The Werewolf of Livonia in Olaus Magnus’s Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus

Record summary

Olaus Magnus’s sixteenth-century survey of northern peoples includes accounts of marvels, transformations, spirits, and unusual human behavior, including werewolf traditions associated with the Baltic region. The work matters because it helped circulate northern European supernatural ethnography to a wider learned readership. It is a printed compilation shaped by hearsay, moral interpretation, and classical precedent rather than controlled observation. Researchers should identify the exact chapter and edition, compare Latin wording with translations, and separate werewolf belief from claims about unidentified animal populations.