Wolves and the Wilderness in the Middle Ages

The complex attitude to the wolf in the Middle Ages re-evaluated, bringing together historical and other evidence.

The wolf, a common metaphor for vice in medieval Christian literature, is today an iconic symbol of the intense fear and insecurity that some associate with the middle ages. In reality, responses to wolves varied across medieval Europe. Although not dependent on the wilderness, wolves were conceptually linked to this environment - which although on the fringes of medieval society, became increasingly exploited from the eighth to fourteenth centuries, so bringing people and livestock closer to the wolf.
This book compares responses to wolves, focusing on two regions, Britain and southern Scandinavia. It looks at the distribution of wolves in the landscape, their potential impact as predators on both animals and people, and their use as commodities, in literature, art, cosmology and identity. It also investigates the reasons (both practical and cultural) for the eradication of wolves in England, but their survival on the Scandinavian peninsula.

ALEKSANDER PLUSKOWSKI is Associate Professor, Department of Archaeology, University of Reading,

A very interesting interdisciplinary approach of human-wolf interactions during the Middle Ages, highlighting some practical factors and the role of religion in its eradication. MAMMALIA A highly interesting, original, and informative account of the medieval wolf and wilderness. SIXTEENTH CENTURY JOURNAL This book is a significant achievement. Anyone who wants to understand how humans interacted with the natural world in the Middle Ages would do well to read it. SPECULUMVery novel, being one of the first studies to address specific human-animal-landscape relationships in order to inform on cultural practice and ideology in the past. JOURNAL OF MEDIEVAL ARCHAEOLOGYWeaves a story that enchants. Through these pages the vital wolf-essence bounds across the landscapes of stone, tapestry, vellum, metal and mortal imagination. FORTEAN TIMES