Medieval Ghost Stories

An Anthology of Miracles, Marvels and Prodigies

Andrew Joynes

• Publisher: Boydell Press
• Year: 2003
• Print ISBN: 9780851159485
• eBook ISBN: 9781846154928
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: European Medieval History
• Index: History

Truly... a landmark work. This impeccably researched and very readable book should appeal to a wide audience. MEDIEVAL REVIEW Stories of spirits returning from the afterlife are as old as storytelling: accounts of ghosts and revenants which have crossed the mysterious border between the living and the dead are a dominant theme in many cultures, and in medieval Europe ghosts, nightstalkers, wild hunts and unearthly visitors from parallel worlds have figured in stories already in circulation before the coming of Christianity.Medieval Ghost Stories is a collection of ghostly occurrences from the eighth to the fourteenth centuries; they have been found in monastic chronicles and preaching manuals, in sagas and heroic poetry, and in medieval romances. In a religious age, the tales bore a peculiar freight of spooks and spirituality which can still make hair stand on end; unfailingly, these stories give a fascinating and moving glimpse into the medieval mind. Look only at the accounts of Richard Rowntree's stillborn child, glimpsed by his father tangled in swaddling clothes on the road to Santiago, or the sly habits of water sprites resting as goblets and golden rings on the surface of the river, just out of reach... Andrew Joynes's thoughtful commentary relates content and form to events of the time: the monastic reform movement following the first millennium, the growth in philosophical speculation during the twelfth century renaissance, and the channelling of ancient Norse beliefs by Christian authors into the saga literature of Iceland.ANDREW JOYNES is a freelance writer, historian and broadcaster.

Table of contents

• FRONTCOVER
• CONTENTS
• PREFACE
• Part One: Ghosts and Monks
• Introduction
• The Spirit of Paschasius the Deacon
• The Bathkeeper
• The Visions of Tortgith
• The Mission to Germany
• The Ghostly Gatherings
• The Domain of the Dead
• The Groaning Ghosts
• Wulferius and the Ghostly Martyrs
• A Demonic Visitor
• An Army of Wraiths
• The Burning Spear
• Herveus and his Debtor
• The Crying Child
• The Apparition of Bernard le Gros
• The Apparitions in Spain
• The Ghostly Chapter Meeting
• The White Lady of Stamheim
• The Spectral Warning
• The Load of Earth
• The Incestuous Ghost
• The Gift of Snakes and Toads
• The Devilish Tormentor
• The Shoes of the Hunted Woman
• Whispers in the Choir
• The Brimstone Potion
• The Hair that Turned to Gold
• Part Two: Ghosts and the Court
• Introduction
• The Priest Walchelin and Hellequin’s Hunt
• The Dark Hunters of Peterborough
• The Witch of Berkeley
• The Jealous Venus
• The Two Clerks of Nantes
• The Tale of King Herla
• A Lady of the Lake
• The Wife of Edric Wilde
• The Sons of the Dead Woman
• The Demon at the Cradle
• King Arthur and the Butterfly Bishop
• The Fight with the Ghostly Army
• Dreams and Portents
• Eel Pie
• The Figure by the River-Pool
• The Child Tumbled from the Cradle
• The Cemetery of Aliscamps
• The Flying Mortar
• The Ghost of Beaucaire
• The Hand of Reyneke
• Part Three: The Restless Dead
• Introduction
• Grendel the Nightstalker
• The Defeat of Grendel
• The Burial of the Foster-Brothers
• The Buckinghamshire Ghost
• The Berwick Ghost
• The Hounds’ Priest
• The Ghost of Anant
• Hrapp’s Ghost
• The Ghost in the Doorway
• The Ghost of Thorolf Halt-Foot
• Thorgunna’s Supper
• Deaths at Frodis-water
• The Companies of the Dead
• The Ghosts on Trial
• The Tomb of Kar the Old
• Glam the Shepherd
• The Fight with Glam’s Ghost
• The Basket of Beans
• The Haunting of Snowball
• The Frightened Oxen
• The Silver Spoons
• The Howling Ghost
• The Child of Richard Rowntree
• The Sister of Adam de Lond
• Part Four: Ghosts in Medieval Literature
• Introduction
• Bisclavret the Werewolf
• The Vision of the Knight Lorois
• The Ghost of Guinevere’s Mother
• The Phantom Knight of Wandlesbury
• The Ghostly Butler
• The Demons’ Castle
• The Huntsman of Ravenna
• SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY