A SERMON ON WERE -WOLVES.
The discourses of Dr. Johann Geiler—The Sermon—Remarks.
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 other, 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:—[1]
[1] Headed thus:—“Am drittë sontag à fastê, occuli, predigt dé doctor
vô dê 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 cat 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.