Medieval Witches

Think of the medieval times in England, and witches are probably one of the groups which come to mind. As far as the general population was concerned, witches came in many forms, all of which led ultimately to the empathetic nature-loving strong-minded independent women feared by society. Sadly, the same type of women are often feared even today. But I digress. The medieval witches in respect of this post are in fact hedgehogs. Harbingers of doom, in medieval times, hedgehogs were thought to be shapeshifting witches in disguise.

The persecution of hedgehogs continued from the medieval period into Tudor times, which followed straight afterwards beginning in 1485 with the accession of King Henry VIII. My last post mentioned the impact the Tudors had on wildlife numbers and the reason ‘milk-stealing’ hedgehogs were considered vermin. Which is ironic given that they are lactose intolerant.

Shapeshifting Thieves

Back to medieval witches. Seeing a hedgehog meant something bad was coming to you. As shapeshifters, witches were thought to transform into hares, and sometimes hedgehogs. In this way, they could spread harm and mayhem to unsuspecting communities. Hedgehogs were so feared in some communities that they were hunted in the same way that witches were.

Hedgehogs were also thought of as fruit thieves. This notion was first proposed by Pliny the Elder in 77 CE who claimed hedgehogs would load their spines with fallen apples which they took to a hollow tree for the winter. Later thinking was that hedgehogs climbed the vines of ripe grapes, knocking the fruit to the ground where they would then roll on the grapes to attach them to their spines. In this way, the hedgehog would transport the grapes to their nest to feed their young. This behaviour was illustrated in the medieval text, the ‘Rochester Bestiary’ (circa 1230 CE). The hedgehog’s action in stealing grapes was an allegory for the devil stealing man’s spiritual fruit.

The following animation, made by Obrazki nunu and Discarding Images, is based on drawings within one of the medieval bestiaries kept in the British Library. The short feature illustrates a hedgehog collecting grapes for their litter of hoglets.

In Literature

So the poor hedgehog was persecuted through medieval times, and on into the Tudor period. Even Shakespeare (1564-1616) contributed to the dislike of the prickly mammals when he wrote them into his works. King Richard III is likened to a hedgehog, possibly because of his prickly personality. They were mentioned in Macbeth as the witches prepare to cast a spell. And the hedgehog is listed by Caliban as one of the punishments he fears in The Tempest.

In 1843, the Brothers Grimm published their story ‘The Hare and the Hedgehog’ which in their usual fashion had a dark undertone. The hedgehog of the tale was duplicitous, misogynistic, and ultimately ‘only’ a hedgehog. The moral of the story was not to look down on others, even if there were ‘only’ a hedgehog, and to marry someone of similar looks and social class. If a man was just a hedgehog, he would accept marriage to a hedgehog and be done with it.

It was only in 1905, with the publication of Beatrix Potter’s ‘Mrs Tiggy-Winkle’ that attitudes towards hedgehogs began to change. People began to see them as charismatic residents of the countryside, and a species of which to be proud. Just over 100 years later, in 2013, the hedgehog won a public vote to be named Britain’s national natural emblem.

Final Notes

If Beatrix Potter had lived in less discriminatory times, she might never have written her tales. She was an extremely talented naturalist, scientist, and artist who could have been recognised at the same level as Charles Darwin … had she been a man.

In spite of the public support, hedgehogs remain listed as vulnerable to extinction in Great Britain. You can find ideas on how to help hedgehogs in my post about Hedgehog Awareness Week.

Although hedgehogs tend to be solitary for much of the year, they do have a collective noun. A group of hedgehogs is known as an array.