Jack o' Kent or Jack-a-Kent is an English and Welsh

folkloric Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as tales, myths, legends, proverbs, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also includes material ...

character based in the

Welsh Marches The Welsh Marches () is an imprecisely defined area along the border between England and Wales in the United Kingdom. The precise meaning of the term has varied at different periods. The English term Welsh March (in Medieval Latin ''Marchia W ...

. He is alternately referred to as either a

cleric Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

or wizard who regularly beats

the Devil Satan, also known as the Devil, is a devilish entity in Abrahamic religions who seduces humans into sin (or falsehood). In Judaism, Satan is seen as an agent subservient to God, typically regarded as a metaphor for the '' yetzer hara'', or 'e ...

in bets and games. He is most well known around

Herefordshire Herefordshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England, bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh ...

and

Monmouthshire Monmouthshire ( ; ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the South East Wales, south east of Wales. It borders Powys to the north; the English counties of Herefordshire and Gloucestershire to the north and east; the Severn Estuary to the s ...

, and his legends are used to tell the origin of many of the geological formations around the region.

History

Jack o' Kent appears in print for the first time in a sixteenth-century play, so it may be assumed that he was well known in local culture before this time. He is said to have been used as a

bogeyman The bogeyman (; also spelled or known as bogyman, bogy, bogey, and, in US English, also boogeyman) is a mythical creature typically used to frighten children into good behavior. Bogeymen have no specific appearances, and conceptions vary drast ...

figure until at least the early twentieth century. There is speculation that Jack could be

Siôn Cent Siôn Cent (c. 1400 – 1430/45), (or 1367? – 1430?) was a Welsh language poet, and is an important figure in Medieval Welsh literature. Similarity to other persons He has also been called Sion Gwent by Gruffydd Robert and Sion Y Kent and Sion ...

, and other suggestions are that he was

Owain Glyndŵr Owain ap Gruffydd (28 May 135420 September 1415), commonly known as Owain Glyndŵr (Glyn Dŵr, , anglicised as Owen Glendower) was a Welsh people, Welsh leader, soldier and military commander in the Wales in the late Middle Ages, late Middle ...

, but it is more likely that he was an amalgamation of a number of people and myths.

Legends

Jack often outsmarted the Devil by entering into bargains and then fulfilling the letter of the bargain but not the spirit. In one instance he made a deal with the Devil so that his crops would prosper - Jack would plant the crops, and the devil would make sure that the sun and rain came in proper amounts. Jack asked the Devil which part of the crops he wanted, the "tops" or the "butts" (bottoms), and the Devil picked "tops" thinking that come harvest he would receive a lot of wheat, but Jack planted turnips and left the Devil with the useless leaves. The next year the Devil thought he would get the better of Jack and picked "butts", so Jack planted wheat, and once again the Devil was cheated. In another story, Jack asks the Devil to help him build a bridge, promising him the first soul that crosses it. They build the bridge and then Jack tosses a bone over the bridge and a hungry dog runs across.

Geographical interpretations

Jack o' Kent legends are used to explain a number of geographical formations in the Anglo-Welsh border region. * Jack is said to have bet the Devil that the Sugar Loaf Mountain was higher than the

Malvern Hills The Malvern Hills are in the English counties of Worcestershire, Herefordshire and a small area of northern Gloucestershire, dominating the surrounding countryside and the towns and villages of the district of Malvern. The highest summit af ...

. When Jack proved the Devil wrong, the Devil tried to put more soil on top of the Malvern Hills, but his carrier broke and dropped at the end of the island forming a lump. * The cleft in the western part of

Skirrid Skirrid Fawr ( , ), often referred to as just the Skirrid, is a traditional Christian pilgrimage site and an easterly outlier of the Black Mountains in Wales. It forms the easternmost part of the Brecon Beacons National Park. The smaller hill ...

is said to have been caused by Jack's heel as he jumped onto it from the Sugar Loaf Mountain. * The

standing stone A menhir (; from Brittonic languages: ''maen'' or ''men'', "stone" and ''hir'' or ''hîr'', "long"), standing stone, orthostat, or lith is a large upright rock (geology), stone, emplaced in the ground by humans, typically dating from the Eur ...

s at Trelleck are said to have been thrown there by Jack, the result of a stone-throwing competition held on Trelleck Beacon between him and the Devil. Another version has Jack flinging the stones from Skirrid. Hando, F., (1944), ''The Pleasant Land of Gwent'', Newport: R. H. Johns

References

{{reflist Fictional characters introduced in the 16th century English legendary creatures English folklore Welsh folklore Herefordshire folklore Jack tales Fictional characters who use magic Bogeymen