The knights of the medieval literary world are normally known for their honour, nobility, and prowess. They are born to noble parents, experience fraught but honourable youths, and rise to achieve greatness: to defend others, to fight for justice, to protect the vulnerable. Sir Gowther, however, one popular knight from medieval England was nothing like this. He was fathered by a demon, committed horrific violence in his youth, and harmed rather than defended the vulnerable. Despite all this, he still rose to find greatness in the end. Here is his story.
Sir Gowther’s Origin Story
The opening folio of one of the two manuscripts containing the Sir Gowther story – National Library of Scotland MS Advocates 19.3.1. fol. 11a
The story of Sir Gowther starts in a way familiar to many readers of fairy tales. It tells of a woman recently married to a Duke with much fanfare. The couple are very happy together, but after ten years with no children and thus no heir, they become increasingly desperate for a child.
The duke declares that his wife must be barren and decides they should probably separate since he is wasting his time with her and does not want his lands to be heirless.
Desperate, the woman prays to God and Mary to give her a child by any means. Then, one day, she wanders into a forest and meets a man who looks just like her husband. Suspecting nothing, she complies when he requests to lay with her, and then, as the text says “with hur is wyll he wroghtth” (with her his desire he took). You can read the complete text here.
After they’re done, the man transforms into a shaggy fiend. The fiend stands and beholds her and tells her “Y have geyton a chylde on the / That in is yothe full wylde schall bee, / And weppons wyghtly weld.” (I have gotten a child on you, who in his youth will be full wild and wield weapons mightily).
Terrified, she blesses herself, runs home, and asks her husband to sleep with her that night because, as she tells him “Tonight, we mon geyt a child.”
Sure enough, nine months later, the mother gives birth to a baby – a demon baby.
Demonic Impregnation
Depiction of a medieval demon with flesh hook etched into the south arcade, Beachamwell Church, Norfolk
As unusual as this sequence might seem to us today, impregnation by a supernatural being – most often demons or fairies – was a somewhat common motif in medieval romance and medieval popular narratives. In Sir Degare, for example, another short romance like Sir Gowther, which you can read here, the heroine is impregnated by a fairy in the forest.
Merlin is perhaps the most famous individual in the medieval world to have been fathered by a demon. In an attempt to create the antichrist, a group of demons conspire to impregnate a woman and create a supernatural human dedicated to them with the power to rival Christ. The result… is Merlin. For the complete story, see my feature on “The Story of Merlin and the Demons who Made him”.
The commonness of demonic impregnation is signaled in the opening of Sir Gowther which begins with a discussion of the kinds of demons that inhabit the world and the one, especially who “bigat Merlyng and mo” (begot Merlin and More). Sir Gowther is also referred to by the poet as “Marylon halfe brodur” (Merlin’s half brother).
The thing I find absolutely fascinating about demonic impregnation in the literary world, is that it was not necessarily an entirely bad thing. Those knights and magicians who were half demons or half fairies sometimes had some bad qualities, but by and large they turned out to be good. Merlin, for example, almost immediately casts off his demonic origins, swears himself to God, and then happily wields the power of both the devil and God for the greater good.
So, what did these demonic origins mean for Sir Gowther?
A Very Violent Youth
Wet nurse in a 13th-century manuscript – British Library MS Sloane 2435 fol. 28v
Sir Gowther’s shaggy, demon father predicted that Gowther would have a wild youth in which he would wield weapons mightily. That statement turns out to be a bit of an understatement, and in his earliest years Gowther is brutally, viciously, cruelly violent.
This is true from the day of his birth. Once he is born and christened as “Gowther,” his father sends for wet nurses to nurse him, ensuring that the nurses were “full gud knyghttys wyffys” (were the wives of very good knights). The nurses arrive and Gowther “sowkyd him so thei lost ther lyvys” (nursed until they died). In this way he kills nine wet nurses.
When they can’t find any more, his mother takes over, and he immediately bites off her nipple. After that they stop nursing him and only provide him with as much rich food as he demanded.
He grows rapidly, more than other children do in six or seven years, and when he reaches fifteen, he makes his own fachon (a curved sword) to use to terrorize people. He grows more and becomes more wicked, so wicked that his father dies of shame and from his inability to chastise his child. Meanwhile, his mother hides in a castle away from his wickedness.
It is then that he goes on his most violent rampages. If he sees his mother’s men, he will slay them and cut their horses in two. He also smites down holy men if ever he meets them on the road. He rapes nuns and maidens, makes friars jump off cliffs, hangs parsons up on hooks, burns hermits and wives, and even shuts the inhabitants of a nunnery inside and burns the whole thing down.
