# Seventh son of a seventh son

A **seventh son of a seventh son** is, in European folklore, a male child who is the seventh consecutive son of a father who was himself the seventh consecutive son, with no daughters interrupting either lineage. Such a birth order was widely believed to confer supernatural gifts, most famously the power to heal disease by touch, and in some traditions the power of prophecy.<sup>[1](https://www.gauldingorigins.com/post/the-seventh-son-of-a-seventh-son-origins-meanings-and-the-southern-folk-tradition)</sup> The belief was demonstrably widespread across Europe by the 1600s, and it survives in modified forms in Ireland, Newfoundland, and Latin America today.<sup>[2](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0015587X.2019.1618068)</sup>

| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Definition | The seventh consecutive son of a man who was himself a seventh consecutive son, with no daughters born between the sons in either generation<sup>[1](https://www.gauldingorigins.com/post/the-seventh-son-of-a-seventh-son-origins-meanings-and-the-southern-folk-tradition)</sup> |
| Principal gift | Healing by touch, especially of scrofula (the "king's evil"); in Ireland also the power to foretell the future<sup>[3](https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/seventh-son)</sup> |
| Earliest cited English record | Walter Yonge's diary, January 1606–7, reporting a London seventh son said to heal the deaf, blind, and lame<sup>[3](https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/seventh-son)</sup> |
| French parallel | The "Marcou", a healing seventh son branded with a fleur-de-lis<sup>[3](https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/seventh-son)</sup> |
| Dark variant | In Romanian folklore a seventh child was believed fated to become a vampire; in Portuguese and Brazilian tradition the seventh son risks becoming the werewolf Lobishomen or Lobisomem<sup>[3](https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/seventh-son)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[4](https://oldfolklore.com/myths-and-legends/european-myths-and-legends/lobishomen-the-portuguese-werewolf/)</sup> |
| Documented modern practice | Seventh sons in the Blackburn region of Lancashire were frequently named "Doctor" in Victorian and Edwardian times<sup>[2](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0015587X.2019.1618068)</sup> |
| Best-known cultural use | Iron Maiden's 1988 concept album *Seventh Son of a Seventh Son*, the band's seventh album<sup>[5](https://www.loudersound.com/bands-artists/iron-maiden-seventh-son-of-a-seventh-son-story-behind-album)</sup> |

## The healing belief in Britain and Ireland

The core tradition holds that a seventh son, and still more a seventh son of a seventh son, can cure disease by touching or stroking the afflicted part. Thomas Lupton's *A Thousand Notable Things* (second edition, 1660) states it as a matter of experience that the seventh male child, "by just order (never a girl or wench being born between)", heals the king's evil, scrofula, by touch alone.<sup>[3](https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/seventh-son)</sup> An earlier and skeptical notice appears in the diary of Walter Yonge for January 1606–7, which reports that a London child who was a seventh son with no girl born between was said to heal the deaf, blind, and lame, but that the [Bishop of London](https://www.edgepedia.org/bishop-of-london), Doctor Vaughan, found no miracle followed when he brought sufferers to the child, concluding the report a lie invented to win favor for the Catholic cause.<sup>[3](https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/seventh-son)</sup>

