Dominion: People, Animals and Environments in Medieval Europe

Human responses to wolves in medieval northern Europe

The study of human responses to wolves focuses on relations between the top terrestrial predators in the northern hemisphere. In the process, the entire ecological fabric of medieval society is explored from both physical and conceptual perspectives. My research into the wolf started with my Ph.D. thesis (2003) which is now being published as Wolves and the Wilderness in the Middle Ages by Boydell and Brewer.

This represents the consolidation of several years of research, and I'm currently expanding the coverage to include other regions of Europe. This will ultimately be published as a book, linking the development of responses to wolves in medieval Europe with attitudes in early modern North America.

Relevant publications

Pluskowski, A. G. (2001) ‘Invisible lords of the forest: encounters with wolves at Bialowieza’, Wolfprint, 9, 10-13.

Pluskowski, A. G. (2001) ‘En mørk finde? – om truende villdyr i nordeuropeisk middelalder’, (Dark enemy? The threatening wild in medieval northern Europe) Spór, (Trondheim Archaeological Journal), 1/2001, 14-16.

Pluskowski, A. G. (2002) ‘Where the wild things are…zones of conflict with the wilderness in northern Europe’, in G. Helmig, B. Scholkmann and M. Untermann (eds.), Centre, Region, Periphery: Proceedings of the International Conference of Medieval and Later Archaeology, Basel, Switzerland, vol. 3, Basel, Archäologische Bodenforschung Basel-Stadt, 94-98.

Pluskowski, A. G. (2003) ‘Apocalyptic monsters: animal inspirations for the iconography of medieval north European devourers’, in R. Mills and B. Bildhauer (eds.), The Monstrous Middle Ages, Cardiff, University of Wales Press, 155-176.

Pluskowski. A. G. (2004) 'Lupine apocalypse: the wolf in pagan and Christian cosmology in medieval Britain and Scandinavia', Cosmos, 17, 113-131.

Pluskowski, A. G. (2005) 'The tyranny of the gingerbread house: contextualising the fear of wolves in medieval northern Europe through material culture, ecology and folklore', Current Swedish Archaeology 13, 141-160.

Pluskowski, A. G. (2005) 'Prowlers in wild and dark places: mapping wolves in medieval Britain and southern Scandinavia', in A. G. Pluskowski (ed.) Just Skin and Bones? New Perspectives on Human-Animal Relations in the Historic Past, Oxford, Archeopress, British Archaeological Reports, International Series 1412, 81-94.

Pluskowski, A. G. (2005) 'Wolves and sheep in medieval semiotics, iconology and ecology: a case study of multi- and inter-disciplinary approaches to human-animal relations in the historical past', in G. Jaritz and A. Choyke (eds.) Animal Diversities, Krems, Medium Aevum Quotidianum, 9-22.

Pluskowski, A. G. (2006) 'Where are the wolves? Investigating the scarcity of European grey wolf (Canis lupus lupus) remains in medieval archaeological contexts and its implications', International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 16(4):279-295.

Pluskowski, A. G. (2006) Wolves and the Wilderness in the Middle Ages, Woodbridge, Boydell and Brewer. Also available at Amazon.

Pluskowski, A. G. (2006) 'Harnessing the hunger: religious appropriations of animal predation in early medieval Scandinavia', in A. Andrén, K. Jennbert and C. Raudvere (eds.), Old Norse Religion in Long-Term Perspectives, Lund, Nordic Academic Press, 119-123.

Forthcoming publications

Pluskowski, A. G. (in press) ‘The wolf’, in T. O'Connor and N. Sykes (eds.), The Extinct and Introduced Fauna of Britain 3000 BC-1300AD, Oxford, Oxbow.

Pluskowski, A. G. and Howlett, P. (in preparation) 'A trophy from the era of persecution: wolf paws in the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff'.

Pluskowski, A. G. and Tys, D. (in preparation) 'Hunting culture and the development of wolf persecution in medieval north-western Europe: an archaeological and historical synthesis'.

Relevant presentations

1st February 2003. ‘Infernal devourers: animals as cosmic predators in medieval Britain', Representation and Abstraction: Responses to the Natural World in the Middle Ages, Courtauld Institute, London.

10th December 2003. 'Perilous paths through the dark: locating the threatening wild in medieval northern Europe', Seminar, Institute of Archaeology, University of Lund.

11th December 2003. 'Power struggles in the wilderness: human responses to the wolf in medieval Britain and Scandinavia', Seminar, Institute of Archaeology, University of Lund.

17th December 2003. ‘Prowlers in wild and dark places: mapping wolves in medieval Britain and southern Scandinavia’, Theoretical Archaeology Group Conference, Department of Archaeology, University of Wales, Lampeter (part of session entitled 'Just Skin and Bones? New Perspectives on Human-Animal Relations in the Historic Past', organised by A. G. Pluskowski).

21st October 2004. 'Competing predators? Tensions between humans and wolves in Britain and Scandinavia from the 8th-14th centuries', Seminar, Institute of Archaeology, University College London.

7th December 2004. 'Invisible predators? The physical and conceptual ecology of wolves in medieval northern Europe', MA Seminar, Department of Archaeology, Central European University, Budapest.

26th February 2005. 'Hunting the hunters: wolves and royal interests in medieval Britain and Scandinavia', London Medieval Society's Spring Colloquium: Animals and Birds, Natural and Supernatural.

8th May 2005. 'From the lamb inside the church to the wolf outside in the woods: multi- and inter-disciplinary approaches to medieval animal studies', International Congress on Medieval Studies, The Medieval Institute, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo (part of session entitled 'Animal Networks', organised by G. Jaritz).

22nd May 2006. 'Persecuting the wolf in medieval Europe: a question of religion or politics?', Centre for Animal Welfare & Anthrozoology Seminar, Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge.

9th-10th November 2006. 'Hunting wolves in medieval Britain and Scandinavia: ecology, politics and religion', The Wolf in Europe from the Middle Ages to the Present, Département d'Histoire, Faculté des Lettres, Reims.

15th January 2007. 'Before the werewolf trials: contextualising shape changers in medieval Europe', "Changing Beliefs of the Human Body: a Comparative Social Perspective", Leverhulme Research Programme Conference, McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, Cambridge.

23rd January 2007. 'Living in fear of the beast? De-constructing the "problem" of wolves in medieval Europe', London Society for Medieval Studies seminar at the Institute of Historical Research.

1st March 2007. '"Conversations of Death": re-thinking human responses to wolves in the Middle Ages', Fellows Lecture Series, Clare College, Cambridge.

20th May 2008. 'Perceptions of wolves in medieval Britain and Scandinavia: the challenge of integrating multiple sources', Seminars for Animaliter: Tiere in der Literatur des Mittelalters: ein interdisziplinäres lexikonprojekt, Deutsches Institut, Mainz. (paper sent)

Forthcoming presentations

6 Feb 2010. 'Lupus: imagining and experiencing wolves in medieval Europe', Animals in the Medieval World Workshop; Lansdowne Fellowship, Faculty of Humanities, University of Victoria, Canada.