His actions are evil, repulsive, incredibly destructive, and horrifying and all those who live anywhere near him live in constant fear and despair.
Then one day an old earl asks why he does these awful deeds and tells him that everyone nearby thinks he’s the son of a devil.
For some reason, this suggestion stops Sir Gowther in his evil tracks. He then seeks out his mother and finds out the truth of his parentage. This information appals Sir Gowther and turns him towards a path of redemption, which, even with all the sins he has committed and his demonic heritage, he can find.
Repentance and Redemption
A view of Rome created between 1411 and 1416 for the Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry
After hearing the news of his parentage, Gowther heads forth on a pilgrimage to Rome. There, he meets the pope who tells him as penance for the great evils he has wrought he must only eat food that he takes from a dog’s mouth and never speak a word, for good or ill. He must keep this up until a sign tells him his penance is done.
He leaves Rome to another country and finds a place to stay and a greyhound who brings him food. There he prays and repents his past evils. He then enters an emperor’s castle where they take him in, nickname him Hob, and feed him with the dogs.
After he’s been there a while, a cruel sultan, who wants to marry the emperor’s mute daughter but has been refused by the emperor, attacks the castle with a massive host. Over the course of three days with armour provided by God, Gowther defeats that sultan and his army. He is wounded in battle, however, and in her distress at his wounds, the emperor’s daughter falls out the window and appears dead. The pope is summoned to perform her funeral, but when he arrives, she awakens and reveals Gowther’s identity.
The pope then absolves Gowther, the emperor’s daughter and Gowther marry, and Gowther returns to his homeland to lead a long, happy, devout life. He even founds an abbey to replace the one he burned down.
His redemption is so complete that this half-demon becomes practically saintly: when he dies his tomb performs healing.
The Possibility of Redemption
This ending speaks to the ever-enduring possibility for redemption that existed in many medieval texts. It says that no matter how terrible your origins might be, no matter what you have done, you can find a path towards redemption and a better life. This redemption is of course deeply imbedded in the dominant Christian culture of the time but the sense of it is broader, I think.
If even Sir Gowther, literally a devil’s child who enacted the worst sorts of sins, could find redemption and lead a good life, so can anyone. In this knightly world, being fathered by a demon wasn’t necessarily a curse – just another obstacle that must be overcome.
Kathryn Walton holds a PhD in Middle English Literature from York University. Her research focuses on magic, medieval poetics, and popular literature. She currently teaches at Lakehead University in Orillia. You can find her on Twitter @kmmwalton.
By Kathryn Walton
The knights of the medieval literary world are normally known for their honour, nobility, and prowess. They are born to noble parents, experience fraught but honourable youths, and rise to achieve greatness: to defend others, to fight for justice, to protect the vulnerable. Sir Gowther, however, one popular knight from medieval England was nothing like this. He was fathered by a demon, committed horrific violence in his youth, and harmed rather than defended the vulnerable. Despite all this, he still rose to find greatness in the end. Here is his story.
Sir Gowther’s Origin Story
The story of Sir Gowther starts in a way familiar to many readers of fairy tales. It tells of a woman recently married to a Duke with much fanfare. The couple are very happy together, but after ten years with no children and thus no heir, they become increasingly desperate for a child.
The duke declares that his wife must be barren and decides they should probably separate since he is wasting his time with her and does not want his lands to be heirless.
Desperate, the woman prays to God and Mary to give her a child by any means. Then, one day, she wanders into a forest and meets a man who looks just like her husband. Suspecting nothing, she complies when he requests to lay with her, and then, as the text says “with hur is wyll he wroghtth” (with her his desire he took). You can read the complete text here.
After they’re done, the man transforms into a shaggy fiend. The fiend stands and beholds her and tells her “Y have geyton a chylde on the / That in is yothe full wylde schall bee, / And weppons wyghtly weld.” (I have gotten a child on you, who in his youth will be full wild and wield weapons mightily).
Terrified, she blesses herself, runs home, and asks her husband to sleep with her that night because, as she tells him “Tonight, we mon geyt a child.”
Sure enough, nine months later, the mother gives birth to a baby – a demon baby.
Demonic Impregnation
As unusual as this sequence might seem to us today, impregnation by a supernatural being – most often demons or fairies – was a somewhat common motif in medieval romance and medieval popular narratives. In Sir Degare, for example, another short romance like Sir Gowther, which you can read here, the heroine is impregnated by a fairy in the forest.
Merlin is perhaps the most famous individual in the medieval world to have been fathered by a demon. In an attempt to create the antichrist, a group of demons conspire to impregnate a woman and create a supernatural human dedicated to them with the power to rival Christ. The result… is Merlin. For the complete story, see my feature on “The Story of Merlin and the Demons who Made him”.
