British LibraryWhat makes a monster? This is a question which relies on when in history you are asking it.Understandings of monstrosity are culturally inflected. English professor Jeffrey Jerome Cohen calls the monster “an embodiment of a certain cultural moment”. The people of early medieval England (the period from around the mid 400s until the Norman invasion in 1066) did not celebrate Halloween as a festival for encountering spirits. But they certainly had their monsters, even if it can be difficult for us to understand fully why particular monsters were interpreted by their early English audience as “monstrous”.Characters who operate outside expected gender roles, such as Grendel’s mother in Beowulf, might have seemed particularly unsettling. Some monsters looked human, like the general Holofernes in the poem Judith; he is distinguished as monstrous through his drunkenness and violence.And yet, there are characters in early medieval English literature that still seem monstrous and grotesque even by today’s cultural standards. Despite being culturally shaped, many characteristics of monstrosity have remained consistent over the years: bodily difference, hybridity and acting outside of expected norms can all contribute to something being a monster. For those needing a last-minute costume for Halloween, or wanting to try something different this year, here are three unusual medieval ideas.Grendel from BeowulfThe Old English poem Beowulf is probably the best-known piece of literature surviving from this period. It exists in one copy, a manuscript from about the year 1000. It features three characters – Grendel, Grendel’s mother and the dragon – who each threaten human society and are defeated by the hero Beowulf. Each would make a great costume, but Grendel might be the most striking. The Beowulf-poet generates fear in the poem partly through not describing Grendel’s physical appearance. The Old English calls him as a grimma gæst (grim spirit) and a wiht unhælo (unholy creature), and we learn that at his first attack he takes 30 men – suggesting he must be very large. Limited physical details mean those dressing as Grendel have scope for their own interpretation – ambiguity fuels the fear that Grendel creates.But one feature that is crucial for an accurate Grendel costume is his fingers; he seems a rather extreme version of Edward Scissorhands:at the end of each nailwas a sharp tip, most like steel,heathen talons, the terrible spikes of that awful warrior.Women with boars’ tusksThe Wonders of the East is a series of descriptions of marvellous creatures. There is a clear sense of us and them in their depiction. The creatures live in geographically distant places; their bodies often have a mix of human and other characteristics; and their actions can be strange. All of this contributes to their monstrosity. Creatures in The Wonders of the East often have a mix of features from humans and other animals. British Library One example of these hybrid bodies is thewomen who have boars’ tusks, hair down to their heels and oxen’s tails from their loins. These women […] have camel’s feet and ass’ teeth.Wonders of the East also describes women who “have beards down to their chest” who “hunt all kinds of wild animals” – acting outside traditional gender roles could be viewed as monstrous. If you choose to dress as these figures the act of hunting would be as important to the costume as the beard. St ChristopherAnother story found in the Beowulf-manuscript is that of St Christopher the martyr. While a saint might feel an odd choice for a Halloween dress up, the early English version had quite a distinctive look:He had the head of a dog, his locks were exceedingly thick, his eyes shone as brightly as the morning star, and his teeth were as sharp as a boar’s tusk. And yet, his actions, because he seeks God, actually reveal him to be less monstrous than his hybrid body might suggest. Monstrosity, then, was complex, even in this early period.Emma Knowles does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.