Malekin of Dagworth Hall

Dagworth Hall as it looks today

As I believe I’ve mentioned before, medieval chronicles are a gold mine for those of us who like our history to be laced with a bit of the bizarre.  In between descriptions of wars, plagues, and other notable events, you are apt to suddenly find deadpan accounts of events that can be best described as barking mad.  

Ralph of Coggeshall was a monk in the Cistercian Abbey of (surprise!) Coggeshall, England.  From 1187 to 1224, he was the author of the Abbey’s “Chronicon Anglicanum.”  What earns our scribe a place in the hallowed halls of Strange Company is his description of an unusually weird…ghost?  Poltergeist?  Changeling?!

According to Ralph, during the reign of Richard I (1189-99) the residence of Sir Osberni de Bradewell at Daghewurthe [Dagworth Hall,] in Suffolk, was frequently visited by a “certain fantastical spirit,” who would converse with the family, always using the voice of a very small child.  The spirit called himself “Malekin.”  He said that his mother and brother lived in a nearby house, and they often scolded him for leaving them in order to speak to other people.

Malekin did and said many things that were “both wonderful and very funny,” although he had the disconcerting habit of revealing people’s secrets.  The knight and his family were initially terrified by their uninvited guest, but they gradually got used to his “words and silly actions,” and wound up casually conversing with him as they would any other member of the household.  Malekin sometimes spoke English, sometimes Latin, and would have learned discussions about the Scriptures with the family chaplain.

Malekin could be heard and felt, but he was only seen once.  “A certain maiden” of the family asked him to show himself to her, but he refused until she made a solemn vow not to touch him.  After this promise was made, he appeared briefly in her chamber, in the form of a small boy clothed in a white tunic.  Malekin told her that he was born in Lavenham, and that his mother had left him in a field where she was harvesting, after which he was “taken away” by unspecified entities.  He added that he had been in his “present position” for the past seven years, and that after another seven years he would be free to live with people again.  

Malekin claimed that he and “the others” had a hat which made them invisible.  He would often ask for food and drink, which, when it was placed on a certain chest, instantly disappeared.

So.  Ralph says no more about the elusive Malekin, but I think we can all agree that he told us plenty.