Cantiga 135 of the Cantigas de Santa Maria
Individual Panels from the Cantigas de Santa Maria
In Bretagne there was a young man and a young woman who loved each other. They had grown up together and had sworn their love in the Virgin’s name. Their parents, who were evil disbelievers, separated them against their wishes.
The father made his son go away, and a nobleman asked for the woman’s hand in marriage. Her father forced her to marry another rich and prosperous man he had found.
The woman told her story to her new husband who promised to help her find her true love so that she could follow God’s will. As they travelled through a valley, the nobleman who had planned to marry the girl attacked them. He hated her father and seized her and her husband and threw them into prison.
At night, he tried to have sex with the woman, but suddenly fell asleep. When he woke up, the woman told him that it was not right for him to force her, since she had given herself to the Virgin and would only marry the one with whom she had made the vow. She ordered the nobleman to take her at once to her beloved.
The nobleman released her and her husband and set out on his horse to find the man.
He discovered him in Montpellier and told him to get ready to marry his beloved, Dona Lis. He told him that he would no longer harass him and instructed him to deck himself in fine clothes. After the couple had told the whole story to Felix, they praised the Virgin. Then they swore their vows, feasted and made love.
