Editing Mother Shipton (section)

== Historicity ==
[[File:MotherShipton'sCave.jpg|thumb|right|[[Mother Shipton's Cave]]]]

Based on contemporary references to her and countless resources detailing the events of her life, historians believe Mother Shipton was a real woman,<ref name=":4"/><ref name=":3"/><ref name=":5"/> born in 1488 to an orphan fifteen-year-old girl named Agatha Soothtale in a cave in [[North Yorkshire]] outside of the town [[Knaresborough]].<ref name=":4"/><ref name=":3"/><ref name=":5"/> Based on how every contemporary record of her from the time references her appearance, she probably suffered from a hunchback and a large crooked nose, although much else regarding her appearance is conjecture. She made potions, herbal remedies, cast spells and prophesied the future.

In a possible reference to her existence, in 1537 Yorkshire, while Catholic people were rebelling against the dissolution of Catholic [[Dissolution of the monasteries|monasteries]], Henry VIII wrote a letter to the Duke of Norfolk where he refers to a "witch of York".<ref name=":3"/> It is believed that this letter is the earliest reference to the real Mother Shipton who would have been prophesying about Henry VIII at this time. In 1666 [[Samuel Pepys]] recorded in his diaries that, whilst surveying the damage to [[London]] caused by the 1666 [[Great Fire of London|Great Fire]] in the company of the [[Royal family]], he heard them discuss Mother Shipton's prophecy of the event.<ref>Entry for 20 October 1666, cited in ''Mother Shipton's Prophecies'' (Mann, 1989)</ref>

The earliest account of Mother Shipton's prophecies was published in 1641, eighty years after her death. The story goes that the document of Mother Shipton's life was recorded by a woman named Joane Waller<ref name=":2"/> who heard the story as a young girl and transcribed it as Mother Shipton spoke of her life. Mother Shipton never wrote anything down or published anything during her lifetime.

The [[Mother Shipton's Cave|cave]] where she lived is known as England's oldest tourist attraction and for hundreds of years people have trekked to see the cave where she was born. This cave's water has a mineral content so high anything placed in the pool will slowly be covered in layers of stone. Tourists will place items in the pool to later return and see it turned to stone. It is assumed that many of her prophecies were never written down, and many legends and prophecies accredited to her were created after her death to enhance the folk legend she had become.<ref> Araujo: Mother Shipton: Secrets, Lies and Prophesies (2010). </ref>