Wolves, Witches, and Werewolves - Lycanthropy and Witchcraft From 1423 To 1700 PDF

Wolves, Witches, and Werewolves: Lycanthropy and Witchcraft from 1423 to 1700
Author(s): Jane P. Davidson and Bob Canino

Source: Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts , 1990, Vol. 2, No. 4 (8) (1990), pp. 47-73
Published by: International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts
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Wolves, Witches, and Werewolves:
Lycanthropy and Witchcraft from 1423 to 1700
Jane P. Davidson
"Available evidence indicates that in most parts of

Christendom, werewolves were extremely rare." - E.W.
Monter. Witchcraft in France and Switzerland
The belief that there were associations among witches, were-

wolves, and enchanted wolves was longstanding in both popular
culture and literature concerned with witchcraft. From the late
fifteenth through seventeenth centuries, witchcraft authorities de-
bated whether witches could also be werewolves. Others thought
witches transmuted themselves or others into wolves, but did not
become werewolves themselves. Given werewolves themselves
were not always accused of being witches. Finally, some thought
witches enchanted wolves, which they used as beasts of burden
or to harm other persons or their farm animals. Practically every
witchcraft text had some mention of werewoves or enchanted
wolves, but amazingly, there are only a very small group of
works of art and book illustrations which depict such themes. Of
them, only three images of werewolves are found in books spe-
cifically devoted to the theme of witchcraft, and one of these im-
ages is repeated. This study examines this dichotomy, and the i-
conography of these images.
Lycanthropy is not usually thought of today as a component
of witchcraft, but in the Middle Ages and Renaissance it was
quite commonly associated with witches as supernatural behav-
ior. Werewolves in traditional European withcraft literature were
often cannibals. They raped, murdered, and ate human victims.
Their behavior formed a perfect example of what we might today
term acts of the criminally insane. These acts were also attribut-
ed to witches. When done by werewolves, however, these deeds
seem to have been made more awful due to the transmutation of
the individuals into animals.
Discussions of lycanthropes can be traced back at least as far
as the 11th-century penitential, the Corrector of Burchard of
Worms. Burchard 's penance for those who believed themselves
transformed into wolves was "decern dies in pane et aque debes
poenitere." Ten days on bread and water is not especially serious
Wolves, Witches, and Werewolves Page 47

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penance. 1 Burchard did not specify that the werewolves of his
acquaintence were witches.
Although they were often thought of as distinct phenomena,
witchcraft and lycanthropy came to be frequently associated in
the minds of both the clergy and laity. For instance, an early
witchcraft text of about 1462, the Flagellum Maleficorum by
Petrus Mamoris, noted that people who believed that they could
change into wolves by using an ungent obtained from the devil -
the same means use to affect witches' flight - were guilty of de-
lusions produced by the devil.2 Belief in such delusions was in it-
self sinM.
Johann Vincenti 's Liber de adver sus magicas artes, a witch-
craft text which was published in 1475, contained a chapter on
werewolves in which it was stated that lycanthropy was a delu-
sion produced by the Devil who put people into a trance (Fol. 23,
chp.8). The concept of delusions produced in trances was also to
become an intrinsic part of the etiology of witchcraft. Witches'
sabbats were believed to be the products of such trances.
Some withcraft authorities agreed with the statements of the
Swiss canon lawyer, Ulrich Molitor, published in 1489 that
while werewolves were a delusion, nonetheless, those who were
being deluded by the Devil actually thought themselves wolves.
Molitor himself was both a practicing lawyer and a professor of
laws in Constance. He served the court of the Archduke
Sigismund, and it was at his request that Molitor wrote De
Lamiis et Phitonicis mulieribus (Concerning Demons and
Witches). It achieved considerable notoriety after its initial publi-
cation in Strassburg by the famous press of Jacob Pruss.3 The
book was re-issued in various editions in 1493, 1494, 1495, 1496
and 1498, and in several editions after 1500. Much of the materi-
al in it is closely related to the Malleus Maleflcarum, although
De Lamiis does contain materials about wolves and werewolves
which were taken from other sources, including popular culture.
For example, Molitor introduced the story of a witch who rode
about on an enchanted wolf. This he derived from local folk sto-
ries and trial accounts dating back to 1423 in an area about one
hundred miles in diameter surrounding Zurich, Switzerland. De
Lamiis contains the only known illustration of a witch riding an
enchanted wolf (see illustration 1). It depicts an eyewitness ac-
count given by a peasant at a trial in Basel in the late 1470's.
Molitor had attended this trial. The peasant reported that he had
seen a male witch riding a wolf "to a sabbat." The accused stat-
ed that he himself was the victim of witchcraft. And, while he
admitted that he had ridden a wolf, he had done this because he
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ILLUSTRATION 1

