What do you think?
Rate this book
Fantasmas Y Aparecidos En La Edad Media
La creencia en el alter ego, el Doble del individuo, basada en el concepto del «alma múltiple», se encuentra muy difundida entre los pueblos chamanistas y estaba muy viva en la Europa medieval, donde dio lugar a innumerables relatos de fantasmas y aparecidos. Claude Lecouteux, experto conocedor de la cultura medieval, investiga en este sugerente ensayo las diversas manifestaciones de estas creencias en el Medievo europeo.
Los muertos que regresan tienen una historia. A partir de relatos antiguos, de ritos y de costumbres funerarias que han subsistido a veces hasta nuestros días, Claude Lecouteux saca del olvido los fantasmas y aparecidos de antaño, de los que hasta ahora los historiadores no se habían ocupado.
La Edad Media de la Europa del Norte ofrece, en nuestra propia civilización occidental, un campo privilegiado para describir el regreso de los difuntos y reseguir el combate que la Iglesia libró contra ellos. ¿Quién regresa? ¿En qué momentos se producen las apariciones? ¿Por qué algunos muertos traen consigo la fecundidad y la prosperidad, mientras que otros provocan terrores y muertes? ¿Qué fuerza anima al cadáver hasta hacerle salir de su tumba, y a qué concepción del más allá corresponden estos fenómenos? Pues, aunque antaño constituyeran manifestaciones temibles, fantasmas y aparecidos estaban integrados en la mentalidad colectiva de la época.
Hoy, fantasmas y aparecidos casi se han desvanecido, pero no han perdido su poder de fascinación, pues están enraizados en nuestro temor inmemorial a los muertos.
Los muertos que regresan tienen una historia. A partir de relatos antiguos, de ritos y de costumbres funerarias que han subsistido a veces hasta nuestros días, Claude Lecouteux saca del olvido los fantasmas y aparecidos de antaño, de los que hasta ahora los historiadores no se habían ocupado.
La Edad Media de la Europa del Norte ofrece, en nuestra propia civilización occidental, un campo privilegiado para describir el regreso de los difuntos y reseguir el combate que la Iglesia libró contra ellos. ¿Quién regresa? ¿En qué momentos se producen las apariciones? ¿Por qué algunos muertos traen consigo la fecundidad y la prosperidad, mientras que otros provocan terrores y muertes? ¿Qué fuerza anima al cadáver hasta hacerle salir de su tumba, y a qué concepción del más allá corresponden estos fenómenos? Pues, aunque antaño constituyeran manifestaciones temibles, fantasmas y aparecidos estaban integrados en la mentalidad colectiva de la época.
Hoy, fantasmas y aparecidos casi se han desvanecido, pero no han perdido su poder de fascinación, pues están enraizados en nuestro temor inmemorial a los muertos.
257 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
24 people are currently reading
540 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
February 14, 2018
Don't be confused by this translation being published by that pack of crystal rubbing aura sniffers, Inner Traditions. No, they should be commended, for this is a very good scholarly look into the history of the tradition of the nocturnal hosts that spread across Europe from medieval to early modern times. Lecouteux breaks it down nicely, showing how beliefs in a beneficent and mysterious troupe led by a supernatural force fed into legends of penitent warriors that moved across the earth at night eventually got amalgamated and, like everything interesting, Christianized into purgatorical wanderings of sinners and the ever-present hand of Satan.
Lecouteux isn't afraid to admit by the end that it isn't at all clear where these stories came from, but he's sharp enough to link it to similar beliefs elsewhere in Eurasia, suggesting they came out of a late prehistoric stock of shamanic processes and rites involving communication and transaction between living and dead.
Lecouteux isn't afraid to admit by the end that it isn't at all clear where these stories came from, but he's sharp enough to link it to similar beliefs elsewhere in Eurasia, suggesting they came out of a late prehistoric stock of shamanic processes and rites involving communication and transaction between living and dead.
September 8, 2012
There is a phenomena in Europe called the "Wild Hunt". A group of spirits lead by a spirit, which is either male or female, tromp through the forest and woe to anyone who is caught in the forest whilst they are on the prowl. There are many different versions of this story. Mostly from oral history which transferred into Written history and sometimes went back in to oral history. There are many different versions of this hunt so it is hard to say which one is real.
