What Does the (Medieval) Fox Say?

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            In popular culture, the term “she’s a fox” is commonly used to describe a woman who is very beautiful. However, with the medieval connotation behind foxes, what does this say about women? A woman who is foxy can be seen as someone who is sly in her ways and although gorgeous, is untrustworthy. Contrastingly, older men are often described as a “silver fox.”

            The fox, especially in medieval times, was known to be a cunning and deceitful creature. It would roll in red mud in order to trick it’s prey into thinking it was dead and covered in blood, only then to attack and eat them. Classified as a beast, the fox was a devious animal that would never run in a straight line. In medieval literature it is seen as an allegory for the devil. 

          The fox was often depicted as stealing chickens from the peasants and yet was also a common animal to be hunted by the nobility. Under Reynard the Fox, a medieval Europe’s trickster figure that was featured in a serious of beast epics, the fox had opposing roles of being hunter and hunted.  He was always getting into trouble but was able to talk his way out of it. Reynard the Fox alternates between tricking his victims and running away from them. This opposed image of the fox as hunter and hunted further added to it’s similarities to the devil, being threatening and threatened.

            In using the term “silver” when describing men, the notion of foxes rolling in blood is dismissed. Women’s blood, in medieval texts, was seen as polluting. Menstruating women were seen as unclean and the church taught how menstruation was a curse from God as a result of Eve’s temptation. In referring to a woman as a fox suggests that although she is attractive and sexy, she is cunning in her ways and tricks her preys with her “red” color.    

       

        Men, as previously mentioned, are silver foxes. They lack the connotation of blood or the impurity it implies. Medieval men feared menstrual blood for it’s corrosive capabilities and representation of female power. One particular belief was that it, menstrual blood, could damage the penis on contact. Although men could be seen as crafty and sly, they do so without becoming impure. Furthermore, a silver fox is used to describe older men. A man that may be deceitful, but since he is older, now has wisdom and knowledge to better his previous ways.          

   

            To be “foxy” means to have a certain sex appeal. Yet to be a vixen, the word for a female fox, tends to imply that the woman in question has a few controversial, albeit nasty, qualities. To say that “she’s a fox” brings about a meaning that questions a woman’s motives. She may be beautiful , but she is also polluted, devious, and cunning in her ways. She is not like the male counterpart, silver fox, whom has matured in his ways and is now a good-looking, older gentleman. The silver fox is not polluted for he lacks the color red in his description and is therefore free of the blood. The medieval belief about a fox being the devil and never running in a straight line may no longer prevail in popular culture. However, the underlying connotation of the “sly fox” and medieval notions of women and blood are still muddled in their references on what the fox says about people.

           

           

Gambling the Soul

In the story of Theophilus, we read one of the first recorded accounts of a story that involves a pact being made with the devil. Today, this is a popular and familiar motif from literature and folklore. Making a pact with the devil most usually consists of a pact made between a person and Satan or a lesser demon. The person exchanges their soul for some kind of favor from Satan.
The pact could be made either by oral means or written means. Written pacts were often written in blood. This blood was often the blood of the human who was making the pact, but sometimes it could be animal blood.

I was curious about the stories that used this motif and I wanted to know whether or not "pacts with the devil" were associated with specific groups of people in history.
Pacts with the devil could be made by both men and women. Most literature I found was centered around a male figure, but I also read that midwives were often accused of having made a pact with the devil if a child died after or during delivery.
There are versions of the Theophilus story in many other countries, from the German story of Faust to the Polish story of Pan. Each country has developed their own version of this story. But why?
In the story of Theophilus that we read in class, the pact with the devil reflected social anxieties about Jewish people at the time. In the story, a Jewish man initially suggests and assists Theophilus in making the pact with Satan. The myth of Theophilus is told and retold through time,evolving and being adopted by other countries. However, no other versions of the myth includes racial or religious groups helping the devil.
Stories that include pacts with the devil were most often religiously motivated rather than racially motivated. While race and religion are closely related, the majority of the literature I found focused on pacts made with the devil centered around religious figures related to Christianity or the Catholic church.
However, even though none of the literature I found was overtly making a statement about race, the motif of a pact with the devil was often used to represent anything that was in opposition to Christianity. This could have been any number of things, depending on the location and time period the literature was written. In the case of Theophilus, the Jewish people had been seen as a threat to the Christian community.

One source that I found stated that "focusing on the devil's pervasive presence in the world had practical advantages to would-be culture shapers." The devil was an easy target to blame for anything that seemed to pose a threat to societal norms. This could have come in the shape of opposing religious groups or the growing population of a race of people. The devil was used as a symbol of what should not be. These stories were created as a way to control the public's opinions about what/who is good and what/who is evil. In many ways, these stories are just as manipulative as the devil himself.

                "The Ecole Initiative: Pacts with the Devil: Faust and Precursors." The Ecole Initiative: Pacts with the Devil: Faust and Precursors. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Sept. 2014.