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was under another witch's spell.4 The witch's testimony was un-
convincing. He was burnt. Molitor devoted much time to the top-
ic of witches' supernatural locomotion, woloves included. He
phrased his text as a series of questions asked by Archduke
Sigismund including whether witches could travel to a sabbat,
"...super baculum uncyum vel super lupum seu aliud animal,"
that is, by forked stick, wolf, or other animal (Molitor). Because
De Lamiis went through so many additions prior to 1500 (at
least a total of twelve), it became a primary means of transmis-
sion for the story of a witch who could enchant a wolf.5
The tale of the witch on "wolfback" is directly related to
several Swiss accounts which began to appear in witchcraft trials
in 1423. While Molitor did not allude to other tales of enchanted
wolves, it is certainly plausible that he had heard some of these
earlier stories. They sometimes describe female enchanters of
wolves, but one of the unsual aspects of this admittedly unusual
set of stories is that several of the witches who enchanted wolves
were men.
The first trial account comes from the trial of a female wit
in Neider-Hauenstein near Basel. In what immediately beco
a familiar pattern, a peasant saw the witch riding the wolf.6 T
second story, again taken from a Basel witchcraft trial, cont
the same information; a man saw a female witch riding a wolf
a sabbat (Hansen, 545, Item 42). The canine plot thickens som
what in a trial account of about 1450 when Else von Miersbur
a witch from Lucerne, was accused of riding about not only
wolf, but an enchanted dog as well. In Item 14 of the char
brought against her, we discover that in an act which might
best described as "it couldn't hurt," not only Else was burnt,
so also were her dog and her wolf. It is intriguing to specula
about the veracity of this story. Did Else have a pet wolf? If
take this story literally, she must have. The trial of Else
Miersburg also provides an interesting additional aspect of m
of the wolf-riding witches. She was a notorious maker of
weather, especially hailstorms. Several charges describe this a
(Hansen, 553-555). There does not seem to be any literal conn
tion between the enchanting of wolves and the making of ha
other than that, such deeds are indigeneous to a mountain
setting. Similarily, we find a series of trial accounts from Janu
20 to May 12, 1459, in which a group of witches raised storm
enchanted wolves and foxes, rode wolves, and caused avalanch
(Hansen, 571-572). Such activities were obviously related to th
witches' mountainous locality. This group was also involve
more traditional deeds of maleficia, such as harming child

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and farm animals. These witches add a new aspect to the wolf-
riding tales in that they also occasionally transmuted themselves
into wolves and other animals such as foxes and cats. In doing
this they do not seem to have become werewolves, but merely
wolf-beasts of burden for one another. Werewolves were very
specifically thought to do physical harm to humans and animals.
They were not merely thought of as being transmuted humans.
The first witches discussed in the 1459 trials were Kattryna
Simon of Steinbergen and Gret Schullin, who was also from the
town of Steinberg in Urserenthal. This town seems to have been
near the modem town of Andermatt (formerly called Urseren)
and the St. Gotthard Pass. There is also a modem Swiss town of
Steinberg, which is about 110 miles south of Zurich, but
Andermatt and its vicinity seems more likely to have been the
home of the witches in question. Kattryna and Gret learned their
witchcraft, their "Kunst," from a male witch named Jagil Jeger.
Again, canine complications arise.. .Gret and her companion rode
wolves, foxes and other animals. This they did "wenn sy wolt,"
at will (Hansen, 572). Kattryna seems to have been the ringlead-
er of the group of witches. She was tried on May 12, 1459, and
found guilty of grevious sins, "grosen sunden," and of practicing
witchcraft and consorting with demons, "hexerei und unnholde-
rey." She was beheaded; her body and head were then burnt and
the ashes were strewn into a river (Hansen, 574-575).
Kattryna's witch friends specialized in causing avalanches
and in enchanting wolves. For instance, the accounts of the trials
tell of Gilly Schwitter who enchanted a wolf, rode off into the
mountains, and created a great avalanche. Others did the same.
Hans Bomatter and Jagly Tuftwalder, for instance, went into the
Furkapass, west of Andermatt, turned themselves into wolves
and caused an avalanche describes as both "deep and wide," "wit
und breit." They perished in this avalanche (Hansen, 574).
The 1459 trials apparently bring to a close the early set of
accounts of witches who enchanted wolves. After the trials in the
Andermatt region, the stories subsided, at least there were no
trial accounts, for about twenty years. What probably happened
with respect to these tales is that they reflect a localized case of
witch hysteria. The hysteria may have been related to a series of
natural disasters, such as severe storms or avalanches, with
witches' evil deeds or maleficia being the explanation. The
witches were executed, perhaps the weather improved, and the
hysteria gradually subsided. But the tales of wolf enchanters and
wolf riders remained as a part of the local folk tradition. Witch
trials were after all, quite sensational, even more so at this early

