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For the purposes of the new edition, every poem has been assigned a unique short title. The original short titles, taken eclectically from a number of sources, are retained as alternative short titles.
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CSM Number : 42
Short name: The Ring on the Finger of the Virgin’s Statue Alternative: Ring on the Finger of the Mary-Image
Incipit: A Virgen mui groriosa
Refrain: A Virgen mui groriosa/ Reỹa espirital/ dos que ama é ceosa/ ca non quer que façan mal.
Summary of narrative
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Setting: Germany Protagonist(s): a young man, his bride

During the renovation of a church in Germany, a statue of the Virgin was moved temporarily from the altar to a portico in the town square.

Some young men were playing ball in the square. One of the youths was wearing a ring given to him by his beloved. Thinking the ball could damage it; he put it on the finger of the statue for safekeeping. Kneeling before the statue, he placed the ring on its finger. He promised the Virgin that he would never love another lady, and that he would be faithful to her.

The statue closed its finger around the ring, and the people seeing this, advised the young man to join the Cistercian Order. He disregarded his promise to the Virgin and married his girlfriend.

On his wedding night, as he was lying in bed, the Virgin appeared to him and rebuked him for being unfaithful to her.

The bridegroom would not leave his bride, so the Virgin lay down on the bed, and separated him from his wife. She demanded that he leave at once.

He was so frightened that he got up at once, and wandered through the wilderness for a month. Later, he lived as a hermit in a grove of pine trees and served the Virgin.rn

Metrical data
Stanza: 15 [7’ 7] 15 [7’ 7] 15 [7’ 7] 15 [7’ 7] Refrain: 7’ 7 7’ 7
No. of Stanzas: 17
Rhyme scheme: ABAB | cccb Zejel:
MS locations:
T42, E42, To57
Poncelet reference
Cum olim quaedam antiqua ecclesia ex multa vetustate (290)
Keywords
apparition, Ave Maria (saying of), ball game, Cistercians, image (of Virgin Mary), marriage, portico, ring, vow, hermit
Discography
Click HERE for a list of recordings of this poem
Miracle Collection
Ring on the Finger of the Mary-Image Vincent de Beauvais
Ring on the Finger of the Mary-Image John of Garland
Ring on the Finger of the Mary-Image Gautier de Coinci
Ring on the Finger of the Mary-Image Mariale Magnum
(Paris Bibliothèque Nationale lat 3177)
Ring on the Finger of the Mary-Image Miraculorum B. Mariae. libri III
(Reims 1400)
Ring on the Finger of the Mary-Image BL Mariale 5
(London, BL, Additional MS 15723, Collection 2, ff. 70-92)
Ring on the Finger of the Mary-Image Jean Gobi
Ring on the Finger of the Mary-Image Vendôme Collection
(Vendôme, Bibliothèque Publique MS 185)
BITAGAP ID
3759
Bibliography
Cantigas de D. Alfonso X
Anon [Morayta de Sagrario, Miguel]
La cantiga XLII de Alfonso X y la Venus d’Ille de Mérimée: polarizaciones de un tema
Asensio, Jaime
La cantiga XLII de Alfonso X
Ayala Martínez, Carlos de
El libro del peso de los alarifes
Cómez Ramos, Rafael
Another Aspect of the Virgin Mary in the Cantigas de Santa Maria
Davis, Jr, William Richard
Sources of the Cantigas of Alfonso el Sabio [AC]
Dexter, Elise Forsythe
Historia de la literatura murciana
Díez de Revenga, F. F. & M. de Paco
La cultura monástica en las Cantigas de Santa María de Alfonso X: pervivencia, adopción y reelaboración
Disalvo, Santiago
Fuentes y contexto histórico de algunos milagros de Cesario de Heisterbach poéticamente marianizados y musicalizados e las Cantigas de Santa Maria, de Alfonso X el Sabio, y su relación con el monasterio de Gumiel de Izán
Ferreira Alemparte, Jaime
Fuentes germánicas en las ’Cantigas de Santa Maria’ de Alfonso X el Sabio
Ferreiro Alemparte, Jaime
Reflexiones sobre las “Cantigas de Santa María” y su relación con otros mariales romances
Fidalgo Francisco, Elvira
Las Cantigas de Santa Maria
Filgueira Valverde, José
L’efflorescence salvatrice du jardin marial dans le Códice Rico des Cantigas de Santa María d’Alphonse le Sage
Fournès, Ghislaine
Imágenes vivientes: idolatría y herejía en las Cantigas de Alfonso X
García Avilés, Alejandro
Folklore in the Cantigas of Alfonso el Sabio
Keller, John Esten
The Motif of the Statue Bride in the Cantigas of Alfonso the Learned
Keller, John Esten
Daily Living as Revealed in King Alfonso\'s Cantigas
Keller, John Esten
The Canticles of Holy Mary of King Alfonso the Wise
Keller, John Esten
The Art of Illumination in the Books of Alfonso X, Primarily in the Cantigas de Santa Maria
Keller, John Esten
The Most Beautiful Facsimile Volume Printed (A Short review-article)
Keller, John Esten
Imágenes insólitas en la miniaturas de las Cantigas Alfonsíes
Keller, John Esten and Annette Grant Cash
Lujuria,tentación e impotencia: Desde San Hugo de Avalón a las 'Cantigas de Santa Maria'
Lappin, Anthony
Cantigas de Santa Maria de Alfonso X el Sabio, rey de Castilla
López Serrano, Matilde
Osservazioni sulle Cantigas di Alfonso X e sui Miracles di Gautier de Coincy
Marullo, Teresa
Las Cantigas de Don Alonso el Sabio.
Morayta de Sagrario, Miguel
A música da lírica galego-portuguesa medieval: un labor de reconstrucción arqueolóxica e intertextual a partir das relacións entre o texto e a música
Rossell i Mayo, Antoni
Tres ensayos sobre el arte en las Cantigas de Santa Maria de Alfonso el Sabio
Sánchez Cantón, Francisco Javier
When your Lover is the Virgin Mary: A New Approach to the Cantigas de Santa Maria of Alfonso X of Castile
Scarborough, Connie L.
Recordings of Las [sic] Cantigas de Santa Maria Contained in the Facsimile Edition Published by Edilán (Madrid 1979)
Tinnell, Roger D.
Les Légendes du ’Fiancé de la Vierge’ dans la littérature médiévale
Wyrembek, Anna, & Jósef Morawski