Legendary Creature Medieval

Dragon 

Its origin is very ancient. Histories a text written by Herodotus around 430 BC, describes a giant snake with wings.

In every story with a dragon, the hero must slay the dragon in order to accomplish the quest. Whenever a dragon appears, it always protects something precious. The dragon is the enemy of the noble heroes.

Even the Saints are seen fighting a dragon. Numerous middle-aged saints have been credited with fighting dragons. By far the most famous of them was Saint-George of Cappadocia in the 4th century.

It seems that the popularity of this famous beast peaked in Germanic and Scandinavian culture between 8th and 10th centuries. Those sagas were written down by the Anglo-Saxons in the 13th century. In terms of popularity, Beowulf holds the top spot.

Dragons are literature creation forms influenced by germanic, celtic, and middle eastern folklore.

Fairies

The belief in these creatures comes from pagan beliefs that survived the christianization of Europeans. There is a link between Christian belief in angels and demons and pagan belief in witchcraft and magic. It depends on the time and culture whether the fairy is good or bad. Most of the time, they are female. It is possible that the fairies are males sometimes. A male fairy can be a rapist, as in the tale of Sir Degaré.

Some tales tell of a fairy bride, even though most fairy tales depict them more as spirits. Medieval Europe is filled with such tales. When a fairy marries a human, he or she must respect some conditions; if the conditions are not respected, punishment will follow. In terms of popularity, Melusine is the most popular.

Genelary, the Fairies live in retreat from mankind, but their realm is accessible to them. Cultures like slaves believe the fairy lives close to a laks.

Giant

The Most of the stories about giants are based on Scandinavian mythology. Vikings believed that giants were the antagonists of the asgard gods. However, the Germanic and Anglo-Saxon cultures also have some legends about giants. The saga of Witege in German culture or Jack the Giant Killer in English culture illustrate this.

There are many other tall and saga stories that feature giants. Sometimes they are good, sometimes they are bad, and sometimes they are funny. Basically, they have no concrete belief and are mostly used as fictional characters in stories and tales.

Grain Miracle

It's an amalgamation of legends from the middle ages. When escaping from soldiers or rapists, a woman associated with the Virgin Mary makes farm plants grow instantly.

Many female saints are associated with this legend, such as Radegunda, Walpurga, Milburga, etc. This story has its origins very far back in history. Crete archaeologists have found evidence of the same story around the 9th century BC.

Griffin

Originally from Mesopotamia, this creature is half eagle and half lion. In medieval times, many travelers, such as Marco Polo, described the griffin as an animal native to central Asia. There are, however, many legends as well.

Various royal families have used the griffin as a symbol. As the legend goes, the griffin held precious gold, and thus seemed to represent the role of a royal in medieval times.

It has been suggested by some scholars that there may have been a species with characteristics similar to those of the griffin. Fossils have been found in the Gobi desert, suggesting that theory.

A griffin has long been a symbol of power and strength in many cultures.

 Ghost and Spirit

In medieval times, the belief in ghosts was very common. Consequently, they used the terms demon and ghost as synonyms because ghost is believed to be evil. The belief is a mixture of pagan mythology and Christian belief, like many others from medieval times.

Ghosts and spirits have been the subject of many cults and legends. The most famous of these is the corn spirit. The church Christian brutally demonized this one. It was believed that there was a spirit living in the corn field and the peasants made offerings to him in order to keep him happy. Over time, the old goddess Bilwis was gradually attributed to this corn field spirit in German culture.

In modern times, the concept of the revenant ghost / spirit is very similar to what was believed during medieval times. When a person dies with unfinished business, the ghost comes back in gas form to hunt it. Throughout history, many of those stories and legends have changed and adapted in many folklore and cultures. For example, we can find variants of the famous spirit of the white lady in almost all modern and medieval folklore. Around the 12th century, Stammhein is home to one of the oldest.

There are also those who believe that the spirit will return in physical form. One of them is the famous headless horseman. They are known as the undead.

Golem

 In Hebrew, the word means a body without a soul. The legend revolves around Adam's creation myth. The body of Adam was created by God, and the soul was given to him by God. The grandson of Adam, Enosh, attempts to recreate the first man. He built a body and Satan took advantage of it and made him live without a soul.

Jews in medieval times believed in golems as if they were facts. Legend of golems comes from a dilemma about how God created the first man. The method is explained in the religious text Sefer Yetzira. Due to the large number of rabies attempting to reproduce the process, it is likely that one of them has succeeded.

Golems are most commonly associated with Rabbi Judah Low of Prague in the 16th century. During this time, the Jews were persecuted. To protect his community, the rabbi created an invincible golem. Having passed the danger, the rabbi removed the golem's holy name, causing the golem to become dust.

Vampire

Vampirism folkore is a post-medieval phenomenon. The concept of vampires reached its full development around the 19th century. This concept is an amalgam of three medieval concepts; bloodsuckers, revenants, and the need to kill using a specific method.

The concept of a creature sucking blood is prevalent in all European folklore. In fact, we can find a creature similar to it in Odysseus' story. Also , there was also a strong belief in the revenant in medieval times.

Many funeral rituals involved decapitation, cutting of tendons or literally nailing the dead's heart. Rituals like these were meant to ensure that the dead wouldn't return.

A combination of these three beliefs and many legends, such as that of Vladislaus Dracula, created the concept fantasy of vampirism.

Religious beliefs around vampires are unlikely

Unicorne

It is also very old when it comes to the origin of this legendary creature. The philosopher Ctesias wrote about unicorns in his writings in the 4th century BC. One corn is described on the front head of the horse in Physiologus, writing in the 3rd century AD. Despite its scientific nature (for the time), this encyclopedia entry described the unicorn like a real animal. There might have been a confusion with the rhinoceros.

According to legend, you can only catch an unicorn with a virgin. As a result, the unicorn has become a symbol of purity and power. The mystical power on the unicorn's horn has also lured many hunters in medieval times.

Werewolf

There is a myth about werewolves that dates back to the dawn of humanity. In addition to being two social species, the wolf and the human hunted the same animal. As a result, some wolves have been domesticated and become dogs.

Moreover, humans have imitated the wolf all over the world by wearing wolf fur when hunting or howling before battle.

There have also been many deaths caused by wolves in the old world. As a result, the wolf symbol has become very ambiguous. Is it an ally or an enemy? Does it have the qualities of a noble creature or is it a voracious beast?

This ambiguity of symbol has led to many stories of humans changing into wolves or beasts. The Vikings have Berserk, the Visigoths have the Sermo Lupi saga, and Herodote reports lycanthropy in some form.  

*Angel

The angel might not be considered a legendary creature, depending on how you define it. However, in medieval times, there was a stronger belief in angels than any other 'creatures' combined. There is no way we can avoid talking about them here.

The belief in angels is very similar to what we have today. Writings about the guardian angel can be found as early as the 2nd century AD. In fact, the image of an angel with wings might have been inspired by the roman goddess of victory, Nike.

It is rare to find an angel with a name, so it is rare to find a cult dedicated to that angel. It was believed that the angel was God's messenger. The individual's life can be influenced by them if he was a good person, or punished if he was a bad one. 

Bibliography :

1- John Lindow and all. '' Medieval Folklore : A Guide to myths , legends , tales, beliefs amd customs'' Oxford : oxford university press, 2002

2-Norman F. Cantor ''The encyclopedia of Middle Ages'' United State : Penguin Group , 1999

3 Rosamond McKitterick '' Atlas of the medieval world '' New-York : Oxford university press , 2004