# Vampires before 19th century



## Peregrine (Nov 11, 2017)

The definition of a vampire is a corporeal undead that feeds on blood, if we are being precise.
A much free definition is any creature that drinks blood.

The first reports of creatures called vampires are in 18th century, before 18th century there were blood-drinking undead but they were not called vampires but they were called revenants instead,

In medieval Europe there were revenants that fed on blood and revenants that fed on anything but blood (source wikipedia, unboundworlds).

So, the term vampire wasn't invented yet, in western medieval Europe there was the term revenant only to describe such creatures.

Vampires before 19th century didn't have fangs.

I can't visualize but before 19th century they were described to be "ruddy", dark, also swollen/bloated (from drinking blood) and only little decomposed. What do these terms "ruddy", swollen and dark mean and how did such vampire look like? Were there also descriptions of vampires with undeathly pale skin?

I have another question, were there blood-drinking undead before 18th century in Eastern Europe?
They don't have to be termed vampires, maybe its some Eastern European sounding word.

The first reports of vampires were in 18th century Serbia, but this doesn't necessarily mean that blood-drinking undead didn't exist earlier in Eastern Europe (I am using the premise, if something is unreported that doesn't mean that it didn't exist earlier).


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## Heliotrope (Nov 11, 2017)

I'm not sure about vampire history, but "ruddy" usually means flushed, like when you have been outside in the cold too long and your cheeks and nose get that nice red colour to them. The pale vampires we think of today are a fairly modern description. I think the idea was that because they drank so much red blood it made their skin and cheeks very healthy and red coloured.


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## Peregrine (Nov 11, 2017)

They were also sometimes described as dark, is that because of decomposition/rigor mortis?


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## Peregrine (Nov 12, 2017)

THREAD CLOSED. No further discussions here please.


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