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date, and the stories must have been repeated for years. They re-
surfaced in the trial reported in De Lamiis. At this point, there
was a definite connection between popular and learned cultures.
In all, there were very few Swiss witches inclined to enchant
animals to do their bidding. But, when one considers that these
stories appear very early in the evolution of witch trials, such
events as trials not becoming especially frequent in northern
Europe until after mid-century with the hysteria engendered by
Institoris in the Innsbruck region, it is quite noteworthy that there
were so many persons in ¿his small area of Switzerland who
were involved in witchcraft.
The next account of an enchanted wolf is recorded in De
Lamiis as having happened in Basel in the latel470's. Molitor
did not provide many details about his wolf-riding witch. We do
not know if he practised other evil deeds such as the making of
hailstorms. He did inflict a paralysis on the man who saw him
riding the wolf (see fn.4). One must wonder whether the witch
also caused storms. Molitor did devote a considerable amount of
De Lamiis to the discussion of whether witches could cause hail.
In fact, one of the illustrations in De Lamiis shows witches fly-
ing through a hailstorm which they have made. One of these
witches is transmuted into a dog (see illustration 2)!
Did Ulrich Molitor believe that a witch could enchant a wolf
or turn into a dog? Historians consider him to have been a mod-
erate on the subject of witchcraft. Many witches' acts, such as
flight, he dismissed as illusion produced by the Devil. But, de-
spite such moderation, we know that he did believe in witches.
Since there had been so many accounts of witches enchanting
wolves in his "backyard" as it were, it seems possible that
Molitor may have believed this story. This would help to explain
why such an unusual illustration as that of an enchanted wolf ap-
peared in DeLemiis^
While stories of enchanted wolves seem to have disappeared
at least from the literature for a long time after the publication of
De Lamiis, almost all sixteenth-century witchcraft literature dis-
cussed lycanthropy. The theme was as prevalent as the better
known themes of witches' flight, cannibalism, and the sabbat. Of
interest here is the 1517 publication on witchcraft, Die Emeisx
which was a collection of Lenten sermons by the Cathedral
Preacher of Strassburg, Johannes Geiler von Kaisersberg. Die
Emeis is only the second witchcraft text published in the German
language, the first being a German edition of De Lamiis, Von den
Hexen und Unholden translated by Molitor in 1493. Geiler's ser-
mons dealt with various aspects of witchcraft, and one entire ser-

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ILLUSTRATION 2

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mon was devoted to werewolves. It was Geiler's custom to begin
his sermons with rhetorical questions. Accordingly, in Chapter
42 of Die Emeisx he asked whether witches could transmute
themselves or others "...in Wolf, in Schwien, in Vogel...?" His
answer was to pronounce the whole business "smoke and mir-
rors," "...ein Gespenst und ein Schein vor den Augen...." Geiler
held that not even the Devil himself could transmute men into
animals.7 Geiler's opinion is a typical clerical response to the
question of the reality of lycanthropy, indeed of transmutation in
general. But, it was not the only response. Other writers took the
position of Nicholas Remi who wrote in his Demonomanie of
1580 that the Devil could indeed create a werewolf (Book II,
Cap. 5). At about the same time, the infamous persecutor of
witches, Peter Binsfeld of Trier, wrote in his Tractat von
Bekanntnis derZauberer und Hexen of 1591 that there were no
werewolves.8 To return to Geiler, his flat dismissal of any reality
of werewolves in Die Emeis did not prevent the publication of a
lurid illustration of a werewolf in the work. This is the only illus-
tration of a werewolf to appear in a witchcraft text in the six-
teenth century (see illustration 3). Die Emeis was not unusual be-
cause Geiler discussed lycanthropy, but because the publisher
included the werewolf illustration. Geiler had been dead for sev-
en years when Die Emeis was published, and it is tempting to
speculate as to whether he himself would have allowed such an
illustration. Perhaps the werewolf appeared here because the
publisher thought his reading public would enjoy a sensational il-
lustration. The werewolf, who is shown attacking a man while
another man looks on in horror, is entirely transmuted into ani-
mal form. In fact the other illustrations in the work are equally
sensational. They depict, for example, a witches' sabbat and a
witch who is milking an ax handle.
Another contemporary woodcut of a werewolf reinforces
the contention that early sixteenth-century Germans enjoyed the
sensational in art. It may also lend support to the concept that
many people probably did believe in werewolves, just as they be-
lieved in witches. Popular culture may have more strongly sup-
ported belief in lycanthropy than learned opinion of the clergy.
Lucas Cranach, close friend of Martin Luther and Renaissance
master of substantial fame, followed popular culture when he
produced a werewolf woodcut which is dated about 1512. This
"werewolf' is in reality a cannibal who has not been transmuted
into animal form. He is shown ravaging a farmstead. He has evi-
dently killed and partially eaten two adults and is now running
off on all fours with the family's infant (see illustration 4). These

