Mother Shipton | Magus #2

For our second episode of Magus, we are delving into the deep dark cave of history to the unravel the mysterious life of Mother Shipton, a Tudor era prophetess with links to folkloric sites all over England, from Knaresborough to the Rollright Stones to Somerset and beyond.

Our journey starts in the English Renaissance, where we explore how the concept of a witch had been presented and appeared in legal cases and famous stories, up until the reign of Henry VIII.

Yet, considering the lack of historical detail relating to the woman known as Ursula Southeil, getting to the bottom of who she may have been becomes a moot point, as, despite the work of generations of historians, from the Jacobean era onwards, following the period of 'Witch Hunt fever' in England Mother Shipton became a political tool and means of making money.

Appearing as a stock character in 17th century pantomimes, with visual representations based on woodcut images of Mr Punch, records show how things soon spun out of control.

Was she really born in a cave? Was her father the Devil, or a necromancer, or the wizard Merlin? And what about her prophecies, almost all of which kept on coming uncannily true?

Prepare yourself for an episode full of surprises, from flying goats and fifteen minute bouts of flatulence to mass hysteria and bucket-loads of bare faced lies.

But sitting behind it all is a serious point: if history is written by the victors, what have the English ruling classes had to say about Mother Shipton across the last five centuries? And with this in mind, do all the things people believe about Mother Shipton have anything to do with her actual life and legacy, or everything to do with our own historic fears and prejudice?

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Three Ravens is a completely independent English myth and folklore podcast where we share stories, celebrate folk culture, and fall backwards through the hedgerows of history.

Hosted by real-life couple Eleanor Conlon and Martin Vaux, and mostly recorded at our home in rural Sussex in southern England, Three Ravens is rated 4.8/5 from over 500 reviews and has grown by word of mouth care of our lovely listener community ‘The Conspiracy of Ravens.’

We release three episodes a week, on Mondays, Thursday and Saturdays, through which we explore folktales, folkways, fairy stories, folk songs, mythology, local heritage, seasonal customs and traditional beliefs.

Our research inspires our retellings of stories from across history and culture, with episodes standing alone but connected together across over 500 chatty, mostly light-hearted, swear-free installments driven by passion, kindness and curiosity.

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