Legends of werewolves have been part of European culture ever since pagan times.
When we think of werewolves today, we think of people cursed with lycanthropy; doomed to transform when the moon is full. In this form they gain bestial strength and ferocity but are utterly consumed by a violent bloodlust. They even gain supernatural protection from physical harm, thwarted only by silver. This is the modern werewolf. But this is not quite how werewolves were viewed in the Middle Ages.
So, how did people in medieval times perceive werewolves? What kind of creatures did people imagine them to be? And what stories did people tell of them?
Wolves in Medieval Europe
Of course to understand the werewolf, we first need to consider the wolf.
Wolves were far more prevalent in medieval Europe than today. In the wild, Eurasian wolves are pack hunters, typically preying on animals such as deer, moose and wild boar. However, they are opportunistic, taking smaller prey such as rabbits, fish and frogs when needs must and even attacking humans when the opportunity presents. Such attacks, fortunately, are quite rare. Wolves usually avoid people, since humans are far more dangerous than their favoured prey. Across European history, France recorded the highest number of historic wolf attacks. But even here the number of attacks between 1400 and 1918 averaged only 10 incidents a year.
Attacks on livestock such as sheep, goats and cattle are a different matter. Such animals make ideal prey for a wolf pack.
The threat posed by wolves to livestock, coupled with rare attacks on humans, led to them being hunted extensively throughout the Middle Ages. By the Norman Conquest, southern England was largely wolf free. By the end of the Middle Ages, wolves were effectively extinct in England.
Wolves remained more numerous on the continent. They even thrived in times of war due to a combination of human depopulation, the cessation of hunting and easy access to battlefield carrion.
The Ravening Wolf
Rare as they were, tales of savage attacks by wolves served to inspire fear of the animals and exaggerated their reputation as vicious predators.
In 1271, in Franconia, a pack of rabid wolves attacked humans and livestock, resulting in 30 human deaths. The savage nature of these attacks, coupled with madness induced by rabies infection, caused panic.
It has been suggested by some that rabies infections of humans from wolf attacks may have inspired werewolf legends. After all, we are dealing with a situation where a human is bitten by a wolf and thereby transformed into a ravening beast.
Could rabies, then, have contributed to the development of werewolf myths? Perhaps. That said, throughout the Middle Ages, people were far more likely to become infected from a dog bite than a wolf attack.
Ancient Shapeshifters
Shapeshifting stories have a long history in Europe. The earliest go all the way back to classical times. Most of these stories do not relate specifically to wolves. The Greek god Zeus, for example, transformed himself into a bull, a swan, an ant, a serpent and even a shower of gold.
However, if we look for them, we can easily find early tales of wolf-men from ancient history. Many of these would have been known in medieval times, especially amongst Europe’s elite, who were well educated in classical literature.
One of the earliest tales is found in Herodotus’ Histories, written in the mid-fifth century BC. Herodotus claims that a people called the Neuri dwelt in the land to the north of the Black and Caspian seas. The Neuri practiced sorcery and were able to use magic to transform into wolves for a few days each year.
Ovid’s Metamorphoses includes the grisly tale of King Lycaon of Arcadia. Lycaon was an impious tyrant who refused to honour the gods. He even dared to cook and serve human flesh at a banquet. Outraged at his barbarism, Jupiter destroyed his house with fire and transformed him into a savage wolf. Lycaon was thenceforth doomed to wander the wilds, filled with a manic blood lust.
Sorcery and Curses
In the case of the Neuri, the source of their lycanthropy was sorcery. For Lycaon, it was a curse, brought down on him by divine wrath.
Other early tales of lycanthropy also attribute the condition to similar causes.
Virgil’s Eclogues mention a man called Moeris, who used various herbs and poisons to achieve a lycanthropic transformation. Likewise, Augustine of Hippo, writing in the early C5th AD, mentions that sorcerers used magic to transform themselves into wolves.
Such beliefs were not only present in the classical world but also in early Celtic writing. In the Irish myth, Cóir Anmann, we are told of a warrior named Laignech with lycanthropic powers. Laignech was able to shift into wolf form, seemingly at will; an ability which his descendants supposedly inherited.
In the Welsh tale of Math Son of Mathonwy, magic is used to transform Gwydion and Gilfaethwy into various animals including wolves. In wolf form they have a son Bleiddwn who is born a wolf-man. For this tale, wolf transformation is achieved by means of a magic wand. These sorcerous transformations are imposed on Gwydion and Gilfaethwy as form of curse, in punishment for past crimes.
