Sidonia the Sorceress

Description:

Translated by Francesca Speranza, Lady Wilde. Opened to a description of Sidonia’s imprisonment, examination, and torture (page 443). Sidonia von Borcke (1548-1620) was a Pomeranian noblewoman who gained the enmity of various relatives she sued, several prioresses at the local abbey, and court-appointed officials brought in to investigate. Tried for witchcraft, she was sentenced to death by beheading and subsequent burning. Posthumously, she has been portrayed as a femme fatale. Oscar Wilde's mother translated into English a mid-19th century German novel about Sidonia, which William Morris printed in a limited edition at the famed Kelmscott Press. The Pre-Raphaelites became fascinated by her. Several created paintings based on the novel, the most famous of which was by Edward Burne-Jones, depicting the young Sidonia and her aged counterpart just before her execution.

Attribution:

Meinhold, Wilhelm | Wilde, Lady (Francesca Speranza)

Date:

1893