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ILLUSTRATION 3

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ILLUSTRATION 4

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were the "typical" acts of the werewolf - the homicidal madman.
Lycanthropy, like witchcraft, was a means of explaining such ir-
rational behavior as mass murder.
It is most unusual that an artist of such stature as Cranach
would have chosen a werewolf as a topic because it was not at
all commonplace among artists. Cranach himself is the only
identified sixteenth-century artist who depicted werewolves. The
artist of Die Emeis and those who did the remaining three were-
wolf illustrations are anonymous.
One of the most intriguing depictions of werewolves comes
from a German broadside. The print was produced in the second
half of the century and shows several groups of werewolves in a
landscape setting. This is a truly fascinating set of images. Some
individuals are wearing human garb while others have set this
aside in favor of wolf's fur. In like fashion some werewolves are
not yet entirely transmutated into animals. These may perhaps be
of the sort described by the Antwerp Jesuit, Martin del Rio, in
his witchcraft text, Disquisitionum magic arum of 1599. Del
Rio's werewolves were actually humans on whose bodies wolf
parts were superimposed by the Devil! The iconography of this
print was obviously based on similar illustrations of the activities
of witches. It is in fact rather similar to the frontispiece of Peter
Binsfeld's Tractatus of 1591. Such a visual analogy is not at all
inappropriate since witches were sometimes werewoves. The
werewolf was often believed to transmute himself by virtue of a
pact with the Devil. Some of the broadside's werewolves are
shown preparing their pact with the Devil. The Devil might then
provide the person with a magic ointment, a belt as we see here,
or at times a wolf pelt to help effect this change. Werewolves are
running amok ravaging farmsteads and killing individuals much
in the fashion of the Cranach print. As with those who were con-
demned for witchcraft, several werewolves are being burnt at the
stake (see illustration 5). To my knowledge there are no cases of
persons having been "infected" with lycanthropy through the bite
of, or physical attack of, another werewolf recorded in the period
of the fifteenth through the seventeenth centuries. Nor were there
any supernatural means, as today's "silver bullets," to kill a
werewolf.
The remaining two sixteenth-century werewolf images may
be considered together since one derived from the other. They re-
late the story of the acts and the execution of a notorious German
werewolf, Peter Stubbe. He was tried in the fall of 1589 in
Cologne for a number of heinous acts, among them several mur-
ders, incest with his daughter, keeping several women as

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ILLUSTRATION 5

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"wives," cannabalism, and lycanthropy. He achieved his trans-
formation into a wolf by means of a magic belt which he had re-
ceived through a pact with the Devil, just as did the werewolves
in the previous broadside. Rather fittingly, he was executed on
October 31, 1589. The first image of Peter Stubbe presumably
comes from about 1589. This particular image is German. It de-
picts his acts as a werewolf and also the details of his martydom,
which were rather specifically outlined in the account of his trial:
Stubbe as to have
"...his body laid on a wheel, and with red-hot burning

pincers in ten several places to have the flesh pulled off
from the bones; after that, his legs and arms to be broken
with a wooden axe or hatchet; afterward to have his head
struck off from his body; then to have his carcass burned
to ashes..." (n.p.).
Interestingly enough, he was not actually condemned at his trial

for the crime of witchcraft, and it was thought by some that he
was a victim of mental illness. Despite the opinions brought out
in his trial, many later authorities simply decided that Stubbe
was a witch. This was the case when his history was translated
into English and published in London in a small pamphlet in
1590. This pamphlet, A True Discourse Declaring the Damnable
Life and Death of One Stubbe Peeter, contains a memorable il-
lustration of his deeds. The translator specifically labeled him as
a witch. Stubbe' s story became quite well known throughout
Europe and was often repeated in late sixteenth-century witch-
craft literature. It is also found in witchcraft literature of the sev-
enteenth century. For instance, it appeared not only in Del Rio,
but also as a similar story based on the life of Peter Stubbe in
Guazzo's Compendium Maleficarum, and in a 1621 account of
witchcraft by the English witch-hunter, Edward Fairfax.
While there are apparently only these five images of were-
wolves produced in the sixteenth-century which indicates that
even if there were more such images, their numbers were few,
this was not the case in witchcraft literature. Several examples
have already been cited where werewolves were discussed but I
would like to amplify this point by commenting on some addi-
tional works. The list of those witchcraft writers who discussed
werewolves is a litany of the most important authorities on the
subject. Not only do we find Geiler, Binsfeld, and del Rio, but
also experts of such notoriety as Olaus Magnus, Nicolas Remy,
Jean Bodin, Johannes Weyer, and Reginald Scot. A chapter on

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lycanthropy was merely another requisite of the given witchcraft
text. Opinions on the reality or nature of werewolves varied, as
one would expect. Olaus Magnus hedged. Weyer thought lycan-
thropes to be the mentally ill, or perhps demons masquerading as
wolves, or even real wolves. Scot pronounced them a "verie ab-
surdity," and Bodin, who believed in everything, believed in
werewolves.9
While art was scarce, lycanthropy was so much discussed in
the sixteenth century that there were even specific books devoted
to the theme. One important study was written by the physician,
Kaspar Peucer. His Commentarius de praecipius generibus di-
vinatorium, which discussed werewolves from Latvia, was pub-
lished in 1560 in Wittenberg. Then, it went through new editions
in 1572, 1576, 1584 (in two French editions), and 1593. Other
examples include Claude Prieur's Dialogue de la lycanthropie
in 1596 and the Lycanthropie of Beauvais de Chauvincourt in
1599. None of these studies was illustrated with a werewolf.
If so many were writing about lycanthropy, why then were
there so few images of werewolves? I think the answer must lie
in the fact that lycanthropy was just simply so sensational and
unbelieveable, that images of it were not of much interest to the
educated viewer. After all, with few exceptions such as the broad-
side, most images of werewolves were contained in texts which
were not commonly read by the masses.
It may logically be argued that other witchcraft images
were as equally sensational and irrational as those of were-
wolves. What would be more irrational, more unbelieveable than
an image of witches and demons involved in sex? Was a print of
a witch riding a broomstick or a goat more convincing than that
of a werewolf? The witchcraft writers often disputed that witches
could fly or have sex with demons, just as they disputed the real-
ity of lycanthropy. Those who disagreed brought forward the ex-
act same arguments. That is, they said these ideas were simply
wrong or that they were illusions of the Devil. They were smoke
and mirrors. And yet, many images existed which showed these
very witches' deeds. While the public certainly entertained sen-
sationalism in art, it seems that the werewolf was just a little too
much for most sixteenth century persons to accept.
The same must hold true for images of enchanted wolves.
They just don't exist. It seems reasonable that beliefs in enchant-
ed wolves remained much more a part of popular culture than of
learned culture since, with the exception of Molitor, writers did
not discuss the notion of enchanted wolves at all.
Despite the fact that there were numerous books published

