Medieval people have a reputation for being superstitious – and many of the supernatural phenomena found in the pages of medieval chronicles, miracle stories and romances are still alive in modern culture. Think ghosts, werewolves, demons, vampires, fairies and witches. But while (almost all) people today regard these beings as entirely fictional, many medieval people believed in them.
Christian theologians accepted the existence of the supernatural, categorising such beings broadly as “fallen angels” who viewed humanity as a battleground in their ongoing conflict with God. Their enormous power meant they could even appear as deities, including the pagan gods and goddesses – they were seen to take on a monstrous appearance mainly when claiming the souls of the damned or being defeated by a Christian leader.
The smaller and less powerful supernatural creatures known in Old and Middle English as “elves”, however, were seen to have less straightforward explanations.
