When late medieval poets prefigure the Virgin by the Temple, they often do so in a litany of praises or sometimes in a reworking of a well-known hymn. In this way, when poets set out a ‘litany of epithets often applied to Mary’ in a medieval poem or hymn, they seem to confirm the value that such litanies had for medieval people. Among the best-known litanies are those in Gonzalo de Berceo's Marian works. Saying familiar names had the power to overcome evil and to weave a web of goodness within which the sinner could shelter. Poets use epithets such as ‘trasmontana de la mar’, ‘resplandor del día’, ‘clarifica estrella’, or ‘clara estrella Diana’, as light imagery. They also use images of flowing water and garden images. Some epithets have merited little commentary and have often been misinterpreted.

It is easy for readers several centuries later to minimize the importance and power that these oft-repeated titles for the Virgin might have had for poets and authors. So, when late medieval poets call the Virgin ‘templo’, Temple, as in ‘templo del divino amor’, Temple of God's love, or ‘templo bien auenturado’, blessed Temple, are these simply line-fillers or do the poets who use them intend to tap into an ageold web of goodness? In this chapter, I seek to uncover some of the long-forgotten meanings of such epithets for the Virgin, showing how she could be allegorized as a Temple and examining biblical, theological, liturgical, and literary sources.

The Temple and its Sacred Spaces: Poetic Titles for the Virgin in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries

The Temple and its attributes had a long history of repetition in books of hours, particularly at the feasts of the Virgin. The objects held in its bounds were also mentioned frequently: tabernacle, sanctuary, or Ark. In this section, I will assess whether poets and authors merely repeat age-old concepts or whether they use such figures differently.

One example of a seemingly tired rendition of epithets is the Loores de Nuestra Señora, the Praises of Our Lady, by Pedro de Santa Fé (†c.1435).