Kelmscott Press edition of 'Sidonia the Sorceress'

Originally written in German in 1848 by Wilhelm Meinhold, ‘Sidonia the Sorceress’ was translated into English the following year by Lady Wilde, Oscar Wilde’s mother. The painter and poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti was fascinated by the story and introduced William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones to it in the 1850s. Burne-Jones was inspired to paint various scenes from the text including full-length figure studies of Sidonia and her foil Clara in 1860. Both paintings are now in the Tate collection.

The story chronicles the crimes of Sidonia, a cruel but outwardly beautiful sorceress who is active in the courts of sixteenth-century Pomerania. In the story, a young Sidonia is rejected by a prince, and so turns vengeful, learning witchcraft to curse his family. After years of tormenting the courts, Sidonia eventually curses all the princes of Pomerania so that they can never father children. She is eventually tried for her crimes and executed.

Morris’s own writings were influenced by this story and his own novels of the 1890s include many characters clearly inspired by Sidonia. The mistress in ‘The Wood Beyond the World’ and the Queen of Utterbol in ‘The Well at the World’s End’ are both alluring and charismatic women who are secretly cruel and devious. Many of these novels also include a character inspired by Clara, a faithful and courageous woman who opposes Sidonia and aims to turn her from her wickedness.