Spirituality & Religious StudiesRobert the Devil
In Latin: Robertus Diabolus.
He’s a legend of medieval origin about a Norman knight who finds out he’s the son of… (bum, bum, buuum!) Satan. This story started in France in the 13th century.
The story goes:
A duchess of Normandy who was tormented with a desire to have kids but couldn’t have any. She got tired of waiting on God (who wasn’t listening to her). So she decides to ask the Devil. The Devil compiles.
A son is born! As an infant, he bites his nurse & pulls her hair out. As a “lad,” he knifes his teachers. At age 20, he became a bandit chief. He’s then dubbed a knight. This was because of the belief that the wicked instincts raging in him would be subdued. But this only made him worse than before. No one could surpass him in strength or in courage.
In a tourney, he overthrows & slays 30 opponents. Then he goes roaming about the world. He then goes back to his homeland. He restarts his banditry – robbing, arson, murdering, ravishing. One day, after unaliving all the nuns of a certain abbey, he remembers his mom. He goes looking for her.
The servants scatter in every direction when they see him coming. No one waits around to talk to him to find out what in the world he wants. Right at this time, Robert had an epiphany. For the 1st time ever, he becomes conscious of his own monstrous wickedness. He becomes remorseful for his actions. He wanted to know what made him the way he was.
Robert then goes to his mom. And at literal sword point, he tells her to tell him the truth about his birth. After learning the truth, he freaks out, man! But his sturdy nature isn’t weakened. He doesn’t despair. Instead, the hope of a laborious redemption, of a marvelous victory, urges & spurs on his proud spirit.
He’ll learn to conquer Hell, to subdue himself, to foil the designs of his dad (Satan), who’s made home a docile instrument of destruction & of sin. He makes no delay. He goes straight to Rome, casts himself to the harshest kind of penance, makes confession to be a holy hermit, & swears that henceforth he’ll taste no food that he hasn’t snatched from the jaws of a dog.
On 2 separate occasions, when Rome was besieged by the Saracens, he fought incognito for the Emperor & gained the W for the Christians. Recognized at last, he refused all rewards & honors, the imperial crown, & even the monarch’s own daughter. He goes away to live as a hermit in the wilderness. He dies a saint, blessed by both God & men.
In other accounts, he finally marries the princess who’s deeply in love with him.
The oldest known account of this legend is a Latin prose narrative by a Dominican Friar, Etienne de Bourbon (circa 1250). It then shows up in a French metrical romance of the 13th century. From France, the legend spread to Spain. In England, the subject was treated in the metrical romance Sir Gowther (circa 14th century). In this version, the devil disguises himself as the mom’s husband.
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