THE EVIL WELSHMAN1

Writing toward the end of the twelfth century, Walter Map (1140–c. 1208/1210) composed a treatise called On the Trifles of the Courtiers. This work of satire was a patchwork of historical anecdotes drawn from personal experience and fantastic stories based on oral sources. The short tale of an evil Welshman who returned from the dead to plague a small village in Wales permitted Walter to praise the bravery of the English knight William Laudun, when the traditional remedy for laying a wandering corpse to rest had failed.

I know about a strange portent that happened in Wales. An English knight named William Laudun, strong at arms and of proven bravery, came to Gilbert Foliot, at that time bishop of Hereford, but now bishop of London, and said, “Lord, I have come to you seeking counsel. Recently, a certain evil Welshman died faithlessly in my village. After four nights had passed, he returned to our village night after night. He will not stop summoning his neighbors, one by one by name. Those who he summons quickly become sick and within three days they die, so that now very few of them are left.” Marveling, the bishop said, “Perhaps the Lord bestowed the power on an evil angel of that lost soul to animate his dead body. Let the body be dug up, cut the neck through with a shovel, sprinkle a great quantity of holy water on the body and in the grave, and bury it again.” Even after this was accomplished, those residing nearby were nonetheless plagued by the old phantom. So one night, when very few people were still alive, the summoner called William’s name three times. But because that man was brave and quick and prepared for this event, he leapt up with his sword drawn and followed the fleeing demon back to its tomb where he struck its head from its neck as it fell into its grave. Since then, the demolition caused by that wandering plague ceased, doing no more harm to William himself or to any of the others. We know for certain the outcome of this case, but we do not know the cause.