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CSM Number : 219
Short name: The Pulpit in the Cathedral of Siena Alternative: Pulpit in Siena Cathedral
Incipit: Non conven aa omagen
Refrain: Non conven aa omagen/ da Madre do grorioso/ Rei que cabo dela seja/ figura do dem’ astroso.
Summary of narrative
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Setting: Siena Protagonist(s): an image of the Virgin

Some master sculptors came to Siena to carve a pulpit out of white marble for the bishop of the cathedral.

They carved many narrative scenes on the pulpit, and images of the Virgin and Child, and of the devil.

They made the devil look ugly, but because the marble was white, he did not look as dreadful as he might have. The Virgin decided to modify the devil’s portrait and turned the white marble “black as pitch,” so that he would appear ugly and disgusting.

When the people, gathered for mass, saw that the devil had been transformed they began to laugh.

The bishop ordered one of his men to wash and scrape the image, but it could not be cleaned.

The bishop, realising that it was a miracle, prostrated himself before the altar and begged Mary’s pardon. He apologised for ordering the figure of the devil to be carved next to the Virgin’s image.

Metrical data
Stanza: 15 15 15 15' Refrain: 15' 15'
No. of Stanzas: 10
Rhyme scheme: AA | bbba Zejel: Yes
MS locations:
F72, E219
Poncelet reference
None
Keywords
bishop, colour (transformed), image (of devil), image (of Virgin Mary), pulpit, repentance (see also confession), sculptor, pitch
Discography
Click HERE for a list of recordings of this poem
BITAGAP ID
3970
Bibliography
Dos preconceitos de Afonso X, o Sábio
Bagby Jr., Alberto I.
Virgin, Devil, Bishop, King: Nicola Pisano’s Pulpit
Jackson, Deirdre
Saint and Simulacra: Images of the Virgin in the Cantigas de Santa María of Alfonso X of Castile (1252-1284)
Jackson, Deirdre Elizabeth
Viaje a Italia a través de las Cantigas Historiadas de Alfonso X el Sabio
Molina López, Laura
Aberturas e finais: rubricas, refrães, estrofes iniciais e estrofes terminais nas Cantigas de Santa Maria
Parkinson, Stephen
Tres ensayos sobre el arte en las Cantigas de Santa Maria de Alfonso el Sabio
Sánchez Cantón, Francisco Javier
Interpretación organológica de la miniatura del folio 201-versus del códice b.I.2. escurialense
Torres, Jacinto