De Sanctimoniali de Wattun

De Sanctimoniali de Wattun

De Sanctimoniali de Wattun or the 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]

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 pregnacy and frees her of her chains, events which the community came to recognise as miracles.[6]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d Dutton, "Introduction", in Freeland and Dutton (eds.), Live of Northern Saints, p. 22
  2. ^ Dutton, "Introduction", in Freeland and Dutton (eds.), Live of Northern Saints, p. 31
  3. ^ Dutton, "Introduction", in Freeland and Dutton (eds.), Live of Northern Saints, p. 20
  4. ^ Dutton, "Introduction", in Freeland and Dutton (eds.), Live of Northern Saints, pp. 14–15
  5. ^ Dutton, "Introduction", in Freeland and Dutton (eds.), Live of Northern Saints, p. 24
  6. ^ Dutton, "Introduction", in Freeland and Dutton (eds.), Live of Northern Saints, pp. 22–23

References

  • Freeland, Jane Patricia; Dutton, Marsha L., eds. (2006), Aelred of Rievaulx: The Lives of the Northern Saints, Cistercian Father's Series: Number Seventy-One, Kalamazoo, Michigan: Cistercian Publications, ISBN 0-87907-471-X 

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  • Ailred of Rievaulx — Infobox Saint name=Saint Ailred of Rievaulx birth date=1110 death date=death date|1167|1|12|df=y feast day=12 January venerated in=Roman Catholic Church; Anglican Communion imagesize= caption= birth place=Hexham, Northumberland, England death… …   Wikipedia

  • Nun of Watton — The Nun of Watton (born in the 1140s) was the alleged central protagonist of a drama at a Gilbertine abbey in Yorkshire, recorded by St. Ailred of Rievaulx in De Sanctimoniali de Wattun. In this story of twelfth century life, the nun in question… …   Wikipedia

  • Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 139 — is a northern English manuscript compiled in c. 1170. Apart from preliminary additions (i + ii), it contains two separate volumes, comprising 180 folios in total. The original first volume has 165 folios in twenty gatherings, about half of which… …   Wikipedia

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