This subject is perhaps the most overdone aspect of werewolves. It seems like every book about werewolves has to discuss all the same famous cases to death.

The werewolf trials were closely related to the witch trials. They occured in the same era, for basically the same reasons, and they died out after the witch craze subsided and everyone in Europe regained their sanity. They were a brief, violent flash in the pan, but a flash that caught everyone's attention. Most of what is believed about werewolves today can somehow be traced back to the werewolf trials and the theology centered around them.

Here are a few of the more famous trials:

Trial #1:
Subject: Jean Grenier
Location: France

This fourteen-year-old boy's trial was unusual in a number of different ways. One, he came to the authorities voluntarily confessing everything, he was not tortured into a confession like so many were in this era. Two, he was much younger than most accused werewolves or witches. Three, of all the famous werewolf trials, his case is the only one that looks like there might have been a real werewolf involved (i.e. there was evidence that an animal really was killing people in the area, rather than just evidence of cannibalism). And four, he was let off the hook. A small, reddish animal resembling a feral dog was seen in the act of killing or trying to kill many different people.

Trial #2:
Subject: Gilles Garnier
Location: France

This seems to be the case of a very poor and starving peasant who fell into a life of cannibalism to ease his hunger. As usual, he was tortured to make him confess to the werewolf part, but he was particularly confused about this bit and often forgot his own confessions, so that he switched things around and forgot dates. There is very little to link him to any sort of werewolf- all the victims looked as if they had been killed by a person, not a wolf.

Trial #3:
Subject: Theiss
Location: What is now part of Russia
This is not one of the classic famous trials. Instead it is the only werewolf trial which has risen from obscurity to fame so long after it occured. It is famous because of how different it is from the usual werewolf trial. Theiss refused to confess to the usual werewolf crap. Instead, he told an interesting story about himself and his fellow werewolves. According to Theiss, werewolves were the protectors of the human community, fighting against demons and evil witches for the good of all people. In the end, his jailors believed him and he was let off the hook.

Links

Shapechangers: Medieval Thru Renaissance Periods One of the most complete pages I have seen on the subject of shapeshifters, witchcraft and the werewolf trials.

Personal Experiences with Witch Hysteria A girl tells of her experiences, accused of being a satanist and of being able to change into a spider at will.

Werewolves and Witch Trials A cute, basic site with just a bit of info.

Werewolves: The Myths & the Truths mostly about the werewolf trials & associated ideas

Man Into Beast: Werewolf Trials

The Malleus Maleficarum Also called "The Hammer of Witches". This important document was a vast explanation of all the Catholic ideas which had been built up in the Middle Ages to explain witches and werewolves (basically all minor variations on the "pact with the devil" theory). It was used as a witch-detecting and witch-hunting handbook. It also includes plenty of material on shapeshifting, and the inquisitor's twisted ideas on how shapeshifting was accomplished.

Witch Directory: The European Witch Trials

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