. His garments were changed to a shaggy coat and his arms
into legs. He was now transformed into a wolf…Terrified, he fled and coming to the silence of the countryside
Ovid, Metamorphoses; Book 1, line 199-246
he wailed and tried to speak in vain;
his mouth foamed, and with lust for his usual slaughter
he turned upon the flocks and now revels in blood.
is clothes turn to fur, his arms to legs;
he becomes a wold and keeps the traces of his old form;
there is the same grayness, the same image of ferocity.
This is marked not as the first known passage of the werewolf in Western literature, but the oldest surviving version up to interpretation. While we have it here before us, it should be noted that Lycaon is depicted as an atheistic figure in the Metamorphoses, but not in Hesiod’s Astronomica, where he is a devout priest of the Roman god Jupiter. In Hesiod’s version, human sacrifice was commonplace, with the highest quality humans served to the gods for favor and piety. Ovid’s version instead paints Lycaon and his family as defilers and heretics as motive for Zeus’ punishment, which creates a tension between Ovid and his acceptance of other non-affiliated religions so as to not mention the delicate reasons for the punishment and push forward character development.
On Myth and Biology
The story of a mythical king becoming a wolf may by the first recorded, but later stories often had peasants and minority groups becoming wolves than nobility. Further historical analysis from Karl Bartsch supports Herodotus’ claim of transformation using pelts in his Märchen und Gebräuche aus Meklenburg text, stating that men would often wear wolf pelts as a disguise to attack farmers and cattle. These assailants were also put to trial around 1682 and, like Peter Stubbe, were put to death for heresy, murder and defiling of natural order. Such stories are superbly restored and retold in University of Pittsburgh’s Dr. D.L. Ashliman’s personal website for folklore, hosting a compendium of stories from the Middle Ages, including one of the surviving stories of women and witches shifting into werewolves for disguises or desperation and NOT through curses.
Such surviving stories diverge from the understanding that medical communities and scientists were to separate the man from beast as they would attempt for violence and homosexuality in Medieval ages. This being due to bigotry via science as the justification. However, the werewolf of old is ancient, far beyond the modern vampire (look out for a rant on them too!). So long as men and curses exist, so too does the biological link exist between man and murder, man and animal.
To Serve in Good Faith
Werewolves, described as beasts afflicted with a disease nowadays, were only considered cursed in the Early Modern period no different than one would undergo vampirism. Would you believe me if I told you that werewolves were once holy defenders of God, protecting others and on occasion playing Robin Hood? Let me explain. In fact, I will give two examples from reality and fiction: Thies of Kaltenbrun, and Bisclarvet by Marie de France.
To begin with the 1100’s in the Early Modern Period, Marie de France wrote a collection of “lais” – stories of Breton origin – many of which had supernatural elements to them. “Bisclavret,” stands as a recent favorite of mine (seriously recent, I only discovered this text some time ago!). It tells the story of a nobleman who is afflicted with the lycans’ curse. De France does share that there are many other stories of werewolves, so tales of these creatures were, out there (see Ashliman’s reference below). Unfortunately for Bisclavret, his wife tricks him into revealing his secret, and she uses it against him, stranding him in wolf form as she runs off with a strapping young knight. Yet, the King does take in Bisclavret, offer him lodging and even offers him a place as his personal knight/bodyguard while in werewolf form due to his bestial strength. The King is later excited to see the baron in his original human form, demonstrating a shared bond between the two nobles no matter the shape or form. As for the wife, she does get her just desserts in the end, when the baron bites her nose off in wolf form and she is doomed to birth children without a nose as a reminder of her treachery and adultery against her noble husband. You guessed it, that’s grounds for death.
…pretty much everything was grounds for death in the Early Modern Period if you didn’t live to the ripe old age of 40. Anyway, onto the real life case.
