PAINTED GLASS WINDOW IN MORLEY CHURCH, DERBYSHIRE. 1 45 



in the act of adoration, held together in the cloth. The writing 

 on the phylactery is Ufa ' xixhxh ' cum ' n * HI ' Jjtrgiramt * te ' 

 angtlis ' af mtirms ' in ' alum ■ * 



The story of St. Ursula is curious, and its main features, as 

 gathered from the Cologne version of it, given by Mrs. Jameson in 

 " Sacred and Legendary Art" are as follows : — Ursula was the 

 daughter of Theonotus, King of Brittany, and his wife Daria. 

 Queen Daria died when Ursula was fifteen ; it then fell to her lot 

 to fill the place of her mother, this she did to admiration. Ursula 

 was famous for her great beauty, learning, and virtue ; and also for 

 her decided objection to marriage. At the same period there also 

 reigned in England a king named Agrippinus, who had a son 

 Conon, who was a man of great beauty and physical strength. 

 He heard of Ursula, and sought her in marriage. The king, his 

 father, accordingly sent ambassadors to the king of Brittany, who, 

 knowing that his daughter had made a vow of virginity, was 

 puzzled how to act, not desiring to offend Agrippinus. Seeing 

 how things were, Ursula came to the rescue and requested that 

 she might be permitted to reply. Her request being granted, she 

 delivered the following message to the Ambassadors : " I hold 

 myself bound to your king as to a second father, and to the prince 

 his son as my brother and bridegroom, for to no other will I ever 

 listen. But I have to ask three things. First, he shall give for me 

 as my ladies and companions ten virgins of the noblest blood in 

 his kingdom, and to each of these a thousand attendants, and to 

 me also a thousand maidens to wait on me. Secondly, he shall 

 permit me for the space of three years to honour my virginity, 

 and, with my companions, to visit the holy shrines where repose 

 the bodies of the 'saints.' And my third demand is, that the 

 prince and his court shall receive baptism ; for other than a per- 

 fect Christian I cannot wed." 



The princess Ursula thought by this means to place an insur- 



* Dr. Cox remarks that the wording of this inscription, as well as the num- 

 ber of virgins depicted, is most strikingly confirmatory of the view that " eleven 

 thousand" is a comparatively modern gloss for "eleven" — the M signifying 

 martyrs and not thousands. 



*3 



