Demons and Spirits of the Land: Ancestral Lore and Practices

by Claude Lecouteux

An exploration of the wild spirits that once roamed the lands and inhabited the waters and the pagan rites used to gain their good will

• Explores medieval stories and folk traditions of brownies, fairies, giants, dragons, will-o’-the-wisps, and demons

• Explains the specific rites performed to negotiate with the local spirits and ensure their permission before building on new land

• Shows how these beliefs carried through to modern times, especially in architecture

Our pagan ancestors knew that every forest has brownies and fairies, every spring its lady, and every river malevolent beings in its depths. They told tales of giants in the hills, dragons in the lakes, marshes swarming with will-o’-the-wisps, and demons and wild folk in the mountains who enjoyed causing landslides, avalanches, and floods. They both feared and respected these entities, knowing the importance of appeasing them for safe travel and a prosperous homestead.

Exploring medieval stories, folk traditions, spiritual place names, and pagan rituals of home building and site selection, Claude Lecouteux reveals the multitude of spirits and entities that once inhabited the land before modern civilization repressed them into desert solitude, impenetrable forests, and inaccessible mountains. He explains how, to our ancestors, enclosing a space was a sacred act. Specific rites had to be performed to negotiate with the local spirits and ensure proper placement and protection of a new building. These land spirits often became the household spirit, taking up residence in a new building in exchange for permission to build on their territory. Lecouteux explores Arthurian legends, folk tales, and mythology for evidence of the untamed spirits of the wilderness, such as giants, dragons, and demons, and examines the rites and ceremonies used to gain their good will.

Lecouteux reveals how, despite outright Church suppression, belief in these spirits carried through to modern times and was a primary influence on architecture, an influence still visible in today’s buildings. The author also shows how our ancestors’ concern for respecting nature is increasingly relevant in today’s world.

Genres: Witchcraft, History, Nonfiction, Mythology, Folklore, Magick, Spirituality

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Docteur en études germaniques, docteur en lettres, est médiéviste. Il a occupé la chaire de Langues, Littératures et civilisations germaniques à l'université de Caen de 1981 à 1992 avant d'être appelé à la Sorbonne (Paris IV) pour occuper celle de Littérature et Civilisation allemande du Moyen Âge jusqu'en octobre 2007. Ses axes de recherches sont: Les êtres de la mythologie populaire, Les croyances touchant aux morts et à la mort, Les mythes, contes et légendes, La magie
Ses travaux lui ont valu de recevoir le Prix Strasbourg en 1982, un prix de l’Académie française la même année, d'être fait Chevalier de l’Ordre des Palmes académiques en 1995 et Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres en 2006. Jusqu'en décembre 2010, il dirige la revue La grande Oreille, arts de l’oralité et collabore à plusieurs revues sur le Moyen Âge.

Reviews

[Ivy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice little book that examines the place names, folk-stories, rituals, and early Christian texts to create a clear pictures of the many creatures that were believed to inhabit Europe and how humans interacted with them. DaSotL contains a lot of information on how paganism influenced the place names of rivers, springs, forests, and mountains of Europe. For these early people the very environment was heavily populated with a host of creatures including elves, fairies, giants, wights, and the souls of the dead. The early chapters explain how Christian missionaries conflated the many different types of creatures that populated these areas into demons, and yet that wasn't enough to make them disappear. Many pagan holdovers from this era survive to this day, for example, the burning of the Yule log. The second half of the book tells stories that have survived of the spirits that lived in wells, forests, and the mountains. Of particular interest is the history of Merlin, who apparently started out as a pagan with the ability to shape shift into animal form. I had thought that this was simply something the movie makers at Disney had made up for The Sword in the Stone. Overall this was an interesting read, with language that is simple enough for the average reader, but citations galore for the scholar.

I read this as a part of my research into the worldview of pagans living in northern Europe ca. 450. I found it very helpful.

[Fawn Hexe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoying the well researched examples. Cannot wait to go into the bibliography to get my next batch of books! If this is the scholarship and research one can expect of Lecouteux, then I will be definitely be picking up this author's other titles.

