('Mother Shipton' - early woodcut)
STATUS-NO HISTORICAL PROOF + added HOAXES: Unapproved
suspicious prophecies attributed to a soothsaying witch / prophetess in
England with no historical proof she existed, with fake apocalyptic
prophecies added on at a much later date.
Unfortunately a number of
Catholic websites sharing prophecies have included the 'Mother
Shipton' prophecies among their pages without doing their homework on
the alleged author.
They may have innocently
believed the term 'Mother' was referring to a nun, as in a Mother
Superior, but in fact, the term 'Mother' was also a term given in olden times
to elderly, wise, matriarchal women, but in this particular instance, beldam soothsayers or witches in general, those who were credited
with having knowledge that was suspected of coming from witchcraft, or even associated in some way with witchcraft, such as in the case of Jinney Bingham (1600–80) who was nicknamed 'Mother Red Cap', 'Mother Damnable' and the 'Witch Queen of Kentish Town'.
The first publication of
the 'Mother Shipton' prophecies came out in 1641, but were attributed to a woman who
died 80 years previous to the publication date named
Ursula Southeil (c. 1488–1561) (also variously spelt as Ursula
Southill, Ursula Soothtell, or Ursula Sontheil). She is said to have been an English
soothsayer and prophetess. Of interest, the first prophecies
contained a number of mainly regional predictions, but only two
prophetic verses – neither of which foretold the End of the World
as seen in much later printings.
However, it is not even known if this 'Ursula' or 'Mother Shipton' even existed but was in fact a creative invention. It has been suggested someone got the bright idea to capitalise on an odd phrase found in a letter written by King Henry VIII to the Duke of York c. the 1530s in which the King mentioned a 'witch of York', but with no other details given about this 'witch'. The idea caught fire and Ursula aka 'Mother Shipton' was born.
However, it is not even known if this 'Ursula' or 'Mother Shipton' even existed but was in fact a creative invention. It has been suggested someone got the bright idea to capitalise on an odd phrase found in a letter written by King Henry VIII to the Duke of York c. the 1530s in which the King mentioned a 'witch of York', but with no other details given about this 'witch'. The idea caught fire and Ursula aka 'Mother Shipton' was born.
This early publication was
obviously a hit, and later publications begin to capitalise on the
popularity of the eerie life and verses of the soothsayer 'Mother
Shipton'.
One popular book printed in 1684 began to spin in more
details, such as the claim she was born in Knaresborough, Yorkshire,
in a cave now known as Mother Shipton's Cave with the 'Petrifying
Well' in which objects that were placed in it would become petrified,
the association with real locations that exuded a magic
'otherworldy' ambiance only added to the effect of her attributed prophecies
and the sad circumstances of her birth, which were described as being
the child of an orphan servant girl and an unknown father, which is
hinted to be Lucifer himself. She is described as being singularly
ugly, was called the “Devils B-----d” and “Hag-face.” The
book also claims that she married Toby Shipton, a local carpenter,
near York in 1512 and told fortunes and made predictions throughout
her life.
Her story made for great
almanac sales, and so, the legend of 'Mother Shipton' continued to
grow in the 1600s, and so did the fake prophecies that were added to
it, particularly those that were added through hindsight adding
credibility that her prophecies were being fulfilled, which only
fuelled the legend. One 'hindsight prophecy' that had been added was
thought to refer to the great fire of London of 1666 at the time -
Samuel Pepys was duped by it and wrote in his diary:
“Mother
Shipton’s word is out.” This only gave the legend more
creditability.
However,
most of the prophecies were hoaxes, new verses added, twisted or used
to either sells books or promote a political objective or some other
motive for personal gain.
One
of the most notable hoaxes regarding the Mother Shipton prophecies
are the lines which came out in a book published in 1862:
“The world to an end
shall come / In eighteen hundred and eighty one.
Thinking
1881 was the year that would see the end of the world, families
across England deserted their homes, too terrified to sleep in their
beds. They slept out in the open fields or prayed in churches and
chapels for God to spare them from the coming catastrophe. However,
the world did not end, and Victorian editor Charles Hindley publicly
confessed to making up the verses himself that year. He also
invented the famous lines regarding horseless carriages:
“A carriage without
a horse shall go; Disaster fill the world with woe; In water iron
then shall float; As easy as a wooden boat.”
It's
a pity to see people are still falling for this.
Therefore,
as these prophecies are absolutely bogus, not to mention having
nothing to do with a Catholic saint or mystic, these prophecies are
not in the Timeline.