**Regional detail varied.** Beliefs differed by region. According to Scottish tradition, a seventh daughter whose mother was also a seventh daughter possessed second sight, the ability to see the future.<sup>[3](https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/seventh-son)</sup> In Ireland, the saliva of a seventh son was credited with healing properties, and a Donegal tradition required a ceremony at the infant's birth: the woman receiving the child placed in his hand whatever substance, such as a silver coin, salt, or hair, he would later rub and apply to patients.<sup>[3](https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/seventh-son)</sup> Material collected for the Irish National Folklore Collection in the 1930s records the belief plainly: "It is always said that the seventh son of a seventh son would be a doctor", and that "the seventh son has great cures of all kinds of diseases".<sup>[6](https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbe/9000718/7107006/9065124?transcribe=true)</sup> In the Highlands and Islands the belief that a seventh son, or a seventh son of a seventh son, can cure certain diseases was still held in many districts into the twentieth century; a sixpence used on Lewis as late as 1928 to cure the king's evil was kept by the Lewis scholar [Norman Morrison](https://www.edgepedia.org/norman-morrison).<sup>[7](https://deriv.nls.uk/dcn23/8114/81146069.23.pdf)</sup> A nineteenth-century account from a Scottish-influenced Irish village names a local charmer, "young Thompson, seventh son of a seventh son, who, being a doctor by birth, could cure 'the evil' by his touch".<sup>[8](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Page%3AFolk-lore_-_A_Quarterly_Review._Volume_23%2C_1912.djvu/497)</sup> In northern England generally, the seventh of a family of sons with no daughters intervening was reputed to heal scrofula and kindred complaints by touch; one South Devon farmer claiming the power drew patients from Exeter and Torquay.<sup>[9](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Page%3ANotes_on_the_folk-lore_of_the_northern_counties_of_England_and_the_borders.djvu/327)</sup>

## Continental and Latin American variants

The motif is not confined to Britain and Ireland. In France a seventh son with the curing gift was called a **Marcou** and was branded with a fleur-de-lis; sufferers touched the brand or were breathed on by the Marcou.<sup>[3](https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/seventh-son)</sup> The French medievalist [Marc Bloch](https://www.edgepedia.org/marc-bloch), in his 1924 study of the royal healing touch, called attention to the supernatural powers attributed to the seventh son, and at times the seventh daughter, born after an uninterrupted series of children of the same sex, describing seventh-born children as credited with a "particular supernatural power".<sup>[10](https://repositorio.iscte-iul.pt/bitstream/10071/614/1/article_hdl614.pdf)</sup>

Elsewhere in Europe the birth order could be a curse rather than a gift. In Romanian folklore a seventh child was believed fated to become a vampire.<sup>[3](https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/seventh-son)</sup> In northern and central Portugal the seventh son of a family, or of a line of unbaptized children, was at risk of becoming the werewolf Lobishomen.<sup>[4](https://oldfolklore.com/myths-and-legends/european-myths-and-legends/lobishomen-the-portuguese-werewolf/)</sup> Portuguese colonists carried this belief to Brazil, where the seventh son becomes the Lobisomem; the curse could be lifted if someone drew the creature's blood during a transformation, typically by pricking him with a pin. Brazilian presidents historically served as godfathers to seventh sons, a practice that acknowledged the belief while providing ritual protection for the child.<sup>[11](https://talesofmythandmagic.co.uk/lobisomem/)</sup> In Paraguayan Guaraní mythology the seventh of the seven legendary monsters, Luison, is a dog-man associated with death.<sup>[12](https://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends/legendary-powers-seventh-son-seventh-son-002794)</sup>

## Documented practice in the modern era

**Lancashire.** The folklorist Simon Young's 2019 study of the region around [Blackburn](https://www.edgepedia.org/blackburn), Lancashire, established something previously unnoticed: in Victorian and Edwardian times, seventh sons there were frequently given the [Christian name](https://www.edgepedia.org/christian-name) "Doctor", a naming practice tied to the local seventh-son healing tradition. The study reconstituted families with sons named "Doctor" to trace the custom, and a dialect-word correspondent from north of Preston recalled that the birth of a seventh son of a seventh son was greeted with the phrase "Well, He is the Doctor".<sup>[2](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0015587X.2019.1618068)</sup>

