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The Walled-Up Nun

S

SniperK2

Gone But Not Forgotten
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This seems to be a type of ' cliche ' that crops up all over the UK:
Nuns bricked up alive, for some sexual infraction, usually with a monk. Now I'd love to know if this punishment has ever been truly carried out, in this country, as I remember reading that it never was, although there are reports of it from Europe, Does any-one know the truth of this? And why are reports so common, if there is ever a ghost of a nun reported, it is generally followed by the explanation that she was ' bricked up alive ' . What was the ecclesiastical punishment for a nun or monk breaking their oath of celibacy?
 
A quick search for bricked-up nuns on Google was conducted
with some trepidation for fear of uncovering some bizarre
pornography in which masonry and gynaeocology make unholy
music.

No such luck.

Most references were to the celebrated Borley Rectory case
where the legend of the eloping nun and monk emerged in
séances. A skull was eventually found but there was no
evidence of a walled-up cell.

Walled-up nuns were a favourite feature of Gothic horrors,
which typically traded in anti-Catholic themes. Once the
idea was established, it was repeated over and over, long
after its motive was forgotten.

So the sitters at the Borley planquette were spinning themselves
a musty yarn. Rumours of walled-up nuns cling to many Abbeys,
notably York and Whitby.

Was it ever done? Probably not but the following lines from a
review of a study of Venetian nuns suggests why the idea
satisfies some more or less unconscious associations:

"Fearing that the disreputable state of its convents might turn the wrath of the Almighty on the city, Venice decided to act. In 1521 a magistrature was established to supervise the nuns, and the rules that governed them were tightened. All convents, regardless of their foundation, were to be strictly enclosed. No more pets, no more finery. All windows looking on to busy streets or canals were bricked up.

"In one convent, the authorities even demanded that the ventilation holes in the latrine be blocked up, since they overlooked a public space. As Laven says: "The absolute insistence on enclosure and the zealous attention paid to implementing it sought to place nuns in a vacuum, sealed off from human relations."

http://www.arlindo-correia.com/061002.html
 
I remember reading of a strict order of nuns in France where when a new novice was admitted a hole was knocked into the wall of the nunnery which she entered after a last farewell to her family and which was then immediately bricked up.

I'm assuming the convent must have had doors of some kind and that was purely a symbolic gesture, well I'm hoping so.
 
We've all heard stories of nuns being walled up alive for commiting some offence--getting pregnant being a favourite. Are these stories ULs or folklore, or is there any reliable documented account of a nun being walled up alive?
 
I don't know of any actual accounts of Monastics being walled up alive as a punishment. I think the stories originate from confused or mis-remembered accounts of Anchorites who definitely did exist.

In the Uk, especially in the 14th Century Monastic houses abbeys or Cathedrals, might have well have had an Anchortite.

Often Women, they would live in a Cell either in the wall of the building or in a small stone building in the grounds. With only a window or opening to receive food & essentials, here they could contemplate and sometimes offer guidance to people who might come to cconsult them.

They often acheived degrees of fame and many were regarded to be genuinely holy. A famous Anchoress was Julian of Norwich.

I think the confusion might have arrisen from the fact that one of the drive of becoming an Anchorite was to remove oneself from worldly sin by the simple expedient of removing onself from the world (literally)

Mr P

Edited once for spelling
 
Wasn't Countess Bathory walled up as a punishment for her various tortures and murders? Or is that part of her myth along with bathing in the blood of virgins?
 
Didn't they wall up Elizabeth Bathory for bathing in her servants blood as well?
 
It seems that immuration as punishment for women who broke their sacred vows, is pre-Christian and dates back to the Roman era.

The Vestal virgins were committed to the priesthood at a young age (before puberty) and were sworn to celibacy. The punishment for violating the oath of celibacy was to be buried alive in the Campus Sceleratus (an underground chamber near the Colline gate) with a few days of food and water to prolong the punishment. Records show that during the course of 11 centuries, at least 22 vestals were accused of breaking the chastity vow

The Roman king Tarquinius Priscus instituted the punishment of live burial, which he inflicted on the priestess Pinaria. But whipping with rods sometimes preceded the immuration, as was done to Urbinia in 471 BC. [Worsfold, 62].

Spurious accusations were leveled at Vestals for a variety of reasons. Minucia fell under suspicion for her rich dress, and so did Postumia, who also got in trouble “for her wit” unbefitting a maiden, according to Livy. Postumia was sternly warned “to leave her sports, taunts and merry conceits,” but Minucia was buried alive. [Worsfold, 62, 66; Goodrich 283] Aemilia, Licinia, and Martia were executed after being denounced by the servant of a barbarian horseman. A few Vestals were acquitted. Some cleared themselves through ordeals.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vestal_Virgins
Click to expand...

