On the belief in Werewolves in the northern Alps. (part 1) Contemporary documents speak of "thousands of members" in the packs that crossed and/or lived in the Northern Alps. The damage was worse than one can imagine among children. A population of peasants that, moreover, often lived quite isolated due to the difficulties from the mountainous terrain.
From the 16th century, in official documents and on many occasions, we witness a "terminological confusion" : the narrator himself does not seem to make a difference between the two semantic spaces : wolves and werewolves.
It is not clear where the boundary lies between the two "beings" that both evoke a feeling close to terror.
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- Excerpt from a 16th century document, written by a local notary, in the small village of Saint Antoine : " (…) shortly after sunset, the wolf went to take from a child who was walking under the trellis ; while his mother was feeding a smaller one, the beast carried him off without anyone being able to help him. His remains were never found. Some time before, a werewolf had taken another child from the house of A. Some time later, the mother of this child, saw the wolf again advancing towards the village at nightfall, and shouted "Wolf! Wolf!", the wolf jumped at her throat. The woman had already been dead for a long time when help arrived."
The same document relates several times that the wolves that attack have already devoured the dogs that are supposed to protect the farms.
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[Extract arranged by me from "Les loups garous en Dauphiné et en Savoie", Charles Joisten, Robert Chanaud, Alice Joisten, revue Persée.]