**Newfoundland.** Newfoundland, settled from south-west England and south-east Ireland, inherited the tradition in a strong form. The folklorist Martin Lovelace's typology of Newfoundland charmers finds that seventh sons and priests are ascribed the widest range of healing competency and stand at the apex of a conceptual pyramid of power; the American folklorist Michael Owen Jones published a detailed case study of a Newfoundland seventh son in 1972 as *Why Faith Healing?*<sup>[13](https://ojs.folklore.ee/incantatio/article/download/17/17/15)</sup> In Newfoundland accounts, almost every seventh son was credited with the ability to make an earthworm curl up, lie still, or die in one of his hands, the hand that held the healing power.<sup>[13](https://ojs.folklore.ee/incantatio/article/download/17/17/15)</sup> French-Newfoundland tradition held that the seventh son's healing power is latent, and the religious healing role of the seventh son has persisted there.<sup>[14](https://www.erudit.org/fr/revues/ethno/1994-v16-n1-ethno06523/1083306ar.pdf)</sup>

**North America.** The belief traveled with settlers into the American South and [Appalachia](https://www.edgepedia.org/appalachia), where it blended with [Christian prayer](https://www.edgepedia.org/christian-prayer) and folk medicine; a seventh son of a seventh son was believed born with natural healing powers, exercised through touch and prayer and traditionally without accepting payment.<sup>[1](https://www.gauldingorigins.com/post/the-seventh-son-of-a-seventh-son-origins-meanings-and-the-southern-folk-tradition)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[15](https://oldfolklore.com/us/american-traditions-beliefs/the-seventh-son-as-folk-healer/)</sup>

## Seventh daughters

The parallel figure of the seventh daughter appears in a narrower set of traditions. In Scotland the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter was said to have second sight, and a Plymouth inscription recorded in 1851 advertises "A. Shepherd, the third seventh daughter, Doctress".<sup>[3](https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/seventh-son)</sup> Beyond Scotland, references are sparse: Irish stories of intuitive children occasionally feature daughters without the strict birth-order requirements, and continental traditions of healers, werewolves, and vampire-sensing figures center overwhelmingly on seventh sons.<sup>[1](https://www.gauldingorigins.com/post/the-seventh-son-of-a-seventh-son-origins-meanings-and-the-southern-folk-tradition)</sup>

## Origins and transmission

When the belief first arose is unresolved. Seventh sons with special supernatural powers appear in many European countries in the early modern period, and the belief was demonstrably widespread by the 1600s. Two explanations are current: either the belief is archaic but was not recorded in ancient or medieval sources, or a new idea spread rapidly across Europe in the late medieval or early modern period. Neither answer is entirely satisfactory, and the pattern resembles changeling beliefs, another late but widespread European tradition.<sup>[2](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0015587X.2019.1618068)</sup> The choice of the number seven draws on its broader symbolic weight; the Sumerians in the middle of the third millennium BC made 7 the representative of their number mysticism because its sexagesimal reciprocal was the first natural number that did not terminate but recurred every three places.<sup>[16](https://arxiv.org/abs/1407.6246)</sup>

## In literature and popular culture

The musician [Jack White](https://www.edgepedia.org/jack-white), born John Anthony Gillis, the youngest of ten children in a Catholic family in southwest Detroit, was literally his mother's seventh son, a fact he alludes to in the White Stripes song "Ball and Biscuit" with the line "but it's a fact that I'm the seventh son".<sup>[17](https://dalspaceb.library.dal.ca/server/api/core/bitstreams/476f7fe7-e244-4752-8a4d-275fa4e0e4ce/content)</sup>

The best-known musical treatment is Iron Maiden's *Seventh Son of a Seventh Son* (1988), the band's seventh studio album and its first full concept album. Bassist Steve Harris, who conceived the idea after reading [Orson Scott Card](https://www.edgepedia.org/orson-scott-card)'s novel *Seventh Son*, summarized the folklore behind it: "Supposedly if you were born the seventh son of a seventh son you had the powers of a clairvoyant." The album was recorded at Musicland Studios in Munich in February and March 1988 with longtime producer Martin Birch, and its first single, "Can I Play with Madness", entered the UK singles chart at No. 3.<sup>[5](https://www.loudersound.com/bands-artists/iron-maiden-seventh-son-of-a-seventh-son-story-behind-album)</sup>

