Shape-Changers: Medieval Thru Renaissance Periods

In those that are possess'd with't there oreflowes Such mellencholly humour, they imagine Themselves to be transformed into woolves, Steale forth to church-yards in the dead of night, And dig dead bodies up: as two nights since One met the duke, 'bout midnight in a lane Behind St. Markes church, with the leg of a man Upon his shoulder; and he howl'd fearefully: Said he was a woolffe: onely the difference Was, a woolffes skinne was hairy on the outside, His on the in-side: bad them take their swords, Rip up his flesh, and trie. . . . --Duchess of Malfy, by John Webster

Disclaimer

This is NOT a page about Wiccans or neo-pagans, and I do not advocate the belief that Wiccans are Satan-worshippers and/or baby-killers. I am well aware that they are not. This is a starting point for historical research into the great witch craze of 1100-1700 AD. And please, don't ask me for spells.

Case Studies

During the Middle Ages, belief in werewolves and other shape-changers was reinforced by current academic and popular thinking. Many people were tried and tortured as werewolves during the Inquisition and in concurrent witch-hunts. As can be expected, the confessions garnered through torture are quite suspect.

Shapeshifting was an ability commonly attributed to witches. Many were believed to be able to change into cats, hares, and dogs, as well as wolves.

Here are just a few historic zooanthropes from the medieval through enlightenment periods.

The Werewolves

Ann, Werewolf of Meremoisa The Werewolf of Auvergne (Updated July 30, 1998) Baianus, Werewolf Michée Bauloz, Werewolf of Vaud The Werewolf of Besançon (Updated July 30, 1998) Bisclavaret, Werewolf of Brittany Pierre Bourgot, Werewolf of Poligny (Updated July 28, 1998) Guyetta Bugnon, Werewolf of Val de Travers The Burgomaster Werewolf of Anspach The Werewolf of Chalons (Updated July 28, 1998) Claudia Gaillard, Werewolf of Burgundy The Gandillons, Werewolves of St.-Claude (Updated July 28, 1998) Gilles Garnier, Werewolf of Dole (Updated July 28, 1998) The Beast of Gévaudan

Jean Grenier, Werewolf of France (Updated July 28, 1998) Hans, Werewolf of Estonia Michel Jaques, Werewolf of Val de Travers Philibert Montot, Werewolf of Poligny The Werewolves of Ossory (Updated July 31, 1998) The Werewolf of Pavia Jeanne de la Pierre, Werewolf of Vaud Raimbaud de Pinetum, Werewolf of Auvergne Suzanne Prevost, Werewolf of Vaud Jacques Rollet, Werewolf of Paris Jacques Roulet, Werewolf of Angers Le Compte de St.-Pol, Werewolf of France Peter Stubb, Werewolf of Bedburg The Damnable Life and Death of Stubbe Peeter Michel Verdun, Werewolf of Poligny The Werewolves of Vaud

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Shape-Changers: Medieval Through Renaissance Periods is copyright 1996-1998 to Shantell Powell.