Werewolves Are a Rich Part of Cultural History – Informative Speech

Introduction

Just in time for Howl-O-Ween, werewolf folklore is our topic of the day.

Found across many continents and many people, werewolves are a rich part of cultural history, and just plain fun to discuss.

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I have always found werewolves interesting and for the past two weeks, I have been researching a small array of mythologies I’d like to share. .

The three werewolf mythologies I will talk about are 1) Greek mythology, 2) Norse mythology, and 3) European mythology. Transition: Let’s start with the origin of the word lycanthrope in ancient Greece.

Body

According to an article on the history of werewolves written by History.com, the Greek Myth of King Lycaon is one of the earliest accounts of Lycanthropy.

Theoi.com, a website dedicated to archiving Greek mythology explains the most common elements in all versions of the myth. 1. Callisto, Lycaon’s daughter and companion to the huntress Artemis was seduced by the God Zeus. (theoi.com/callisto)

Lycaon and Artemis were furious. Callisto was transformed into a bear and after she gave birth to her son Arkas. Lycaon’s men captured her and brought them to his palace. (theoi.com/Kallisto)

Theoi continues that Lycaon wanted to test the divinity of Zeus and see if he was truly all knowing by serving him the remains of a child. The child is either one of Lycaon’s fifty sons, Nyktimos, or the son of Callisto and Zeus, Arkas. (theoi.com/Lycaon)

Zeus saw through this deception and fell into a rage. He killed all of Lycaon’s remaining sons with lightning and changed Lycaon into a wolf. (theoi.com/Lycaon) This myth is the origin of the word lycanthrope and the term lycanthropy that we still use to this day, hence its importance. (theoi.com/Lycaon)

Lykanthropos is Greek for “wolf-man” Transition: From the classic eating babies and god-wraths of the mediterranean, we’ll move to Scandinavia to talk about Nordic transformations.

The next myth I found was the Norse myth “Saga of the Volsungs”.

1. The University of Pittsburg has an English translation of the Saga.
2. Sigmund and his nephew-son, Sinfjotli, were savage warriors that roamed through the woods of Gautland. (pitt.edu)
3. They came across a cabin with two men sleeping inside. Wolf pelts hung above them. Once these pelts were put on, they could only be removed after ten days. (pitt.edu)
4. In an excerpt from the University of Pittsburg, written in 2012, “Sigmund and Sinfjotli put on the skins, and they could not get them off. Now they howled like wolves and ran off into the forest, killing many men.” (pitt.edu)
5. An article on werewolves.com added some details to this part of the story.

The two wolves parted ways, but promised to come to each other’s aid whenever they needed help. Sigmund howled for help when he was ambushed by hunters, and Sinfjotli arrived swiftly to help kill them all. Some time later, Sinfjotli kills eleven hunters by himself. Sigmund feels insulted because he needed help with less hunters and a fight ensues. Sigmund bite’s the younger wolf’s throat and mortally wounds him. (werewolves.com)

Sigmund feels extremely guilty for even taking the pelts and putting them on, so he takes Sinfjotli back to the cabin. When he gets there, he sees two weasels fight. The victor bites the other’s throat and scampers off into the bushes. It returns with a leaf and places it on the wounded weasel and it jumps back to life. (werewolves.com) Sigmund immediately goes searching for this leaf, but is luckily given one by the God Odin disguised as a raven. (pitt.edu)

Sinfjotli is healed as the tenth day turns over and the two take off the pelts. Once they are removed and they return to being men, they burn the pelts to ash. (werewolves.com) B. This saga is important because it was believed that great warriors donned the pelts of animals and gained their strength in battle. These warriors were called berserkers, and often called werewolves or werebears because of the pelts they wore. They were also credited with a fierce animalistic nature. Sigmund and Sinfjotli were figures of great warriors and this Saga was told to talk about the incredible ability of their family. Transition: Now that you’ve heard of the animalistic berserkers of the Nords, we’ll cover the European curses.

Finally, I looked into European werewolves. A. In early medieval times, werewolves were portrayed as afflicted men that were cursed or naturally occurring and changed into wolves periodically.

The University of Florida has a transcript of the poem Bisclavret written by Marie de France. In the tale of Bisclavret, a baron is betrayed by his wife after she finds out he’s a werewolf. She runs to another knight that has always loved her and plans with him to steal Bisclavret’s clothes so he can’t return to human form. After many months of searching, the king reluctantly brings the investigation to an end. A year later, the king is hunting in the woods where Bisclavret is hiding. The wolf is so thrilled to see the king, he immediately starts licking his feet, asking for mercy. The king returns to his palace with the wolf, who he describes as being as kind and gentle as a man. The knight that wronged Bisclavret comes to the palace for a dinner for all of the king’s barons. The wolf turns savage and bites at the knight.

The king is surprised and orders the wolf to his bed chambers. Some time later, the king and the wolf return to the woods where Bisclavret was found. The wife visits them, and the wolf is unrestrainable and bites the woman’s nose right off. The king’s men move to kill the wolf but a wise man tells the king to consider that the wolf was wronged by both of these people and to torture the wife to find out what she knows. She eventually confesses to having wronged her previous husband and that he was in fact the wolf. Bisclavret is given his clothes back and given time to change back into a man. The king is overfilled with joy at the return of his favorite baron and the wife is exiled from the kingdom. (ufl.edu) B. According to Warwick, the Centre for the Study of the Renaissance, it wasn’t until the late 15th and 16th century that werewolves were seen as the beasts they are portrayed as today. This is in part because of the werewolf trials in France.

In an article on Exemplore.com, written by Cynthia who has a degree in history, around 30,000 people were killed for being werewolves in France. Gilles Gamier was a hermit that was caught eating children. He confessed that he was approached by a creature that offered to make it easier for him to find food. The creature turned Gilles into a werewolf and he began brutally killing and eating children. He was soon executed for his crimes. (exemplore.com)

Another two infamous men in France, Pierre Burgot and Michel Verdun “swore alliance to the devil” to get an ointment that turned them into wolves. They also confessed to brutally murdering children and were burned at the stake. (exemplore.com) Transition: These people were tortured and likely sick. All of these historical stories have helped create the howling wolves you see on screen today. Conclusion I. These three legends I found fascinating, helped me understand where some of the modern stories get their inspiration. I hope it did the same for you today.

• First, we learned the origin of the modern word lycanthrope from the Grecian myth of King Lycaon.
• Next, the Nordic berserkers who donned animal pelts were discussed through the Saga of the Volsungs.
• Finally, The curses and transformations in Medieval Europe, as well as the killings of those put on trial during the Werewolf Trials of France were discussed.

So if you go out this Halloween with fake hair, fangs, and a rubber mask, remember the hundreds of years of history that allowed the commercial creation of that costume.

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