tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4176769156825838190.post2706583610501539808..comments2022-04-11T01:28:17.873-07:00Comments on A Blog of Beasts!: Hunting the WolfAnimals in the Middle Ageshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10809281152134119502noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4176769156825838190.post-29203283434018017172010-11-07T06:00:32.967-08:002010-11-07T06:00:32.967-08:00I think that what you're struggling with here ...I think that what you're struggling with here is the difference between the symbolic evil of the wolf and the actuality of wolves as predators. Did medieval hunters kill wolves as symbols or as menaces? In other words, given their propensity to think in symbolic terms about nature, were medieval hunters hunting the actual animals or their meaning? I am thinking now of the way in which Victorian big game hunters thought about their quarry. Tigers were real menaces in India, but they were also symbolic of Nature. They were predators but they were also Beasts. I can easily imagine that medieval hunters felt themselves to be hunting not just predators, but Evil when they went after wolves, likewise that the practice of hunting them as Evil went on after they were no longer prevalent as predators. But given that even one wolf attack would come in the context of a tradition of seeing wolves as particularly dangerous, it is also easy to see how hunters might overreact (at least, in our terms). They did not know that wolves were an endangered species. As far as they knew, there would always be wolves out there, just waiting to prey on their livestock and children.<br /><br />RLFBAnimals in the Middle Ageshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10809281152134119502noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4176769156825838190.post-58839483724942440272010-11-02T19:00:28.518-07:002010-11-02T19:00:28.518-07:00No, the perception of the wolf hasn't changed ...No, the perception of the wolf hasn't changed over the years and its really sad that people still perceive the wolf as an inherently evil creature. If we knew more about them by observance, instead of just following previous authority, perhaps we would be able to see them in a new light. At least that's what I hope to show in my paper. Also, yes, seasonally depleted refers to winter and also to the general hunting season where hunters killed most of the animals in the forest that the wolves depended upon.<br /><br />O.B.Animals in the Middle Ageshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10809281152134119502noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4176769156825838190.post-22964794901066201372010-10-31T12:57:21.258-07:002010-10-31T12:57:21.258-07:00Yes, I agree with Hannah. I think Prof. Fulton des...Yes, I agree with Hannah. I think Prof. Fulton described this briefly, but there is an interesting trend in medieval literature and accounts associating the appearance of wolves with famine, war, disease, and death. The "specter of starvation" may be a good way to characterize this. Also: "seasonally depleted" for wolves would probably mean winter, right?Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15575852682144033710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4176769156825838190.post-65933035492735831942010-10-31T11:38:39.262-07:002010-10-31T11:38:39.262-07:00The fact that wolves hunted livestock primarily in...The fact that wolves hunted livestock primarily in times of hardship was probably crucial to them developing that bad rap. Wild hawks and dogs also hunted, but they didn't gain the same notoriety. One of the major differences seems to me is that the hawks and dogs were consistent in eating the rabbits and other small game peasants needed -it was a fact of life. Wolves, on the other hand, presented the specter of starvation through the loss of livestock when other sources of food were scarce. This seems to be a much scarier threat.Hannahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07035944042961181003noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4176769156825838190.post-71082982359143772542010-10-30T22:29:08.622-07:002010-10-30T22:29:08.622-07:00Poor wolves! But, honestly, has our perception of ...Poor wolves! But, honestly, has our perception of wolves changed much since the Middle Ages? In the U.S. alone, people get very heated up over whether or not we should issue legal protection for wolves. Sarah Palin, once again, stirred up controversy for propsing legislation that would encourage wolf-hunting (in the 50s the Alaskan gov't paid employees and bounty hunters to kill thousands of wolves). <br /><br />With the technology at our disposal today, there should be so many alternative methods for preventing wolves from attacking livestock or lurking around human habitation. However, so many people just want the wolves dead, gone. Is it because we associate them with everything morally bad- something we inherited from our medieval ancestors?Sandra Parkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09982749331150977133noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4176769156825838190.post-10042508495671065692010-10-30T19:30:11.042-07:002010-10-30T19:30:11.042-07:00Poor misunderstood wolves, they got such a bad rap...Poor misunderstood wolves, they got such a bad rap. Although I'm sure wolves are quite voracious eaters of livestock when their own source of wild prey is depleted, it's hard to believe an entire species would be wiped out for a singular threat. I thought I read somewhere that land was granted to those who managed to kill a certain number of wolves, though I can't imagine what one would do with a wolf carcass. Of course wolves are inedible- I suppose, and I don't think their pelts were that valuable because they are so coarse. At any rate, wolves are easy scapegoats and they make good metaphors. I just found out recently that the wolf in "Little Red Riding Hood" represents a rapacious libertine, the tale was meant to be a warning for young girls to beware of licentious rakes (particularly it was aimed at ladies in the terriby profligate court of Louis XIV) The court represented in the story as the woods. <br />-CRClare Roseanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01448736994781701345noreply@blogger.com