| Commentary: |
Snow 2007rn"K. here expands on an earlier study [1959] in which CSM 218, 253, and 278 are held to disparage the miracle-working powers of the Santiago shrine at Compostela in favor of Santa María de Vila-Sirga. To these three accounts, K. adds CSM 175, in which a miracle often associated with Santiago now finds Mary as its chief protagonist, a substitution K. thinks may be a more subtle way of challenging the supremacy of the shrine at Compostela. However, that Alfonso actively pursued such a goal may be doubted. First, the decline in Santiago's cult was already noted by 1200, and Mary's image figured in banners at the battle of Navas de Tolosa (1212; Alfonso was born in 1221). There were, secondly, many Marian shrines by Alfonso's day, Marian fervor was strong, and Fernando III before Alfonso carried Mary's effigy into battle. Third, such substitutions in miracle narrations were in fact common enough; this tale, for example, already had Mary as its protagonist (in Rocamadour) in a Latin version at Ripoll dating from before Alfonso. The popularity of the theme (Mary saving a devoté from hanging), seen also in CSM 13 and 355, may possibly account for such a substitution here. See also Baraut [1956, p. 159] and Dexter [1926]" |
