Day 1 #AScareADay challenge – ‘The Lay of the Werewolf’

This is the second annual, story a day challenge for October. You can find the whole list here. I’m also trying something new by blogging about each story (when I can manage to around other commitments). I’d love to hear your opinions in the comments as well.

Last year, we started in the eighteenth century. This year, I thought we’d (briefly) be more ambitious. Straight back to the twelfth century we go for Marie de Frances ‘Lay of the Werewolf’. You can read it (in translation) here.

When I first read this story, it intrigued me. It offers up a different kind of werewolf than I’m used it. The horror of the tale has very little to do with the werewolf himself who’s depicted as having ‘human reason’, with a gentle and loving nature… except when confronted with those who betrayed him. Reading the story made me intrigued about Medieval werewolf lore more broadly. Were they all such ‘gentle beasts’. The short answer is… not always. In Topographica Hibernica, Gerald of Wales tells a story of a couple who, encountering a priest, tell a tale of transformation and ask for aid. They have been cursed to live as werewolves for 7 years, the woman is dying and she wants some last rites. Interestingly, they can peel the wolf skin off and there’s nothing to suggest they are violent. Other tales, such as Arthur and Gorlagon, offer a different picture, although wolfish and human savagery match each other. You can read the story here.

If you’re interested in the world of Medieval werewolves, there is some great research and lots of interesting resources online. I found these two blogs interesting, informative and quick to read.

1. Minjie Su – 5 Things You Might Not Know about Medieval Werewolves – Read it here
2. Amanda Hopkins – The Medieval Werewolf – Read it here

Let me know if you have any resource recommendations to share!

The tale of Bisclaravet took me on a mini reading journey but also inspired me to write a retelling. The story is thick with themes of loyalty, betrayal, duty, love and competing incompatible needs. If you’re interested, you can find my queer rewriting here.