Pagan legends say that a Goddess leads her train of witches to Brocksburg where thy hold their sabbat. The witches follow one of three goddesses, Diana,Habondia and Percht. Brocksberg is also called Mount Venus. This train of spirits is composed depending on the legend of either all females or a mix of male and female followers. It is believed that they meets with the Devil and the faeries and have a big feast. These spirits are the astral doubles of withes who put flying ointment all over their body that enables them to astral travel. These astral double according to some legends stop in peoples houses and eat food and drink beverages. They stop in only clean houses. If they are happy with your offering of food then they bless you with prosperity.
The legends of the wild hunt are pagan in origin but have been turned into something else by Christian propagandists. According to Christians the specters of the wild hunt are the restless dead. The restless dead cannot enter into paradise and are trapped in sort of purgatory. Some of these souls have died violent deaths, others are sinners in need of penance, some souls have died before their time and are destined to wander until their destined day of death arrives. The wild hunt at times is portrayed as an army. sometimes armies reappear at given times and reenact their fight. Sometimes they occur as part of a warning that is disaster is coming. Lots of legend is connected with Herla, who travelled with his troop to the dwarvish nether world and came back hundred of years later. If he touched the ground he would die. Fae folk were though to be dead people .
One leader of the Wild hunt is Odin. He is oft demonized yet he has also taken jobs from Thor and other gods. Odin maybe the God Odin or a powerful magician. He leads the wild hunt as he is a shamanistic god who also acts as a psychopomp or guide to the dead as they traverse to the underworld. His followers oft banded in groups and were able shape shift into different animals. Sometimes they would battle vampires and those who would steal fertile seed.
This book is an important work on the wild hunt. It uses a variety of legends to analyse this phenomena. Well documented and well researched.
Pagan legends say that a Goddess leads her train of witches to Brocksburg where thy hold their sabbat. The witches follow one of three goddesses, Diana,Habondia and Percht. Brocksberg is also called Mount Venus. This train of spirits is composed depending on the legend of either all females or a mix of male and female followers. It is believed that they meets with the Devil and the faeries and have a big feast. These spirits are the astral doubles of withes who put flying ointment all over their body that enables them to astral travel. These astral double according to some legends stop in peoples houses and eat food and drink beverages. They stop in only clean houses. If they are happy with your offering of food then they bless you with prosperity.
The legends of the wild hunt are pagan in origin but have been turned into something else by Christian propagandists. According to Christians the specters of the wild hunt are the restless dead. The restless dead cannot enter into paradise and are trapped in sort of purgatory. Some of these souls have died violent deaths, others are sinners in need of penance, some souls have died before their time and are destined to wander until their destined day of death arrives. The wild hunt at times is portrayed as an army. sometimes armies reappear at given times and reenact their fight. Sometimes they occur as part of a warning that is disaster is coming. Lots of legend is connected with Herla, who travelled with his troop to the dwarvish nether world and came back hundred of years later. If he touched the ground he would die. Fae folk were though to be dead people .
One leader of the Wild hunt is Odin. He is oft demonized yet he has also taken jobs from Thor and other gods. Odin maybe the God Odin or a powerful magician. He leads the wild hunt as he is a shamanistic god who also acts as a psychopomp or guide to the dead as they traverse to the underworld. His followers oft banded in groups and were able shape shift into different animals. Sometimes they would battle vampires and those who would steal fertile seed.
This book is an important work on the wild hunt. It uses a variety of legends to analyse this phenomena. Well documented and well researched.
September 15, 2014
I was hoping to really like this book.
Sure, the anecdotes are great; average folk who encounter strange phantom processions, or who hear furious sounds accompanied by an army riding the skies. That's the fun part.
But the confused and terse writing was a turn off.
Of course it could also be the translation; this was originally written in French.
But still, some interesting insights.
The author is an expert in medieval writings and he really likes to show it! There is much in this book that sounds as follows: so and so wrote in his such and such this, but so and so in his treatise such and such wrote that.
If you are not familiar with obscure and less than major writers, then
be prepared for a lot of this (or that!)
Sure, the anecdotes are great; average folk who encounter strange phantom processions, or who hear furious sounds accompanied by an army riding the skies. That's the fun part.
