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A fire burned down the church at Lyon du Rhône. Everything was destroyed, except some relics of the Virgin’s milk and hair.
The priests, needing money to rebuild the church, took the relics on tour. Master Bernaldo, the Dean, and other priests, carried the relics all over France and these performed many miracles. To take the relics to England, the priests boarded a ship owned by a man named Colistanus. Many wealthy merchants also boarded the ship and loaded it with goods.
The weather was fine, but pirates pursued the ship. When the captain saw the pirates he ordered the relics to be held aloft. When Master Bernaldo took out the relics, the rich merchants made offerings of cloth, gold, and silver, asking the Virgin to save them.
The six galleys continued to approach and surround the ship, but Master Bernaldo, holding the relics aloft, challenged the admiral stating that they would defend the ship. The admiral scoffed at him and ordered arrows to be fired, but a wind came up and overturned the pirate’s galleys.
The galley of the admiral was split in two. The mast, which hit him, struck him so hard that his eyes popped out and he fell into the sea. The other galleys were blown far away by a southern wind. The people on the ship sighted Dover and knew they were saved. The merchants collected their belongings, including those they had just offered to the relics. They disregarded the miracle that the Virgin had performed for them.
Master Bernardo protested and they agreed to return and give a portion of their profits after they had completed their business. The merchants, from Flanders and Paris, purchased wool and left Dover in a ship before dawn. Christ, wanting to avenge his mother, made a thunderbolt strike their ship and burn up all of the wool, although nothing else was harmed. Seeing this miracle, the merchants returned to the relics and gave donations to Master Bernardo. He chided them, but only accepted a third of what they offered.
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MINIATURIST, Spanish
(active 1250-1300 in Castile)
Cantigas de Alfonso el Sabio
1250-1300
Manuscript (Ms. T.j.1), 486 x 332 mm
Real Biblioteca de San Lorenzo, El Escorial
The manuscript (The Songs of Alfonso the Wise) contains several stories on 256 folios following French examples. On the page reproduced here the life of the marine merchants is narrated, started from the upper left corner of the page. In spite of the strong French influence the ornamental decoration and the coat-of-arms in the corners of the frame are characteristically Spanish.
Source: Web Gallery of Art