[Forensic Psych Student · Rating 3 out of 5]

Claude Lecouteux explores pre-Christian beliefs relating to land spirits. He focuses on how these beliefs were transformed through Christianisation and through their entrance into medieval literature, specifically the romances. The book itself can be classed as an accessible academic text, but this becomes problematic very early on. While the book is ostensibly academic, it appears to have been written for an audience sympathetic to the Neo-pagan movement and has unfortunate moments where it feels it would be more at home in a new age store, rather than a higher education library. Although not explicitly stated as so, the author holds “pagan” beliefs in high regards, and this introduces bias into a thesis which entails a lot of interpretation on behalf of the author. This means that at times some of the interpretations are unconvincing.

Part one of the book deals with the nature of these land spirits. Pre-Christian beliefs relating to them are primarily gleaned from Scandinavian texts, and the picture that is painted is one which is clear and convincing. Through examining various texts, Lecouteux demonstrates that the world was believed to be populated by manifold spirits. It is stressed that pagans did not worship objects or sites, but the numen residing within or at such sites. This is important to understand because a frequently-used retort of early Christian leaders was that pagans worshipped powerless idols made by the hand of man. As Ehrman (2018) argues, this was only true for a small majority of unsophisticated pagans. The vast majority of pagans understood that idols were merely a tool upon which to focus their attention, and therefore were not the primary focus of belief or devotion. Lecouteux goes on to ascribe great importance to place-names, because they are understood as a means by which an area may become civilised and inhabited, and also that among other things are theophoric with the ability of revealing remnants of local spirits and gods. For example, a name can refer to a specific spirit, such as Pokin Tuna (1201), meaning “Puck’s Yard”, a term which eventually referred to a dwarf. A place-name can also convey the nature of a space, such as Heilighberc meaning “Sacred Mountain”. The first part of the book ends by demonstrating how despite the belief in a wide variety of spirits, linguistic condensation occurred as these creatures entered into the Latin-Roman world. Dwarf, for example, became a catch-all term for a number of different supernatural creatures. This makes identifying local supernatural creatures difficult because they have been overlaid with “equivalents” from the Latin world.

The book then turns to practical implications of such beliefs, and explores how various texts describe encounters with local land spirits. It is demonstrated that settlement on a piece of land was believed to entail negotiations with spirits residing in that place. This negotiation could take various forms and acted like a pact in some instances. An important method of land appropriation was circumambulation, and it is argued that an enclosed space is sacred and civilised, in opposition to the uncivilised space outside of the enclosure. It is to this uncivilised space that the original land spirits retreat. This part closes with the tentative conclusion that circular buildings are dedicated to land spirits, whereas rectangular buildings tend to be more associated with the gods. Overall, this section was the most sound and convincing, and the conclusions drawn were reasonable and interesting.

The final part of the book explores the romances and other medieval literature. It does so with the aim of uncovering beliefs relating to land spirits which had undergone literary transformation and been incorporated into the feudal world. Specifically, it looks at various narratives and highlights the underlying pre-Christian substratum by comparing specific motifs with beliefs elucidated upon earlier in the book. Unfortunately, it is at this point that the argument becomes increasingly unconvincing. Although it is acknowledged that there are narrative and didactic functions at work within the literature, these are largely sidestepped because they are not of great importance to the main argument, which is primarily concerned with illuminating the underlying themes that reflect pre-Christian beliefs in land spirits. Further, it is suggested that even if neither the late medieval authors or their audiences recognised these themes, they are nonetheless present and represent distorted residues of earlier beliefs. The “collective unconscious” is invoked in support of this argument and to explain how these themes could trickle into the consciousness of later writers. However, this concept is merely assumed to exist, without any explanation or citation. This is not to say that the parallels aren’t interesting, but they aren’t sufficient to support the argument. Nonetheless, the themes themselves, which are argued suggest an interaction between humans and land spirits, are interesting. Lecouteux believes that these allow criteria to be created for evaluating narratives and locating the presence of such beliefs.

