De Sanctimoniali de Wattun

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De Sanctimoniali de Wattun or On the Nun of Watton is a 12th-century miracle story, describing events which took place in Yorkshire in the mid-12th century at the nunnery of Watton, East Riding of Yorkshire. It is also called A Certain Wonderful Miracle. [1]

Contents

De Sanctimoniali de Wattun survives in one manuscript, MS Corpus Christi College 139. [2] It is thought to have been written around 1160. [3] The author is usually thought of as the Cistercian abbot Ailred of Rievaulx, an identification that is probable if not certain. [4] The author's source for the events described were the older nuns of the monastery. [5]

It is set in the Gilbertine nunnery of Watton, and tells the story of the Nun of Watton. The author related that as a four-year-old girl, she was given to the nunnery by Henry Murdac, Archbishop of York, but failed to embrace the religious life with much enthusiasm. [1] Finally, she begins an affair with a lay brother, becoming pregnant. [1] After the other anchoresses discover the affair, she escapes being burned to death or skinned alive and is locked in a cell, before being forced to castrate her ex-lover. [1] Back in her cell, God intervenes, ends her pregnancy and frees her of her chains, events which the community came to recognise as miracles. [6]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 Dutton 2006, p. 22.
  2. ↑ Dutton 2006, p. 31.
  3. ↑ Dutton 2006, p. 20.
  4. ↑ Dutton 2006, pp. 14–15.
  5. ↑ Dutton 2006, p. 24.
  6. ↑ Dutton 2006, pp. 22–23.

See also

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