Oddity of the Week: 11,000 Virgins in a Boat
Created | Updated Jan 19, 2014
Urban legends are fun.
St Ursula and the 11,000 Virgins
Have you heard the one about St Ursula? It comes from this German city, Cologne, aka Köln. Everybody swears it's true. While you read the story, keep this picture in mind.
A lot of Early Christian martyrs got churches in Cologne. There's St Severin, a Roman officer. And there's St Ursula, along with her 11,000 virgin martyrs. According to the legend (and a weird inscription in the 4th-5th-century church), Ursula and her 11,000 virgins made a massive pilgrimage from England to Rome, via the Rhine. In 11 boats.
Those boats must have been pretty big. 1,000 passengers a boat? Sounds like quite a cruise to us. Anyway, on their way home, they got martyred in Cologne, all 11,000 of them. By Huns. Huns were bad for the religious tourism industry back then.
We refrain from further comment, other than to point out the following:
- The urban legend phenomenon goes really far back.
- We can't blame this one on the Daily Mail.
- This story would make a super-cool movie, if we could get Jason Statham interested in fighting off the Huns.
St Ursula's very popular in Cologne. There's a convent in her honour, and there are schools. Of course, there are lots of tour boats on the Rhine, but we're not sure you could put all 11,000 virgins in the Rhine fleet.
What urban legends surround your town? Are they in the Edited Guide yet?
