Phantom Armies of the Night: The Wild Hunt and the Ghostly Processions of the Undead

Better than never, the French original bearing the title "Chasses fantastiques et cohorts de la nuit au moyen age" (1999, Paris: Éditions Imago) has now been expertly translated into English, for which we can only thank Jon E. Graham. This well-argued, richly sourced and amply illustrated study draws chiefly on clerical texts of medieval Western Europe and Scandinavia, supplemented with modern scholarship.Part I. The Hosts of the Night (pp. 7-54): We are introduced to the widespread folk beliefs according to which on certain dates the dead who couldn't find rest or escaped the purgatory would return to earth, usually led by pagan goddesses like Diana, Herodias, Percht (the so-called Good Women). In order to guarantee prosperity for the locals, victuals had to be provided for their appeasement. Recurring sightings of phantom armies in the sky or in the vicinity of battlefields, on the other hand, were viewed as heralding war or catastrophe.Part II. The Supernatural Hunters (pp. 55-84): The three types discussed here are the diabolical huntsman pursuing a human sinner, the wild hunter who is more like a genius loci, and the cursed huntsman on horseback chasing "a prey that eternally eludes him."Part III. The Wild Hunt (pp. 85-200): Comparisons are made between the first known account of the Infernal Hunt/Furious Army found in the Norman monk Orderic Vitalis's (1075-1140) "Ecclesiastical History" and the Legend of King Herla compiled by the Welshman (?) Walter Map in the 1180s. The former story is about a priest called Walchelin, who witnessed a ragtag crowd of bizarre folks passing by, while the latter one features the said king who, on returning from a feast held in a dwarf lord's cavernous realm, finds himself and his retinue in the twilight zone b/w the living and the dead. It's worth to note that in the medieval world some believed the purgatory was inside a hollow mountain; what's more, in the author's interpretation "[t]he ritual banquet of the fairies is in reality a repast of the dead" (p. 168).We might add that many parallels have been pointed out between the faerie and ufo lore in terms of missing time(-out-of-joint experience), which is also part of Walter Map's narrative, and abduction (a case of which can be read on pp. 164-7), as demonstrated by Jacques Vallée and more recently by Graham Hancock (chapters 14-16, pp. 357-412 In:  Supernatural: Meetings with the Ancient Teachers of Mankind )...but I digress. The scholarly analysis then follows the evolution of the aforementioned theme, including the Nordic tradition known as Oskoreia or Terrifying Ride, along motifs such as the role of warning figure, the sweet music or horrible din accompanying the weird throng, request and gifts, protective measures, etc.Also included (ch. 12) in this segment is a clever decoding of the masquerade/Charivari scene Chaillou de Pestain inserted into the "Romance of Fauvel," originally written by Gervais du Bus at the very beginning of the 14th century.Part IV. Odin and the Wild Hunt (pp. 201-240): While providing a brief overview of certain German ethnological theories and Scandinavian notions from the late 16th through the 19th century, which attribute the Wild Hunt to Odin/Wotan, Mr. Lecouteux instead suggests that the Vedic Rudra and his troop of Maruts may represent the earliest reference to the Infernal Hunt and its leader, although it should be emphasized that "the connections...are typological in nature rather than genetic" (p. 213).Relying on the research of Vincente Risco concerning the Galician Society of the Bone (Spain; active in which centuries?) that perhaps had grown out of the Procession of Souls and whose members were gifted with the second sight of foreseeing one's death (an ecstatic phenomenon shamanic in its origins), the good professor finally drafts a neat, 5-tiered hypothesis in order to explain how ancestral worship related to fertility may have gradually given rise to fraternities like this Societá do Oso (see also appendix 4).The key here is the idea that "[d]istinct entities - originally, these two troops, one of the departed, the other of disguised living men - became confused with each other, and people no longer drew any distinction between them, instead regarding each as the other and vice versa" (p. 233).Appendices (pp. 241-63); endnotes (= references, 264-92); bibliography (293-300); index (301-09).

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.

First let me say that if you buy his books, this should be the first one in the set of 3 that I have bought.Witches, Werewolves, and Fairies: Shapeshifters and Astral Doubles in the Middle AgesLecouteux, ClaudeThe Return of the Dead: Ghosts, Ancestors, and the Transparent Veil of the Pagan MindBUT, that was my error and not the Author's. He relates and introduces ideas and premises very clearly and uses other sources such as Ginzburg and Davies so that the information is very understandable.I came away understanding all of the different versions of the Wild Hunt in quite a few countries and how they came to be and NO the female deity is not left out. She is just not stressed any more than the other versionsI again could not put the book down and had it read and consumed in 3 days. If you do work with the spirit or with traditional witchcraft as a path and not a religion, if you are not wiccan based only, this book will really help for you to deepen your own path. I actually would advise the other two books above and you will see similar reviews of them.

Great condition, very happy with this purchase.

Must Read, this book connects you with the ancient past, you can feel the wild hunt on a winter night through the pages!

Unique and well researched

A must for anyone interested in mythology

This is another fantastic one by Lecouteux. Well-researched, well-referenced. Everything I've read by this author has been superb quality.

El libro es interesante, está bien escrito y muy bien documentado pero hay errores en la traducción del inglés al español, por ejemplo el autor llama a la Santa Compaña, Santa Campaña. Tch. También está mal traducida la frase inicial, atribuida a la Santa Compaña precisamente: "Andad de día, que la noche es mia", lo traducen como "away with day, for the night is mine" , algo así como "fuera el día (que desaparezca el día), que la noche es mia" o "que acabe el día que la noche es mia", para mi la idea es más bien: es mejor que hagas lo que tengas que hacer de día que por la noche estás a mi merced... No sé, es un matiz distinto. Supongo que habrá opiniones variadas. Pero el libro es curioso, no tiene una estructura que enganche, es académico divulgativo.

Der Ansatz des Buches ist absolut originell, aber auch die Verwirklichung lässt nichts zu wünschen übrig. Dass die Vorstellungen vom Heer der Toten einerseits in die "graue Vorzeit" zurückgehen, andererseits aber auch in der Gegenwart noch lebendig sind, macht Lecouteux in unnachahmlicher Weise deutlich.

Very interesting and well researched. Reminds me a lot of Ginzburgs "Ecstacies".

I know I will enjoy this book. Grant lecouteux is a brilliant author on the subject of the supernatural. I have many books by him and all have been an enjoyable read. Well worth the price and quick delivery