Domina misericordiae: Miracle narratives and the Virgin Mary, 1130--1230

Devotion to the Virgin flourished in the centuries following the turn of the millenium. One way in which this is visible is through the numerous Marian miracle narratives composed in the period. Previous scholars have looked at these texts as part of a twelfth-century renaissance, viewing Marian devotion as part of a movement towards a more humanistic, universal, and merciful Christianity. This dissertation seeks to reexamine this historiographical construct through a study of several twelfth- and thirteenth-century Marian miracle collections from throughout Europe, focusing particularly on those from the Midi and the Iberian peninsula.;Chapter 1 examines the association between Mary and miracles of justice and punishment, showing how Mary could be shown to act like a lord. Chapter 2 moves from this exploration of the Virgin as domina to examining the long association between Mary and the suppression of heretics. With the rise of devotion to the incarnate Christ, the issue of the virgin birth became increasingly contested. This association between Mary and the defense of the faith formed the background to the Marian miracle collections of the period. These issues could be highly developed at individual monasteries, as Chapters 3 argues. Examining a single manuscript from the monastery of Santa Maria de Ripoll in the southern foothills of the Pyrenees, this chapter shows how the monks of that house portrayed Mary as a model for the monastery itself, a tower defending against all attacks and impregnable against doubt. Chapter 4 examines what it was like to read a miracle collection in its entirety, in its codicological and historical context. Looking at an early thirteenth-century manuscript from the monastery of Santa Maria de Santes Creus this chapter shows how the monastic scribes transformed Mary into an active figure in the fight against non-believers on the Muslim-Christian frontier.