The Skull of Sidon and the Lady Maraclea by Caitlin Johnston
The 'Her' in Heresy
For as long as we have been documenting the human condition, we have also been documenting the disrespect of women in history, deifying women now who were desecrated then - Jeanne d'Arc, now seen as a historic heroine, even when her own time saw her labelled as a heretic and a criminal. Women have been used as commodities in storytelling for just as long, the famous names in well-known myths who furthered the story of the male hero at the cost of their own suffering.
One such story is that of the Skull of Sidon. It is a tale that has been told in a thousand different forms, each one slightly different than the last, of a nameless, silenced woman who was used against her knowledge and will in a fictional story that was then used as evidence of heresy and sin in the trials of the Knights Templar.
The Seal of the Knights Templar
A Woman, Unnamed
The documentation of the story dates back to the 12th century, but the version that is most known is the version written by Walter Map(p), a medieval writer who was a courtier of King Henry II of England, and the eventual Archdeacon of Oxford. Map(p)'s version of the tale is as follows;
“A great lady of Maraclea was loved by a Templar, a Lord of Sidon; but she died in her youth, and on the night of her burial, this wicked lover crept to the grave, dug up her body and violated it. Then a voice from the void bade him return in nine months time for he would find a son. He obeyed the injunction and at the appointed time he opened the grave again and found a head on the leg bones of the skeleton (skull and crossbones). The same voice bade him guard it well, for it would be the giver of all good things, and so he carried it away with him. It became his protecting genius, and he was able to defeat his enemies by merely showing them the magic head. In due course, it passed into the possession of the Order.”
This tale was retold during the trials of the Knights Templar by an apostolic notary named Antonio Sicci, as 'evidence' of the accusations levied against the Templar Order - accusations of heresy, blasphemy and witchcraft, and the worship of some head-like artefact.
In The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail (Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln, 1982), it is suggested that the inquisitors of the time would have realised that the woman, the young Lady of Maraclea, may have likely been of Armenian heritage, which could link back to the Armenian Church and it's Paulician sects, who practised Catharism. The church believed that those who practised Catharism also practised black magic and necromancy, which is why the church had made such an effort to wipe Catharism from history, and which is why the story was deemed probable, and guilty.
Cathars, expelled.
A Deity Defiled
Some who have read and studied this story have deemed it a possible origin of the 'skull and crossbones' insignia, which has it's own defined roots in the history of the Knights Templar. Others who have studied this story may notice similarities with other stories in myth and legend - such as the story of Medusa, who's severed head was used as a weapon by Perseus, and then the goddess Athena. Some variations of the story name the Lady of Maraclea as "Yse", perhaps a variation of Isis - the Egyptian goddess who restored the body of her murdered husband, Osiris, to conceive their son, Horus.
Although the story is evidently fictional, it is steeped in an undeniable and historical truth - the use of women as commodities, and the continued persecution of many based on religious belief and practise. To the modern reader, it is clear that this story is hysterical and scientifically impossible, but to the church and the inquisitors seeking to persecute the Templars for their supposed heresy, it was easy to use this tale as evidence of witchcraft - not because of the actions of the defiler, but the gender and heritage of the defiled.
The Egyptian goddess Isis, who the lady of Maraclea may relate to
About the Author: Caitlin Johnston
I am a 24 year old woman from Leeds, England. I have a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and Creative Writing, and a keen interest in history.