Wolves of the North
In the early Middle Ages, few cultures featured the wolf as prominently as the pagan Norse.
Odin himself was served by two loyal wolf attendants – Freki and Geri. The animals accompany their master at court and are fed on scraps from his table. They were seen as loyal companions of the All-Father and, as such, much revered.
However, wolves could also be seen as highly destructive and dangerous. The apocalyptic Age of Ragnarök will be heralded in by a time of war and strife which the Eddas describe as an age of the wolf. And when the apocalypse finally engulfs the world, one of the principal horrors unleashed will be the dreaded Fenris-wolf.
The savage nature of the wolf is alluded to in the Viking poem Havamal, which takes the form of a series of proverbs. In it, a Viking planning murder or raiding is advised to get up early in the morning since “A sleeping wolf seldom wins sheep”.
So, for the Vikings, the wolf could be a cipher for destruction and chaos (as with the Fenris-wolf at Ragnarök). But it could also be a symbol of protection and loyalty (as represented by Odin’s loyal wolf companions).
Where Viking traditions feed into werewolf mythology, however, is with a brotherhood of warriors known as the Ulfhednar.
The Wolf-Skinners
The Ulfhednar (wolf-skinners) were a particular type of Viking berserker. King Harald I of Norway was supposedly served by a retinue of such warriors. The Ulfhednar were noted for wearing a wolf-pelt over their chainmail and their savage ferocity in battle.
The Ulfhednar held a special significance in Norse belief since they were sometimes described as Odin’s warriors. This is presumably because it was Odin who conferred their supernatural powers upon them. One of their more notable supernatural traits, aside from their savage ferocity, was a resistance to harm from fire and iron weapons.
A shapeshifter features in a thirteenth century Norse saga purporting to date to the Viking Age – Egil’s Saga. In it we encounter a man named Kveldulf, which literally translates to ‘Evening Wolf’ (Kveld Úlf). He appears to have acquired his name because of his bad temper after nightfall and his shapeshifting powers. These powers take the form of a supernatural ability to manifest the ferocity of a wolf in battle, a form of berserker frenzy. Whether this involved literally taking on wolf-form, or a form of possession by a wolf spirit is unclear. However, Kveldulf appears to have been an Ulfhednar or something very like one.
Cannibal Dogmen
Baltic folklore speaks of wild beasts dwelling in the depths of the forest, known as Sumpurnis. The creature is described as a large, furry, half human bi-ped with a dog-like head (although it is occasionally described as bird-headed). It is renowned for its ferocity and an unquenchable urge to hunt and feast on men. If it does not consume its quarry immediately, it binds its prey and holds them in a grim larder to eat later.
Baltic folklore claims a man may be cursed and transformed into a sumpurnis by means of sorcery. The sorcerer enchants a belt which, if placed around the waist, transforms a man into a ferocious sumpurnis. This transformation is a curse that can only be lifted by removing the belt. Naturally, a sumpurnis is too consumed with violent bloodlust to think of removing its belt.
So, rather like the Viking wolf-skinners, the sumpurnis adopts bestial form by donning an item of clothing. In this case the item concerned was a cursed belt rather than a wolf-hide.
The sumpurnis legend has its roots in a Baltic pagan tradition which survived as a living religion right up until the C17th. Its origins could potentially be very ancient.
The Flixton Werewolf
According to the eighteenth-century antiquarian, Thomas Hinderwell, a hostel was established at Flixton, in Yorkshire, in 940 AD. Its purpose, apparently, was to serve as a refuge to protect travellers from the wolves that plagued the area in those days. On Saint Andrew’s Eve, local tradition held that a priest would say mass to ward off wolves, who apparently became especially vicious at this time of year.
By 1150 the area was said to be plagued by an actual werewolf who apparently devoured a shepherd and his daughter, as well as several farm animals. This creature was said to be a man who’d been transformed by sorcery. Either the werewolf was an evil sorcerer, or he was a man who’d been cursed by sorcery. In either event, the resulting lycanthropic transformation was attributed to sorcery.
Bisclavret
By the high Middle Ages, at around the same time as we first see tales of the Flixton Werewolf appear, we see several werewolf stories appearing in European literature. One of the more famous is a C12th Breton lai, called Bisclavret, penned by Marie de France.
