10 Wild and Terrifying Facts About the European Werewolf Trials
Stories about werewolves have been told since ancient times. The term ‘lycanthropy’ describes the act of a human taking the form of a wolf and is derived from the name of King Lycaon from ancient Greek mythology. In many stories, being a werewolf is undesirable. It is a form of punishment in many stories, including that of King Lycaon.
Yet for many reasons, people in Europe between the 14th and 18th centuries saw fit to enhance the fate of accused werewolves by hunting them down, putting them on trial, and brutally executing them. The trials and attitudes about werewolves during this period are fascinating and disturbing, from the question of why werewolf stories were told in the first place to the unnecessaryness of the executions. Here are ten wild and terrifying facts about werewolf trials.
Related: Top 10 Things You Probably Never Knew About Witches
10 They only happened where real wolves roamed
No other animal has equaled the wolf’s influence in European stories of the transformation of man into animal. Some researchers theorize that this is because wolves were the most common land predator for thousands of years and could pose a real threat to the people living on the continent. This is supported by a comparison of the number of werewolf trials in England and European countries with forested areas such as France and Germany.
Wolves were exterminated from England by the end of the 15th century due to intensive hunting. Consequently, no trials were recorded there. There were also no trials in the Mediterranean regions of Europe where wolves did not live. Germany saw more than 300 cases, which seems like a lot compared to none. Yet it is nowhere near the 30,000 to 45,000 convictions for witchcraft around the same period.[1]
9 The charges were almost impossible to defend
Without modern scientific methods, early societies had little more than their imaginations to help explain unusual circumstances. For example, catalepsy and trance were explained by a person’s soul leaving their body. This caused problems in court as any alibi could be rejected as the suspect’s soul could have simply left his body to continue his evil business.
The argument was used against both alleged werewolves and witches. A defense against mental illness often didn’t help either, as even medical experts believed it was possible that the Devil had caused the disease. Perhaps it was lucky that more people weren’t executed with this kind of logic to defend themselves against.[2]
8 They’ve caught some real serial killers
In fact, the entire project could have its origins in attempts to explain serial killers or the unsolved crimes committed by mercenaries and plunderers. Scandinavian Berserkers, savage warriors who loved nothing more than slaughtering and plundering their way across Europe, would occasionally be unable to control their urge to kill while at home between expeditions. A phenomenon known as ‘Berserker rage’ caused them to wrap themselves in bear and wolf skins to participate in a night of wanton death and destruction.
Less public but no less sinister serial killers certainly existed at the time of the werewolf trials. In 1598, a French tailor was burned alive for being a werewolf, with children’s bones in his house. Jean Grenier was a teenage cannibal who was caught after a botched attack on a young girl. Even today we are short of explanations for such inhuman acts, and in early modern societies lycanthropy seemed plausible. Grenier confessed that he had made a pact with the devil to become a werewolf, a state of affairs in which he reportedly sincerely believed.[3]
7 Christianity has made werewolves evil
A difficult question about the history of the werewolf trials is when exactly lycanthropy became evil. In earlier Scandinavian folklore, wolf-like attributes were viewed positively. They were used to the advantage of heroic warriors in their quests. In other cases it was a curse and those who suffered from it deserved sympathy. Ancient cultures also did not see the transformation into a beast as a necessary evil. What changed in the 15th century?
One theory is that Christianity had a habit of taking aspects of pagan beliefs and making them evil. For example, depictions of the devil as faun-like are based on the Greek god Pan. When werewolf mythology intersected with Christian theology, people came to believe that the power to turn into a wolf must have been granted by the Devil and therefore must be punished. However, other researchers have pointed out that this is not strictly consistent with Christian theology, which holds that God is the only being strong enough to transform matter, and that he cannot transform something created in his image into a soulless animal would change.[4]
6 Most people didn’t believe in literal werewolves
The theological argument above and the strong influence of the church at the time meant that most people did not believe that humans could physically turn into wolves. Prosecutors claimed that the werewolf phenomenon was caused by illusions conjured by the devil or demons. Critics of the trials blamed delusions.
The delusion that one is or has been a wolf has been recognized since ancient Greece and may explain some of the confessions of alleged werewolves, as well as some of the wolf-like behavior witnessed by witnesses. Unfortunately for the suspect, these also strengthened the prosecution’s case, and a pact with the devil seemed equally plausible at the time. In some cases an intermediate explanation was found, which was neither entirely demonic nor entirely medical.[5]
5 There were medical witnesses
Doctors were often called as expert witnesses in witchcraft and werewolf trials. One major responsibility they had was to prove true insanity. In some cases, such as that of teenage child murderer and self-proclaimed werewolf Jean Grenier, medical examinations have successfully spared the suspect from the death penalty.
Medical experts also had to ensure that the accused women were not pregnant. If they were, they were generally not tortured or put to death. In other cases, doctors may have helped convict people. Part of their role was to investigate the suspect and check for signs of devil contact or witch marks.[6]
4 Drugs could be the cause
Some critics of the werewolf trials believed that witches’ ointments could cause hallucinations among the population. Unfortunately for the defendants, this theory received little support until the 1960s, when chemical analyzes showed that the ingredients in witches’ ointments and the poisonous fungi ergot were similar to LSD. Contact with the ointment and ergot poisoning could explain some werewolf sightings. However, other modern researchers have criticized this statement as oversimplifying the situation.
The unfortunate truth is that even today, the precise cause of the suspect’s actions and the observations of witnesses are unknown. Other modern researchers have proposed rabies, neurological dysfunction and even epilepsy as alternative explanations.[7]
3 They chose the poor and marginalized
Modern historians have discovered similarities between the unfortunate people accused of werewolf trials. As might be expected, they were mostly men. This was not always the case, as many believed that lycanthropy was a form of witchcraft. However, the strength and aggression of werewolves are traits typically associated with men. Their hairy and fierce image has been described by some researchers as hyper-masculine.
The suspects were often marginalized members of society, such as farmers, beggars, herders and farmers. Beggars were already considered criminals, so it was not unusual for them to be accused of further crimes. The dirty and smelly nature of herders’ and farmers’ work caused them to be stigmatized, and those who did the work believed that they shared characteristics with animals.[8]
2 No Full Moon required
The werewolf stories in the early modern period did not involve transformation during the full moon. However, there was talk of some sort of magical item obtained from the Devil that could be used to effect a transformation at any time. Typical items included belts or wolf skins. But because the Church had moved away from the idea of people physically turning into wolves, magical ointments and ointments that could induce sleep or unconsciousness would also be used.
This would allow the Devil to possess the person’s body and commit all kinds of heinous acts while disguised as a wolf. Henri Boguet, the 16th century proponent of this theory, believed that the person was still to blame because he had already renounced God, and that any crimes he committed were things he intended to do.[9]
1 Executions were brutal
Probably the most famous execution of an alleged werewolf was that of a German named Peter Stumpp. However, other sources call him Stubbe and Stumpf. He was accused of committing sixteen murders, including those of his own son and twelve other children. He confessed to these crimes along with his lycanthropy and maintaining relationships with his own daughter and a demon disguised as a beautiful woman.
The fact that the confessions were obtained under torture did not lighten his brutal punishment. On October 31, 1589, a crowd watched as Stumpp was tied to a wheel, his bones broken and the skin removed. Only after he had been skinned was he beheaded. His head was displayed in the middle of the village to warn other werewolves of what awaited them. And to make sure he wouldn’t come back, his body was burned.[10]