The "Wild Hunt" seems to be a recurring theme in west-European folklore, and maybe elsewhere that I don't know about yet. Damned spirits riding forever through woods and fields, on horseback and with hounds, hunting forever, protecting the realms of magic and faerie, and a source of terror for any mortal who might cross their path.
I read about them as the Jagd (hunt) in Holdstock's Mythago Wood (which is def. not a work of History, it's 100% fiction, but it takes from traditional mythology). You have whole wiki articles on them but I don't know how reliable they are. In France, where I come from, you have the equivalent maisnie hellequin which brings me to the whole Hellequin/Hell-king/Höllenköning/Arlequin/Erlenköning (Alder king) thing which I also don't understand, but seems linked in a way to that wild hunt myth. Even a modern pop character like "Harley Quinn" seems to draw inspiration from these words.
I can (and will) read the folklore tales with pleasure but, from a Historian's point of view, what is the meaning of these stories? Where do they come from? Do we have contemporary commentary on their meaning? What did people think of them through the ages?
I realize it is a far fetched question but I know there are some folklore specialists in here, so just in case, here goes. Thanks!
TGLAF
Thanks to /u/hillsonghoods for the link. The Wild Hunt is widespread and ancient (consider the ancient Greek Hecate which comes close to this motif). Folklore is a methodology that was initially designed to describe distribution by understanding diffusion and change over time and space. It was not necessarily good at describing meaning in a literary sense. For that sort of thing one can go to Jung or Campbell, for example (although I'm not sure that either specifically discussed the Wild Hunt!), but their asserting meaning is more musing than anything akin to careful analysis. Theirs may be extraordinary musings, but they can't be verified by analysis; they can only be accepted or rejected on their own terms.
The legends about hunters who are compelled to pursue an ever-evasive prey (sometimes flying through the air) are widespread, and they frequently become attached to various notable figures, but the specific alignments of the motif with notable figures in local tradition is less significant than the widespread nature of the motif.
As indicated in the link, various natural phenomenon likely put wind in the sail of the legend complex: the nighttime of some large birds could provide an eerie, extraordinary sound that could be taken as evidence that the Wild Hunt had just passed.
In my Introduction to Folklore, I note that this is part of a larger complex of belief in souls that have been condemned for eternity - not to hell, but to some other limbo-like status. Most (but not all) wander the world without a place to rest:
Europeans were fascinated by the idea of condemned souls, either of individuals or groups of people, who could not find rest. These unfortunates were forced to exist in a nether world, appearing occasionally before the living as evidence of their hideous or peculiar plight. Such motifs have been favorites with artists and writers. It is possible to identify six types of these beings.
The “Wild Hunt” is probably the oldest, occurring in ancient Greek sources and Scandinavian mythology. A cluster of stories refers to ghostly riders who race across the landscape or the night sky, questing for some phantom quarry that they can never catch. Legends tell of people seeing this eerie phenomenon. There are occasional references to the leader as being the god of death.
The “Sleeping Army” is a motif that appears in a variety of stories telling of a group of warriors killed in combat, who haunt the battlefield or wait inside a mound for some future conflict. People often believe such an army serves as a matter of last resort, a supernatural force that will awaken if their country is threatened with destruction. King Arthur’s knights are often regarded as sleeping in this way, waiting for the return of their king, healed from his wounds after recuperating in the western island of Avalon.
The “Flying Dutchman” is one of the better known and often used motifs of the condemned souls. This motif describes a phantom ship of ghostly sailors who travel the seas but never find harbor or rest. Their only respite comes once every century, when they are allowed to anchor at a legendary port. Their ship is seen in bad weather. The story seems to be of medieval origin.
The “Wandering Jew” is also a motif belonging to this class. Like the Flying Dutchman, the Wandering Jew appears to be of medieval origin. The legend tells of Ahasverus, a shoemaker of Jerusalem who refused to allow Jesus to sit while carrying his cross to Calvary. His fate is to wander the world, longing for rest.
The Will-’o-the-Wisp is described in Chapter 4. The character was not good enough for heaven and made himself feared by the devil, and so he was exiled from hell. He carries a burning ember, a relic from the time when he briefly entered the abode of Satan, and with this phantom light, he lures nighttime travelers away from their destination. This character is common in Britain.
There are also various legends of medieval origin about cities that sank underground or into the sea because of some collective sin committed by the inhabitants. These towns return to earth every hundred years for a few hours, only to sink back to their eternal existence in perpetual limbo.
I hope this helps.
More can definitely be said, but hopefully you might find this post helpful: in it, /u/itsallfolklore talks about the stories of the Wild Hunt and the meaning of such myths.
(Also, we've removed that flair now - sorry about that!)