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The Book of Were-Wolves
by Sabine Baring-Gould, 1865
This full length classic werewolf reference
book is presented courtesy of MythologyWeb.
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CHAPTER XVI
A SERMON ON WERE -WOLVES
The following curious specimen of a late mediæval sermon
is taken from the old German edition of the discourses of Dr.
Johann Geiler von Keysersperg, a famous preacher in Strasbourg.
The volume is entitled: "Die Emeis. Dis ist das
Büch von der Omeissen, und durch Herr der Künnig ich
diente gern. Und sagt von Eigenschafft der Omeissen, und gibt
underweisung von der Unholden oder Hexen, und von Gespenst, der
Geist, und von dem Wütenden Heer Wunderbarlich."
This strange series of sermons was preached at Strasbourg
in the year 1508, and was taken down and written out by a barefooted
friar, Johann Pauli, and by him published in 1517. The doctor
died on Mid-Lent Sunday, 1510. There is a Latin edition of his
sermons, but whether of the same series or not I cannot tell,
as I have been unable to obtain a sight of the volume. The German
edition is illustrated with bold and clever woodcuts. Among others,
there are representations of the Witches' Sabbath, the Wild Huntsman,
and a Werewolf attacking a Man.
The sermon was preached on the third Sunday in Lent. No text
is given, but there is a general reference to the gospel for
the day. This is the discourse [Headed thus: "Am dritte
sontag à faste, occuli, predigt dé doctor vo de
Werwölffenn."]:
"What shall we say about were-wolves? for there are were-wolves
which run about the villages devouring men and children. As men
say about them, they run about full gallop, injuring men, and
are called ber-wölff, or wer-wölff. Do you ask me if
I know aught about them? I answer, Yes. They are apparently wolves
which eat men and children, and that happens on seven accounts:
1. Esuriem...........Hunger.
2. Rabiem............Savageness.
3. Senectutem........Old age.
4. Experientiam......Experience.
5. Insaniem..........Madness.
6. Diabolum..........The Devil.
7. Deum..............God.
"The first happens through hunger; when the wolves find
nothing to eat in the woods, they must come to people and eat
men when hunger drives them to it. You see well, when it is very
cold, that the stags come in search of food up to the villages,
and the birds actually into the dining-room in search of victuals.
"Under the second head, wolves eat children through their
innate savageness, because they are savage, and that is (propter
locum coitum ferum). Their savageness arises first from their
condition. Wolves which live in cold places are smaller on that
account, and more savage than other wolves. Secondly, their savageness
depends on the season; they are more savage about Candlemas than
at any other time of the year, and men must be more on their
guard against them then than at other times. It is a proverb,
'He who seeks a wolf at Candlemas, a peasant on Shrove Tuesday,
and a parson in Lent, is a man of pluck.' ... Thirdly, their
savageness depends on their having young. When the wolves have
young, they are more savage than when they have not. You see
it so in all beasts. A wild duck, when it has young poults, you
see what an uproar it makes. A cat fights for its young kittens;
the wolves do ditto.
"Under the third head, the wolves do injury on account
of their age. When a wolf is old, it is weak and feeble in its
leas, so it can't ran fast enough to catch stags, and therefore
it rends a man, whom it can catch easier than a wild animal.
It also tears children and men easier than wild animals, because
of its teeth, for its teeth break off when it is very old; you
see it well in old women: how the last teeth wobble, and they
have scarcely a tooth left in their heads, and they open their
mouths for men to feed them with mash and stewed substances.
"Under the fourth head, the injury the were-wolves do
arises from experience. It is said that human flesh is far sweeter
than other flesh; so when a wolf has once tasted human flesh,
he desires to taste it again. So he acts like old topers, who,
when they know the best wine, will not be put off with inferior
quality.
"Under the fifth head, the injury arises from ignorance.
A dog when it is mad is also inconsiderate, and it bites any
man; it does not recognize its own lord: and what is a wolf but
a wild dog which is mad and inconsiderate, so that it regards
no man.
"Under the sixth head, the injury comes of the Devil,
who transforms himself, and takes on him the form of a wolf So
writes Vincentius in his Speculum Historiale. And he has
taken it from Valerius Maximus in the Punic war. When the Romans
fought against the men of Africa, when the captain lay asleep,
there came a wolf and drew his sword, and carried it off. That
was the Devil in a wolf's form. The like writes William of Paris,
that a wolf will kill and devour children, and do the greatest
mischief. There was a man who had the phantasy that he himself
was a wolf. And afterwards he was found lying in the wood, and
he was dead out of sheer hunger.
"Under the seventh head, the injury comes of God's ordinance.
For God will sometimes punish certain lands and villages with
wolves. So we read of Elisha, that when Elisha wanted to go up
a mountain out of Jericho, some naughty boys made a mock of him
and said, 'O bald head, step up! O glossy pate, step up!' What
happened? He cursed them. Then came two bears out of the desert
and tore about forty-two of the children. That was God's ordinance.
The like we read of a prophet who would set at naught the commands
he had received of God, for he was persuaded to eat bread at
the house of another. As he went home he rode upon his ass. Then
came a lion which slew him and left the ass alone. That was God's
ordinance. Therefore must man turn to God when He brings wild
beasts to do him a mischief: which same brutes may He not bring
now or evermore. Amen."
It will be seen from this extraordinary sermon that Dr. Johann
Geiler von Keysersperg did not regard werewolves in any other
light than natural wolves filled with a lust for human flesh;
and he puts aside altogether the view that they are men in a
state of metamorphosis. However, he alludes to this superstition
in his sermon on wild-men of the woods, but translates his lycanthropists
to Spain.
THE END
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