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

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 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