Amy G. Remensnyder

“These waters are hers”—this declaration by the Cantigas de Santa María in its account of Mary’s miraculous protection of the Muslim merchants coming to El Puerto de Santa María could well be extended to the whole of the Mediterranean. Ringed by her shrines, navigated by her wonder-working icons and statues, and traversed by ships bearing her name on which sailors recited daily prayers to her and people in panic beseeched her, this sea indeed by the later middle ages belonged to Mary.

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Originally published in Ein Meer und seine Heiligen: Hagiographie im mittelalterlichen Mediterraneum, ed. Nikolas Jaspert and Marco di Branco (Paderborn: Wilhelm Fink, 2018). Republished here with thanks.