The lettre spak the queene delivered was
Of so horrible a feendly creature
That in the castel noon so hardy was
That any while dorste ther endure.
The mooder was an elf, by aventure
Ycomen, by charmes or by sorcerie,
And every wight hateth hir compaignye.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Man of Law’s Tale. The Constable’s letter to the King forged by Donegild says that Constance has delivered so horrible and fiendish a baby that no one in the castle dares go near it. The mother is an evil spirit full of charms and sorcery and every person hates her, the letter states, as the vicious Donegild attempts to turn her son against Constance.