Ursula Southeil ( born Ursula Southeil , possibly Ursula Sontheel) ( 1488 - 1561 ), better known as Mother Shipton , was an English soothsayer and clairvoyant , who is said to have made many unusually accurate predictions, including the Great Plague in London 1665-1666 , the invasion of the Spanish armada and the Great London Fire .
It is now generally believed that the image of Mother Shipton was largely a myth and that most of her prophecies were composed by others after her death. Although her prophecies were probably written in a series of diaries, the first publication of her works did not appear until 1641, eighty years after her death. The most significant book of her prophecies, edited by Richard Head, was published in 1684.
Head later believed that he had investigated almost all the biographical details about Shipton. He claimed that she was born in Neirsboro , Yorkshire , in a cave now known as the Mother Shipton Cave . Ursula was terribly ugly - presumably because she was the daughter of the devil . Head claimed that she married Toby Shipton, a local carpenter, around York in 1512 and wondered and made predictions throughout her life.
Prophecies
The most famous examples of the prophecies of Mother Shipton foresee many aspects of modern civilization and predict the end of the world in 1881; however, it has now become known that this is a fake of the XIX century, which did not appear in print until 1862:
- Carriages without horses will ride,
- And accidents will fill the world with grief.
- Around the world of thought will fly
- In the blink of an eye.
- And accidents will fill the world with grief.
- The world will turn upside down
- And gold will be found at the root of the tree.
- A man will pass through the hills
- And he will not have horses.
- And gold will be found at the root of the tree.
- People will walk under water
- They will ride, sleep and even talk.
- They will see a man in the sky,
- In white, in black and even green;
- They will ride, sleep and even talk.
- Iron will float in water
- As light as wooden ships.
- Gold will be found and shown
- In a country that is not yet known.
- As light as wooden ships.
- Fire and water will do wonders
- England finally let the enemy.
- The world will come to an end
- In one thousand eight hundred and eighty first.
- England finally let the enemy.
Links
- Mother Shipton's Cave (eng.)
- Mother Shipton at the Museum of Hoaxes site (eng.)
- An 1881 Essay about Mother Shipton by William H Harrison (eng.)
- Mother Shipton's Prophecies (Eng.)
- Mother Shipton, Her Life and Prophecies Mysterious Britain & Ireland (eng.)