Susanna Calkins, Author
  • Home
  • Lucy Campion Mysteries
    • A Murder at Rosamund's Gate
    • From the Charred Remains
    • The Masque of a Murderer
    • A Death Along the River Fleet
    • The Sign of the Gallows
    • The Cry of the Hangman
  • The Speakeasy Murders
    • Murder Knocks Twice
    • The Fate of a Flapper
  • Short Stories
  • Blog
  • News & Events
    • Event Photos
    • Archived Guest Posts & Interviews
  • The Roaring Twenties
  • 17th c. England
  • Writing Resources
  • Nonfiction

The woman who gave birth to a cat, and other reimagined truths

1/22/2012

12 Comments

 
Picture
The woman who gave birth to a cat (really!!)  has to be one of my favorite stories from the archives.  

Poor Agnes Bowker--a young woman who did not want to admit what had happened to her child--claimed in 1569 that a monster (actually an ordinary feline) had emerged from her womb. 

None of the six women present at the birth could say for sure what had happened. Although a silly tale, the case was investigated thoroughly, as the Tudor government had a vested interest in maintaining order. And widespread gossiping about the supernatural was decidedly disorderly.

Picture
As I've mentioned before,such cases ("true accounts," "strange newes"; "wonderful happenings") have done much to inspire my own writing.
But what's the truth of them? 

We can't completely know.

We do know such stories  shed light on how early modern villagers and townspeople understood the world around them, often revealing thinly disguised wrongs, moral tales, and political allegories.

Some simply targeted people different from them, such as the "wonderful old woman" who had "a pair of horns growing upon her head." 

Picture
_Others disguised everyday criminal events.  The "Strange and Wonderful News from Kensington" (1674), for example tells of a maid "carryed away by an evil spirit" convinced to steal heartily from her master. (The Devil made her do it, anyone?)

Whether anyone actually believed this servant is another question altogether.

But of course,  booksellers were looking to make a penny.  And that tradition has kept many a tabloid in business. 

Some classics are apparently worth keeping.

Just as  the seventeenth-century bookseller once warned that a "True and Wonderful serpent (or dragon)" had been lately discovered in Horsam,the National Enquirer duly informs us that the Loch Ness Monster has been found by GoogleEarth!

Picture
Compare the 17th century discovery of a murderous serpent with GoogleEarth locating the Loch Ness monster!
_

_Are we really so different today? We may feel more rational, less credulous--but are we really more "truthful?" Have we just found new, re-imagined, more scientific ways to explain the inexplicable?    What do you think?
12 Comments
Matt
1/22/2012 12:11:47 pm

Oh, the things that will grow from the grains of truth!

On the surface, Agnes Bowker's story is hilarious--I imagine her being handed a swadled package and then her suprise at seeing a kitten's face with whiskers. Deeper though, however, is filled with hearbreak.

Psychologists and neuroscientists would have a field day. Reminds me a bit of Oliver Sack's "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales." Amusing but heartbreaking.

Reply
Susie link
1/24/2012 11:37:54 am

Matt, that's very similar! Those Oliver Sack's tales are equally intriguing. In the case of Agnes Bowker, though, there may have been several people in on the reimagined truth/lie (the midwife may have helped spread the story, for Agnes' sake). I do wonder what a clinical psychologist would have made of Agnes!

Reply
Lina
1/22/2012 12:13:01 pm

First of all, I don't know I am Lina now but since I have been using this name on you blog, I might as well become one. :-)
Second of all, didn't you tell me that you had a dream like this?
Anyway....
Today my sister and I gave each other examples on "how our parents ruin our life". Example 1. She doesn't eat watermelon because my dad told her that if she swallowed seeds, a watermelon tree would grow from her stomach. Example 2. I never went skiing because my aunt told me that if I fell, my fingers would be chopped off. Example 3. My sister's friend's dad told her that her sister died from not listening to her parents.

Government, bookseller, our parents make up stories (usually outrageously ) to make us do what they want us to do. Funny that we seem want to believe such tales and not want to question their authenticity.

