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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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For epigraphs and layout information click on the appropriate manuscript location.
For information on Latin and vernacular sources of miracle stories follow the links to Miracles and collections. Follow the links to the appropriate pages of Todd McComb and Pierre Roberge's online discography, to the BITAGAP archive, and to linked entries in the Bibliography.
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CSM Number : 86
Short name: Childbirth under the Sea Alternative: Childbirth in the Sea
Incipit: Acorrer-nos pode e de mal guardar
Refrain: Acorrer-nos pode e de mal guardar/ a Madre de Deus, se per nos non ficar.
Summary of narrative
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Setting: Setting: a hermitage of St Michael in the sea near Protagonist(s): a pregnant woman

Many pilgrims went to pray at a hermitage dedicated to St Michael.

No one could leave or enter that place when the tide was in.

One day a pregnant woman tried go to the hermitage. The tide came in and trapped her, because she could not walk fast enough. She was completely submerged by the sea.

Fearing for her life, she prayed to the Virgin. She began to go into labour.

Hearing her plea, the Virgin covered her with her sleeve. The waves were calmed and the woman gave birth.

She took her newborn son to St Michael and told eveyone about the miracle.

Metrical data
Stanza: 11 11 11 11 Refrain: 11 11
No. of Stanzas: 10
Rhyme scheme: AA | bbba Zejel: Yes
MS locations:
T86, E86, To28
Poncelet reference
Ad montem S. Michaelis dum quaedam mulier gravida isset (25)
Keywords
childbirth, children, drowning, pregnancy, Saint Michael, sleeve (of Virgin Mary), tide
Discography
Click HERE for a list of recordings of this poem
Miracle Collection
Childbirth in the Sea Pez
Childbirth in the Sea Thott
(Copenhagen, Royal Library, MS Thott 128)
Childbirth in the Sea Vincent de Beauvais
Childbirth in the Sea Gil de Zamora
(Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional, MS 9503)
Childbirth in the Sea Lisbon Mariale
(Lisbon, B.N., MS Alcobacense 149)
Childbirth in the Sea Gonzalo de Berceo
Childbirth in the Sea Madrid Mariale
(Madrid, B.N., MS 110)
Childbirth in the Sea William of Malmesbury
Childbirth in the Sea Mariale Magnum
(Paris Bibliothèque Nationale lat 3177)
Childbirth in the Sea Miraculorum B. Mariae. libri III
(Reims 1400)
Childbirth in the Sea BL Mariale 5
(London, BL, Additional MS 15723, Collection 2, ff. 70-92)
Childbirth in the Sea Jean Gobi
Childbirth in the Sea Bartholomew of Trent
(University of Bologna, Codice 1794)
Childbirth in the Sea Jean Mielot, Miracles de Nostre Dame
(Oxford, Bodleian, Douce MS 374)
Childbirth in the Sea Vendôme Collection
(Vendôme, Bibliothèque Publique MS 185)
Childbirth in the Sea Johannes Herolt
Childbirth in the Sea Dominic of Evesham
(Oxford, Balliol College, MS 240, ff. 137-148)
Childbirth in the Sea Anglo-Norman Miracles of the Virgin
(London, BL, Royal 20 B XIV, fols 102v-169)
Childbirth in the Sea BL Mariale 1
(Cotton Cleopatra C.x., ff. 101-144v)
BITAGAP ID
3803
Bibliography
Sources of the Cantigas of Alfonso el Sabio [AC]
Dexter, Elise Forsythe
Cincuenta leyendas por Gil de Zamora, combinadas con las Cantigas de Alfonso el Sabio
Fita, Fidel
Viajeros y Peregrinos en las Cantigas de Santa Maria
Manzi, Ofelia, & Francisco Corti
Aberturas e finais: rubricas, refrães, estrofes iniciais e estrofes terminais nas Cantigas de Santa Maria
Parkinson, Stephen
’Illa das illas’ (A cantiga de Meendinho e a 86 das Cantigas de Santa María)
Raña Lama, Román
The Virgin as Midwife: Verbalization and Visualization in Alfonso X’s Cantigas de Santa Maria
Scarborough, Connie, L.