Sibella Cottle was the
mistress
Mistress is the feminine form of the English word "master" (''master'' + ''-ess'') and may refer to:
Romance and relationships
* Mistress (lover), a female lover of a married man
** Royal mistress
* Maîtresse-en-titre, official mistress of a ...
of
Sir Henry Lynch-Blosse, 7th Baronet
Sir Henry Lynch-Blosse, 7th Baronet (14 October 1749 – 1788), was an Irish baronet and politician.
Biography
Lynch-Blosse was born in London, the first child of Robert Lynch and Elizabeth Barker. Elizabeth was the daughter and heir of Francis B ...
(popularly known as Sir Harry; 1749–88) of
Balla,
County Mayo
County Mayo (; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, it is named after the village of Mayo, County Mayo, Mayo, now ge ...
, Ireland.
Biography
His family
''His Family'' is a novel by Ernest Poole published in 1917 about the life of a New York widower and his three daughters in the 1910s. It received the first Pulitzer Prize for the Novel in 1918.
Plot introduction
''His Family'' tells the story ...
conformed to
Protestantism
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...
in the mid-18th century. She had seven children by him, each of whom was left a generous legacy in their father's
will
Will may refer to:
Common meanings
* Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death
* Will (philosophy), or willpower
* Will (sociology)
* Will, volition (psychology)
* Will, a modal verb - see Shall and will
...
of 1788.
Cottle was portrayed by Matthew Archdeacon as uneducated and a "professed
woman of pleasure." T. H. Nally maintained she was not a peasant but joined Sir Harry as a
governess
A governess is a woman employed as a private tutor, who teaches and trains a child or children in their home. A governess often lives in the same residence as the children she is teaching; depending on terms of their employment, they may or ma ...
from a local
Big House.
Sir Harry was urged to abandon Cottle and marry a woman of his own class and religion. Cottle reputedly responded by commissioning a powerful love charm, the spancel of death (). The spancel has been described as "an unbroken hoop of skin cut with incantations from a corpse across the entire body from shoulder to footsole and wrapped in silk of the colours of the rainbow and used as a spancel to tie the legs of a person to produce certain effects of
witchcraft
Witchcraft is the use of Magic (supernatural), magic by a person called a witch. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic to inflict supernatural harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meanin ...
." According to Nally, the love charm was made by Judy Holian, ''an bhean feasa'' (a
woman of knowledge and wisdom), from the corpse of Harry's illegitimate daughter by another woman. Holian, reputedly a local witch, guaranteed that Sir Harry would be spellbound for life should Cottle apply the spancel to him.
[McNulty, Paul B, ''Spellbound by Sibella'', 2013, Club Lighthouse CLP, http://www.clublighthousepublishing.com/productpage.asp?bNumb=342, Edmonton, Alberta, 2013, https://www.amazon.co.uk/Spellbound-Sibella-Paul-B-McNulty/dp/1492195219/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1402997700&sr=1-3&keywords=paul+b+mcnulty.]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cottle, Sibella
18th-century Irish people
18th-century Irish women
People from County Mayo