2 June: Mother Shipton

2nd June is the Commemoration of Mother Shipton. Mother Shipton was a 15th/16th century prophetess who lived in Knaresborough and York. Her real name was Ursula Sontheil.

1. According to legend, she was born during a violent thunderstorm in a cave on the banks of the River Nidd. Her mother Agatha was just fifteen years old at the time, a single mother with no family or friends to support her. She’d refused to name Ursula’s father to the local magistrate and was shunned by the town and banished. She fled to the cave where she lived alone with her daughter for two years. Eventually, the Abbot of Beverley stepped in – he arranged for Ursula to be adopted by a local family and sent Agatha to a nunnery in Nottinghamshire.
2. It’s said that even as a child, she looked like a Witch with a large hooked nose, a bent back and twisted legs which meant she had to use a walking stick. Her looks meant she was teased and bullied by people in the town and so she preferred to be alone, spending a lot of time around the cave where she was born, studying herbs and plants and making potions.
3. In the short time she attended school, before the bullies drove her away, she was said to be highly intelligent. There were claims that she got revenge on the bullies by supernatural means – they’d be tripped up or their hair pulled when nobody was anywhere near them.
4. Although known as Mother Shipton, she wasn’t a mother – that was a title she was given when she became the oldest woman in the village. She did marry, though – a carpenter from York called Thomas Shipton – he died a few years later, and they had no children. She kept his name, though, hence the title Mother Shipton.
5. She made a living from telling fortunes and her fame spread as far as London, and the King, who sent messengers up to Yorkshire to find out what she had to say.
6. What did she have to say? While not all her predictions came true, she is said to have predicted the Black Death, the Great fire of London, the English Reformation, London’s Crystal Palace, the American Civil War and the French Revolution. Some of her predictions ranged even further into the future, perhaps to the present day. “Around the world thoughts shall fly in the twinkling of an eye” could be interpreted as a prediction about the internet.
7. Needless to say, the church didn’t like what she did. Cardinal Wolsey was one of her detractors. When Ursula predicted that he would see York, but never set foot in it, he declared that not only would he get there, but when he did, he would burn her as a witch. Wolsey got as far as Cawood on the outskirts of York before being arrested for treason by Henry Percy. He was sent back to London to stand trial, but fell ill and died before he got there.
8. Various editions of her prophecies have been published, the earliest being 80 years after she died. In that edition, most of the prophecies were about local events, and there was no mention of the end of the world. The most famous booklet of prophecies, the one that mentions the end of the world, was first published in 1862 by a man called Charles Hindley who admitted later that he’d made the whole thing up. His version ended with the words, “The world to an end shall come In eighteen hundred and eighty one.” Later reprints changed the date to 1981, and then 1991. Another doomsday reference was ”The world shall end when the High Bridge is thrice fallen” – this may refer to the High Bridge at Knaresborough which has fallen twice so far. However, Charles Hindley’s admission casts doubt on not only the prophecies, but whether any of Old Mother Shipton’s known life story is true, or if she existed at all.
9. If she did exist, she died in 1561 aged 73. The cave where she spent her time is now a tourist attraction – possibly the oldest in England, as tourists have been visiting it since 1630. There is a well there fed by an underground lake. The Water travels through an aquifer and as it goes, dissolves minerals which solidify when they come into contact with objects in the well. Anything left there long enough effectively turns to stone. It’s also said that if you dip your hand in the well, make a wish, let your hand dry naturally and not tell anyone your wish, it will come true.
10. She had a number of pubs named after her, although only two still exist – one in Knaresborough and one in Portsmouth. She had a Moth named after her too – the Mother Shipton moth, which has wing markings resembling the face of a hook-nosed hag in profile.

MY LATEST BOOK!

Killing Me Softly

Sebastian Garrett is an assassin. It wasn’t his first choice of vocation, but nonetheless, he’s good at it, and can be relied upon to get the job done. He’s on top of his game.

Until he is contracted to kill Princess Helena of Galorvia. She is not just any princess. Sebastian doesn’t bargain on his intended victim being a super-heroine who gives as good as she gets. Only his own genetic variant power saves him from becoming the victim, instead of Helena. 

Fate has another surprise in store. Sebastian was not expecting to fall in love with her.

Available on Amazon:

Paperback

E-book