This book appears to be written particularly for a neo-pagan audience. While the author may be an academic, the publisher is almost certainly targeting neo-pagan or New Age audiences. This is evident in the foreword, which speaks as if these beliefs were factual and in the present tense, and these sentiments simply echo throughout the author’s narrative. Further, a significant majority of blurbs praising the book are in some way from “pagan” organisations. It is true that literary theory is about how literature is interpreted, and it is therefore acknowledged that any piece of literature can be interpreted in various ways. And it is also true that Lecouteux acknowledges that the medieval romances and their events can be interpreted in different ways. For example, the knight who saves a queen from the clutches of a dragon can be read in terms of a chivalric adventure. Yet, too many times Lecouteux is myopic and dogmatic in his interpretations, choosing to see the “mythical substratum” relating to land spirits. Some of these interpretations support his thesis, others are fairly debatable and some simply betray confirmation bias, and another author would have a completely different interpretation. To some extent, this is reasonable, and yet at points it becomes highly unconvincing; the interpretation on offer is plausible but not credible. I shall use his analysis of Beowulf to illustrate how his interpretations lack credibility

Lecouteux is discussing Beowulf, the scene where Hrothgar is failing to defeat Grendel and his mother, and in order to explain the situation a false dichotomy is created. It is suggested that a Christian viewpoint would be that the gods are powerless to offer aid and, conversely, that a pre-Christian viewpoint would be that the monsters are of the same family as the gods and therefore lack the inclination to intervene. Given that according to Ehrman (2018) the main purpose of interacting with the gods was to receive aid of some kind, this explanation seems highly implausible. And while it is true that Christians generally thought pagan deities were powerless, they still worshipped their own God in order to maintain a good life through divine intervention. In short, the purpose of worship was actually more similar between pagans and Christians than Lecouteux appears to care to admit in his explanation. Further, earlier in the book it is suggested that when appropriating a piece of land, there is a tension between the local land spirits and the deities of the settlers. Therefore, the contention that the gods would not intervene against Grendel and his mother because “the monsters and the gods are on the same plane” does not appear to follow this earlier reasoning either.

I would argue that Lecouteux is vague with his definitions and is able to use this to his advantage. The notion of a collective unconscious is used to explain how beliefs were passed on and continue to manifest in various guises. However, because no reference is given in support of this concept, this means that the whole notion is underpinned by an unexamined assumption. While it is my general view that cultural ideas and beliefs can be transmitted through generations, their meaning is dependent upon the cultural context. Davies (2007) discusses this in terms of early-modern cunning-folk practicing magic. He says that while pre-Christian elements were present in their magic, cunning-folk were Christians operating within a Christian society; therefore, it makes no sense to suggest they were somehow “really” pagan. Further, Young (2020) questions the utility of labelling something pagan simply because it appears culturally alien. Therefore, the fact that parallels can be drawn between a contemporary piece of evidence and an older mindset, is not sufficient to claim any type of continuation of an underlying mythical substratum. Further, the notion of paganism and Christianity is also left very loosely defined by Lecouteux, so it is all to easy to arbitrarily delineate when it supports his argument. Any book about “paganism” needs to explain precisely what the term means in order for any of its arguments to be sound. The difficult truth is that there isn’t much of a difference because beliefs are fluid. This often irks Christians and anti-Christians in equal measure. The notion of pre-Christian practices and Christian practices having a very similar aim of attracting the benefices of the divine makes delineation extremely difficult. In short, I would contend that Lecouteux ultimately fails to appreciate context and the arguments he forms seem rooted in 19th Century survivals theory, which has now been debunked (Rationalwiki.org, 2020).

In conclusion, this book is not without merit. It paints a clear picture of beliefs surrounding land spirits, and it provides an interesting jaunt through medieval literature. Even if you disagree with the conclusions drawn by Lecouteux, you can read the texts and come to your own conclusions. However, while the book provides a criteria with which to interpret these texts and which may provoke interesting thoughts, the validity of the criteria and the interpretive outcomes need careful consideration. Should Hutton or Ehrman be read, this book may seem rather dated in its methodology.


