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CSM Number : 238
Short name: The Blasphemous Minstrel Alternative: Blasphemous minstrel goes to Hell
Incipit: O que viltar quer a Virgen
Refrain: O que viltar quer a Virgen/ de que Deus carne fillou/ se pois del filla vingança/ maravilla nono dou.
Summary of narrative
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Setting: Guimarães Protagonist(s): a minstrel

A minstrel who was playing dice one day began to curse God and the Virgin.

The people were so shocked by the things he said that most of them went away.

A chaplain happened to go by, carrying the consecrated host to a person who was ill. Seeing the chaplain, the people knelt reverently, but the minstrel spit and scoffed at them.

Returning from his errand, the chaplain rebuked the minstrel and advised him to perform penance. The minstrel scorned the chaplain and continued to denounce God and the Virgin.

Having asked God to avenge the insult, the chaplain went away, and a devil came and seized the minstrel. He squeezed him so tightly that he twisted him completely.

The man never spoke another word. When he died, his soul went straight to hell.

Metrical data
Stanza: 15 15 15 15 Refrain: 15 15
No. of Stanzas: 13
Rhyme scheme: AA | bbba Zejel: Yes
MS locations:
F49, E238
Poncelet reference
None
Keywords
blasphemy, chaplain, devils, dice, Eucharist, gambling, hell, host, Jews, minstrel, priest
Discography
Click HERE for a list of recordings of this poem
BITAGAP ID
3988
Bibliography
The Jew in the Cántigas of Alfonso X, el Sabio
Bagby, Albert
’Alea jacta est’: at the gaming table with Alfonso the Learned
Carpenter, Dwayne E.
Un cantar que cantassen os jograres (CSM 172, 33): Las formas de la ’performance’ en las Cantigas de Santa Maria
Disalvo, Santiago and Germán Rossi
Sonic cursing and enjambement: sounding blasphemy in two songs of the Cantigas de Santa Maria
Drummond, Henry T.
Las mujeres y los dados en la poesía de Alfonso X
Fidalgo Francisco, Elvira
La sociedad medieval española reflejada en la obra de Alfonso el Sabio
González, Jr., Juan
Milagres e romarias portuguesas nas Cantigas de Santa Maria
Martins, Mário
Aberturas e finais: rubricas, refrães, estrofes iniciais e estrofes terminais nas Cantigas de Santa Maria
Parkinson, Stephen
Las Cantigas del Rey Sabio
Valera, Juan
’Virgo Antiludens’: Xogos de azar, blasfémia e castigo nas Cantigas de Santa María de Afonso X o Sabio
Ventura Ruiz, Joaquim