But the confused and terse writing was a turn off.
Of course it could also be the translation; this was originally written in French.
But still, some interesting insights.
The author is an expert in medieval writings and he really likes to show it! There is much in this book that sounds as follows: so and so wrote in his such and such this, but so and so in his treatise such and such wrote that.
If you are not familiar with obscure and less than major writers, then
be prepared for a lot of this (or that!)
August 2, 2023
This is a pretty difficult book to say anything meaningful about. It reads a lot more like the mytho-historical texts written in the 19th century than it does a modern work of academic analysis.
As such, this is more an exploration of the Wild Hunt than it is an explanation. Something which Claude Lecouteux, to his credit, does acknowledge in the introduction and conclusion of the book.
But that leaves the question, did Lecouteux explore the mythology of the Wild Hunt (and all its variations) in a manner that's satisfactory?
I would say he did, even if it's done in a manner that's rather jumbled.
The main thesis of the book is, that there's a common Indo-European myth at the root of all e various stories and tellings about spectral armies, bands and companies haunting the night, be it collections of the dead, the divine or the supernatural, Lecouteux does manage to weave a red thread through the stories and show that there are at least strands of the same motif showing up in different places, in different times and with different cultural contexts.
And while Lecouteux doesn't manage to show or argue for a common myth that binds all of these stories together, it's probably the closest we'll get. At least for the moment.
Where Phantom Armies of the Night: The Wild Hunt and the Ghostly Processions of the Undead does fall a part a bit is in the limited geographical scope of Lecouteux' investigation. While both India and Persia is mentioned, the myths and stories of those regions aren't explored nearly to the extend that they should. If the Wild Hunt is truely an Indo-European myth, wouldn't there be traces of the myth in both Persia and India?
I know Indian mythology is briefly touched upon in the book, but it's main to show the discrepancies between the Hindu myth and the stories told in Europe.
There's also the problem of exclusion from the analysis. For example, the Hawaiians have the story of the huaka'i pō, an army of the dead with attributes very similar to the Wild Hunt. I haven't heard the argument yet that the Polynesian are to be considered Indo-European, so why is it that an archipelago on the other side of the planet has a similar myth?
I'm obviously not saying that the huaka'i pō disproves Lecouteux' thesis, but the it does bring the singular focus into question.
A thing I really did like, however, was that Lecouteux isn't afraid to go against the commonly held idea that the Wild Hunt is connected to Germanic mythology, an rendition of the myth that goes all the way back to Jacob Grimm and compilation of Germanic myths.
As such, this is more an exploration of the Wild Hunt than it is an explanation. Something which Claude Lecouteux, to his credit, does acknowledge in the introduction and conclusion of the book.
But that leaves the question, did Lecouteux explore the mythology of the Wild Hunt (and all its variations) in a manner that's satisfactory?
I would say he did, even if it's done in a manner that's rather jumbled.
The main thesis of the book is, that there's a common Indo-European myth at the root of all e various stories and tellings about spectral armies, bands and companies haunting the night, be it collections of the dead, the divine or the supernatural, Lecouteux does manage to weave a red thread through the stories and show that there are at least strands of the same motif showing up in different places, in different times and with different cultural contexts.
And while Lecouteux doesn't manage to show or argue for a common myth that binds all of these stories together, it's probably the closest we'll get. At least for the moment.
Where Phantom Armies of the Night: The Wild Hunt and the Ghostly Processions of the Undead does fall a part a bit is in the limited geographical scope of Lecouteux' investigation. While both India and Persia is mentioned, the myths and stories of those regions aren't explored nearly to the extend that they should. If the Wild Hunt is truely an Indo-European myth, wouldn't there be traces of the myth in both Persia and India?
I know Indian mythology is briefly touched upon in the book, but it's main to show the discrepancies between the Hindu myth and the stories told in Europe.
There's also the problem of exclusion from the analysis. For example, the Hawaiians have the story of the huaka'i pō, an army of the dead with attributes very similar to the Wild Hunt. I haven't heard the argument yet that the Polynesian are to be considered Indo-European, so why is it that an archipelago on the other side of the planet has a similar myth?
I'm obviously not saying that the huaka'i pō disproves Lecouteux' thesis, but the it does bring the singular focus into question.