Further Reading

Davies, O. (2008) Popular Magic: Cunning-folk in English History

Ehrman, B. (2018) The Triumph of Christianity: How a Forbidden Religion Swept the World

Hutton, R. (2001) Stations Of The Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain

Hutton, R. (2001) The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft

Rationalwiki.org. (2020). Pagan survivals - RationalWiki. https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Pagan_s...

Young, F. (2020) The Myth of Medieval Paganism https://www.firstthings.com/article/2...

[J.M. Hushour · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unlike Lecouteux's other works I've read, this one was mildly unsatisfying, mostly because it is never really sure what it wants it to be. However, the subject matter--what was the nature of the hierophany of places and landforms take prior to the Christian inculcation of sacrednesses that predated its irruption?--is endless fascinating and makes for a jumbled mess of endlessly fascinating things.
Like his other stuff, Lecouteux takes on the mammoth task of wringing out of clerical and folk documents the dim vestiges of pre-Christian interpretations of the world and its forces. Here, he focuses on place names, places, building sacralization, and the spirits that dwelt in forests, rivers, and sanctums. Of course, Christianity co-opted a lot of this kind of stuff, gave gods and spirits saints' names and generally tried to stomp all the poetry out of the world while cultivating a disdain for the care of said world. Lecouteux hovers around this main thesis of his, but is too hesitant and reluctant to tease out concrete conclusions, by his own admission.
The book does, however, like I said above, contain a wealth of material if you just want to get some raw material for further ponderance.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once again , a five-star applaud to Claude!

[Alice Vandommele · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel terribly ambivalent about this book and its analysis.

Lecouteux definitely creates a coherent theory: there's a very old belief in Europe that there are various spirits that inhabit and rule over the landscape, and various rites have existed to either propitiate, compensate or banish these spirits when human settlers try to possess a new piece of land. Christianisation rendered these spirits into a homogenous hodgepodge of demons and generally made the relations more antagonistic, but on the whole the system persisted in a new christianised form.

It is coherent. It's decently persuasive.

But I also have some reservations on his sources. He draws significantly on the writings of authors related to the church (especially hagiographies and missionary accounts) on the one hand, and thoroughly christian literary texts that were meant as entertainment on the other. He assumes that a fairly good amount of truth about popular belief can be found at the basis of both accounts, even though they are full of recurring tropes, intertextuality and they very much do not have any real ethnographic intent. However, I don't feel like he at any point made a persuasive case that this is the case, and since they are important pillars of his analysis, the shakiness of this assumption makes the entire construct somewhat shaky.

[Seph · Rating 2 out of 5]

An interesting, though occasionally superficial, study of European folklore, epics, and myths that attempts to reveal the pagan motifs buried within Medieval literature. The author is well-versed and eloquent, though not entirely successful in proving his theories, as he frequently falls prey to the same generalizations of land-spirits as did the early Christian writers, upon whose work his thesis depends.

[Bailey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of direct quotes from primary sources being used as evidence for Lecouteux’s hypothesis, which absolutely makes sense to me. He breaks down each point into chapters, presenting his argument in easily digestible snippets. Including chapters on how to sanctify a space, and on specific landscapes. I also liked that the author includes criteria for the reader to use when reading through primary sources themselves. The last chapter is like a conclusion to a research paper, bringing everything together to reiterate his point but also it reminds people that the land spirits can (and will) return.

I enjoyed the book and feel like I learned a little bit. The idea that certain demons and devils are land spirits literally demonized by Christian authority in medieval times is not new to me. However, seeing an authority on the subject lay out the evidence for the case is. It’s definitely a book that needs to be read cover to cover and not skimmed through to get the most out of it. I recommend this book for anyone interested in history relating to pagan conversion and/or popular historical accounts of land spirits in Europe.

