The New Murrey and Blue blog

I’ve written before about The Hound of the Baskervilles (see here https://murreyandblue.org/2024/08/24/buckfastleigh-wicked-squire-cabell-and-the-hounds-of-the-plantagenets/) but not about Black Shuck. Until now, that is. Both are based on legends of hellhounds and wild huntsmen, but Black Shuck (from the Old English “scucca” or “devil”) can be first dated rather precisely to Peterborough on 6 February 1127.

If you go here https://allthatsinteresting.com/black-shuck you can read the following: ….it was the Sunday when they sing Exurge Quare o[bdormis], D[omine]* – many men both saw and heard a great number of huntsmen hunting. The huntsmen were black, huge and hideous, and rode on black horses and on black he-goats and their hounds were jet black with eyes like saucers and horrible. This was seen in the very deer park of the town of Peterborough and in all the woods that stretch from that same town to Stamford, and in the night the monks heard them sounding and winding their horns….” Twenty or thirty of these awful entities remained for about fifty days, throughout Lent to Easter.

It was wondered if they were the Wild Hunt, tales of which are found widely across Europe. (See https://mythologysource.com/the-wild-hunt/.) The more northern lands of Europe linked it to the change of the seasons, from autumn into winter. Perhaps because of the harsh, cold winds that made life so difficult and often confined people to their homes. The howl of the wind was associated with the howls of the hunt. That is the explanation in the mythologysource.com link above.

Do I believe in the Wild Hunt, or indeed in Black Shuck? It’s the same as always. I haven’t seen or heard either, but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist. And as the 1127 events happened immediately after the arrival of Abbot Henry of Poitou at Abbey of Peterborough I have to wonder if there was something very terrestrial and sneaky going on. Were the awful events aimed at raising resentment and opposition to him?

It seems the new abbot, a kinsman of King Henry I, was regarded as greedy, thought only of himself and was duplicitous. The only biography I’ve been able to find about him is here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_of_Poitou.) His reputation clearly travelled before him, for it was feared that he’d loot the abbey to send the goods to his holdings the other side of the Channel. Perhaps he’d done this elsewhere? He certainly wasn’t the choice of the monks but had been imposed upon them. They wanted their own candidate to be abbot and were very bitter about the outsider’s arrival. Then lo! The Wild Hunt/Black Shuck makes a timely “opening night” appearance. Wash my mouth out with carbolic if I say aloud that I suspect an efficient tonsured resistance movement with a good store of fancy dress and sufficient funds in its purse to hire the necessary number of local extras!

Among other sins, Henry of Poitou did indeed loot the abbey and despatch the proceeds to his holdings over the Channel. He was eventually found out and removed from his post. He returned to Poitou. Good riddance! I know of no more records of the Wild Hunt/Black Shuck in Peterborough. That’s not to say there weren’t any, only that I don’t know about them.

But Henry of Poitou had long gone when on 4 August 1577 another appearance is recorded, although not in Peterborough. This time Black Shuck alone is specified as visiting St Mary’s Church, Bungay in Norfolk during a violent storm. “….this giant hellhound killed two people who were kneeling in prayer after knocking down the church doors amid a flash of lightning….” Um, I think the hellhound knocked down the church doors, not the unfortunate people kneeling in prayer!

And here’s me only associating Bungay with nice loveable creatures like otters! (https://www.theottertrust.org/our-history.html)

Since 2022 Bungay has also had an annual Black Shuck Festival. (https://blackshuckfestival.com/). It has been and gone this year, but give next year a try.

On that fateful day in 1577 Black Shuck left Bungay and went on to Blythburgh, twelve miles away, where it supposedly killed two more people. “….bursting through the doors of Holy Trinity Church before killing a man and boy and causing the steeple to collapse. The beast left scorch marks on the church door, according to legend….”

Anyway, I can tell you no more about Black Shuck, except that I trust he and the Wild Hunt stay well away from my corner of England. Please.

* Exsurge quare obdormis….”Up, Lord, why sleepest thou?” https://www.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/Exsurge_quare_obdormis