Material Object

The artifact chosen for the exhibition is an illustration of the Werewolves of Ossory found in the Topographia Hibernica from Gerald of Wales (Knight). Gerald of Wales was a priest and historian that lived during the late 11th century who was known for cataloging information about the island of Ireland, which the Topographia Hibernica focuses on. The illustration shows a priest and two light blue werewolves. From the description of the story, the illustration is presenting the scene in which the priest is giving last rights to the female werewolf in a unique circular shape accented with basic flower designs, as the male werewolf looks on with a unique object around its neck coloured green and gold. The story behind the illustration explains the origins of the Werewolves of Ossory, seemingly stating that a clan of people disrespected a saint and were cursed to have two of their clan every seven years take the form of a wolf for seven years of penance passing the curse on to another in the clan. Which would suggest that the concept of being a werewolf as something of a condition rather than a monstrous creature that naturally occurs in the world. The fact that the story presents the werewolves requesting last rites and not being outwardly antagonistic towards the priest, along with the ability to use human speech. Would suggest the older version of the werewolf was considered a sentient being that was able to make complex decisions beyond animal instinct.