[Derek Baldwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this at a very sedate pace, one or two of the short chapters at a time over many months. As I went I scribbled and underlined and those notes will form the basis of a more extended review. I will add a link when that's complete.

In short: the author's very thorough research and scholarship trace how the genius locii have been subdued, but never defeated, in many places. How a domain is named, claimed, proclaimed, Christianised. As he concludes (p.182):

"People no longer gain control of their property through intimidating rites; they purchase it in the presence of a notary."

What he does not say, which I believe forms a subject very worthy of exploration, is how the rituals of the notary came to supplant the older traditions. Desacralisation alone? The answer, I believe, can be found in deploying the old trope of base-superstructure.

This is seldom an easy read, being dense with source material that is often rather boring, but ultimately a worthwhile one, from my point of view, for the alternative journeys it signposts.

[Temucano · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinante estudio sobre los genios de la naturaleza, la forma primigenia como el Hombre los enfrentó y la consecuente satanización que experimentaron a medida que el cristianismo fue avanzando. Son infinitas referencias a leyendas medievales, breves atisbos de monstruos que el autor menciona para respaldar sus argumentos, abriendo el apetito de tan numerosas fuentes de maravillas y espantos subconscientes. Por un momento me decepcionó que no se desarrollarán mas las historias, que solo fueran meras sinopsis, mas una vez entendido el propósito de la obra, y visto además la extensa bibliografía, fue solo seguir entendiendo como detrás de toda historia se esconden los genius loci, aquellos mensajeros de la Naturaleza que descubren nuestros miedos atávicos y nos recuerdan que somos solo una pequeña parte del planeta.

Veo que Lecoutex tiene más estudios similares en Olañeta, más anhelos que satisfacer para mi desbordada biblioteca.

[Gabriel Benitez · Rating 5 out of 5]

¡ Buenísimo libro! Hace mucho que no leía algo tan interesante: [Tomado de los forros] Escrutando las tradiciones populares, las sagas y los relatos, Claude Lecouteux, eminente especialista en la edad media, descubre las huellas del miedo arcaico ante las criaturas sin nombre que frecuentan los espacios vírgenes. Este libro notable arroja luz sobre el papel primordial de los lugares en la elaboración de muchas creencias y pone al descubierto la raíz de un antiguo respeto a la naturaleza que entronca con nuestras preocupaciones ecológicas más actuales.
"El hombre no es el único ser inteligente y racional que vive en la Tierra. Convive con otras criaturas, con otras entidades cuya presencia y existencia deben explicarse. Hay que convencerse también de que los seres arriba mencionados no son criaturas recientes; pueden serlo sus nombres, pero ellos son las formas ecotípicas de criaturas y creencias aún más antiguas"
El genio o demonio comarcal, una divinidad o espíritu del lugar donde se asienta una familia o comunidad, el verdadero amo del terruño y al que hay que pedirle permiso para poder asentarse, pasar por el lugar o construir. Estos seres sobrenaturales que han habitado la naturaleza desde siempre se hacen presentes ante los humanos de forma invisible pero perceptible. ¿Son duende, fantasmas o criaturas divinas? Tal vez un poco de todo.
Un ejemplo de uno de estos genios comarcales aparece en la novela de Stephen King Los niños del Maíz o en El Ritual de Adam Neville, donde un antiguo dios del bosque controla toda una zona de este... y a sus habitantes.

