What’s a ‘mouldwarp’ and is the legend real?
A. According to the Oxford English Dictionary a ‘mouldwarp’ is an old English word for mole. It first appears in writing in the fourteenth century in early English bibles, but it is likely that it was common in speech before then. In the nineteenth century, the term takes on a second definition, that of an underhanded person, a sneak or a spy. The Legend of the Mouldwarp first appears in The Prophecy of the Six Kings to follow King John from the early thirteenth century during the reign of Edward II. The legend had it that the sixth king after John would be the mouldwarp, that is, proud, wicked and cowardly, having skin like a goat. He was to be attacked by a dragon, a wolf from the west and a lion from Ireland who would drive him from the land, leaving him only an island in the sea where he would pass life in great sorrow and strife before dying by drowning. England would then be divided into three parts amongst his conquerors: the dragon and the lion would rule two parts, and the wol
