Supernatural Encounters: Demons and the Restless Dead in Medieval England, c.1050-1450

243 Pages·2020·13.896 MB·English

by  Stephen Gordon

Studies in Medieval History and Culture
SUPERNATURAL
ENCOUNTERS
DEMONS AND THE RESTLESS DEAD IN MEDIEVAL
ENGLAND, C.1050–1450
Stephen Gordon
Supernatural Encounters
The belief in the reality of demons and the restless dead formed a central facet of
the medieval worldview. Whether a pestilent-spreading corpse mobilised by the
devil, a purgatorial spirit returning to earth to ask for suffrage, or a shape-shifting
demon intent on crushing its victims as they slept, encounters with supernatu-
ral entities were often met with consternation and fear. Chroniclers, hagiogra-
phers, sermon writers, satirists, poets, and even medical practitioners utilised the
cultural ‘text’ of the supernatural encounter in many different ways, showcas-
ing the multiplicity of contemporary attitudes to death, disease, and the afterlife.
In this volume, Stephen Gordon explores the ways in which conflicting ideas
about the intention and agency of supernatural entities were understood and
articulated in different social and literary contexts. Focusing primarily on mate-
rial from medieval England, c.1050–1450, Gordon discusses how writers such
as William of Malmesbury, William of Newburgh, Walter Map, John Mirk, and
Geoffrey Chaucer utilised the belief in demons, nightmares, and walking corpses
for pointed critical effect. Ultimately, this monograph provides new insights into
the ways in which the broad ontological category of the ‘revenant’ was conceptu-
alised in the medieval world.
Stephen Gordon graduated with a PhD in medieval literature and archaeology
from the University of Manchester, UK, and currently works at Royal Holloway,
University of London. He is an interdisciplinary scholar of medieval and early
modern supernatural belief and has published widely in his chosen research area.
Studies in Medieval History and Culture
Recent titles include
The Charisma of Distant Places
Travel and Religion in the Early Middle Ages
Courtney Luckhardt
The Death Penalty in Late Medieval Catalonia
Evidence and Signification
Flocel Sabaté
Church, Society and University
The Paris Condemnation of 1241/4
Deborah Grice
The Sense of Smell in the Middle Ages
A Source of Certainty
Katelynn Robinson
Travel, Pilgrimage and Social Interaction from Antiquity to the Middle
Ages
Edited by Jenni Kuuliala and Jussi Rantala
Supernatural Encounters
Demons and the Restless Dead in Medieval
England, c.1050–1450
Stephen Gordon
First published 2020
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2020 Stephen Gordon
The right of Stephen Gordon to be identified as author of this work has been
asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Gordon, Stephen, 1985-author.
Title: Supernatural encounters: demons and the restless dead in medieval
England, c.1050-1450/Stephen Gordon.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge, 2020. |
Series: Studies in medieval history and culture | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019038938 (print) | LCCN 2019038939 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781138361744 (hbk) | ISBN 9780429432491 (ebk)
Subjects: LCSH: Occultism–England–History–To 1500. |
Demonology–England–History–To 1500. | Supernatural–History–To 1500.
Classification: LCC BF1434.G7 G67 2020 (print) | LCC BF1434.G7 (ebook) |
DDC 133.40942–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019038938
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019038939
ISBN: 978-1-138-36174-4 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-43249-1 (ebk)
Typeset in Times
by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India
For my parents

Contents
List of illustrations viii
Acknowledgements ix
Abbreviations x
Introduction 1
1 The Witch of Berkeley in context 28
2 The critical function of the walking corpse in William of
Newburgh’s Historia rerum Anglicarum 75
3 Satirising the undead: Walter Map and the
ambiguation of wonder 102
4 Between demons and the undead: Preaching practice
and local belief in the sermons of John Mirk 130
5 ‘But whan us liketh we kan take us oon’: Vain surfaces
and walking corpses in Chaucer’s Friar’s Tale 161
6 Nightmares and the supernatural encounter 187
Epilogue 219
Index 229
Illustrations
Figures
1.1 Witch of Berkeley woodcut, in Hartmann Schedel, Liber
chronicarum (Nuremberg: Anton Koberger, for Sebald Schreyer
and Sebastian Kammermeister, 1493), fol. 189v. Chetham’s
Library MUN I.8.2, Manchester. Photo: copyright of the
University of Manchester 49
1.2 Witch of Berkeley woodcut, in Hartmann Schedel, Liber
chronicarum (Augsburg, Schönsperger, 1497), fol. 211v.
Chetham’s Library MUN 7.B.7.12, Manchester. Copyright of
Chetham’s Library 50
1.3 Witch of Berkeley woodcut, in Olaus Magnus, Historia de
Gentibus Septentrionalibus (Rome, 1555), p. 126. John Rylands
Library SC10205C, Manchester. Copyright of the University of
Manchester 50
1.4 Witch of Berkeley woodcut, in Conrad Lycosthenes, Prodigiorum
ac ostentorum chronicon (Basel, 1557), p. 378. Chetham’s
Library Mun 7.B.7.9, Manchester. Copyright of Chetham’s Library 51
1.5 Witch of Berkeley engraving, in Robert Southey, Poems:
The Second Volume, 2nd ed. (Bristol,1800), p. 144. John Rylands
Library Unitarian Printed Collection N405, Manchester.
Copyright of the University of Manchester 54
1.6 A Tale of Wonder, watercolour, 23 × 20.6 cm. Edward Bell
(1804). Credit: Wellcome Collection 56
Table
1.1 Diagram and table showing the literary dissemination of the
Witch of Berkeley 58
Acknowledgements
This book has been many years in gestation. The topic ultimately originates from
a PhD thesis completed at the University of Manchester under the supervision of
Drs Anke Bernau and Melanie Giles. I would like to give my wholehearted thanks
to Anke and Mel for their insights and encouragement over the years. Earlier
versions of chapters two, three, and six have appeared previously in Journal of
Medieval History, English Studies and Social History of Medicine respectively.
I would like to thank Taylor & Francis Ltd and Oxford University Press for giving
me permission to reproduce and build upon these studies in the current volume.
Special acknowledgements must be given to the image digitisation team at the
John Rylands Library, Manchester, and Fergus Wilde from Chetham’s Library,
Manchester, for their help in sourcing the images used in chapter one. Thanks
also to Michael Greenwood at Routledge for his patience and enthusiasm in see-
ing the project to completion. Similarly, I am grateful to the anonymous peer
reviewers for their helpful comments on an earlier draft of the manuscript. Any
errors, of course, remain entirely my own. Ultimately, I would not have been able
to complete this project without the good humour of my brother David and love
and support of my parents, Chris and Margaret, to whom this book is dedicated.