Notes

  This is the standard gesture of feudal submission in the Middle Ages, with which a vassal pledged his fealty to his feudal lord, or monks and nuns pledged loyalty to their superiors.

  That is, the "Hail Mary."

  10 February. Scholastica (c. 480-c. 543) was St Benedict's sister and was traditionally regarded as the first Benedictine nun.

  That is, Christmas Eve (December 24).

  It was widely believed in the Middle Ages that Mary's parents had offered her to the Temple at an early age and that she had grown up there until she reached puberty and was married to Joseph.

  Here Elizabeth alludes to the Immaculate Conception.

  The seven petitions that follow are structured on the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit, derived from Is 11:2-3.

  The Latin MS here reads humilitatem (i.e. humility); I have conjecturally emended it to uoluntatem.

  The Latin MS here reads sciencia, which must be corrupt.

  That is, in saying "Hail Mary, full of grace," Gabriel was recognising the graces bestowed on her.

  The Latin MS reads magnum here, clearly a mistake for manum.

  This was the year of St Elizabeth of Thuringia's death.