Leslie A. Sconduto

The theme of this book is that there were three stages in werewolf legends from ancient times to the renaissance. The first, from ancient times to the high middle ages, described werewolves as horrible but largely mythical, the second, in the high middle ages, used werewolves as sympathetic characters in chivalric romances such as Bisclavret, Melion, Arthur and Galagon and William of Palerne, and the third stage in the renaissance portrayed werewolves as real-life vicious criminal humans who often obtained their powers from the Devil by pacts like those attributed to witches --some were in fact identified as witches. Meanwhile the chivalric version, especially as in Wililam of Palerne, continued to be retold independently of the negative supposed "reality.'… (more)