Courtaud
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Courtaud (Old French: Courtaut, "short (or stumpy) tail") was an infamous wolf captured in or near Paris in 1439, amid the increase of wolf-attacks against humans in that area during the mid 15th century. Contemporary accounts describe it as exceptionally dangerous and it was believed to have been responsible for most of the fatal wolf attacks in the region at the time.
Background
The anonymous Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris sous Charles VI et Charles VII describes various events of the first half of the 15th century.[1] According to the Journal, during July 1421, "starving" wolves would come into inhabited areas surrounding Paris to feed upon bodies recently buried in the nearby fields and villages, and at night scavenging wolves would enter towns and occasionally Paris itself.[2] By 1439 the wolves surrounding Paris had become emboldened and began to devour human beings, men women and children, even preying on shepherds while leaving their flock unscathed.[3] According to the journal's account, during the last week of September alone, 14 victims "large and small" were strangled and eaten by the wolves "between Montmartre and the Porte St. Antoine, both in the vineyards and within the swamps".[3] Between 1436-1440, the wolves claimed between 60 and 80 human lives.[2]
Additional accounts of similar behavior in wolves appear in other chronicles which document the Hundred Years’ War.[4] Some describe the infiltration of starving wolves into major towns at night to ‘feast on the dead and dying’, and the chronicles of Jean Chartier (1385-1464) state that there "were so many wolves in the areas around Paris that it was astonishing, some of them ate people".[4][2]
With the accession of Louis XI to the throne, widespread wolf-hunts were conducted, and over a period of six months in 1461, 227 wolves were officially killed in the viscounty of Paris.[2]
Courtaud
According to the Journal, the most infamous of the wolves was one "terrible and horrible wolf".[4][2] It was caught in autumn 1439,[4] on the Eve of St. Martin, and was said to have been responsible for more deaths than all the other wolves combined,[3] this particular wolf was missing its tail, and thus was given the nickname of Courtaud, meaning "short (or stumpy) tail".[3][2] Courtaud's ferocity was of great public concern in Paris, and people going out to the field were warned "Beware of Courtaud!".[3] When the beast was finally caught, it was placed in a wheelbarrow with its jaws held open and taken through the city.[3] The Journal concludes that people left everything that they were doing in order to see it and that it "was worth to them more than ten francs".[3]
Modern depictions
Author Ernest Thompson Seton, provided a much expanded account of the events surrounding Courtaud in his Mainly About Wolves,[5] though he admitted that while all the main outlines of the story were historically correct, he had "embellished and expanded with the utmost freedom".[6] Seton's adaptation, together with the account in the Journal served as the sources for the reconstruction of Courtaud's story in The Wolves of Paris by Daniel P. Mannix.[7] Authors Michael Wallace and Lance Roddick wrote novels with a name identical to that of Mannix, and used Courtaud's story as a setting.[8]
Interpretation
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The divergence of the Parisian wolves from their ordinary behavior of avoiding humans has been explained by some as the result of the Hundred Year's War. The desolated villages, the abundance of corpses and the vulnerability and availability of the mortally wounded, women and children all are considered contributing factors to the development of the man-eating canids.[9] This suggestion was adopted by authors Seton and Mannix.[5][7] Historian John Knifton, drew attention to the succession of extremely cold winters during the mid 15th century and a severe famine between 1437-1439, which may have influenced the wolves' behavior.[10] Similarly, early modern sources point to a correlation between famines and the venturing of wolves into the area ruled by the House of Valois during 1437-1438 (translated from French):[11]
To this fury of mutual plundering and slaughter, and to the abandonment of agriculture, which caused a terrible famine in the country, were added continuous rains that carried away a large part of its resources. This new disaster caused widespread mortality. As an additional misfortune, there occurred an extraordinary scourge that has sometimes been observed following famines: packs of wolves suddenly emerged from the forests and roamed the countryside for several months. (Claude Carlier, Histoire du duché de Valois, Paris, 1764, p. 477)[11]