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about witchcraft during the ensuing seventeenth century, the
wolf situation did not change perceptibly. Many witchcraft
books still contained discussions about the possiblity of were-
wolves as such, or of werewolf/witches. There were works writ-
ten specifically about lycanthropy. There were also a small num-
ber of pamphlets and broadsides devoted to the topic of
werewolves. But stories of enchanted wolves appeared infre-
quently in popular culture, surfacing only in scattered witchcraft
trials. Finally, images of them remained scarce, mostly confined
to books or other printed sources not specifically about witch-
craft. Such images are not found in fine arts media, such as en-
gravings or paintings.
Some authors include the transmuted witches of David
Teniers the Younger (1610-1690) as werewolves,10 but I disa-
gree. Such a transmuted witch appears, for instance in his
Incantation Scene.. In a work which Teniers created in the first
half of the 1650s, a witch is seen flying up the chimney in the
background of an interior. This witch has a tail and what might
be canine hind limbs. I am not entirely convinced that her limbs
are canine, and further, that her tail has stripes. I know of no
wolves with racoon-like stripes on their tails. But, this witch and
others like her in various Teniers paintings have been character-
ized as depicting lycanthropes. It is my opinion that they are not.
Safer iconographie ground occurs in two illustrations of
werewolves depicted in Francesco Guazzo's Compendium
Maleficarum of 1608 (re-issued in 1626)11. This is the only
witchcraft text in the seventeenth century to contain images of
werewolves. Guazzo was remarkably credulous and definitely
believed that witches could transmute themselves into animals,
including wolves. He wrote in Book I, Chapter xiii,
Sometimes (The Devil) in accordance with his pact,...

surrounds a witch with an aerial effigy of a beast, each
part of which fits on to the correspondent part of the
witch's body... but this only happens when they use cer-
tain ointments and words...
In this statement Guazzo reflected what Martin del Rio had stat-
ed in the Disquisitionum Magicarum in 1599, although it will be
remembered that del Rio thought wolf anatomical parts rather
than "aerial effigies" were superimposed on the witch. The were-
wolf in the Compendium Maleficarum is entirely transmuted
into animal form. If it were not for the accompanying textual ex-
planation of the illustration, it would simply appear that this was

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a wolf. This image appears twice in the book.
But, if the witchcraft books did not show illustrations of
werewolves, as noted, it did not mean that interest in lycanthropy
among writers had subsided. Such interest was shown, for in-
stance, by the popularity of Henri Boguet's Discours des sor-
ciers, which discussed incidences of Swiss werewolves (Bouguet
did not believe in werewolves, thinking them to be an illusion).
His book appeared in 1602 in Lyons, was re-issued three times in
1603, and yet again in 1605, 1606, 1607, 1608 and 16 10. 12
Francois Perreaud wrote in his Demonologie, published in
Geneva in 1653, that werewolves were either an illusion or the
product of melancholy, i.e. mental illness on the part of the per-
sons involved.13
Further, there were a number of lyncanthropy trials in
France, Germany, and Switzerland during this century. The
Frenchman, Pierre de l'Ancre, who was an expert on Basque and
French witches, wrote about werewolves in his Tableau de
l' inconstance des mauvais anges et demons of 1613. He felt that
werewolves were witches who had been anointed with magic
ointments provided them by the Devil.14 De l'Ancre even went
so far as to describe the case history of a French werewolf in his
Tableau. This account runs over 150 pages. The werewolf in
question was Jean Grenier, who was tried and banished by the
Parliament of Bordeaux to confinement in a monastery in 1603.
Grenier was a most unfortunate individual. Most involved in his
case seem to have considered him mentally retarded and mistak-
en in his beliefs that he was a werewolf. De l'Ancre, himself a
counsellor to this Parliament, went so far as to visit Jean Grenier
in 1610 in his exile (see fn.14). The French historian, Robert
Mandrou, found that Pierre de l'Ancre eventually repudiated his
beliefs in werewolves in an enormously long (841 pages) later
work on witchcraft entitled, L' incrédulité et mescrieance du sor-
tilege plainement convaincue, published in 1622 (Mandrou,
Magistrats, fn.14).
There were also specific lycanthropy texts such as Jean de
Nyauld's famous De la lycanthropie which was published in
1615. De Nyauld was a physician who did not believe in were-
wolves. He made the Demonomanie of Jean Bodin his special fo-
cus for criticism. De Nyauld felt that werewoves were figments
of the imagination. He himself included the case of Jean Grenier
as an example of his own theories that lycanthropy did not actu-
ally exist.15 Another such text was written by Gabriel Naude in
1649. This was the Jugement de tout ce qui' a este imprime con-
tre le Cardinal Mazarin, an odd place perhaps for werewolves to

