Mother Shipton book

22 Oct 2026

Librarian Sally Hughes with a vivid woodcut illustration that depicts a famous scene when the soothsayer Mother Shipton was reputedly confronted by nobles sent to her cottage by the powerful Cardinal Wolsey, who was furious she had made the treasonous prediction that he would never set foot inside the city of York. Under threat of being burned at the stake, a defiant Mother Shipton was said to have plucked a handkerchief from her head and thrown it into the fire, proclaiming that if it did not burn, then neither would she.

Mother Shipton book: Librarian Sally Hughes with a vivid woodcut illustration that depicts a famous scene when the soothsayer Mother Shipton was reputedly confronted by nobles sent to her cottage by the powerful Cardinal Wolsey, who was furious she had made the treasonous prediction that he would never set foot inside the city of York.
Under threat of being burned at the stake, a defiant Mother Shipton was said to have plucked a handkerchief from her head and thrown it into the fire, proclaiming that if it did not burn, then neither would she.

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