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Barbara, Andrew and an unidentified female saint.

Date of news: 30 November 2015

Fol. 146r

On the left-hand side of the miniature we see Saint Barbara of Nicomedia (feast day December 4) with Andrew the Apostle (feast day November 30) depicted in the middle. Both saints are accompanied by their attributes. Andrew was tied to an X-shaped cross on which he eventually died. This type of cross later became known as a Saint Andrew’s cross. Behind Barbara we see the tower in which she was locked up by her heathen father to prevent her from being influenced by wrong, i.e. Christian, ideas. Both Andrew and Barbara died a martyr’s death. The identity of the woman on the right is unknown. As the prayers following the miniature only address Andrew and Barbara, they do not provide any clues as to who she is. The book in the woman’s hand is too common a symbol to be able to identify her by. Read more about this mysterous lady in our blog post 'Who's that girl?'