130.226.229.16 on Thu, 13 Aug 2020 07:33:23 UTC
appear.
A few additional werewolf images appeared in Germany in
the late seventeenth century, in one case in a broadside and in an-
other in a pamphlet, both telling of a werewolf who ravaged the
countryside near the village of Nueses in 1685, in the region con-
trolled by the Margrave of Onolzbach. The werewolf was en-
ticed, with a chicken as bait, into a well and captured. He was
put to death and his remains seem to have been hung from a gal-
lows. The broadside shows his capture, his death, and the dispo-
sal of his remains. Other illustrations from a pamphlet show sim-
ilar scenes. This werewolf is usually depicted transmuted into
wolf form. But his suspended remains are generally those of a
human corpse (see illustration 6).
A similar treatment is found in a set of engravings from
Theophilus Laube'sD/a/ogi und Gesprach von der Lycanthropia,
which was published in Frankfurt in 1686. These illustrations
show werewolves as wolves ravaging the countryside at the be-
hest of the Devil. But, the executed werewolf has resumed his
human form. It is quite possible that the artist who produced the
Laube illustrations may have seen the previous broadside or
pamphlet. Copying of images from one printed work to another
was quite commonplace in the seventeenth century.
It is clear that the belief in werewolves did not disappear
even at this rather late date. But, one does suspect that the preva-
lance of the belief may have diminished. After all, as we have
noted, werewolves had never entirely achieved the type of accep-
tance by learned circles that witches held. This is not to say that
either werewolves or witches as "fact" entirely disappeared form
the literature, nor certainly from popular mind, but by the end of
the seventeenth century, such beliefs were diminishing rapidly
throughout Europe. Fewer serious books were being written
about witchcraft, and this also seems to have been the case with
werewolves. For example, the 1710, satire L'histoire des imagi-
nations extravagantes de Monsieur Oufle, by Laurent Bordelon,
poked fun at both beliefs in witches and werewolves. Bordelon
singled out as the primary target of his satire Pierre de l'Ancre's
Tableau of a century earlier. But, if werewolves retreated from
their earlier acceptance as real, they did not disappear entirely.
For example, serious consideration of werewolves is given in a
1710 text entitled Misantropus Audax written by Acxtelmeirer.
We began this discussion by considering stories of witches
who enchanted wolves. Although such witches were immartal-
ized in print in De Lamiis and De Lamiis was known in the six-
teenth century, stories about additional wolf enchanters are not

130.226.229.16 on Thu, 13 Aug 2020 07:33:23 UTC
ILLUSTRATION 6

130.226.229.16 on Thu, 13 Aug 2020 07:33:23 UTC
known in this century. The stories are most likely there, but not
yet discovered in archival research.
There has been some research done on wolf enchanters in
the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Fritz Byloff detailed
several cases in his Hexenglaube und Hexenverfolgung in den
österreichischen Alpenlandern, which was published in 1934.
There seems to have been some confusion as to whether all these
witches merely enchanted wolves to harm others or rode about
on them as well. For instance, in 1631, there was a case of a
"Wolfreiter," called Dietl, who was brought to trial in Althof in
Kärnten. Byloff studied this case and decided that Dietl was real-
ly a wolf enchanter, "Wolfbanner," not a rider of wolves. There
were further cases, in 1635 in the Austrian Alps, of witches who
enchanted wolves and caused bad weather. Another case, from
1651, described the deeds of a male witch who employed the evil
services of three enchanted wolves and four bears! 16
The old beliefs died, but they died a slow death. For, when
one might have assumed that it was finally safe to stop worrying
about witches, werewolves, and enchanted wolves, Byloff found
additional cases of people enchanting wolves in 1706 and 1707.
NOTES
The Corrector of Burchard of Worms is readily available in moden transcrip-

tions. For the section which discusses werewolves, see Question 151,
"Werewulf," in which Burchard recommends this penance for werewolves,
"decern dies in pane et aqua debes poenitere." Joseph Hansen (Quellen und
Unsuchungen zur Geschichte des Hexenwahns und der Hexenverfolgungen im
Mittelalter , Bonn, 1901), noted an anonymous Tractatus de demonibus from
about 1415 which discussed werewolves, but Hansen did not elaborate on the
contents of this manuscript.
2. Petrus Mamoris, Flagellum Maleficorum edit um per eximium sacre theologie

prof. mag. Petrům Mamoris (c. 1462). Chapter 2, "...qui homines substantialiter
in lupos non sunt conversi sed...relicta fide qui adherent fìgmentis diaboli versi
sunt in belluam et per unguenta a demone accepta ungunt se et lupi apparent..."
One may also see Hansen, Quellen, p.210 for a transcription of this passage.
3. This is apparently the first edition of this book. The British Museum holds an
edition from Constance which may date 1488, but this is uncertain. The date
may also be 1489. See J.P. Davidson, The Witch in Northern European Art
1470-1750 (Luca Verlag, 1987, 112) for a full bibliographical discussion of the
various 15th-century editions of De Lamiis.
4. Ulrich Molitor, De Lamiis et Phitonicis M ulier bus (1489), Chapter 5. Molitor

