ETAPA 3

St. Kunera (4th century) is known in the medieval diocese of Utrecht, but not so much outside the Low Countries.^®® She was one of the eleven thousand virgins who supposedly went with the British St. Ursula (4th century) to Rome on a pilgrimage. (However, in the legend of Ursula in the Passionaei, Kunera is not mentioned.) When, on their return, the virgins were ambushed and killed by the Huns at Cologne, Kunera escaped martyrdom and was saved by Radboud, King of the Rhine. He took her to his palace at Rhenen where she lived such a

virtuous life that he handed her the keys 'of all his things'. The Queen became jealous and together with her maiden murdered Kunera with a scarf and they

buried her in the stables. Upon his return home from a hunting party the king's horses refused to go in the stables. A dramatic woodcut portrays both the murder and the unwilling horses.^®® After a miracle with burning candles indicating the place where her body lay buried, she was duly discovered. The Queen was driven mad by her husband and committed suicide. He converted his palace into a church dedicated to the virgin. Her relics, among which the scarf, stayed in the church at Rhenen until the early seventeenth century.

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In fact, this incunable contains the prologue as well. There is one edition extant, which I have used ([Leiden, Govert van Ghem en, between 1496 and 1504]). The incunable is in possession of the Hessische Landes- und Hochschulbibliothek in Darmstadt. I have consulted the microfilm made available to me at The Hague KB shelf mark O D 445. The version in the Passionaei (Veldener), somerstuc, kunera, fols. N N 6-N N 7v is rather brief compared to this incunable. For bibliographical details and description of the book, see Kronenberg, M .E., 'Een onbekende 15e eeuwsche druk van Sinte Kunera's Leven en Passie', H et boek 20 (1931), pp. 331-344, and for main characteristics, see Debaene,

Volksboeken, p. 257. There is a facsimile of a later edition (ca. 1515): D a t leven ende die passie ende verheffinghe vender heiligher m aget sinte Kunera, zonder plaats en Jaar (c. 1515), w. ed. ('s-Gravenhage, 1902). The incunable on which the latter edition is based has been transcribed by Combrink, J. ed., D at leven van Kunera. Getranscribeerd, van annotaties en een inleiding voorzien (Historische heuvelrug-reeks I; Rhenen, 1988). Buuren, F. van, 'Sint Cunera van Rhenen, een legende', Gouden Legenden.

Heiligenlevens en heiligenverering in de Nederlanden, A. Mulder-Bakker en M. Carasso- Kok eds. (Hilversum, 1997), pp. 109-125. For an outdated but still informative article with an emphasis on retracing Kunera's movements, see Kist, N.C., 'De Reenensche Kunera- Legende, in betrekking tot die van Sinte Ursula en de Elfduizend maagden',

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Kunera's cult may have had an impetus after the discovery of a churchyard in Cologne in the mid-twelfth century which allegedly contained the remains of the virgin martyrs and their retinue and which stimulated devotion towards these martyrs. Kunera was of course not among them, but she appears to have been venerated in the Low Countries and the Rhineland before the fifteenth century. To add to Kunera's Life a semblance of truth and extra holiness is the fact that the trustworthy St. Willibrord (658-739) makes an appearance. He is actively involved in her translatio, by personally taking spade in hand, digging up her remains and the scarf she was strangled with.^^^ Radboud (690-719) has been identified as a King of the Frisians who had a residence near R h e n e n .T h e legend has composite elements from various centuries.

It is not clear who wrote the Life and Passion, but there was a Latin precursor. The dates which are cited in the miracles range from 1380 to 1446. At Rhenen a guild was established in her name in 1392. The brothers and sisters bound themselves to sing vespers and follow a mass on set times of the week, to bury their members and pray for the souls of the departed.P apal legate Nicolas of Cusa, sent to the Netherlands to deliver papal indulgences in the aftermath of the Holy Year 1450, left a licence to the church to parcel out indulgences to those

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Kunera, fol. a lv . The same woodcut was later used in a book on horses, showing Kunera but with the scarf etched out, Kronenberg, M .E., 'Later gebruik van een der Kunera- houtneden', H et boek 2^ (1933), pp. 287-290.

Apparently, the place of her cult attracted many pilgrims at the end of the early middle ages, see Berbée, P.A.J.S., ' 'Bedevaart' en 'pelgrimstocht' in Nederland. O ver oude termen en nieuwe methoden in bedevaartonderzoek', In de schaduw van de eeuwigheid.

Tien studies over reiigie en samenieving in iaatmiddeieeuws Nederland aangeboden aan prof. dr. A.M. Bredero, N. Lettinck en J.J. van Moolenbroek eds. (Utrecht, 1986), p. 175. However, as witnessed by the late medieval miracles wrought by the saint, it appears that she was venerated in the fifteenth century too.

Kunera, fol. bSv.

Haakm an, G .C ., Rhenen en omstreken (Amersfoort, 1847), p. 108.

The text of the formation act is transcribed by Iterson, W . van, 'De stichtingsbrieven van het St. Cuneragilde te Rhenen en het ellendige gilde te Eembrug', Rechtshistorische opsteiien aangeboden aan A.S. de Biécourt, J.B. Welters ed. (Groningen, Batavia, 1939), pp. 41-53. About forty female members appear to have signed their names on the parchment when they were included in the guild.

who assisted in the upkeep to the church.^®'’ The church had sufficient funds to start building a tower in 1492. The cult of Kunera flourished from the third part of the fourteenth at least until the end of the fifteenth century.

The twenty seven miracles which accompany the Life and Passion are mostly situated in the Betuwe and the bishopric of Utrecht. Of importance to us are not those in which Kunera was thought to have performed miracles with an

equestrian background, but those in which she is called upon as a comforter of people in fear and despair.^®^ Also, historical persons are mentioned, including Eleanor, daughter of Edward III of England, married to Rainald II (1326-1343), Duke of Guelders and the Augustinian hermit Nicolaas van Dordrecht. The latter appears in three miracles and he is actively promoting the saint to a heavily pregnant woman experiencing a difficult labour.^®®

Significant topics are Kunera's virtuous life as a virgin saint which earned her the love and protection of her protector and the miracles. It is not mentioned for whom the incunable was intended but it served to better its a u d ie n ce .T h e laity feature predominantly in the miracles, and this suggests that the legend was

intended for them.

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A transcription and a Dutch translation are appended by Haakman, Rhenen, pp. 300-301. The church appears to have received funds from pilgrims.

Kunera, fol. a2.

Kunera, Eleanor appears on fols, c l-c iv ; Nicolaas and the pregnant woman on fols. d3- d3v, Nicolaas and the parents who save their blaspheming insane son by displaying devotion to Kunera on fols. c5v-c6; Nicolaas and the parents who save their blind child by having it put into contact with the saint's scarf on fols, d l- d lv . The Augustinian hermits offered spiritual care to craftsmen in particular, Axters, S., Geschiedenis van de vroomheid in de Nederlanden (4 vols., Antwerpen, 1956), III, pp. 350-356. The Augustinian hermits from Dordrecht were active in Utrecht, Rhenen and Zaltbommel, Henderikx, P.A., D e oudste bedelordekloosters in het graafschap Holland en Zeeland. H et ontstaan van bedelordekloosters voor ca. 1310 te Dordrecht, Middelburg, Zierikzee en Haarlem, alsmede enige aspecten van de plaats van deze kloosters in het stedelijk leven en daarbuiten gedurende de middeleeuwen (Hollandse studiën 10; Dordrecht, 1977), p. 47. It enabled them to promote local saints to local people.

1.3.1.8 Leven van Liedwij, die maghet van Schiedam, by Johannes