Also;

In times of disaster and crisis, Romans blamed impure behavior by the Vestals for the city's calamities. [Pomeroy] Their horrific executions acted as symbolic purgations, much like witch burnings. Emperors found the spectacle politically useful. Domitian ordered the High Vestal Cornelia to be buried alive in 81 CE, refusing to allow her to defend herself, and had another vestal executed. As Pliny the Younger explained,“Domitian hoped to make his reign illustrious by such an example.” Caracalla (211-17) also buried Vestals alive “pretending they had lost their virginity.” [Herodian, in Worsfold, 61, 71-2; McNamara,15, on second by Domitian] These official murders give little reason to wonder at Plutarch's report that Roman priests performed rites in the “Field of Sin” to placate the spirits of executed vestals.

http://www.suppressedhistories.net/secr ... estas.html
Click to expand...
 
A while ago, a kind of... "interesting" movie was made about an Anchorite. It was called "Anchoress", and you can read about it at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106271/
(All you Brits will be tickled to know that Toyah Wilcox was in it).
 
gncxx said:
Wasn't Countess Bathory walled up as a punishment for her various tortures and murders? Or is that part of her myth along with bathing in the blood of virgins?
Click to expand...

Probably more Hammer than History.

Bathory died of unknown causes, very possibly natural, several years after being confined in her own castle. She was also most unlikely to have been guilty of any of the crimes popularly attributed to her - being more the victim of a concerted campaign of vilification aimed at depriving her of her estate.
 
wombat103 said:
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Cavern/8668/Countess.html

Countess Elizabeth Bathory
c. 1560-1614
Click to expand...

This source seems to be an unquestioning rehash of the old myths.

There is indeed a fair amount of original material in existence relating to Bathory and the case brought against her but much of it points to her being the victim of trumped up charges brought against a powerful, arrogant, woman who had an interest in folk medicine (a not uncommon motif in the history of the persecution of witches) - the victim of a local struggle over land intertwined with national power-politics.

Bathory had access to two priests to whom she made a second will after her confinement. The deposition of the guards after her death describes her approaching them and complaining about how cold she was. She was reassured by them and asked to retire for the night. All of this implies she had relative freedom of movement within the bounds of her confinement.

In Countess Dracula Tony Thorne does a good job of trying to separate historical reality from hysterical myth - well worth reading if you are interested in the subject and in the way myth and reality interact. There are parallels between what happened to Bathory and other historical characters like Gilles De Rais, Jacques de Molay (and the Templars in general) even Joan of Arc and Anne Boleyn. And it wasn’t just the famous and influential that were vulnerable to this kind of accusation - The Bewitching of Anne Gunther by James Sharpe describes a case from Oxfordshire where accusations of witchcraft grew from a local squabble.

Neither book mentioned has a picture of a lush naked vampire in stockings and suspenders - but they try to make up for that by listing their sources ;)
 
Nun buried alive at Ardchatten...

Hiya - one example of a real nun that was buried alive is at Ardchatten - a house in Connell, Scotland (on Loch Etive). When the family that lives there put in a wardrobe, her remains were found.

The house is an Ancient Priory - and also has a (confirmed) Bishop buried under the house, and boasts the smallest chapel in the UK.
 
And Glen Etive is also the haunt of the one-legged, one-armed, one-eyed Fachan - so, all in all, that area of the Central Highlands is probably worth avoiding if weird stuff makes makes you wobbly.

(I've always thought the Fachan must be a pretty crap monster - I mean, once he's propped himself against something he's then got that dodgy eyesight to contend with and then, even if he does manage to spy you doing a runner through the Highland mists and give chase without falling over every few hops, what's he going to do with one arm?)
 
The bricked-up nun trope was a staple of the Victorian yellow-press. Papers, such as the Illustrated Police News, used the story over and over, often implying that the discovery of a walled-up skeleton was recent. Sometimes the story was centuries old but it fitted the scenarios of gothic literature, where Catholic clergy were demonized.
 
JamesWhitehead said:
The bricked-up nun trope was a staple of the Victorian yellow-press. Papers, such as the Illustrated Police News, used the story over and over, often implying that the discovery of a walled-up skeleton was recent. Sometimes the story was centuries old but it fitted the scenarios of gothic literature, where Catholic clergy were demonized.
Click to expand...

..and was, I assume, compunded by the discovery of foetuses bricked up into walls/foundations. MUST have been the result of a forbidden love affair - rather than the sad result of a miscarriage/stillbirth kept close to the family out of affection.
 
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