Reply
Susie link
1/24/2012 11:41:01 am

Lina--yes, I did have a dream like this when I was pregnant with my first child! I remember thinking, oh my goodness, I'm a modern day Agnes Bowker!!! I also remember when I took my cat to the vet they brought him over to me, all swaddled, and I wondered why the vet was bringing me a baby. Imagine my surprise when I looked down and saw my fluffy little cat peering up at me!

Reply
Susie link
1/24/2012 11:44:53 am

And I forgot to say, Lina, that you're completely right how susceptible we are in the face of authority, especially when we have a lot to lose (love, respect, our fingers...yikes!) those kinds of moral tales really help keep us check though, don't they? And maybe I should check with our psychologist friends, but I wonder if we as humans are less likely to question with certain kinds of authority, such as that which comes from our parents.

Reply
Sleeping Gypsy
1/22/2012 11:44:37 pm

Can you explain the pervasiveness of the Gnome/ Elf/ Duende/ Brownie/ Leprechaun.... mythology that seems to be ubiquitous around the world? Are there similar types of stories in the literature during these time periods that you've encountered?

Reply
susie link
1/24/2012 12:04:19 pm

Sleeping Gypsy, this is a really interesting question! I did a quick search (never having heard of the Duende (a fairy-goblin-like creature with Spanish origins). Many cultures do seem to have similar traditions about these fairy folk (although they seem to vary in how helpful vs mischievous they are, as well as in their capacity for kindness and cruelty). From what I can see, these traditions seem to share early medieval roots, although oral folk storytelling may have preceded anything that was written down in the early modern period. The first writing about "gnomes", of Scandinavian origins, seems to have been by Paracelsus in the 16th century. the question for me, however, is why did different cultures opt to create these types of mythological figures? For entertainment of course,but perhaps also to explain why good and bad things happen. What do you think?

Reply
bekerys
1/24/2012 03:57:08 am

So now we can guess at the origin of the expression "she was so upset she had kittens!"

Reply
susie link
1/24/2012 12:18:29 pm

Beckery...ha! that's funny. I'd forgotten that phrase. I think its a Brittish-ism, sort of along the lines of "don't have a cow." Although 'don't have a cow' makes no sense. I guess the idea is that mother cats are very anxious when they are having kittens. There are some unsubstantiated alternate explanations floating around on the web as to the origins of that term. I checked the OED, but that does not give phrases. I looked at some idiom dictionaries, which attribute it to Oscar Wilde in nineteenth century, which doesn't seem early enough. I did see that there were some early modern references (1654) of a Scottish woman being warned by a witch that she was growing kittens in her belly instead of a baby, but I could not find a reference to document that one. Agnes Bowker's case was pretty well known, but I don't have any evidence that it led to that expression. But maybe it did!! great observation!

Reply
microsoft fix center link
8/25/2013 09:33:51 pm

Though it comes from some the innermost imagination it is quite good to hear your thoughts and your blogs are indeed a good platform to exhibit your thoughts. Deeply philosophical but yet meaningful this brings the best in you out and makes you stand out.

Reply
feline furniture for cat link
10/10/2013 05:18:40 pm

I am happy that I found your post while searching for informative posts. It is really informative and quality of the content is extraordinary.

Reply
root king apk link
9/15/2018 01:22:49 am

*Hello! I just would like to give a huge thumbs up for the great info you have here on this post. I will be coming back to your blog for more soon.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Susanna Calkins

    Historian. Mystery writer. Researcher. Teacher.  Occasional blogger.

