Three Kings, 11,000 Virgins

This black and white picture hangs in a stairwell in the main building of the Universitaet Koeln. I took my picture of it today after attending a class on Causality. You may be wondering why the 600 year anniversary of the university was commemorated by a picture of bathroom door icons performing a nativity scene. Well.

It turns out that one of the ways Cologne became an important city in the middle ages was through its acquisition of numerous Christian relics. Thousands of pilgrims would make the trip to Cologne every year to see or be near these marvels, the most important of which were the supposed bones of the Three Kings. These bones had somehow made their way to Milan, but were seized by Holy Roman Emperor Frederic Barbarossa, and given by him to the Archbishop of Koeln, Rainald of Dassel, in 1164. (The archbishops of Cologne generally got along well with the Emperor and/or Pope, receiving all sorts of nice things besides relics, like customs duties for travel on the Rhine and the right to use coins.)


The popular medieval goldsmith Nicholas of Verdun designed the shrine for these bones, which, judging from the photo of it, allows a little peek at the King's craniums, outfitted with crowns and rather cutely huddled together. (I didn't notice that when I saw it recently; the viewing angle is a little weird.) Construction of the cathedral to house the shrine began in 1248, and continued swiftly for about 100 years, then slowed down over the next 200 years and halted completely in 1560. The Gothic revival of the 19th century picked up where things had left off, and construction was wrapped up in under 40 years, by 1880.

In any case, the three kings have long been a city symbol for Cologne. Thus their incorporation into the university propaganda, as well as Cologne's coat of arms, which has three crowns at the top.

Beneath the crowns you'll see 11 black flames. These symbolize the martyrdom St. Ursula and her 11,000 virgin companions. It happened like this (well, probably not): The English Princess Ursula was passing through Cologne with 11,000 virgins. The city was at the time occupied by the Huns, and when Ursula refused to marry their heathen leader, everyone was killed. The number 11,000 was a late addition to a story which initially included only 10 virgins. There are a number of interesting theories as to how the number got inflated, involving e.g. misreading of latin abbreviations or the necessity of accounting for an abundance of "relics." The few of you who might be interested can read about them here.


Note also that the coat of arms for the British Virgin Islands has 11 lamps, surrounding a woman with a lamp. Columbus discovered these islands after being blown off-course sometime after 1493. All the tiny islands and rocks dotting the ocean around the main islands reminded him of the 11,000 murdered virgins. Naturally. He named them Santa Ursula y las Once Mil Vírgenes, shortened later to Las Vírgenes.

I don't know exactly why flames and lamps are used to represent Ursula and her crew, but I imagine it harkens back to the vestal virgins and the flame they tended. That's just a guess.