The Book of Were-Wolves, Sabine Baring-Gould
Fantasy, myth, and religious scholars probably know of the eccentric Sabine Baring-Gould’s work. He was prolific in his day, (more than 1,240 publications and 15 children) specifically in writing hymns. The Book of Were-Wolves, written in 1865, is a fascinating read on many levels. First, it shows the transition of literary styles from the late 1800s to today. Second, it is a real attempt at unbiased scholarship by someone whose biases show up in everything else.
Histories of shapeshifting from a wide variety of cultures (Baring-Gould cites everything from North American to South American to Asia to Africa and back up to Europe for examples), and attempts to explain shapeshifting as any number of things; is it psychosis? Is it real? Is it magic? Is it biologic? Is it culture-based (this section alone is worth the read).
He spends some time reviewing cases of ghoulism - eating the dead - as were-activity, also worth the read.
Of Lew Trenchard in Devon, England, Baring-Gould was an Anglican priest, hagiographer, antiquarian, novelist, folk song collector and eclectic scholar and father of 15 children. His bibliography consists of more than 1,240 publications, though this list continues to grow. His family home, the manor house of Lew Trenchard, near Okehampton, Devon, has been preserved as he had it rebuilt and is now a hotel. He is remembered particularly as a writer of hymns, the best-known being “Onward, Christian Soldiers”, “Sing Lullaby”, and “Now the Day Is Over”.
His folkloric studies resulted in The Book of Were-Wolves (1865), one of the most frequently cited studies of lycanthropy. He habitually wrote while standing, and his desk can be seen in the manor.
One of his most enduringly popular works was Curious Myths of the Middle Ages, first published in two parts during 1866 and 1868, and republished in many other editions since then. “Each of the book’s twenty-four chapters deals with a particular medieval superstition and its variants and antecedents,” writes critic Steven J. Mariconda. H. P. Lovecraft termed it “that curious body of medieval lore which the late Mr. Baring-Gould so effectively assembled in book form.”
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