Ursula Southeil

Statue of Ursula Southeil in Mother Shipton Cave

Entrance to Mother Shipton's Cave

Check Day Owl, also known as Mother Shipton Moth

Ursula Southeil (* 1488, probably in Knaresborough ; † 1561), perhaps also Ursula Sonthiel; better known as Mother Shipton , according to tradition, she was an English fortune teller . The first printed version of her alleged prophecies appeared 80 years after her presumed date of death, it mainly contains regional predictions and two verses presented as prophetic. In 1684 Richard Head published The Life and Death of Mother Shipton , a fictional biography.

Life

Southeil's existence cannot be clearly proven by historical sources. Richard Head claims in his book The Life and Death of Mother Shipton that she was born in Knaresborough, Yorkshire in a cave that has since been called Mother Shipton's Cave. Ursula Southeil is described as exceptionally ugly. She married a carpenter named Toby Shipton in 1512 and made prophecies and foresaw the future throughout her life. The first printed publication from 1641, a pamphlet by an anonymous author, allegedly refers to the collections of Ursula Southeil's maid, Joanne Waller, who preserved and passed on Southeil's prophecies.

Prophecies

The pamphlet, published in 1641, is said to contain predictions about the great plague , the death of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey and the great fire of London . The English Secretary of State and chronicler Samuel Pepys mentions in his diary entry of October 20, 1666 that the heir to the throne, when he was informed of the outbreak of the fire in London, referred to "Shipton's prophecy":

He (Sir Jeremy Smith) says he was on board "The Prince", when the newes come of the burning of London; and all the Prince (of Wales) said was, that now Shipton's prophecy was out;

Pepys makes no mention of whether the prince is referring to a printed prophecy or an oral narrative.

Most of Mother Shipton's alleged prophecies in circulation today go back to Charles Hindley's book Mother Shipton , published in 1862, and differ considerably from the verses in the earlier printed works of 1641 and 1684. Hindley admitted as early as 1873 that he was freeing the prophecies had invented, including an announcement of the end of the world for 1881: “The world to an end shall come, In eighteen hundred and eighty one” (“The world shall come to an end in 1881”).

In 1881 the first book documentation on the origin of the legends about Mother Shipton by William H. Harrison Mother Shipton - The Yorkshire Sybil Investigated, The Result of a Critical Examination of the Extant Literature Relating to the Yorkshire Sibyl appeared . Harrison concludes that there is no tenable evidence of any historical core to the Mother Shipton stories. Mother Shipton belongs to the same category as King Arthur or Robin Hood : mythical characters that may be based on a real person, but whose stories have been embellished more and more.

Others

Southeil is named after two pubs : in Portsmouth (with a life-size figure of Southeil above the entrance) and in Knaresborough.

Between Knaresborough and York, the Mother Shiptons Cave can be visited in the middle of parkland, one attraction is a mineral spring.

In the English-speaking world, the check day owl bears the name Mother Shipton's moth because of the wing drawing reminiscent of a witch's head .

Web links

Commons : Mother Shipton - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

personal data
SURNAME	Southeil, Ursula
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Mother Shipton
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	British mythical figure, Yorkshire folklore
DATE OF BIRTH	1488
PLACE OF BIRTH	Knaresborough , England
DATE OF DEATH	1561

[1] Entry from October 20, 1666 in Samuel Pepys' diary

[2] See: Jone Johnson Lewis: "The Life and Legend of Mother Shipton"

[3] See: William H. Harrison Mother Shipton - The Yorkshire Sybil Investigated, The Result of a Critical Examination of the Extant Literature Relating to the Yorkshire Sibyl , Foreword: “So if there is any kernel of truth to the Mother Shipton legend, it can't be determined from any verifiable documentation. Mother Shipton belongs in the same category as Robin Hood or King Arthur: a legendary figure, possibly based on a real person, whose narrative has been enhanced by time and retelling. " ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2

[4] Figure on the pub in Portsmouth

[5] Homepage of the cave