medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
> the query: do you know of any medieval stories, miracles, whatever
> involving either an IDOL OR a STATUE OF A SAINT
> that speaks, moves, or walks? a pagan idol which "comes to life"
> would be perfect - has anyone heard of such a thing?
> If so, please send me bibliographic references that are as
> detailed as possible
I know of two versions of this story and of a reference to a third.
Version 1. is in William of Malmesbury's Gesta regvm anglorvm. (History of
the English Kings). In the Mynors (1998 - OUP) translation it is on vol. 1
pages .381ff.
In this version, an unnamed young (Christian) Roman patrician marries. The
story must be set in the late Roman Empire. After the wedding feast, he
indulges in ball games with his male friends to pass the time before bed.
His heavy betrothal ring (wedding ring) gets in the way so for safety his
puts it on the finger of a bronze stautue of a woman which stands at the
edge of the campus. When the game is over, he finds the bronze fingers
clenched around the ring which he cannot prize off. Without admitting what
has happened he goes off to his marriage bed only to find a ghostly presence
inserts itself between him and his bride saying "I am Venus. You have
married ME not her!" After several days of total failure to consummate the
marriage, and goaded by the tears of his bride, he goes to an ambiguous
priest called Palombus who agress for a price to resolve the problem.
Palombus deals in necromancy and the black arts and after certain rituals
gives the bridegroom a letter which he takes at midnight to a cross roads
and waits for a ghostly procession to pass by. It does, and among the riders
is a beautiful but lewd woman who is wearing his ring. The bridegroom gives
the letter to the demon at the head of the procession, who compels Venus to
hand the ring back. But he also comments that divine retribution will soon
overwhelm Palombus for his dabbling in the black arts. The bridegroom goes
home and has no more problems with his marriage bed, but Palombus commits
suicde by vicious self mutilation in the hope of appeasing God's wrath.
The second version I know is in the Kaiserkronik, a Middle High German epic
of the mid 12th C. The story is also set in post-Constantine Rome but the
victim is a bachelor not a bridegroom. While playing ball with his brother
he kicks it into a pagan temple compound which has been boarded up and
declared out of bounds by the Chistiam Emperor. The young man climbs the
wall to get his ball back, sees a statue of a naked woman and becomes
totally infatuated so that he looses all interest in anything else. He puts
his ring on her finger in a symbolic marriage. His dismayed friends find an
ambiguous priest who succeeds in breaking the spell and retrieving the ring
but at high cost to himself.
There is no English translation of the Kaiserkronik and I am endebted to
Prof. Frank Shaw of Bristol for this information but I can't at the moment
lay hands on his letter to me.
A third - and Christianised - version of this is to be found summarised in
Sabine BARING-GOULD: Curious myths of the Middle-Ages (1877) page 226. (A
wonderful compendium of popular lore - ransack second hand shops for a copy
if you can.) In this version a knight puts his ring on the finger of the
Virgin Mary while playing ball and finds he cannot get it off afterwards. He
takes this to be a sign that he is 'betrothed' to Our Lady, renounces the
world and becomes a monk. No supernatural rescue for HIM!!!!!
Brenda M. C.
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