A few notes regarding the recent query about St. Ursula.

St. Ursula and the 11,000 virgins of Cologne (feast day - October 21, with
the exception of their companion, St. Cordula, who was martyred on the
following day and is thus celebrated on October 22).  The story, as it
appears in its later development (as recorded in Jacobus de Voragine's,
Golden Legend) tells of a princess of Britannia (Ursula) who is betrothed
to the son of a pagan king.  Prior to the wedding,Ursula and 11,000
companions set forth on a pilgrimage to Rome.  Stopping in Cologne on the
way south, Ursula receives a vision, that she will die a virgin dedicated
to God.  The troupe goes to Rome, inspiring the pope himself to give up the
papal tiara and return north with them (forth this, he is striken from the
list of popes).  While returning north, the troupe arrives at Cologne to
find it beseiged by the Huns, who massacre them all.  The Huns flee and the
city of Cologne is spared.  THe people of Cologne bury the bodies of the
holy virgins.
The story underwent a dramatic series of developments over the course of
the Middle Ages.  Beginning with a c.5th c plaque (the so-called Clematius
inscription - now in the church of St. Ursula, Cologne) which notes an
unspecified number of martyred virgins.  Over the next few centuries,
numerous names appear as the leader of this band of holy virgins.
Eventually, by (I think, I'm doing this from memory) the 10th c. Ursula was
generally considered the leader.  THe story was amplified in a series of
Passiones.  In 1106, during construction of the new walls around the
expanded perimeter of Cologne, a huge burial ground was uncovered.  THis
was believed to be the burial of the (now) 11,000 Virgins of Cologne.
Excavations began - revealing a huge drove of relics.  Inscriptions were
recorded (thus were "discovered" a great many of the names of the holy
virgins, including Ursula's betrothed, Aetherius).  Elizabeth of Shonau was
among those consulted for verification of the relics and names.  (as I
recall it was St. Verena - a member of the 11,000 virgins, whose relics
were at Shonau, who provided Elizabeth with these revelations.)  Anyway,
over the course of the 12th century, the cult grew and the Legend was
further expanded, arriving at the version which is given by Jacobus de
Voragine.
The cult center was the titular church in Cologne, now called St. Ursula,
but known in the Middle Ages as the Church of the 11,000 Virgins.  Indeed a
perusal of liturgical manuscripts prior to the 15-16th century reveals that
the cult was known by its corporate nature - 11,000 virgins.  Cologne
engaged in a great export of relics (having 11,000 bodies, they had some to
spare).  The cult spread accross the face of Europe by the 14th c.  Still
the principal cache of relics can be found in the titular church in Cologne
(the 17th century Goldene Kammer alone contains some 122 reliquary busts
and around 700 skulls).  Other collections of these relics were also vast,
such as the Strahov monastery in Prague, which in 1285 claimed 60 heads,
while Altenberg abbey claimed 1,000 heads.

Forgive me......I ramble on.   To answer the original question: Yes this is
the same St. Ursula in whose honor Hildegard of Bingen composed hymns and
antiphons.

THe following is a list of just aa few sources that might be of interest:
Wilhelm Levison, "Das Werden der Ursula-Legende", Bonner Jahrbucher, 132,
1927, 1-164.
	(critical study of the development of the Legend)
Hermann Crombach, S. Ursula Vindicata........, Cologne, 1647.
	(major compendium of Ursula lore)
Guy de Tervarent, Le legende de Sainte Ursule dans la litterature et l'art
du Moyen Age, 2 vols., Paris,
	1931.
Frank Gunther Zehnder, Sankt ursula. Legende-Verehrung-Bilderwelt, Cologne,
1985.
Veronika Hopmann and Joseph Solzbacher, Die Legende der hl. Ursula,
Cologne, 1964.
Frank Gunther Zehnder, Die Heilige Ursula und ihre elftausend Jungfrauen,
(exhibition catalogue, Cologne,

  	Wallraf-Richartz Museum, 1978), Cologne, 1978.
C. M. Kauffmann, The Legend of St. Ursula, London, 1964.
Oskar Karpa, Kolnische Reliquienbusten der gotischen Zeit aus dem
Ursulakreis (von ca. 1300 bis ca.
	1450), Dusseldorf, 1934.
Scott B. Montgomery, The Use and Perception of Reliquary Busts in the Late
Middle Ages,
	(Ph.D. dissertation, Rutgers University, 1996)
	(chapter 7: "Caput sancatum undecim milium virginum: THe Corporate
Identity of the Reliquary
		Busts of the Eleven Thousand Virgins, pages 307-362)


At last year's Medieval Congress at Kalamazoo, Joan Holladay (University of
Texas, Austin) and I chaired a session on the cult of St. Ursula and the
Eleven Thousand Virgins of Cologne.

Those interested in Hildegard's music in honor of the 11,000 virgins might
enjoy the most recent CD by Anonymous 4, which bears a title of something
akin to "THe 11,000 Virgnins".
Enjoy!



As I am presently working on this subject, I would naturally be more than
happy to discuss this in greater detail with individuals who are
interested.  THank you for indulging me this long response to a simple
question.

Cheers,
	Scott B. Montgomery
	The University of Iowa

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