Keywords: metamorphoses, werewolves, witchcraft, Malleus Maleficarum, Johann Weyer, Jean Bodin Scepticism existed in the ability of man to transform into wolves in antiquity as stated in Pliny’s Historia naturalis in c.77A.D (Pliny, 1962, p. 95). However, it did not become the subject of wide debate until early Christian saints such as Saint Ambrose (339-397), Saint… Continue reading The Werewolf Debate: How Pre-Modern Thinkers Debated the belief in Werewolves
Tag: werewolves
The Execution of Werewolf, Petter Stump: An analysis
Keywords: Petter Stump (Peter Stump, Peter Stumpf, Peter Stumpp), werewolves, witchcraft, broadsheets, demonology Germany was at the centre of the witch persecutions in early modern Europe. At least a third of the estimated individuals accused of witchcraft in Europe were derived from German-speaking lands. This equated to between 30,000 and 45,000 executions within the Germanic… Continue reading The Execution of Werewolf, Petter Stump: An analysis
Soldiers as the Metaphorical Beasts of War during the Thirty Years’ War
Keywords: werewolves, Thirty Years’ War, soldiers, greed, human-animal hybrids Times of war had been shown to increase the rate of wolf attacks as wolves became attracted to the corpses left on the battlefield. This would have led to wolves becoming habituated with humans, becoming less fearful and more likely to attack as episodes in recent… Continue reading Soldiers as the Metaphorical Beasts of War during the Thirty Years’ War
Representations of Monsters in German Renaissance Prints
Keywords: Human-animal hybrids, Monstrous Races, Monstrous Births, Wild Man, Werewolves Representations of human-animal hybrids and the concept of shape-shifting in both literary sources and the visual arts captured the early modern European imagination. This is particularly evident in the prevalence of pictorial prints featuring these creatures dated in the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries that… Continue reading Representations of Monsters in German Renaissance Prints
Werewolves, Wolves, and the Intersections between Human and Animal
Keywords: Werewolves, Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Cannibalism, Petter Stump, Peter Stump, Peter Stumpf, Peter Stumpp, Wolves One of the earliest werewolf fables originated from the ancient festival of Zeus in Arcadia, Greece. Participants would choose a piece of meat from a mixture of both animal and human sacrifices. Those who unwittingly chose and ate the entrails of… Continue reading Werewolves, Wolves, and the Intersections between Human and Animal
Dana K Rehn 