The wolf in the landscape: Antonio Cesena and attitudes to wolves in sixteenth century Liguria

The recent reappearance of wolves in many areas of Europe has stimulated an interest in the past relationships between the species and humans in various different geographical locations and historical epochs. The image of wolves approaching and entering human settlements is a potent image of the wil...

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Main Authors: Hearn, Robert, Balzaretti, Ross, Watkins, Charles
Format: Article
Published: Cambridge University Press 2015
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/30621/
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author Hearn, Robert
Balzaretti, Ross
Watkins, Charles
author_facet Hearn, Robert
Balzaretti, Ross
Watkins, Charles
author_sort Hearn, Robert
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description The recent reappearance of wolves in many areas of Europe has stimulated an interest in the past relationships between the species and humans in various different geographical locations and historical epochs. The image of wolves approaching and entering human settlements is a potent image of the wild, ‘natural’ world encroaching on that of the domestic and ‘cultural’. This paper examines the existence of the wolf in the psychological and physical landscape. It does so through a micro-historical analysis of a vernacular manuscript from the mid sixteenth century in north-west Italy. The paper demonstrates that the wolf existed both as a ‘mythological beast’ and as a ‘biological animal’ that was a normal, frequently encountered component of the Ligurian faunal assemblage.
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spelling nottingham-306212020-05-04T17:03:17Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/30621/ The wolf in the landscape: Antonio Cesena and attitudes to wolves in sixteenth century Liguria Hearn, Robert Balzaretti, Ross Watkins, Charles The recent reappearance of wolves in many areas of Europe has stimulated an interest in the past relationships between the species and humans in various different geographical locations and historical epochs. The image of wolves approaching and entering human settlements is a potent image of the wild, ‘natural’ world encroaching on that of the domestic and ‘cultural’. This paper examines the existence of the wolf in the psychological and physical landscape. It does so through a micro-historical analysis of a vernacular manuscript from the mid sixteenth century in north-west Italy. The paper demonstrates that the wolf existed both as a ‘mythological beast’ and as a ‘biological animal’ that was a normal, frequently encountered component of the Ligurian faunal assemblage. Cambridge University Press 2015-04-01 Article PeerReviewed Hearn, Robert, Balzaretti, Ross and Watkins, Charles (2015) The wolf in the landscape: Antonio Cesena and attitudes to wolves in sixteenth century Liguria. Rural History, 26 (1). pp. 1-16. ISSN 1474-0656 http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=9582789&fileId=S0956793314000193 doi:10.1017/S0956793314000193 doi:10.1017/S0956793314000193
spellingShingle Hearn, Robert
Balzaretti, Ross
Watkins, Charles
The wolf in the landscape: Antonio Cesena and attitudes to wolves in sixteenth century Liguria
title The wolf in the landscape: Antonio Cesena and attitudes to wolves in sixteenth century Liguria
title_full The wolf in the landscape: Antonio Cesena and attitudes to wolves in sixteenth century Liguria
title_fullStr The wolf in the landscape: Antonio Cesena and attitudes to wolves in sixteenth century Liguria
title_full_unstemmed The wolf in the landscape: Antonio Cesena and attitudes to wolves in sixteenth century Liguria
title_short The wolf in the landscape: Antonio Cesena and attitudes to wolves in sixteenth century Liguria
title_sort wolf in the landscape: antonio cesena and attitudes to wolves in sixteenth century liguria
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/30621/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/30621/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/30621/