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    1660s
    16th Century
    17th Century
    18th Century
    1910s
    1920s
    19th C.
    20th Century
    21st Century
    A Death Along The River Fleet
    Advertisements
    Alcohol
    Alpha Reader
    Amazon Pre Order
    Amazon Pre-order
    A Murder At Rosamund's Gate
    Anagrams
    Anne Perry
    Anthology
    Art
    Authorship
    Award
    Awards
    Blogger's Block
    Blogging
    Blog Hop
    Blog Tour
    Bloody Good Read
    Bombings
    Book Events
    Book Giveaway
    Booksellers
    Book Trade
    Bouchercon
    Calendars
    Card Playing
    Caricature
    Cats
    Chambermaid
    Characters
    Charles I
    Charles Ii
    Charles Todd
    Chicago
    Chocolate
    Christmas
    Cia
    Cockney Slang
    Cocktails
    Coffee
    Coincidence
    Contemporary
    Cover Design
    Covers
    Creativity
    Crime
    Criminals
    Critical Thinking
    Cromwell
    Crossroads
    Csikszentmihalyi
    Cuckold
    Curiosities
    Defoe
    Detectives
    Detectives Oath
    Disease
    Dogs
    Early Modern
    Easter
    Editing
    Edwardian England
    Etymology
    Examples
    Excerpt Marg
    Excerpts
    Fairs
    Fate Of A Flapper
    Feedback
    Female Protagonists
    Female Sleuths
    Fire Of London
    Flow
    Food
    Forensics
    Forms Of Address
    French History
    From The Charred Remains
    Ftcr
    Future
    Games
    Gangs
    Giveaways
    Golden Hind
    Great Fire
    Great War
    Grit
    Guest Blogs
    Guest Interviews
    Guest Post
    Guest Posts
    Guilds
    Hanging
    Historical Fiction
    Historical Mysteries
    History
    Imagination
    Inspiration
    Interviews
    Ireland
    ITW Authors
    Jests
    Jewelry
    Language
    Last Dying Speeches
    Leisure
    Libraries
    London Bridge
    Lucy Campion
    Macavity
    Magistrate
    Malice Domestic
    Maps
    MARG
    Markets
    Masque Of A Murderer
    Matg
    Medicine
    Medieval
    Medieval Period
    Memory
    Merriments
    Merry-making
    Methodists
    Midwives
    Mindset
    Miscellany
    Monsters
    Moonstone
    Motivation
    Murder
    Murder At Rosamund's Gate
    Murder Ballad
    Murder Knocks Twice
    Mysteries
    Mystery
    Mystery Tv Shows
    Newgate
    Newspapers
    New Woman
    Nietzsche
    Nursery Rhymes
    Opera
    Orwell
    Persistence
    Pets
    Philadelphia
    Piracy
    Pirates
    Plagiarism
    Plague
    Poison
    Popular Film
    Popular Press
    Potions
    Printers Row Lit Fest
    Printing
    Private Investigators
    Proactive Interference
    Procrastination
    Prohibition
    Promoting Books
    Pseudonyms
    Psychology
    Publication
    Public Executions
    Publishing
    Punishments
    Puritans
    Puzzles
    Quakers
    Radio Shows
    Reader Questions
    Reading
    Receipts
    Reformation
    Rejection
    Religion
    Research
    Restoration
    Riddles
    River Fleet
    Samuel Pepys
    Scene Development
    Science Fiction
    Scold's Bridle
    Secret London
    Setting
    Seven Things
    Shakespeare
    Short Story
    Sign Of The Gallows
    Sleuths In Time
    Smithfield
    Speakeasy Mysteries
    Speech
    Spying
    Strange Things
    Teaching
    Thank You
    The 1640s
    The 1650s
    The 1660s
    Theater
    Thief-taker
    Timeline
    Titles
    Travel
    True Crime
    Tyburn Tree
    Valentine
    Wilkie Collins
    Winchester Palace
    Witches
    Women
    World-building
    Writier's Life
    Writing
    Writing Prompts
    Young Adult

    Archives

    February 2021
    January 2020
    December 2019
    August 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    September 2018
    November 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    November 2016
    September 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011

    RSS Feed

  • Home
  • Lucy Campion Mysteries
    • A Murder at Rosamund's Gate
    • From the Charred Remains
    • The Masque of a Murderer
    • A Death Along the River Fleet
    • The Sign of the Gallows
    • The Cry of the Hangman
  • The Speakeasy Murders
    • Murder Knocks Twice
    • The Fate of a Flapper
  • Short Stories
  • Blog
  • News & Events
    • Event Photos
    • Archived Guest Posts & Interviews
  • The Roaring Twenties
  • 17th c. England
  • Writing Resources
  • Nonfiction