In this story, Bisclavret, a Baron in medieval Brittany, leads a double life as a werewolf. He transforms into a wolf for three full days every week. To do this he must travel to a remote place and remove his clothes before transforming. When three days have passed, he returns to where his clothes are hidden and dresses to resume human form.
Eventually, the Baron’s wife discovers his secret and is shocked. She conspires with a knight to steal her husband’s clothes whilst he is still a wolf. As a result, he is unable to change back and his wife, thinking herself free of him, marries the knight.
A year passes and the king is hunting in a forest when he encounters Bisclavret, now permanently trapped in wolf form. Eventually, the king discovers the wolf was once a man and surmises his transformation might be reversed if he is provided with clothes. This he does and, sure enough, Bisclavret’s humanity is restored.
The king instantly recognises the baron, and, on learning of the wife’s duplicity, banishes her and the knight before restoring Bisclavret’s lands to him.
The Werewolves of Ossory
During the late C12th, the region of Ossory in Ireland was absorbed into Henry II’s growing Angevin empire. In the late 1180s, Gerald of Wales toured the area with Prince John and wrote Topographica Hibernica, detailing the peoples and landscape of Ireland.
One of Gerald’s stories relates to the werewolves of the region. His tale speaks of an unnamed priest who encounters a wolf in the woods. To his amazement, the wolf can speak. It tells him that he is in fact a man, transformed into wolf form by means of magic. He claims that every seven years, two people from his village are thus transformed. At the end of that time, they return to human form and the curse passes to a different couple. Currently, it is he and his wife who are afflicted.
The curse, the wolf claims, was placed on his people by Saint Natalis in punishment for wrongs committed by their ancestors. However, the wolf needs the priest’s aid, since his wife has sickened and is near to death. He asks the priest to perform last rites for her. This the priest does and, as the woman dies, the priest removes her wolf skin to reveal an elderly woman beneath.
Supernatural Traits
Whilst werewolf stories were common in medieval Europe, the creatures described often fail to fully conform to the image of the werewolf we have today.
Today we think of werewolves as possessing a supernatural resilience to physical harm that can only be circumvented by silver bullets. However, few medieval tales characterise these creatures as possessing such resilience. Only the Viking wolf-skinners were purported to be impervious to iron weapons and fire.
Vulnerability to silver also seems to be a later addition to werewolf lore. It is first mentioned in books that appear in the C19th. Such beliefs may date back to the C17th, but there is no evidence for anything earlier.
Prior to the end of the Middle Ages, lycanthropic transmutation was thought to occur because of a curse, by means of sorcery, or perhaps because of a supernatural bloodline. The donning of belts or wolfskins, or the removal of human clothing were also associated with inducing change. References to a connection between the lunar cycle and lycanthropy were, however, very rare. The earliest reference we have to the lunar cycle dates to the early C13th. Once again, our source is a Plantagenet courtier.
The Call of the Moon
In the early C13th, an English cleric and canon lawyer by the name of Gervase of Tilbury wrote the Otia Imperialia. Gervase had been a courtier at Henry II’s court and, in later life, served Henry’s grandson, Emperor Otto IV of Germany.
The Otia Imperialia was his most famous work. It is what we now call speculum literature (designed to be an encyclopaedia of everything). It covered a wide range of subjects, everything from history to geography, science, literature and folklore. Completed in around 1214, it was contemporary with the last few years of King John’s reign.
In one section Gervase mentions the existence of werewolves. He even provides some examples of ‘real’ werewolves: a knight, Raimbaud de Pouget and another fellow by the name of Chaucevaire.
When in wolf form, these men lose their minds and become wild beasts. Uniquely for the Middle Ages, we are told their lycanthropy is linked to the lunar cycle. However, rather than changing when the moon is full, Gervase believed transformation occurred when the moon is new. Thus, change only occurs on the darkest of nights. A few medieval tales describe lycanthropic transformation occurring at night, but not specifically in response to the lunar cycle. Gervase therefore provides our earliest and virtually only medieval reference to this phenomenon.
The Church Response
So, how did the medieval Church view werewolves?
For the most part, especially during the early Middle Ages, the Church regarded such beliefs as superstitious nonsense.
The early Church taught that lycanthropic transformation, indeed any form of shapeshifting, was not possible except by the power of God. Furthermore, anyone who believed in such superstition was, in the words of C4th Church canon law “beyond doubt an infidel”.
