Real Medieval Superstition and Folklore

[Trevalon Moonleirion]

Fellow history buffs, I need your help! For honors credit in my Western Civ class, I'm writing a ten-twelve page research paper about the folklore and superstitions of medieval Europe. Do you know of any good historical sources that I could use in my essay? Primary and secondary sources are both more than welcome.

Any book suggestions you can give would be more than helpful!

Thanks in advance!!

edit- Mods, I felt that this topic could generate a few useful ideas for DMs who were homebrewing, so I put it in general discussion, if there's a better place for it, please feel free to move it!

 

[Dark Jezter]

In Medieval times, it was customary to congratulatate somebody when they sneezed, because it was believed that when a person sneezed they were expelling evil from their body.

 

[Trevalon Moonleirion]

Thanks DJ, interesting minutiae (too lazy to spellcheck this) like that are bound to be interesting for the rest of the board, but what I'm lookin for are actual suggestions of BOOKS to look into for stuff to put into my paper.

 

[David Howery]

There's a pretty common book by T.H. White (I think), a translation of a medieval bestiary, called "The Book of Beasts". It has some really bizarre things that medieval monks wrote about the animals of the world they knew (and some fantasy ones as well).

 

[Kweezil]

Alas, I'm not a historian, but I found a book you might find useful. It's fairly comprehensive, and had a 14 page bibliography of similar works.

Roud, Steve, The Penguin Guide to the Superstitions of Britain and Ireland (Penguin Books, 2003).

 

[ErichDragon]

Here are some websites that should lead to bibliographies for you:

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/witches1.html

http://www.medieval-life.net/life_main.htm

http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/H/history/guide12/part06x.html

These were from a general Google search, there are plenty more out there.

 

[Faraer]

As I understand it, sneezing temporarily expels your soul, leaving you vulnerable to demons entering, thus the saying of 'Bless you.'

 

[greywulf]

I've got a copy of Folklore Myths and Legends of Britain by my side right now (1973 edition, by the Readers' Digest). It's a great, comprehensive resource for all sorts of gaming ideas, and breaks British Mythology into three sections:

Lore of Britain, which covers general mythological themes that span large parts of the country,
Romance of Britain which retells some of the tales from the different regions, and talks about loves and deaths and crimes of passion from the areas,
People of Myth which details the lore surrounding Arthur, Robin of Sherwood, etc.

A sample:

Veryan
The Cornish village contains five peculiar cotages. Each one is entirely circular, with a pointed roof surmounted by a cross. The were built in the early 19th century by a religious fanatic who belived their shape would prevent the Devil from hiding in the corners.
A mile to the south of Veryan, overlooking Gerrans Bay, stands Carne Beacon, an ancient burial mound. Legend relates that the body of Gerennius, a 5th-century king of Cornwall was rowed across the bay in a golden boat with silver oars, and buried in full regalia under the mound. Recent excavations, however, have not proved the theory.

That's from a random page openning. I challenge anyone NOT to come up with a scenario or two from that

 

[Trevalon Moonleirion]

You guys are awesome! Thanks a ton, and keep suggestions flowing!

 

[Wombat]

A good book for this kind of situation would be Medieval Folklor: A Guide to Myths, Legends, Tales, Beliefs, and Customs by Carl Lindahl, John McNamara, and John Lindow (Oxford University Press, 2002). I've seen copies at Borders, Barnes & Nobles, and several independent booksellers. It is probably also sold at Amazon.

The only warning is that the type is very small, which means more medieval goodness per page

I would also second T.H. Whites The Book of Beasts -- great for all sorts of animal lore! All the material is combed from medieval bestiaries.