2021
Iniciamos este año con una relectura de un libro que básicamente influyó mucho en la visión que tengo del mundo y que en cierta forma demuestra como nuestro pensamiento “mágico” por decirlo de alguna manera, solo se ha moldeado a los cambios de la época, pero no ha desparecido.
Hace poco veía un programa sobre casas encantadas llamado A Haunting (conocido en México como Historias de Ultratumba) que son dramatizaciones de experiencias sobrenaturales vividas por familias, por lo general norteamericanas, en casas encantadas, donde se manifiestan fenómenos sobrenaturales y presencias del mismo tipo que convierten a los nuevos habitantes del lugar en víctimas de ataques. Si se han visto casi todas las temporadas, notarán que hay ciertas constantes, se hace obvia una estructura de la experiencia sobrenatural. Esas experiencias no son para nada nuevas ni modernas. La misma estructura que hace patente en antiguos relatos medievales, y aún anteriores y de culturas muy diferentes, donde podemos reconocer el mismo esquema.
Aunque este libro de centra en la antigua figura del genius locci o espíritu tutelar de un lugar, una especie de presencia o fuerza consciente que habita, primero en tierra silvestre, y cuya idea parece provenir en primera instancia de una visión animista del mundo (pero que después se adivina mucho más compleja cuando entran a juego el mundo de los muertos y la idea de los demonios) y el cual en cierta manera protege o influye en ese territorio que le pertenece. Cuando los humanos llegamos a habitar su entorno, solo nos quedan entonces de dos sopas: o nos deshacemos del genio tutelar de la tierra que vamos a habitar o hacemos una especie de contracto con este espíritu que nos permita convivir con este. A primera vista nos puede parecer una idea ya superada, una visión que no tenemos ahora. Pero no es así. Cuando la gente abre un negocio y una figura religiosa va a bendecirlo, estamos hablando de una apropiación del lugar por “las fuerzas del bien y la prosperidad” que hacen huir a las fuerzas negativas del lugar.
En cierta forma, los espíritus tutelares representan también esos entornos silvestre y salvajes que aún no han sido “civilizados”. La llegada de los hombres implica civilización y organización, contra la vieja figura del caos. Si por alguna razón, los hombres abandonan los lugares que han ocupado, los espíritus tutelares vuelven y toman de nuevo el lugar. Viven ocultos entre las rocas, los pozos, los arroyos, las cuevas y muchas veces toman diferentes manifestaciones que los mitos y leyendas han popularizado: Hadas, ondinas, enanos, duendes, fantasmas, el mismo diablo y sus demonios. Incluso se han convertido en tema de novelas modernas porque su presencia no ha desaparecido en la actualidad. Como ejemplo tenemos las novelas de Haruki Murakami donde la idea del genio tutelar y sus hábitats ctónicos está siempre muy presente, como en Crónica del pájaro que da cuerda al mundo, La muerte del comendador, 1Q84 y La caza del carnero salvaje entre otras.
Esta obra de Lecoteux, pues, nos lleva a un interesantísimo viaje por la figura e historia medieval de este genio tutelar y nos da pie a crear nuestras propias reflexiones sobre esta imagen del mundo. Y claro, siempre queda abierta una interesante y profunda pregunta: ¿Y si estos genios tutelares en verdad están ahí? A lo mejor nosotros nos podemos burlar, o considerarlos solo supersticiones… pero, pienso yo, cuando en todos los lugares y en todas las culturas escuchamos el mismo cuento…
Recomiendo de Claude Lecoteux sus demás libros en español: Enanos y Elfos en la Edad Media, Fantasmas y Aparecidos en la Edad Media, Hadas, Brujas y Hombres Lobo en la Edad Media, además del libro Realidad Daimónica de Patrick Harpur

[Priscilla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing read.

Im always interested in spirits and I am so happy to come across and author that has no fear talking about them. There are A LOT of references in this book which is always nice too.

[Adam Hayden · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Master of Folklore

Where do I start? Claude has done it again! One of the best books on the Andedion, the not-Gods, and a foundation to the understanding of Fayerie Traditionalism

[Jaime · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have yet to read a single bad book from Claude Lecouteux.
The research is immense and impeccable and he organizes it rather nicely.
I'm off to buy everything this man has ever written.

[Cora · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first half of the book was really interesting to me - I kind of lost interest when he got more into stories about knights and dragons and stuff.

[Mitchell Stern · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent enough primer but one that left me wanting more.

[Elentarri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extremely interesting. Makes a nice addition to all my other ancient lore/ mythology books.