Suspicion, adultery, death, and a zombie
A prodigious Latin story from 12th century England, part 1
What’s the source of this prodigious Latin story?
In the chronicle of William of Newburgh, Historia De Rebus Anglicis, there are a few chapters that aren’t quite like the rest. Most of his Historia covers events in the history of England from the Norman Conquest to his own lifetime in the 12th century. But there are a few chapters about things he calls prodigiosa: strange, unnatural things. And, what are these strange things? Well, in short, zombies (or revenants, if you prefer). These are stories of people who return from the dead, body and all. These aren’t just spiritual hauntings. Bodies rise out of their graves who do real physical harm to people: they attack people in their beds and contaminate the air with their presence, almost eliminating entire towns. Often, the walking dead are dealt with violently by the locals who are seeking to save themselves.
The stories in Historia are similar to the Byland Abbey stories which were written down just over 100 years later. For example, we covered one of these stories about a boy who also rose from his grave in this Youtube video. So, is there really a proliferation of stories about the walking dead from this time period in northern England? What William writes would lead one to believe that yes, in fact, there were. He says that there is abundant testimony about such happenings, and it would be a lot of work for him to write down everything he’s heard. He says the examples he has written down are only some of the most recent ones. And why does he tell us he’s deviating from the normal subjects in Historia to tell us about these prodigiosa? He says he feels compelled to write them down as a warning.
We read and explain part one of William’s warning to you in Latin:
I’ve also added this episode in the podcast tab so you can add it to your podcast app!
Update: And, I’ve now added it to Spotify as well.
The Latin text, part 1
An English translation, part 1
A vocabulary list for the Latin text (which I didn’t heavily edit) generated using PyWords
There is a second part to this story, so watch out for that and be warned that it is coming!
Cavēte prōdigiōsa et cūrāte ut prōdigiōsē valeātis!