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describes the activities of the wolf rider and asks whether witches go to sabbats,
"...super baclum uncyum vel super lupum seu aliud animal equitare..." See also
Davidson, The Witch , (14-17) for a further discussion of Molitor.
5. Besides the numerous incunabula editions of De Lamiis , there were also at
least two sixteenth century editions. De Lamiis was frequently appended to
various editions of the Malleus Maleficarum in the sixteenth century as well.
Readers interested in these texts can consult the Catalog of the Cornell
Witchcraft Collection (1977) for further details.
6. See a transcription of this account in Joesph Hansen, Quellen (1901, 529,
item 30). Hansen compiled a number of trial accounts which he gathered for the
most part from other nineteenth-century secondary sources. Where available,
he included the archival references. In this case, the source is from an eight-
eenth-century publication.
7. Johannes Geiler van Kaiserberg, Die Emeis (1517). The discussion of were-
wolves is found in his seventeenth sermon, "Am Mitwoch nach Remini scere,
(item 42, "Am Montag nach Oculi oder Montag nach Halbfast)." Geiler stated,
"...der teufel kein menschen in thier kan manchen, noch kein thier in das ander
verwandeln..." He did go on further to state that the Devil could create animals
out of corruption such as mice and snakes.
8. Peter Binsfeld, Tractat van Bekanntnis der Zauberer und Hexen (1591) and
various editions. For a quotation from the 1605 Latin edition of Binsfeld (193-
204), see Montague Summers, Werewolf (1966, 91).
9. For Olaus Magnus, see his Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus (1555,
Book XVm, Cap. xlv-xlvii, (642-644, and also 611-613). For Jean Bodin, see
Demonomanie (1580), Book 2, Chapter 6. See Reginald Scot, The Discoverie
of Witchcraft (1584, Book V, Chapters 1-6) for a discussion of werewolves.
Scot is readily available in modem editions. Johannes Weyer, De Praestigiis
D e mono rum, Book I, VI, Cap. ii, and IH, Cap. x. See also IV, Cap. xxii and
xxiii. Weyer also discussed werewolves in his 1577 De Lamiis , (Cap. xiv, pp.
710-712). All these can be found in various editions of his Opera. See referenc-
es at the end of this article.
10. For a discussion of Teniers* paintings of supposed witch/werewoves, see

Lewis and Lewis, Medical Botany (1977, 420).
11 . Francesco Maria Guazzo, Compendium Maleficarum (1626, Book I,
Chapters x, xiii, and xiv). A good English translation is available by E.A.
Ashwin (1974).
12 . Henri Boguet, Discours des sorciers (1602 and various editions, 110-124 in
the 1603 edition).
13. Francois Perreaud, Demonologie (1653, Chapter 7, pp. 113-114). See E.W.
Monter, Witchcraft in France and Switzerland (1976) for a reference.
14' Pierre de l'Ancre, Tableau (1613, Book IV, 290 and 295). See also Robert

130.226.229.16 on Thu, 13 Aug 2020 07:33:23 UTC
Mandrou, Magistrats et Sorciers en France au xviie siecle (1980, 533-34) for
de l' Ancre* s apparent refutation of this concept in his later work.
15. Jean de Nyauld, De la lycanthropie (1615). See Montague Summers,

Werewolf ' (98-100). See also Robert Mandrou, ( Magistrats , 162).
16. See Fritz Byloff, Hexenglaube und Hexenverfolgung in der österreichischen
Alpenlandren (1934, 75-76, 90, and 148) for these cases.
REFERENCES
Acxtelmeirer . Misantrop us A udax , 1710

