Wolves And The Wilderness In The Middle Ages [Hardcover]

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 Junior Research Fellow in Medieval Archaeology, Clare College, CambridgeThe complex attitude to the wolf in the middle ages re-evaluated, bringing together historical and other evidence.Into the Woods: The Physical Wolf in the LandscapeLupine Landscapes: Physical Wilderness in Medieval Britain and ScandinaviaLupine Landscapes II: Conceptualising Medieval WildernessWolves, Game and Livestock: Predation and ConflictWolves and People: Hunting the HuntersBreaking the Lupine Body: Wolves as CommoditiesRavenous and Gullible: Wolves in Medieval Beast LiteratureLupine Identities: The Emblematic WolfFrom dinn to St. Edmund: Wolves in Pagan and Christian CosmologiesTransgressing Boundaries through Bestial Violence: Human Wolves