A thing I really did like, however, was that Lecouteux isn't afraid to go against the commonly held idea that the Wild Hunt is connected to Germanic mythology, an rendition of the myth that goes all the way back to Jacob Grimm and compilation of Germanic myths.
December 11, 2025
This book has both its good and its not so good points. If focuses primarily on the phenomenon we've come to call the Wild Hunt. However, Lecouteux wisely uses this term only in the sub-title. This is because many of the phenomena grouped in with the concept are not hunts per se, more ghostly processions or phantom armies. In this regard Lecouteux does a good job of explaining just how diverse the concept actually is once you start focusing on specific tales.
This is a pretty academic book, let's just make that point very clear. If you are looking for a light read this is definitely not it. It is dense and heavy going in places - mainly because we are dealing with a French academic writing style that has been translated into English. That said there can be no doubting that Lecouteux has done a significant amount of work drawing a large amount of material together here. And he moves the debate on from the traditional narrative of the Grimms which saw the Wild Hunt as primarily a Germanic phenomenon, which is a strong plus.
I don't personally agree with all Lecouteux's theories and observations however. I don't doubt his research, which is sound, only some of his interpretations. He proposes a few ideas around the Hunt and the dead which I found a little stretched. Certainly some interesting ideas though and a useful starting point to move the debate forward.
If this book is aiming to be the final word on the Wild Hunt phenomenon, it probably falls short. However, it can legitimately claim to get a good deal closer than anything else I've come across.
This is a pretty academic book, let's just make that point very clear. If you are looking for a light read this is definitely not it. It is dense and heavy going in places - mainly because we are dealing with a French academic writing style that has been translated into English. That said there can be no doubting that Lecouteux has done a significant amount of work drawing a large amount of material together here. And he moves the debate on from the traditional narrative of the Grimms which saw the Wild Hunt as primarily a Germanic phenomenon, which is a strong plus.
I don't personally agree with all Lecouteux's theories and observations however. I don't doubt his research, which is sound, only some of his interpretations. He proposes a few ideas around the Hunt and the dead which I found a little stretched. Certainly some interesting ideas though and a useful starting point to move the debate forward.
If this book is aiming to be the final word on the Wild Hunt phenomenon, it probably falls short. However, it can legitimately claim to get a good deal closer than anything else I've come across.
December 19, 2024
Fascinating, with fabulous old wood cuts, but a bit heavy going. Possibly it's just the translation. Even so, I was going to give it 4 stars and then read another review that made a very good point - there is almost nothing in this book about Celtic legend. It seems rather a large oversight to me, and so it's lost another star, for me. There was a great deal of repetition in there that could have been omitted and replaced with discussion of fairies and Gwyn Ap Nudd. I think his focus was rather different, though - mainly on Christian adaptations of the themes.
April 11, 2025
A fun and interesting read! There are so many references to variations of the nightly rides and processions in European tradition. The author doesn't go deeply in-depth but progresses through a variety of material clearly and cites well.
Claude Lecouteux is a great author for those interested in introductions to or overviews of European folk traditions and mythologies relating to magic, fairies, the undead, and the supernatural.
Claude Lecouteux is a great author for those interested in introductions to or overviews of European folk traditions and mythologies relating to magic, fairies, the undead, and the supernatural.
Read
November 15, 2019DNF
November 18, 2022
Klarer und gut strukturierter Überblick über die Figur des Wiedergängers. Besonders spannend war die Frage nach der Vereinbarkeit mit dem Christentum.
October 20, 2025
Too academic for my tastes, but a good source of information.
October 1, 2016
Very good book with lots of detail and wonderful examples of the different processions of the dead. My only issue is it's over emphasis of German and nearly nothing on Anglo/English and that a few topics were brought up and then quickly dismissed as too in-depth.
May 15, 2016
This analysis by the French scholar Claude Lecouteux is an incredibly detailed and fascinating look at the evolution of the Wild Hunt along with its commingling with other nocturnal hosts during the Middle Ages.
The book meticulously examines how the theme of the Wild Hunt was appropriated by the church and corrupted for didactic purposes. This dogma-fuelled process lead to a distortion of the original Folk Mythology and it also caused new and church-invented motifs to be indiscriminately incorporated into the original theme. Lecouteux sifts through these many distortions and brings the Wild Hunt’s deep Indo-European roots back into sharp focus.