Shapeshifting, the Church taught, was impossible unless God willed it. Those who imagined themselves to be werewolves were therefore either mad or had been deceived by demonic illusions. Such changes as people claimed to witness were clearly illusionary, not real – mere demonic deceptions sent to lead the ignorant astray.
This attitude persisted for much of the Medieval period. However, during the late Middle Ages, Church thinking began to shift. Perhaps, under the right circumstances, God might occasionally permit a demon to make a material change to his creation. If not a real change, then an illusion powerful enough to be perceived as real. This might be permitted to test the faith of men, or perhaps punish those already in the grip of sin. So, some church scholars wondered, could something like a werewolf be permitted to exist to test the faithful or punish sinners?
The Valais Werewolves
Witch hunts on any kind of scale were not a feature of the medieval world until near the end of the Middle Ages. In general witches were largely ignored by the early Inquisition (which was more concerned with hunting down heretics). However, as attitudes began to change, people began to make a more overt connection between sorcery and satanism.
These changing attitudes came to a head in 1428 in Valais, Switzerland. In a wave of paranoia, the region experienced the very first large-scale witch hunt. In all several hundred people were accused, arrested and tried for such crimes as heresy, sorcery and other maleficent practices. Many were convicted and executed.
Several were specifically accused of using sorcery to transform themselves into wolves. These werewolves were accused of mutilating cattle and generally terrorising the local population. This was the first time in European history that anyone faced formal prosecution under suspicion of being a werewolf.
Werewolf Panic
As the Middle Ages came to an end, perceptions of werewolves were taking an increasingly sinister turn. The early modern period increasingly linked werewolves with witchcraft, satanism and evil supernatural forces. Medieval tales presented werewolves in a variety of ways, often quite sympathetically. But the early modern period cast werewolves almost exclusively as savage, rapacious horrors; cursed with an unquenchable bloodlust.
Something akin to werewolf panic would increasingly haunt the post-medieval age. It would reach a fever pitch in France when the dreaded Beast of Gévaudan terrorised the south-central part of the country in the 1760s. A creature about as far removed from the urbane Bisclavret as it was possible to get. Such horrifying tales were more a feature of those parts of Europe where wolves were still fairly numerous rather than the British mainland. By the end of the Middle Ages, wolves were practically extinct in England and Wales, and increasingly rare in Scotland. The chance of encountering a wolf, let alone a werewolf, was vanishingly small. And, with the disappearance of wolves, tales of werewolves became less common in British folklore. Certainly, no English werewolf ever attained the notoriety of the infamous Beast of Gévaudan.
Other recent stories covering medieval myths and folklore
If you would like to catch up with some of my recent features covering medieval myths and folklore, you might want to check out these stories:
Sea Monsters in the Middle Ages
Medieval Summer Folk Traditions
Saint George in Medieval England
Myths and Legends of the Medieval World
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References and Further Reading
Crawford, J. (ed.). The Poetic Edda (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 2015)
De France, M. (translated Judith P. Shoaf), Bisclavret, University of Florida, 1996
Gerald of Wales, The History and Topography of Ireland, (Penguin Classics, 1982)
Herodotus. The Histories. Translated by A. de Sélincourt (London: Penguin Classics, 2003)
Ovid. Metamorphoses. Translated by M.M. Innes (London: Penguin Classics, 1955)
Oxford University Podcasts (transcripts), Werewolf Medieval v Modern, 2021
Pálsson, H. & Edwards P (trans.) Egils Saga (London: Penguin Classics, 2004)
Images
Wolves: Page 7 – Weird tales v36n07 1942-09 Boris Dolgof (via Wiki Commons)
Cave Painting of a Wolf: Men of the old stone age (1915) Wolf Henri Breuil (via Wiki Commons)
Wolf-Skinner with Odin: Torslundaplåtarna 1995 (618349 HST)Torslundaplåtarna på historiska muséet, 8 mars 1995 Fotograf anställd vid Statens Historiska Muséer Plåtarna ser ut att ligga på en glasskiva (via Wiki Commons)
Werewolves of Ossory: Royal MS 13 B VIII – ff 1r-34v – Topographia Hiberniae – c1200 (via Wiki Commons)
Witches of Valais: Champion des dames Vaudoises martin le france 1451 (via Wiki Commons)