Tea at Trianon: Medieval Werewolves

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Medieval Werewolves

The rage of the wolf. From Medievalists.net:

Introduction: The metamorphosis of man to beast has captivated audiences for over four thousand years. The interest in human metamorphosis is visible in ancient art and literature, originally transmitted through oral tradition, medieval secular and clerical writing, as well as contemporary movies and novels. While modern, Hollywood werewolves are often the bestial, savage counterparts to the sexy, predatory vampire, they are merely the latest metamorphosis of a creature which has fascinated humanity for millennia.

The earliest recorded secular mention of werewolves is in the Akkadian Epic of Gilgamesh, dated approximately 2000 BCE. The goddess of love, Ishtar, attempts to seduce King Gilgamesh, who reminds her of a former lover: “You have loved the shepherd of the flock; he made meal-cake for you day after day, he killed kids for your sake. You struck and turned him into a wolf; now his own herd-boys chase him away, his own hounds worry his flanks… And if you and I should be lovers, should not I be served in the same fashion as all these others whom you loved once?”. In addition to being the first literary indication of interest in metamorphosis, the story also links women—malicious women, in particular—to metamorphosis, as well as indicates a single or prolonged transformation: she “turned him into a wolf” and “now his own herd-boys chase him.” The shepherd was transformed and remains so. Also significant is King Gilgamesh‟s companion, Enkidu, a half-man, half-beast who was covered with matted hair and lived as a beast until learning of human desires. Clearly, an interest in human transformation and with human/beast hybrids was alive in ancient Mesopotamia. (Read entire article.)