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The devil cave of Shipton tales.
Image - Dramatization of Old Mother Shipton's Cave from History channel doomsday documentary.
What the devil is with the Knaresborough cave where Agatha is said to have given birth to the devil's daughter whom she names Ursula.
The Shipton cave is today a tourist attraction and is situated along the River Nidd.
Legend has it that the Yorkshire seeress was born of human and other worldly spirits. Of course rumours make good stories but do they tell the real story ?
Perhaps the religious movements of the age when Mother Shipton is said to have lived might shed some light on the possibility that she may or may not have been into witchcraft or worst the actual devil's seed.
Assume that the Yorkshire sybil was actually born in 1488. At this time The War of the Roses was fresh in the memories of Englanders. From 1455 to 1485 brutal and ferocious civil wars had kept the soldiers of overlords who had gained experience in feudalism. Lords of the House of York leading armies of professional soldiers and loyalists against battle hardened military men fighting for the Lords of the House of Lancaster.
At first it was King Henry VI against Earl of Salisbury, Earl of March, and their troops. The Earl of March is promoted to Duke of York and then to King Edward IV.
Henry VI dies and Richard III takes on the throne but has his crown presented to Henry of Richmond who becomes Henry VII. This takes the War of Roses to 1485.
Henry of Richmond ( Henry VII ) goes on to wed Elizabeth of York in 1485; A marriage of the red and white roses which was made official at the Westminster Abbey.
Returning this story back to the cause of Mother Shipton it is interesting to mention the link between Merlin the magician of King Arthur's court and the prophetess of Yorkshire who is about to be born within a few years.
This marriage was a marriage of convenience and almost a peace treaty of war. The Queen was not a reigning lady but only a consort to the new King.
King Arthur was of a precedent generation of King Henry VII and to honour Arthur, Henry insisted that his offsprings be born in the castle which had been built by his late uncle.
But not all scholars agree that King Arthur was a real figure. Many hold the Arthurian stories as mere mythos. The story of King Arthur would have developed in the 5th or 6th century AD. The story goes that Arthur led the Britains in a fight against the Saxons.
Arthur was popularized by a writer named Geoffrey of Monmouth in the 12th century. In the Monmouth stories King Arthur defends the Brits from invasion both natural and supernatural. These stories also include Merlin the wizard magician, a sword named Excalibur, the infamous Knights of the Round Table, and more. As for King Arthur owning a castle one has to think Camelot which is the famous castle of King Arthur and a famous Britain landmark in the Arthurian world.
Fact or Fiction.
Merlin the wizard magician. Hyped Fact or Fiction.
Mother Shipton the Yorkshire sybil oracle...Fact of Fiction.
The only interest this site has is to focus on the prophetic visions of Ursula Sontheil.
Was she, like Merlin, the seed of the devil as some stories state, or was she and the earlier wizard just empowered with claivoyance or sixth sense powers that made them so much different than the rest of the crowd ?
Being a fortune teller and proving that you are psychic by being right could be understood as being able to look into the living material world from the underworld where only the devil could exist.
What a better place to start such a story than in a cave.
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