SOULIS

Lore

The figure of William Soulis, lord of Hermitage Castle in Roxburghshire, Scotland, is a classic example of how a real fourteenth-century Scottish feudal baron turned into a supernatural character. According to later legend, this was the very time when Lord Soulis bargained with the Devil and became a vampire.

Historically the House of Soulis had held Liddesdale since the thirteenth century, and William II Soulis served as the king's pantler, responsible for arranging and supervising the preparation of royal meals. He was described as a large man who was constantly accompanied by a blood-thirsty hobgoblin named Robin Redcap. Lord Soulis abused his position, relishing the chance to inflict not only physical pain but humiliation. He terrorized the people on his estates, kidnapping men, women, and children to torture them and use them in his dark rites: either drinking their blood or sacrificing their lives.

Hermitage Castle itself took on a special role, becoming a kind of center of demonization. Over time its sagging foundations sparked the belief that the fortress was literally sinking into the ground under the weight of the crimes committed there. Legends describe an underground chamber where Soulis held negotiations with unclean spirits; there also stood an iron chest where three knocks on its lid summoned the familiar Redcap. The castle was seen as a vessel that absorbed the prisoners' suffering and channeled that energy to its master.

Robin Redcap is a goblinoid creature of the Scottish Unseelie Court. He is portrayed as short but preternaturally strong, with clawed hands, blazing red eyes, iron-shod boots, and a metal staff. Redcap's hat, soaked in the blood of his victims, stores his life-force; when the blood dries, the creature weakens and fades, giving him overtly vampiric habits where constant human hunting is required to sustain him. In the legend the lord of Hermitage struck a pact that granted him immunity to steel and rope, while the demon received victims and refuge within the castle walls. Thus Lord Soulis became a vampire by curse: he did not necessarily drink blood himself, but he fostered and directed the blood-drinking creature, drawing longevity and strength from the symbiosis.

Eventually rumors of his brutality reached the crown, and an inquiry was launched. Lord Soulis was found guilty and confined to a royal prison, where he died; nonetheless, many claim that his ghost, together with his familiar, still haunts the old Hermitage Castle.