The basic outline of the "Unrepentant Child Murderess" occurs in a
collection of 12 ghost stories by a Cistercian of Byland Abbey in
Yorkshire, c. 1400. But in his version the spirit is a man guilty of some
unspecified sin. But the encounter on the road, the promise to return the
next night, the conjuring circle, are similar. The Latin text was edited
by M. R. James in "Twelve Medieval Ghost Stories," Eng. Historical Rev. 37
(1922), pp. 413-44. I believe Jean-Claude Schmitt mentions it in _Ghosts
in the Middle Ages_ (trans. 1998). I have a translation of the story in
_Medieval Popular Religion: A Reader_, pp. 229-33.
John
____________________________________________________________________________
John Shinners e-mail:[log in to unmask]
Professor Phone: (office): (219) 284-4494
Humanistic Studies Program Phone (dept.): (219) 284-4501
Saint Mary's College Fax: (219) 284-4716
Notre Dame, Indiana 46556
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|