Sabine Baring-Gould

Baring-Gould's eye-opening history of lycanthropy - the werewolf curse - delves deep into the lore, unearthing various historical cases, several of which date back to Ancient or Medieval times. The concept of a human transforming into a wolf has ancient origins, with several Greek and Roman authors such as Virgil, Ovid, Herodotus and Pliny raising the concept in their poetry and other writings. Rumors of sorcery that could induce a human to change was attributed to magicians in far off places such as Scythia, and such beliefs were widely held. Later, the Norse civilization's mythology introduced lycanthropy and other kinds of transformation. Humans as wolves, bears, birds and other beasts were said to appear in the northern wilds; the Norse God Odin took the form of a bird on regular occasions. Berserker warriors would clad themselves in wolf skins; Bj rn, son of Ulfheoin, was famed for his ability to shift between human and wolf forms.

Baring-Gould's eye-opening history of lycanthropy - the werewolf curse - delves deep into the lore, unearthing various historical cases, several of which date back to Ancient or Medieval times. The concept of a human transforming into a wolf has ancient origins, with several Greek and Roman authors such as Virgil, Ovid, Herodotus and Pliny raising the concept in their poetry and other writings. Rumors of sorcery that could induce a human to change was attributed to magicians in far off places such as Scythia, and such beliefs were widely held. Later, the Norse civilization's mythology introduced lycanthropy and other kinds of transformation. Humans as wolves, bears, birds and other beasts were said to appear in the northern wilds; the Norse God Odin took the form of a bird on regular occasions. Berserker warriors would clad themselves in wolf skins; Bj rn, son of Ulfheoin, was famed for his ability to shift between human and wolf forms.

This special edition of 'Curious Myths of the Middle Ages' was written by Sabine Baring-Gould, and first published in 1866, making it over 150 years old. This antiquarian text explores myths and folk stories like The Divining Rod, William Tell, Tailed Men, AntiChrist Pope, The Man in the Moon, and more. This is a fantastic old book and a must-have for all who love to read old myths and folklore of fantastic creatures and strange happenings. IMPORTANT NOTE - Please read BEFORE buying THIS BOOK IS A REPRINT. IT IS NOT AN ORIGINAL COPY. This book is a reprint edition and is a perfect facsimile of the original book. It is not set in a modern typeface and has not been digitally enhanced. As a result, some characters and images might suffer from slight imperfections, blurring, or minor shadows in the page background. This book appears exactly as it did when it was first printed. At Black Books we do not use OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology to transcribe books from scanned images or other forms of text - this usually results in everything from strange characters to gibberish. We believe that reading an old book, exactly as it was, is the most satisfying way to read it. DISCLAIMER: Due to the age of this book, some methods, beliefs, or practices may have been deemed unsafe, undesirable, or unacceptable in the interim years. In utilizing the information herein, you do so at your own risk. We republish antiquarian books without judgment, solely for their historical and cultural importance, and for educational purposes. If purchasing a book more than 50 years old, especially for a minor, please use due diligence and vet the text before gifting.