Mystic Britain: The Revenants — Britain’s Walking Dead
Terrifying Medieval Britain, the Revenants Were a Unique Form of the Undead
The popular culture image of the undead is well defined, with shuffling and monstrous zombies featuring in the likes of The Walking Dead and the Resident Evil franchise. At the same time, vampires charm their way through classics such as Dracula. These images mainly derive from the iconic work of film director George R. Romeo and the age of Hammer Horror. In folklore, meanwhile, many would assume that the walking dead are limited to tales from voodoo, Europe having its own undead in the form of vampires that are separate from zombies. However, this is not the case, with stories of animated cadavers plaguing medieval Britain. They are neither zombies nor vampires, they are the revenants.
William of Newburgh, also known as William Parvus, was a church canon and historian in 12th century Yorkshire. William’s Magnum Opus was the Historia de rebus anglicis, the History of English Affairs. The book was a telling of Britain’s history between the Battle of Hastings in 1066 and 1198, the year of Williams death. The book is a primary source of…
