This would fuse with two distinct concepts in existence in Europe for a long time. The first of which is the strigae, which dates to the classical period. The legend here is that women transformed into flying screech owls at night and devoured infants.
-
Show this thread
-
The second strand is the women who would leave their homes at night to follow Dianna on the Wild Hunt aka “Ladies of the Night’. Beliefs in both these concepts were so powerful among the commoners that some women swore that they actually engaged in these practices.
1 reply 0 retweets 11 likesShow this thread -
Until the 14th century, most of the scholarly elite did not believe these claims, instead arguing that these were delusions of the Devil, as I talked about earlier. However, this would come to change as all of these ideas fused, and these supposed illusions became reality
1 reply 0 retweets 12 likesShow this thread -
And it well predates the demonization of the alewife in art and literature. 13th century poem from Tirol stating, ‘Indeed, he adds, it would be a wondrous thing to see a woman riding a calf, or a broomstick, or a poker, over mountains and villages’.
2 replies 0 retweets 10 likesShow this thread -
Tomorrow we chat about cats!pic.twitter.com/MdUKkyJgoo
2 replies 0 retweets 20 likesShow this thread -
Replying to @Braciatrix
Christina thank you for this thread. I’m currently trying to tell some people that just because some folks wrote about flying ointment doesn’t mean women actually used flying ointment on their bits via broomsticks and I’m going bonkers here hahahaha.
1 reply 0 retweets 2 likes -
Replying to @AdmiralHip
Oh for sure, a lot of these writers, as medieval writers often did, just made stuff up. To add more drama
1 reply 0 retweets 3 likes -
Replying to @Braciatrix
Trying to convince people that just because someone wrote it down doesn’t make it true is harder than it seems lol.
1 reply 0 retweets 1 like -
Replying to @AdmiralHip
Haha oh I know! The some medieval writers were excellent at spouting absolute rubbish, or, pretending like it was different when they did it.
1 reply 0 retweets 2 likes -
Replying to @Braciatrix @AdmiralHip
Case in point, Viking invasions in Ireland. Irish sources go on and on about how awful they were for attacking the monasteries. Meanwhile, Kildare monastery is over here attacking Tallagh. But that's totally different. For reasons.
1 reply 0 retweets 2 likes
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.