| Abstract [eng] |
In 1691 the trial of the old Thiess was underway in Livonia. Upon the charges of lycanthropy, the old man not only confessed himself, but managed to perplex the judges, who were thoroughly informed by Christian demonology. According to Thiess, it is the sorcerers who serve the Devil, whereas the werewolves are the hounds of God. Three times every year they descend into hell where they recover the yield and that is why the Devil despises them. And so forth and so on. Proceedings of the trial were published in 1924 and brought about a reaction that does not die away to this day. The “benevolent werewolves” of Thiess look quite anomalous when viewed in the context of werewolves of Europe. But were they perceived as such in their own land? Here the existing studies on Thiess and his werewolves are not nearly sufficient. Hence this paper, which essentially is a revision in light of newly gathered primary sources. In attempt to examine the extent to which the statements of Thiess are rooted in the local tradition, it was decided to firmly go ad fontes and amplify the data of the trial with folkloric facts extracted from the XVI–XVIII c. historical sources and XIX–XX c. folklore. To ease the process it was decided to break up the narrative into independently meaningful units (so called mythologems) and to amplify each of them separately, first with data from the local tradition, then with comparanda of typological nature (where found). The first chapter introduces the text of the Thiess trial. In the second chapter a brief overview of the academic reception is given, presenting it as a pretext for the current revision. The third chapter (the “backbone”) is dedicated for the context of the trial – XVI–XVII c. Livonian werewolves as portrayed by various historical sources. In the fourth and final (analytical) chapter the subtexts are elucidated, i.e., the amplification itself is performed. This is done with local beliefs as found both in the historical sources (introduced in the previous chapter) and in the folklore (introduced only here). Two appendices are added: the original transcript of the trial and the map showing locations that are mentioned therein. The bibliography was arranged to have a value of its own and in spirit of transparency: all of the essential primary sources are accessible in a click. |