Beauvais de Chauvincourt. Lycanthropie , 1599.
Binsfeld, Peter. Tractat von Bekanntnis der Zauberer und Hexen , 1591.
Bodin, Jean. Daemonomania , 1698 and earlier editions.
Bo guet, Henri. Discours des sorciers , 1602, and subsequent editions.
Bordeion, Laurent. L'historié des imaginations extravagantes de M.Oufle
1710.
De l'Ancre, Pierre. Tableau de l'inconstance des mauvais anges et démons ,
1613.
- . L' incrédulité et mése ir eance du sortilège plainement convaincue , 1622.
Del Rio, Martin. Disquistionum magicar um, 1612.
Geiler von Kaisersberg, Johannes. Die Emeis , 1517.
Guazzo, Francesco Maria. Compendium Maleficarum , 1487
Institoris, H. and J. Sprenger. Malleus Maleficarum , 1487.
Laube, Theophilus. Dialogi und Gesprach von Lycanthr opia, 1686.
Magnus, Olaus. Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus , 1555.
Mamoris, Petrus. F läge Hum Malefic or um, about 1462.
Molitor, Ulrich. De Leuniis et Phitonicis M ulier ib us, 1489 and subsequent
editions.
Muller, Jacobus. Disputationem De Lykanthropia (dissertation, Leipzig), 1673.
Naude, Gabriel. Jugement de tout de qui' ci este imprime contre le cardinal
Mazarin , 1649.
Nyauld, Jean de. De la Lycanthropie , 1615.
Peucer, Kaspar. Commentatius de praecipius generibus divinationum , 1560 and
subsequent editions.
Prieur, Claude. Dialogue de la lycanthropie , 1596.
Remy, Nicolas. Daemonolatria , 1693 and earlier editions.
Scot, Reginald. The Discoverie of Witchcraft, 1584.
Vincenti, Johann. Liber de adver sus magicas artes , 1475.
Weyer, Johannes. Opera , 1586.

130.226.229.16 on Thu, 13 Aug 2020 07:33:23 UTC
ILLUSTRATIONS
Illustration 1 . Anon. Enchanted Wolf from Ulrich Molitor

De Lamiis et Phitonicis Mulierbus ,
1489. Cornell University Library.
Illustration 2. Anon. Witches Flying to a Sabbat from

Ulrich Molitor. De Lamiis et Phitonicis
MulieribuSy 1489. Cornell University Li-
brary.
Illustration 3. Anon. Werewolf from Johannes Geiler

von Kaisersberg. Die Emeis , 1517. Cor-
nell University Library.
Illustration 4. Lucas Cranach. The Werewolf .
Illustration 5. Anon. German Broadside. Werewolves ,

about 1590.
Illustration 6. Anon. Werewolf of Nueses from a pam-

phlet describing the werewolf of the vil-
lage of Nueses, about 1685.
Illustrations 1, 2, and 3 are printed with permission from Cornell University

Library.

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Hannes Bok: An Appreciation
Bob Canino
Formally born Wayne Woodard, Hannes Bok was one of

early science fiction's most talented and enigmatic characters.
Self-taught and an ardent admirer of Maxfield Parish, Bok got
his start working ioxWeird Tales magazine after friend Ray
Bradbury introduced his art to Fransworth Wright, then editor at
that legendary magazine. While his illustrations were widely
seen in many of the pulps of the day, he was never able to crack
the major markets (such as Astounding Science Fiction ) an
inability the art critic/historian Robert Weinberg has laid more to
Bok's idiosyncratic lifestyle and his inability to meet deadlines,
than to any lack of artistic talent.
Moving on to the small press market after World War II,
Bok did some of his most memorable work for Shasta, Arkham
House and Fantasy Press. He later got involved in publishing,
joining with other notable fans to form an organization called the
New Collectors Group. While involved there, Bok actually
completed two unfinished A. Merrit novels that were
subsequently published in hardcover with accompanying original
illustrations. When the New Collectors encountered financial
difficulty and eventually ceased operations, Bok went back to
doing straight illustrations, but never worked for any of the
leading publishing houses of the day. He eventually left science
fiction altogether and became an astrologer, dying of a heart
attack at the age of 50 in 1964.
The famous Powers Lithographs that follow show Bok's
famous flowing lines, subtle shades and penchant for
nightmarish composition. While insiders and devotees of the
genre lauded him during the working years of his life, his
posthumous appreciation has been neglibile. It is with the hope
that wider audiences will come to discover and enjoy his work
that we present him here.
Page 69

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The Powers of Darkness

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The Powers of Light
Page 71

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The Grey Powers

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The Primal Powers
Page 73

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Wolves, Witches, and Werewolves: Lycanthropy and Witchcraft from 1423 to 1700

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"Available evidence indicates that in most parts of

The belief that there were associations among witches, were-

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"...his body laid on a wheel, and with red-hot burning

Interestingly enough, he was not actually condemned at his trial

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Sometimes (The Devil) in accordance with his pact,...

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The Corrector of Burchard of Worms is readily available in moden transcrip-

2. Petrus Mamoris, Flagellum Maleficorum edit um per eximium sacre theologie

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10. For a discussion of Teniers* paintings of supposed witch/werewoves, see

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15. Jean de Nyauld, De la lycanthropie (1615). See Montague Summers,

Acxtelmeirer . Misantrop us A udax , 1710

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Illustration 1 . Anon. Enchanted Wolf from Ulrich Molitor

Illustration 2. Anon. Witches Flying to a Sabbat from

Illustration 3. Anon. Werewolf from Johannes Geiler

Illustration 4. Lucas Cranach. The Werewolf .

Illustration 5. Anon. German Broadside. Werewolves ,

Illustration 6. Anon. Werewolf of Nueses from a pam-

Illustrations 1, 2, and 3 are printed with permission from Cornell University

Page 68 Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts