Oldridge, Darren. Strange Histories: The Trial of the Pig, the Walking Dead, and Other Matters of Fact from the Medieval and Renaissance Worlds.

• Author: Walton, Kristen Post
• Position: Book Review

Oldridge, Darren. Strange Histories: The Trial of the Pig, the Walking Dead, and Other Matters of Fact from the Medieval and Renaissance Worlds. London: Routledge, 2005. 216 pp. Cloth, $33.95.

Darren Oldridge's new book, Strange Histories, is a fascinating study of the psychology behind belief in medieval and early modern Europe. In his book, Oldridge looks at everyday beliefs from an earlier age that seem quite bizarre to our twenty-first century minds. The book is a well-researched compilation of brief stories and histories that touch on subjects from religion to law, often delving into early ideas about the supernatural. Throughout his book, Oldridge argues that the pre-modern mind was just as rational as that of the modern human, and that studying the convictions of the earlier age can also lead us to reconsider the reasonableness of our own beliefs.

In order to delve into the minds of the medieval and early-modern period, Oldridge commences his work by describing a world that was not influenced by the scientific knowledge of today. He discusses the role of religion and the Bible, which were seen as absolute and scientific answers to the questions posed by pre-modern Europeans. He argues that the stories he relates throughout the book appear absurd only because "the 'full-blooded and coherent' religion of the pre-modern age has disappeared" (p. 19). The idea that God regularly interacted with humans and participated daily in the trials and tribulations faced by medieval and early-modern man allowed him to accept the supernatural as reality.

Throughout the main text of the book, Oldridge develops his argument by looking at eight different areas of pre-modern belief that appear "strange" to the modern mind. He explains the role of angels, witches, zombies, and werewolves as they appeared during this age. He also elucidates how pre-modern man could execute animals for committing human crimes, why some people would be pleased to die for their faith and why others believed that death was the only option for those with alternative belief systems, and how yet others would fall into states of rapture, often believed to be sent from God. The stories that Oldridge relates are not necessarily new to anyone familiar with this historical period. Other historians have written about the tales and strange stories (or ones that are similar) from each of these areas. Reformation scholars have studied many aspects of these stories in depth, and...