Mother Shipton

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Ursula Southeil (c. 1488–1561) (possibly Ursula Southill or Ursula Soothtell[1]), better known as Mother Shipton, was an English soothsayer and prophetess. The first publication of her prophecies, which did not appear until 1641, eighty years after her reported death, contained a number of mainly regional predictions, but only two prophetic verses – neither of which foretold the End of the World, despite widespread assumptions to that effect.[2]

One of the most notable editions of her prophecies was published in 1684.[2] It states that she was born in Knaresborough, Yorkshire, in a cave now known as Mother Shipton's Cave, that along with the Petrifying Well and associated parkland is operated as a visitor attraction. She was reputed to be hideously ugly. 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.

It is recorded in the diaries of Samuel Pepys that whilst surveying the damage to London caused by the Great Fire in the company of the Royal Family they were heard to discuss Mother Shipton's prophecy of the event.[3]

[edit] Prophecies

Mother Shipton's house

The most famous claimed edition of Mother Shipton's prophecies foretells many modern events and phenomena. Widely quoted today as if it were the original, it contains over a hundred prophetic rhymed couplets in notably non-sixteenth-century language and includes the now-famous lines:

The world to an end shall come

In eighteen hundred and eighty one.[4]

This supposed prophecy has appeared over the years with different dates and in (or about) several countries (for example in the late 1970s many news articles about Mother Shipton appeared setting the date at 1981[citation needed]). However, this version did not appear in print until 1862, and its true author, one Charles Hindley, subsequently admitted in print that he had invented it.[5]

Part of her most famous prophecy is below:

"A Carriage without a horse shall go; Disaster fill the world with woe. In London, Primrose hill shall be, Its center hold a Bishop's see. Around the world thoughts shall fly Quick as the twinkling of an eye, And waters shall great wonders do-- How strange, and yet it shall come true. Then upside down the world will be, And gold found at the root of a tree; Through towering hills proud men shall ride, Nor horse nor mule move by his side. Beneath the water men shall walk; Shall rise, shall sleep, and even talk. And in the air men shall be seen, In white, in black, as well as green; A great man shall then come and go For prophecy declares it so. In water iron then shall float, As easy as a wooden boat Gold shall be found in stream or stone In land that is yet unknown. Water and fire shall wonders do, And England shall admit a Jew, The Jew that once was held in scorn, Shall of a Christian then be born A house of glass shall come to pass In England--but alas! alas! A war will follow with the work, Where dwells the pagan and the Turk. The states will lock in fiercest strife, And seek to take each other's life. When North shall thus divide the South. The eagle build in lion's mouth. Then tax and blood and cruel war Shall come to every humble door, Three times shall sunny, lovely France Be lead to play a bloody dance; Before the people shall be free, Three tyrant rulers shall she see, Three rulers in succession be-- Each from differnt dynasty, Then when the fiercest fight is done, England and France shall be as one. The British olive next will twine In marriage with the German vine, Men walk beneath and over streams, Fulfilled shall be our strangest dreams. All England's sons shall plow the land, Shall oft be seen with book in hand. The poor shall now most wisdom know And water wind, where corn did grow. Great houses stand in far flung vale, All covered o'er with snow and hail. And now a word in uncouth ryme Of what shall be in future time. For in those wonderous far-off days, The women shall adopt a craze To dress like men and trousers wear And cut off all their locks of hair. They'll ride astride with brazen brow, As witches do on broomstick now; Then love shall die and marriage cease And nations wane as babies decrease, The wives shall fondle cats and dogs, And men live much the same as hogs. In nineteen hundred and twenty-six, Build houses light of straw and sticks, For then shall mighty war be planned, And fire and sword shall sweep the land. But those who live the century through In fear and etrembling, this will do Flee to the mountains and the dens, To bog and forest and wild fens, For storms shall rage and oceans roar When Gabriel stands on sea and shore, And he blows his wonderous horn. "

[4]

[edit] Legacy

Mother Shipton moth

Quite who Mother Shipton was or what exactly she said is not definitively known. What is certain is that her name became linked with many tragic events and strange goings on recorded all over the UK, Australia and North America throughout the 17/18/19th centuries. Many fortune tellers used her effigy and statue, presumably for purposes of association marketing. Many pubs were named after her. Only two survive, one near her birthplace in Knaresborough and the other in Portsmouth where there is a lifesize statue above the door.

A caricature of Mother Shipton was used in early pantomime and is believed by historians to be the forerunner of the Panto dame.

There is a moth, Callistege mi, named after her. It seemingly bears a profile of a hag's head on each wing.