## References

1. [Catherine L. Gauldin, "The Seventh Son of a Seventh Son — Origins, Meanings, and the Southern Folk Tradition", Gaulding Origins](https://www.gauldingorigins.com/post/the-seventh-son-of-a-seventh-son-origins-meanings-and-the-southern-folk-tradition)
2. [Simon Young, "What's Up Doc? Seventh Sons in Victorian and Edwardian Lancashire", *Folklore* 130(4): 395–414 (2019)](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0015587X.2019.1618068)
3. ["Seventh Son", Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology, Encyclopedia.com](https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/seventh-son)
4. ["Lobishomen: Portuguese Werewolf of Folk Tradition", OldFolklore.com](https://oldfolklore.com/myths-and-legends/european-myths-and-legends/lobishomen-the-portuguese-werewolf/)
5. ["How a dead psychic and singer with a point to prove inspired Iron Maiden to make one of the maddest concept albums of the 80s", Louder Sound](https://www.loudersound.com/bands-artists/iron-maiden-seventh-son-of-a-seventh-son-story-behind-album)
6. ["The Seventh Son", CBÉ 0220, The Main Manuscript Collection, dúchas.ie, National Folklore Collection, UCD](https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbe/9000718/7107006/9065124?transcribe=true)
7. [Alasdair Alpin MacGregor, *The Peat-Fire Flame: Folk-Tales and Traditions of the Highlands & Islands*, National Library of Scotland](https://deriv.nls.uk/dcn23/8114/81146069.23.pdf)
8. ["Folk-lore: A Quarterly Review, Volume 23 (1912), p. 497", Wikisource](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Page%3AFolk-lore_-_A_Quarterly_Review._Volume_23%2C_1912.djvu/497)
9. [William Henderson, *Notes on the Folk-lore of the Northern Counties of England and the Borders*, p. 327, Wikisource](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Page%3ANotes_on_the_folk-lore_of_the_northern_counties_of_England_and_the_borders.djvu/327)
10. [Roslyn M. Frank, "Iberian seventh-born children, werewolves and the dragon slayer", *Folklore* 114 (2003): 335–353](https://repositorio.iscte-iul.pt/bitstream/10071/614/1/article_hdl614.pdf)
11. ["Lobisomem: The Brazilian Werewolf and the Seventh Son Who Has No Choice", Tales of Myth and Magic](https://talesofmythandmagic.co.uk/lobisomem/)
12. ["The Legendary Powers of a Seventh Son of a Seventh Son", Ancient Origins](https://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends/legendary-powers-seventh-son-seventh-son-002794)
13. [Martin Lovelace, "Immateria Medica: Charmers and their Communities in Newfoundland", *Incantatio* 1 (2011)](https://ojs.folklore.ee/incantatio/article/download/17/17/15)
14. ["Le pouvoir de guérison du septième fils", *Ethnologie française* 16(1) (1994), Érudit](https://www.erudit.org/fr/revues/ethno/1994-v16-n1-ethno06523/1083306ar.pdf)
15. [Elizabeth Fabowale, "The Seventh Son as Folk Healer", OldFolklore.com](https://oldfolklore.com/us/american-traditions-beliefs/the-seventh-son-as-folk-healer/)
16. ["The Origin of the Mystical Number Seven in Mesopotamian Culture; Division by Seven in the Sexagesimal Number System", arXiv:1407.6246](https://arxiv.org/abs/1407.6246)
17. [Garrett Evan Thorson, "'The Hardest Button to Button' — A Critical Analysis of Jack White and the White Stripes", MA thesis, Dalhousie University (2013)](https://dalspaceb.library.dal.ca/server/api/core/bitstreams/476f7fe7-e244-4752-8a4d-275fa4e0e4ce/content)

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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › Philosophy, religion, and mythology › Mythology and folklore › Folklore by country and region*

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