Dr. Steven Isaac has published an article in the Cahiers de Civilisation Médiévale 59:2, one of the leading journals of medieval studies in France. The article, “Le Loup et le Mercenaire: une métaphore d’exclusion au XIIe siècle,” looks at how medieval chroniclers, because they did not have the actual term “mercenary” (in its modern sense) available to them, turned to other descriptions, especially that of the ravenous wolf, to describe the twelfth century’s hired warriors.
Among the evidence treated is the earliest mention we have of the story of Little Red Riding Hood. Plus the traditions of werewolves. And supposed armies of wolves who attacked in military formations. And the psuedo-science of bestiaries. He correlates all this cultural background with the historical accounts of mercenary depredations across the 1100s.