The commonness of demonic impregnation is signaled in the opening of Sir Gowther which begins with a discussion of the kinds of demons that inhabit the world and the one, especially who “bigat Merlyng and mo” (begot Merlin and More). Sir Gowther is also referred to by the poet as “Marylon halfe brodur” (Merlin’s half brother).
The thing I find absolutely fascinating about demonic impregnation in the literary world, is that it was not necessarily an entirely bad thing. Those knights and magicians who were half demons or half fairies sometimes had some bad qualities, but by and large they turned out to be good. Merlin, for example, almost immediately casts off his demonic origins, swears himself to God, and then happily wields the power of both the devil and God for the greater good.
So, what did these demonic origins mean for Sir Gowther?
A Very Violent Youth
Sir Gowther’s shaggy, demon father predicted that Gowther would have a wild youth in which he would wield weapons mightily. That statement turns out to be a bit of an understatement, and in his earliest years Gowther is brutally, viciously, cruelly violent.
This is true from the day of his birth. Once he is born and christened as “Gowther,” his father sends for wet nurses to nurse him, ensuring that the nurses were “full gud knyghttys wyffys” (were the wives of very good knights). The nurses arrive and Gowther “sowkyd him so thei lost ther lyvys” (nursed until they died). In this way he kills nine wet nurses.
When they can’t find any more, his mother takes over, and he immediately bites off her nipple. After that they stop nursing him and only provide him with as much rich food as he demanded.
He grows rapidly, more than other children do in six or seven years, and when he reaches fifteen, he makes his own fachon (a curved sword) to use to terrorize people. He grows more and becomes more wicked, so wicked that his father dies of shame and from his inability to chastise his child. Meanwhile, his mother hides in a castle away from his wickedness.
It is then that he goes on his most violent rampages. If he sees his mother’s men, he will slay them and cut their horses in two. He also smites down holy men if ever he meets them on the road. He rapes nuns and maidens, makes friars jump off cliffs, hangs parsons up on hooks, burns hermits and wives, and even shuts the inhabitants of a nunnery inside and burns the whole thing down.
His actions are evil, repulsive, incredibly destructive, and horrifying and all those who live anywhere near him live in constant fear and despair.
Then one day an old earl asks why he does these awful deeds and tells him that everyone nearby thinks he’s the son of a devil.
For some reason, this suggestion stops Sir Gowther in his evil tracks. He then seeks out his mother and finds out the truth of his parentage. This information appals Sir Gowther and turns him towards a path of redemption, which, even with all the sins he has committed and his demonic heritage, he can find.
Repentance and Redemption
After hearing the news of his parentage, Gowther heads forth on a pilgrimage to Rome. There, he meets the pope who tells him as penance for the great evils he has wrought he must only eat food that he takes from a dog’s mouth and never speak a word, for good or ill. He must keep this up until a sign tells him his penance is done.
He leaves Rome to another country and finds a place to stay and a greyhound who brings him food. There he prays and repents his past evils. He then enters an emperor’s castle where they take him in, nickname him Hob, and feed him with the dogs.
After he’s been there a while, a cruel sultan, who wants to marry the emperor’s mute daughter but has been refused by the emperor, attacks the castle with a massive host. Over the course of three days with armour provided by God, Gowther defeats that sultan and his army. He is wounded in battle, however, and in her distress at his wounds, the emperor’s daughter falls out the window and appears dead. The pope is summoned to perform her funeral, but when he arrives, she awakens and reveals Gowther’s identity.
The pope then absolves Gowther, the emperor’s daughter and Gowther marry, and Gowther returns to his homeland to lead a long, happy, devout life. He even founds an abbey to replace the one he burned down.
His redemption is so complete that this half-demon becomes practically saintly: when he dies his tomb performs healing.
The Possibility of Redemption
This ending speaks to the ever-enduring possibility for redemption that existed in many medieval texts. It says that no matter how terrible your origins might be, no matter what you have done, you can find a path towards redemption and a better life. This redemption is of course deeply imbedded in the dominant Christian culture of the time but the sense of it is broader, I think.
If even Sir Gowther, literally a devil’s child who enacted the worst sorts of sins, could find redemption and lead a good life, so can anyone. In this knightly world, being fathered by a demon wasn’t necessarily a curse – just another obstacle that must be overcome.
Kathryn Walton holds a PhD in Middle English Literature from York University. Her research focuses on magic, medieval poetics, and popular literature. She currently teaches at Lakehead University in Orillia. You can find her on Twitter @kmmwalton.
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Top Image: Zofingen Stadtbibliothek Pa 31 fol. 86
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