1691. Not a pretty year to be anything but a cognitively sound human being. A court martialed session in Latvia occurred for Theis (Thiess?) of Kaltenbrun on account of a church theft, a crime punishable by death in a world ruled by theology and order. Thies was accused of being in league with the devil. No surprise there. What is a surprise is Theis’ admission of being a werewolf, suppressed by his own will. In an inane act of storytelling, Thies describes his trip to the bowels of hell with a werewolf pack where he broke the bridge of his nose to retrieve grains for peasants and the hungry. Yet, Thies convinces the court that lycanthropy should be considered separated from demonism and rather consider humans shifting into wolves as a matter of adaption and evolution (concepts foreign to the courts). Repeated stories of lycanthropy unnerved the court, as most members of the tribunal acknowledged Thies as a sane man, intelligent and reasonable who had beforehand not broken the law. The admission and stories confused them to no end, holding their convictions of lycanthropy being an offshoot of Satanism. This prompted Thies to raise a point, separating himself from the likes of Peter Stubbe – above – and cementing the difference between the werewolves and Satanists; Satanists were sent to hell, Werewolves could only reach hell to reclaim nourishment for mortals. Of course, this did not work and he was quickly banished despite his known reputation as a local healer and a Christian; his works were considered sacrilegious and did not constitute faithfulness to the good word. Later historical accounts from Carlo Ginzburg argued that Thies’ actions were representative of benandanti shaman beliefs, a sect of Christian faith which would have proven his legitimacy as a Christian before his exile.
Let it be known henceforth that werewolves were not considered evil by all Christians. Let’s look at Saint Christopher, who we understand as the “Christ-bearer”.
Whoever would have guessed that St. Christopher, before his tenure as a convert to Christianity in the first A.D. centuries, originally had an animalistic nature described as a dog headed man who left his bestial form behind in favor of gaining speech and followers to uphold truth, health and safety for the people. Of course, overtime the belief that werewolves could double as shamans, healers, preachers and knights was snuffed out of history and textbooks and derided as cursed monsters. Converting everyone he came into contact with, St. Christopher is known as a respectable saint of a practically separate species – cynocephalus – and was still martyred for his beliefs and actions. In defense of the Church for a moment, the cynocephalus and werewolves were known as cannibals, something today is still unsavory and not the teen romance we depict today. Millions pray to Saint Christopher today, unaware that this saint catapulted the idea of the werewolf.
The wolf-man in Early Modern Period texts are the heroes, using their beastly forms to bring good and aid to others. So shameful is it that as time passed, the Catholic Church denounced werewolves with lack of benevolence and would remain separated from historical factoids. Which obviously failed if this story remains in circulation. But for its time, an era where very few were educated and even less could read soundly, gone were the stories of Bisclarvet, Thies and even Ossory in favor of strengthening the faith among all. post 1700 and the concrete hold of the Church in the Western world, those who believed in the werewolf were either Satanists or considered clinically insane who must be put down.
Lastly for this point, there have been at least four other Catholic/Christian saints associated with the werewolf, one notable here:
Lycanthropy is so closely associated with Christianity and Greek mythology, so why is it suppressed? Occult figures – some of them anyway – ought to be separated from the stigma that made them vicious creatures of the night, and normalized as important figures in mythology to assist shaping our understanding even of others like witches and fairies. Not that it will ever happen, but one can dream.
Bestial they may be, but plagues upon our existence? No.
Ending Remarks
This concludes the Rapid Fire rant on werewolves. Thanks for reading this wild train of incoherence. I hope to return to these topics in due time as I restructure my upcoming Early Modern English course to account for the occult in 1100- 1660. Next up, Vampires.
Fun times ahead! Be well, be safe.
Sincerely,
N
Works Cited:
Ashliman, D. L. Folktexts: A Library of Folktales, Folklore, Fairy Tales, and Mythology. Personal website. 2000. Selected texts hyperlinked.
Cossiers, Jan. (1600–1671), Jupiter and Lycaon (c 1640), oil on canvas, 120 × 115 cm, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid. Wikimedia Commons.
Bartsch, Karl. Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche aus Meklenburg (Wien: Wilhelm Braumüller, 1879), v. 1, no. 185, pp. 150-151.
Ginzburg, Carlo (1983) [1966]. The Night Battles: Witchcraft and Agrarian Cults in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries. John and Anne Tedeschi (translators). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press
Goltzius, Hendrik. (1558–1617), Lycaon Transformed into a Wolf (1589), engraving (book 1, plate 9), 17.15 x 25.4 cm, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA. Wikimedia Commons
Lyncker, Karl. Deutsche Sagen und Sitten in hessischen Gauen, (Cassel: Verlag von Oswald Bertram, 1854), no. 164, p. 108
Ovid, 43 B.C.-17 A.D. or 18 A.D. Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Dallas, Tex. :Spring Publications, 1989.
Summers, Montague. The Werewolf (New York: E. P. Dutton & Company, 1934), pp. 253-259.