Piety, Blood and Conversion: Notes on the Jewish Child of Bourges in the Cantigas de Santa Maria
Abstract
This article studies cantiga 4 of the Cantigas de Santa Maria corpus, dedicated to the Jewish child of Bourges. The approach is based on anthropological postulates regarding liminality, understanding conversion stories as liminal experiences mediated by the cult image. From this framework, the textual and visual development of the composition will be analysed, as well as the role of the Marian effigy. The main argument is to understand the absence of the baptismal scene, understanding the child's stay in the oven as a baptism of blood. A comparison with an apocryphal miracle from the Infancy of Christ, preserved in the Bodleian Library (MS. Selden Supra 38), will help us to define the peculiarities of our case. This will lead us to address issues of anti-Semitism, conversion, and baptism as a liminal ritual.
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