The New Murrey and Blue blog

We all know that one thing leads to another, especially if one delves around in search of history. Well this morning I was looking for information about Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March. You know, the one who, had he lived beyond today 20 July in 1398, should have been the rightful king of England after Richard II. (see https://mortimerhistorysociety.org.uk/the-mortimers/about-the-mortimers/the-earls-of-march/ for more information) Unfortunately for Roger, he passed away before Richard, and then that dastardly usurper Henry Bolingbroke murdered Richard to seize the throne for himself. That, in a nutshell, is Roger’s story.

Well, the reference that took me to St Guthlac and demons concerned Roger’s birth at Usk on that saint’s April feast day in 1374. I had never heard of St Guthlac and had to search for more information. That was how I learned of the saint’s association with demons.

If you want to know what those awful beings looked like, Guthlac’s your man, because he not only knew, he described them in detail in his will:-

“….The 8th-century Latin Vita sancti Guthlaci, written by Felix, describes the entry of the demons into Guthlac’s cell:^[4][5] […] they were ferocious in appearance, terrible in shape with great heads, long necks, thin faces, yellow complexions, filthy beards, shaggy ears, wild foreheads, fierce eyes, foul mouths, horses’ teeth, throats vomiting flames, twisted jaws, thick lips, strident voices, singed hair, fat cheeks, pigeon breasts, scabby thighs, knotty knees, crooked legs, swollen ankles, splay feet, spreading mouths, raucous cries. For they grew so terrible to hear with their mighty shriekings that they filled almost the whole intervening space between earth and heaven with their discordant bellowings….”

Good grief. What I want to know is….if this description is correct, how on earth did they manage to lurk everywhere without us seeing or hearing anything? Surely we’d detect their din when they were still miles away! Yet demons could possess us and we’d know nothing about it until it the horrid things were exorcised!

For more information about St Guthlac go to Guthlac of Crowland – Wikipedia, and https://musingsofanoldcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2024/04/st-guthlake-hermit-and-patron-of-abbey.html, and https://www.bartleby.com/lit-hub/lives-of-the-saints/volume-iv-april/st-guthlake-hermit-and-patron-of-the-abbey-of-croyland. If you search St Guthlac’s name you’ll find many more sites about him. As you will about Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March.

And for an interesting paper on the subject of medieval demons, try https://www.reading.ac.uk/gcms/-/media/4b83073338a14662bd7abbc4d45f3845.ashx

Finally, be sure to keep your ears pricked. That unearthly racket carrying on the wind might not be Bank Holiday traffic on the nearby motorway, it just could be a band of vile demons on a mission to cause whatever mischief they can!