Pig-headed women

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
An 1882 print of a pig-headed woman in The Illustrated Police News

Legends about pig-headed women surfaced around the same time in Holland , England, and France in the late 1630s . These stories told of wealthy women in human form with the head of a pig.

In the earliest versions of these stories, their pig-like appearance was attributed to witchcraft . After the wedding day, the pig-headed woman's husband was given the choice: Should his wife only appear beautiful to him, and to the eyes of everyone else, have this pig-like shape or should she only appear pig-like to him and human to everyone else? Only when her husband chose to let her choose could the spell be broken and her pig-like appearance fell off. Such stories were best known in England and later in Ireland .

Over time, history lost its magical traits and the existence of pig-headed women was recognized as a fact. This belief was especially widespread in Dublin at the beginning of the 19th century, where it was believed that the withdrawn philanthropist Griselda Steevens was hiding from the public because she had the face of a pig. Between 1814 and 1815 it was rumored that there was a pig-headed woman in Marylebone . Her existence has been widely treated as a fact and a large number of supposed portraits of the woman have been published. The public belief in the existence of pig-headed women has been exploited by unscrupulous carnival traders. They displayed live specimens in markets, but they were not really women, but sheared bears in women's clothes.

Belief in the existence of pig-headed women waned and the last significant mention was published in 1924. Today the legend has almost been forgotten.

Standard elements

Although stories about pig-headed women differ in detail, they follow an underlying pattern. A noble pregnant lady is approached by a beggar with her children. But she rejects them, which she equates the children of the beggar pigs with. The beggar then curses the pregnant lady who was to give birth to a daughter, healthy and well-formed with the exception of her pig-like head.

The daughter grew up healthy, but exhibited some pig-like behaviors. She only eats from a silver trough and speaks with grunts or a grunted voice. As the only descendant of her parents, a great legacy awaits her, but her parents are concerned about her whereabouts after her death. So they make arrangements to either find a husband for them, or they donate all of their fortune to a healing institution on condition that the hospital takes care of their daughter.

Although the legend appeared at about the same time in Holland, England and France, it was only known and widely treated as a fact in England and later Ireland. In 1861, regarding the longevity of belief in pig-headed women in England, Charles Dickens remarked that "In every age, I suppose, there has been a pig-faced. I believe there has been a pig-headed lady." lady").

Origins

Tannakin Skinker from A Monstrous Shape, or a Shapelesse Monster , 1640

While earlier stories of humans in animal form were widespread, there was no mention of humans with the head of a pig in Europe before the 17th century. (In 1829 the Quarterly Journal of Science, Literature, and the Arts reported that the legend was circulating in Paris as early as 1595, but it did not list any details or convincing evidence.) The first versions of the history of pig-headed women appeared simultaneously in England, Holland, and France emerged, and became an English popular belief in 1639. A folklore article by the Dutch historian and antiquarian Gerrit Jacob Boekenoogen referred to the first versions of the legend in 1638 or 1639.

The oldest surviving version of the legend is a Dutch copper engraving showing Jacamijntjen Jacobs from Amsterdam. She was approached pregnant in 1621 by a beggar with her three children. She pleaded for help for her starving children. Jacobs turned her away and said, “Get your dirty piglets out of the way. I won't give you anything! ”The beggar replied,“ Are you saying that my children are pigs? Then may God give you the same pigs as I have here! ”Jacob's daughter was born with a pig's head and at the time of publication 1638–39, her daughter, now in puberty, supposedly ate from a trough and had a grunt Voice.

Bondeson (2006) suggests that the legend of pig-headed women is a mixture of two older stories. The medieval legend of Margarete von Henneberg tells of a rich noblewoman who turned away a beggar with twins and gave birth to 365 children as a punishment. Similarly, a French folk tale tells of a noblewoman who insults begging children as "piglets" and gave birth to nine piglets.

