Literature was a powerful tool in Medieval England to share stories amongst a community about the nation’s historical past, present issues, and future predictions. In order for an author to grab the attention of the audience, a simpler story was told, where objects and animals represented different aspects of the nation.
Wolves were prevalent in England during the medieval era and the large population lead to hunting them down, Regan Walker describes. Wolf hounds became a popular prize to give others as royal gift, leading them to be a symbol of power and wealth. It was said that, as for wolves, they are neither recognized as beasts of the forest or of venery, and therefore if a person kills any of them, they will forever be out of all danger.
Wolves were also known to devour people and livestock, bringing upon fear to the nation, Tim Flight states. Wolves represented a tiny fraction of both domestic and wild animal. Wolves were rarely encounter in human settlements and prefer to live in uncultivated wilderness, and only live elsewhere out of necessity. The wolf’s role is common in literary and religious references, they appear to be an allegory of spiritual danger. Allegories such as this cemented a reputation for the wolf as the enemy of the nation, a danger both both the soul and earthly prosperity, yet there have yet to be proof that the wolf ever was a danger in Medieval England. This fear of the wolf may have been formed from the earlier references in the Bible, which was written in a nation more prone to attack.
Wolves are also described to not only define wilderness by their presence, but to actively maintain it by manifesting the opposition to man, according to Tim Flight. The wolf’s symbol influenced an Anglo- Saxon law, where people outlawed for committing a heinous crime were called wulfheafod, which translates to wolfs head. They could be killed lawfully by anyone without fear of retribution.
Folk tales were a widely practiced form of literature in Medieval England, where a wolf would take on a sinister and threatening persona, according to Lisa Jesse. Wolves become greater enemies of people, rather than a predator. The actions of the people in the fairy tales to hunt down the wolf is always violent, and it is socially acceptable call of action, it is portrayed as the right thing to do in order to get “revenge on the wolf”. Wolves have been consistently singled out as a villain in Medieval Literature, even though there is no valid reasoning behind this.
The wolf is a symbol of many things in Medieval England, but the one part that is in common with all perception of the wolf, is that the wolf should be killed, and the huntsman is a hero. Wolves have a history in English literature to be the bad guy, even though they are wild creatures who prefer being in solitaire.
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