Melusine
A noble family claimed descent from a woman who became a serpent from the waist down every Saturday.
What was reported
In French legend, Melusine was a fairy who married Raymondin, a nobleman of Poitou, on condition that he never see her on a Saturday. She brought him great wealth and built the castle of Lusignan. When he broke his promise and spied on her bathing, he saw that she was a serpent from the waist down.
Discovered, she flew from the castle as a winged serpent, and was said to return with a cry whenever a lord of Lusignan was about to die. Jean d'Arras wrote down the romance in 1393.
Explanations offered
Several noble houses, including the Lusignans, who became kings of Cyprus and Jerusalem, and later the House of Luxembourg, claimed Melusine as an ancestor, giving their line a magical origin. She belongs to a wide European family of water-fairy legends.
- When
- Written down in 1393
- Where
- Lusignan, Vienne, France
- Witnesses
- Medieval romances, and the families who claimed her
- Status
- Legend
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.