![]() Notably, from the previous century there’s a story of a handsome fairy male who seduced a young woman at Dunwich ( Life of William of Norwich, by Thomas of Monmouth). We may wonder, then, whether this is a literary and scholastic view of elves or derives from folk belief. Furthermore, he was elaborating the legend of Merlin’s birth that had already been told by Geoffrey of Monmouth and several others. Robert of Gloucester was, almost certainly, a learned monk, and his background and education may well have shaped his Chronicle. One of them got this woman here pregnant with this child (Merlin).” (Whom you can often see in wild, wooded placesĪnd who often come in the shape of men to women ![]() That there are, high in the air and far above the ground, “The clerks said (to the king) that it’s accepted by science ![]() NB: the letter þ is simply ‘th’ whilst ȝ functions as a ‘y’ or sometimes as a guttural ‘g.’ The verb ‘clypeth’ simply means ‘call.’ This passage is, in fact, fairly easy to read. On of hom in þis womman biȝet þis child here.” Þat men clupeþ eluene & parauenture in þis manere & ofte in wimmen forme hii comeþ to men al so & ofte in mannes forme wommen hii comeþ to & me may þem ofte an erþe in wilde studes yse Þat þer beþ in þe eyr an hey ver fram þe grounde “ Þe clerkes sede þat it is in philosofie yfounde ![]() Amazed by this story, the king sought his counsellors’ advice, and they confirmed that there were ‘wights’ called elves (both male and female) who were known to act like this and to visit men and women at night. His mother described how an unknown but very handsome man used to come to see her at night and, in due course, she found herself pregnant- never having slept with a man. In Robert of Gloucester’s Metrical Chronicle (composed between about 12) there is an account given of the conception of Merlin. (Note that Reginald Scot regarded the nightmare as a purely physical affliction though). These are the best known, but not entirely the only, examples of succubi in British tradition. I have previously described the nightmare or hag, a species of being that has also been identified more narrowly with Mab and even Puck. Scot was generally sceptical about all supernatural phenomena, though, and it is very clear from the ‘Shepherd’s Dream’ in William Warner’s Albion’s England (1612) that the poet was inclined to suspect that the incubus, “that begets dadlesse babes on girles asleepe” was just a cover for a much simpler explanation for pregnancies out of marriage.īritish faery lovers tend to be involved on a longer-term basis with human partners, rather than simply using them for sexual purposes, but there is some native evidence for a purely carnal faery visitant. Reginald Scot included incubus amongst his list of fairy beings in the Discoverie of Witchcraft of 1584 (in Book 7 c.15 and the ‘Discourse’ c.11). This notwithstanding, the terminology has come to be used indiscriminately (as with nymphs and satyrs) so that there may be some confusion between the two. ![]() These beings have ancient roots, both classical and in the Middle East, and are clearly not identical (or even closely related) to our own faery lovers. Older literature often makes reference to incubi and succubi, male and female spirits or demons who take on human form to lie with women and men at night. It will have been noted from my last posting on fairy lovers that they are, in the British Isles, predominantly female- other than the northern Scottish tradition of male selkies, who will form sexual relationships with human women and father children. Henry Fuseli, An Incubus Leaving Two Girls ![]()
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