Wolves

This miniature comes from a bestiary manuscript from the 13th century, written in both Latin and French, and housed by the British Library (Wolves, The British Library). The miniature consists of two panels. One features a wolf and her two cubs, and the other, a disrobed man banging two rocks together. The bestiary cautions readers of encounters with wolves in the wild. According to the manuscript, if a person sees a wolf before the wolf sees them, then they are safe. However, if the wolf sees a human first, they will render the human mute. The only way to regain the ability to speak, instructs the manuscript, is to remove and trample one's clothes, and bang two rocks together. This process is what the miniature is demonstrating.As strange as that sounds to modern ears, there exists a long history between wolves and clothing. Take Pliny's Natural History, which detailed the story of people transforming into wolves and leaving their clothes hanging on trees. If they could refrain from eating human flesh after nine years, the people were permitted to return to their clothes and become human again ("Naked Came the Werewolf.”).

Given that one can trace the relationship back to Pliny's time, the tradition was amazingly well-developed by Marie's age. Summers writes that in medieval Normandy, those excommunicated from the church were believed to "become a werewolf for a term of three or seven years." (Summers 222). Incorporating time and clothing is one of the ways Marie interacts with the history of the werewolf. It is likely not a coincidence that Bisclavret disappears for three days a week, and clothing is essential to his transformation process. It is once again notable that Marie uses clothing to characterize the knight and the wife as indulgent and without remorse.Werewolf Histories, edited by Willem de Blecourt, likens the central role of clothing in werewolf lore to having a second skin (97). For Bisclavret, the act of shedding his clothing allows him to step into, what is for him, a natural state. For his wife, clothing helps her to play a role and conceal her terrible actions.