Thanks a lot for the feedback! I'm glad that I'm not the only one who finds "were-bears" interesting.
@ Francisco:
In those two cases that I'm familiar with, the "were-bear" account is very similar to werewolf accusations of the same time - it's essentially the same story with a bear substituted for a wolf. The werewolf trial discussed by Ginzburg (I assume you are referring to the Livonian trial in "Ecstasies"), on the other hand, is a very special case: it has some unusual features (the defendant insisting that he is a werewolf and the judges' refusal to believe him, the idea of a "benevolent werewolf") that are rearely found in 17th-century lycanthropy trials.
I came across the "were-bears" more or less by accident - I was researching scholarly texts written in early modern Livonia for my PhD and happened to notice the Estonian case (incidentally, roughly the same area as Ginzburg's werewolf). I got interested, researched a bit more and found the Tyrolean trial (I'm Austrian myself, so this was close to home for me) - and now I'm wondering if there might be more.
@ Caroline:
It might nor be in the focus of my research - but it's very interesting nevertheless! Never heard of it (though I have to admit that I'm quite ignorant on classical Greek religion) - thanks a lot!
@ Kirsten:
Excellent - that's exactly what I was hoping for! If you could send the pdf to [log in to unmask] I'd be very grateful!
Again, thank you very much for the feedback so far - and if anybody else has were-bears to offer, don't hesitate! ;-)
Stefan
________________________________________
Von: Society for The Academic Study of Magic [[log in to unmask]] im Auftrag von Kirsten C. Uszkalo [[log in to unmask]]
Gesendet: Donnerstag, 5. Mai 2011 14:02
An: [log in to unmask]
Betreff: Re: [ACADEMIC-STUDY-MAGIC] Bear transformations in early modern witch trials
Dear Stefan,
Anne Bodenham was said to be able to transform herself into a bear -- mind you, she is only said to be able to do so in one? tract, /Doctor Lambs Darling/ 1653.
But the text does not offer details. I have tracked a number of bear spirits in the WEME project (witching.org), but can think only of this one instance of a were-bear.
I tried to attach a PDF of the page, but it was bumped back, so let me know if you'd like it and I will send it to your personal email.
I do hope this is of some assistance.
cheers,
Kirsten
___
Kirsten C. Uszkalo
- Project Lead | Witches in Early Modern England Project | http://witching.org
- Project Lead: Usability | TAPoR Project | http://portal.tapor.ca/portal/portal
- E-Lab Scholar | Athabasca University | https://elab.athabascau.ca/
- Editor | Preternature: Critical and Historical Studies in the Preternatural | http://preternature.org
- Adjunct Assistant Professor | Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia
"Sure this woman is no witch, for she speaks many good words, which the witches could not"
On 2011-05-04, at 9:01 PM, Caroline Tully wrote:
> What a pity you aren't looking for material from the classical period in Athens... because then I could mention the rituals for young girls at the Temple of Artemis at Brauron where they had to 'play the bear'. There's an article on this in one of the old Pomegranates (not sure how to get old issues these days), but it's also all over the place in classics journals, books etc.
>
> ~Caroline.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Society for The Academic Study of Magic [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Stefan Donecker
> Sent: Thursday, 5 May 2011 9:07 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [ACADEMIC-STUDY-MAGIC] Bear transformations in early modern witch trials
>
> Dear colleagues,
>
> I'm looking for sources and/or scholarly literature that deal with the transformation of humans into bears in the early modern period. Shape-changing is a common motif in witch trials and also regularly treated in demonological literature, but the animal in question is usually a wolf or a smaller creature (hare etc.). I've only found two 17th century examples of trials in which the alleged witch was accused of transforming into a bear, one from Tyrol (Ignaz Singerle: Barbara Pachlerin, die Sarnthaler Hexe, Innsbruck 1858, p. 40) and one from Estonia (Bengt Ankarloo / Gustav Henningsen: Early Modern Witchcraft. Centres and Peripheries, Oxford 1990, p. 271). Does anyone know of other instances of "were-bears"? I should probably add that the project I'm involved in is focused on 15th- to 17th-century Europe, so bear transformations from other traditions (Old Norse sagas, shamanism etc.) are beyond the scope of my research.
>
> I'd be grateful for any recommendations! Thanks a lot!
>
> Stefan Donecker
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