Found deep within its Indo-European roots is the Cult of the Dead and the power the Dead were believed to have over fertility and fecundity. On certain dates throughout the year the Dead were believed to roam this earthly realm in large retinues, and it was their propitiation that ensured future community prosperity. It is no wonder then that the passing of the Wild Hunt was generally associated with winter in the Northern Hemisphere, the time of year when anxiety about surviving the cold dearth was at its height. Lecouteux shows how these ancient beliefs regarding the role played by the dead slowly transformed over the years into carnivals and other folk-festivals, such as the Hobby Horse. Indeed, through the various sources cited, Lecouteux demonstrates how the horse is intimately connected to the dead. In the Legend of King Herla the horse acts as psychopomp; in the theme of the Diabolical Huntsman the horse represents the dead sinner; and even in Breton mythology the souls of those fated to die hear the ominous sound of horse hoofs as the Cart of The Dead reaches their door in the depths of the night.
In the final part of the book, Lecouteux meticulously unpicks how scholars have previously and incorrectly associated the Wild Hunt with the Pagan god Odin through etymological error and an over-zealous mythological mindset. He also highlights how the Wild Hunt, with its connection to Dumezil’s Third Function, is firmly rooted in an agricultural life far removed from Odin and his followers.
For eyes that see, the symbolism contained within modern-day folk festivities and the dates on which they occur can peel back the curtain concealing our deep past, allowing us to appreciate the cyclic all-encompassing nature of life and death.
I found the text to be scholarly yet immanently readable and accessible. It is edited well, with sub-chapters allowing the wealth of information to be digested and easily understood. It is more than just an examination of the Wild Hunt and may provide the reader with the impetus to read Lecouteux’s other book Return of The Dead as it surely did for me.
The book meticulously examines how the theme of the Wild Hunt was appropriated by the church and corrupted for didactic purposes. This dogma-fuelled process lead to a distortion of the original Folk Mythology and it also caused new and church-invented motifs to be indiscriminately incorporated into the original theme. Lecouteux sifts through these many distortions and brings the Wild Hunt’s deep Indo-European roots back into sharp focus.
Found deep within its Indo-European roots is the Cult of the Dead and the power the Dead were believed to have over fertility and fecundity. On certain dates throughout the year the Dead were believed to roam this earthly realm in large retinues, and it was their propitiation that ensured future community prosperity. It is no wonder then that the passing of the Wild Hunt was generally associated with winter in the Northern Hemisphere, the time of year when anxiety about surviving the cold dearth was at its height. Lecouteux shows how these ancient beliefs regarding the role played by the dead slowly transformed over the years into carnivals and other folk-festivals, such as the Hobby Horse. Indeed, through the various sources cited, Lecouteux demonstrates how the horse is intimately connected to the dead. In the Legend of King Herla the horse acts as psychopomp; in the theme of the Diabolical Huntsman the horse represents the dead sinner; and even in Breton mythology the souls of those fated to die hear the ominous sound of horse hoofs as the Cart of The Dead reaches their door in the depths of the night.
In the final part of the book, Lecouteux meticulously unpicks how scholars have previously and incorrectly associated the Wild Hunt with the Pagan god Odin through etymological error and an over-zealous mythological mindset. He also highlights how the Wild Hunt, with its connection to Dumezil’s Third Function, is firmly rooted in an agricultural life far removed from Odin and his followers.
For eyes that see, the symbolism contained within modern-day folk festivities and the dates on which they occur can peel back the curtain concealing our deep past, allowing us to appreciate the cyclic all-encompassing nature of life and death.
I found the text to be scholarly yet immanently readable and accessible. It is edited well, with sub-chapters allowing the wealth of information to be digested and easily understood. It is more than just an examination of the Wild Hunt and may provide the reader with the impetus to read Lecouteux’s other book Return of The Dead as it surely did for me.
