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History of Horror: Medieval & Early Modern Horror

A cultural history.

Medieval & Early Modern Horror

During the Medieval and Early Modern periods, people were not only afraid of monsters. New horrors were born out of daily life experience. Viking raids, the plague and missing and early dying children. Up to 50% of Europe's population died of the Bubonic Plague in the 14th century. A fear of supernatural horrors included the Devil and demons. Gargoyles were placed on churches to drive away these evils. Superstition drove the people to suspect female healers of witchcraft and consorting with the Devil. During this time folk tales became a way of warning children of the dangers that were to be encountered. And artists and writers used horror in their work. Since Shakespeare presented plays for a mass audience, he often used horror: Titus Andronicus with cannibalism, Macbeth with the three witches, Hamlet and his ghost father.

Timeline

  • 750-1000 CE. Beowulf composed.
  • 793–1066 CE. Viking invasions of Ireland, Britain and Europe.
  • Circa 9th century CE. The Arabian Nights introduces the frame story (a story within a story), a device used in horror fiction.
  • Circa 1190-1200 CE. Lais of Marie de France, tales of chivalry and the supernatural.
  • Circa 13th & 14th century. Sir Orfeo, Sir Degare' & Sir Gowther, monsters, the supernatural, and women seduced by demons.
  • 1308-1320. Dante's Inferno, descriptions of demons, devils, Satan and hell.
  • Circa mid-14th century CE. William of Palerne, a werewolf story.
  • 1347-1350 CE. The Black Death kills a third of Europe's population.
  • Circa 1380 CE. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Arthurian story of dark magic.
  • 15th century CE. Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur features the sorceress, Morgan le Fay.
  • Circa 1440 CE. Johannes Gutenberg invents the printing press.
  • 1487 CE. Kramer & Sprenger's The Hammer of the Witches, most notorious of the witch-hunting manuals.
  • 1516. CE. Ludovico Ariosto's Orlando Furioso introduces the hippogriff.
  • 1584 CE. Reginald Scot's Discoverie of Witchcraft.
  • 1587 CE. Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy introduces the revenge play into English theater.
  • 1592 CE. Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus sells his soul to the Devil.
  • 15th & 16th century. The Occult Renaissance in Europe.
  • 1593. Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus, revenge, graphic violence and cannibalism.
  • 1594. Thomas Nashe's pamphlet, Terrors of the Night, ghosts, demons, nightmares and the supernatural.
  • 1597. King James I's Daemonologie, demons, werewolves sorcery and witchcraft.
  • 1600. Shakespeare's Hamlet, Hamlet's father's ghost.
  • 1605. English translation of Pierre le Loyer's A treatise of spectres or strange sights, visions and apparitions appearing sensibly unto men.
  • 1607. Shakespeare's Macbeth, witchcraft and Banquo's ghost.
  • 1667. John Milton's Paradise Lost, depiction of angels, demons & Lucifer.
  • 1692. The Salem witch trials begin.
  • 1697. Charles Perrault's collection of fairy tales, Stories or Tales from Past Times, with Morals or Mother Goose Tales.
  • Circa 1722-1751 Rise of the Graveyard Poets, poetry set in graveyards.
  • 1726. Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels introduces giants, miniature folk & other fantastic creatures.
  • 1812.The Brothers Grimm's Children's and Household Tales.

Werewolf

Lucas Cranach the Elder: The Werewolf

The Werewolf or the Cannibal by Lucas Cranach the Elder
Donated to Wikimedia Commons as part of a project by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Used under Creative Commons public domain CC0 image.

Wizards & Witches of this Time Period

Baba Yaga

Baba Yaga 18th Century Unknown artist
Used under Creative Commons public domain CC0 image

Medieval legendary creatures

 

Banshee

Bunworth Banshee, Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland by Thomas Crofton Croker, 1825.
Used under Creative Commons public domain CC0 image.

The Horror in Fairy Tales

According to scholars, the original folk and fairy tales were full of sex and violence, incest and child abuse, violence and cannibalism. Here are just a few examples:

  1. Bluebeard is a serial killer.
  2. Cinderella, the stepsisters cripple themselves over a shoe size.
  3. Hansel and Gretel, cannibalism.
  4. Little Red Riding, the wolf devours Red and Grandmother.
  5. The Pied Piper of Hamlin, the kidnapping of children.
  6. Rapunzel has unmarried sex and becomes pregnant.
  7. The Robber Bridegroom, mutilation, violent murder & cannibalism.
  8. Rumpelstiltskin, a future parent trades her first born away.
  9. Sleeping Beauty, a curse and a rape.
  10. Snow White was originally a prisoner of dwarfs.

Source: "The h word: Fairy tales: The original horror stories?" by Alison Littlewood & The Hard Facts of the Grimms' Fairy Tales by Maria Tatar.

Modern Retellings of Folk & Fairy Tales

  • 1942. Novel: The Robber Bridegroom by Eudora Welty (The robber bridegroom).
  • 1971. Poetry: Transformations by Anne Sexton (Poems based on fairy tales).
  • 1994. Stories: The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye by A. S. Byatt (Uses the conventions of folk and fairy tales).
  • 1999. Novel: The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King (Hansel and Gretel). 
  • 2003. Story: The Poacher by Ursula K. Le Guin (Sleeping Beauty).
  • 2003. Novel: The True Story of Hansel and Gretel by Louise Murphy (Hansel & Gretel).
  • 2011-2018. TV series: Once Upon a Time (ABC, a variety of fairy tales & folklore).
  • 2014. Novel: Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi (Snow White).
  • 2016. Novel: The Hidden People by Alison Littlewood (Irish folklore).
  • 2017. Novel: The Changeling by Victor LaValle (Dark Norse Myths).
  • 2017/ Novel: Forest of a Thousand Lanterns by Julie C. Dao (Snow White).
  • 2020. Novel: Burning Roses by S.L. Huang (Little Red Riding Hood).
  • 2020. Novel: Of Curses and Kisses by Sandhya Menon (Beauty and the Beast).

Additional References

Cardin, M. (2017). Horror literature through history an encyclopedia of the stories that speak to our deepest fears (Kindle) Greenwood.
Johnston, R. A. (2011). All things medieval. an encyclopedia of the medieval world Vol. 2:J-Z. Greenwood.
Jones, D. (2021). Horror a very short introduction. Oxford University Press.
Littlewood, A. (2016, January 31). The h word: Fairy tales: The original horror stories? Nightmare Magazine. Retrieved September 23, 2021, from https://www.nightmare-magazine.com/nonfiction/fairy-tales-the-original-horror-stories/.
Luckhurst, R. (2018). The Astounding Illustrated History of Fantasy & Horror. Flame Tree Publishing.
Lurker, M. (2004). The routledge dictionary of gods and goddesses, devils and demons. Routledge. 
Rosen, B. (2008). Mythical creatures bible: The definitive guide to beasts and beings from mythology and folklore. Godsfield.
Tatar, M. (2019). The hard facts of The Grimms' fairy tales. Princeton University Press. 
Turitz, N.,and Zimmerman, B. (2020). Horror: An illustrated history of vampires, zombies, monsters & more. Centennial Books, an imprint of Centennial Media, LLC.