Robert Chambers posited in another important theory about the origin of the legend in 1864 that a child was indeed born in the early 17th century with disfigured facial features similar to those of a pig and with a speech impediment that gave her voice a grunt. Back then, teratology (the science of birth defects and physiological abnormalities) was still in its infancy, while the theory of maternal oversight (that a pregnant woman's thoughts affect the future appearance of her children) was widespread. It is possible that the birth of a deformed child led to the story as a possible explanation, and that over time new elements or exaggerations were added by editors. Chambers suspects that this child resembled Julia Pastrana . She suffered from hypertrichosis , a disease that causes facial deformities (although not necessarily pig-like). It was exhibited as an attraction in Europe and North America until her death in 1860 and then embalmed until 1970. While a still birth of a fetus with a pig-like face was documented in 1952 , there has never been a credible case of a viable human with such deformations to date. All versions of the legend tell of their health in adulthood.

Decline in the legend

After the craze for stories about pig-headed women in London between 1814 and 1815 and the subsequent hoax in Paris, the press no longer reported the existence of pig-headed women as fact. By the 1860s, the trick of exhibiting pig-headed women at fairs had lost popularity, but they continued to be displayed until the 1880s. Today the legend is almost forgotten.

While the Dr. Steevens' Hospital still exists as the headquarters of the Health Service Executive ( Feidhmeannacht na Seirbhíse Sláinte ) rather than a practicing hospital, but since the mid-19th century no memorabilia of pig-headed women have been issued. The portrait of Griselda Steevens commissioned by her still hangs in the main hall of the hospital.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Robert Chambers: The Book of Days: A Miscellany of Popular Antiques in Connection with the Calendar Including Anecdote, Biography and History, Curiosities of Literature, and Oddities of Human Life and Character . Ed .: Robert Chambers. W. & R. Chambers, London 1863, p. 255 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g Jan Bondeson: The Pig-Faced Lady of Manchester Square & Other Medical Marvels . Tempus Publishing, Stroud 2006, ISBN 0-7524-3662-7 , pp. 86 .
  3. ^ Charles Dickens: "A Prodigy Hunter". All the Year Round . Charles Dickens, London 1861, p. 333 .
  4. ^ A b Jan Bondeson: The Pig-Faced Lady of Manchester Square & Other Medical Marvels . Tempus Publishing, Stroud 2006, ISBN 0-7524-3662-7 , pp. 87 .
  5. ^ A b Jan Bondeson: The Pig-Faced Lady of Manchester Square & Other Medical Marvels . Tempus Publishing, Stroud 2006, ISBN 0-7524-3662-7 , pp. 86-87 .
  6. ^ Jan Bondeson: The Pig-Faced Lady of Manchester Square & Other Medical Marvels . Tempus Publishing, Stroud 2006, ISBN 0-7524-3662-7 , pp. 45 .
  7. ^ Jan Bondeson: The Pig-Faced Lady of Manchester Square & Other Medical Marvels . Tempus Publishing, Stroud 2006, ISBN 0-7524-3662-7 , pp. 88 .
  8. ^ Jan Bondeson: The Pig-faced Lady of Manchester Square & Other Medical Marvels . Tempus Publishing, Stroud 2006, ISBN 0-7524-3662-7 , pp. 89 .
  9. ^ Jan Bondeson: The Pig-Faced Lady of Manchester Square & Other Medical Marvels . Tempus Publishing, Stroud 2006, ISBN 0-7524-3662-7 , pp. 84 .
  10. ^ Jan Bondeson: The Pig-Faced Lady of Manchester Square & Other Medical Marvels . Tempus Publishing, Stroud 2006, ISBN 0-7524-3662-7 , pp. 83 .

literature

  • Bondeson, Jan (2006). The Pig-Faced Lady of Manchester Square & Other Medical Marvels. Stroud: Tempus Publishing. ISBN 0-7524-3662-7 .
  • Chambers, Robert (1864). The Book of Days. 2. London: W. & R. Chambers.
  • Dickens, Charles (December 28, 1861). "A Prodigy Hunter". All the Year Round. London: Charles Dickens. 6 (140)
  • Wadd, William (June 1829). "Observations on the Organ of Scent". Quarterly Journal of Science, Literature, and Art. London: The Royal Institution of Great Britain.