August 10, 2011
La Chasse sauvage, la Mesnie Hellequin, l'Armée furieuse (das Wuntende Heer) -- derrière tous ces noms se trouve une croyance très ancienne d'une troupe de morts, de revenants qui hantent les vivants et chevauche dans le ciel par les nuits de tempêtes. Lecouteux trace les origines de ces croyances depuis Dame Herodiade, en passant par Dame Abonde, Wilda Berchta, Odin/ Wotan en allant jusqu'aux Croisades et autres personnages légendaires (le Grand Veneur de la forêt de Fontenaibleau) pour enfin s'interroger sur le sens de cette croyance protéiforme. Un ouvrage passionnant même s'il n'est pas exempt de partis-pris que réfute Jean-Claude Schmitt: pour Lecouteux, le christianisme a été un vernis qui a tenté d'effacer le sens véritable de ces croyances en les reprenant à son compte.
December 30, 2013
Before I read this excellent study of 'The Wild Hunt' my knowledge of it was fueled by the popularised concept of Odin riding around the countryside at the head of an army of spirits during the dark Autumn and Winter months.
Whilst reading Lecouteux's book I was surprised to find out that The Wild Hunt's origins have very little or perhaps nothing to do with Odin and Norse myths and I would say come across as being more spiritual/supernatural than mythological in nature. It is also surprisingly diverse and widespread across Europe as the plethora of examples detailed in the book demonstrate.
I'd certainly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in medieval superstitions and folklore.
Whilst reading Lecouteux's book I was surprised to find out that The Wild Hunt's origins have very little or perhaps nothing to do with Odin and Norse myths and I would say come across as being more spiritual/supernatural than mythological in nature. It is also surprisingly diverse and widespread across Europe as the plethora of examples detailed in the book demonstrate.
I'd certainly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in medieval superstitions and folklore.
April 11, 2019
Oi. I’m disappointed mainly because I was so excited about this book, and thus set very, very high expectations for it. But honestly, even if I’d set very, very low expectations, it still wouldn’t have met them. I won’t say a lot about this because Pooh taught me to keep my mean words to myself. There aren’t a lot of books out there that explore the Wild Hunt, and this also does not, despite its title. It pretends to, but it doesn’t. At least, not the Wild Hunt from faery lore that is probably the most common story, but instead wanders its way through religious history and generally fails to give any detail whatsoever about the Wild Hunt that isn’t spattered with quotes that have no context and footnotes that are in a different language.
April 20, 2022
Hubiera preferido que este libro fuera desde un punto de vista histórico y no filológico. Aunque el autor añade muchas fuentes primarias y relatos muy interesantes, el énfasis está en las palabras. Igualmente, el autor se centra especialmente en el norte de Europa, sobre todo en leyendas eslavas, y exclusivamente de la Alta Edad Media. Aunque no era lo que esperaba, no es culpa del escritor el no haber escrito el libro que yo quería leer, y este estudio tiene mérito académico y es interesante por derecho propio. El que sí tiene la culpa es el equipo de marketing, que ha tenido la cara dura de poner las Muy Ricas Horas del Duque de Berry (francés, Baja Edad Media) en la portada y no ha explicado correctamente el ámbito que abarca el libro en la sinopsis.
March 5, 2022
Ensayo de 257 páginas publicado en 1999 en el que el historiador nos describe la diferencia entre ectoplasma, aparecido y fantasma. Aporta numerosas anécdotas extraídas de innumerables fuentes históricas muy interesantes. Me ha gustado su forma amena de tratar este tema, desde un punto de vista antropológico y divulgativo.
No me ha gustado el hecho de que solo se centre en sagas escandinavas y germanas, y haya tocado muy poco los antecedentes históricos del centro y sur europeo. De todas formas, de recomendada lectura.
No me ha gustado el hecho de que solo se centre en sagas escandinavas y germanas, y haya tocado muy poco los antecedentes históricos del centro y sur europeo. De todas formas, de recomendada lectura.
October 23, 2015
Not quite what I was expecting. I am not sure if it is due to the fact this is translated from this scholar's original french or something else, but it was very badly organized. However, he did cite A LOT of his sources on his research into this little known branch of folklore. It was fascinating, but a bit dry reading. Definitely recommend for people who are interested in historical folklore.
December 18, 2010
Un livre à lire pour ceux intéressés par la naissance de croyances et leur évolution dans l'imaginaire populaire. Cet ouvrage m'a tout spécialement intéressé.
August 13, 2014
Interesting and scholarly look at the phenomenon of phantom armies of the night during medieval europe.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews