Blinded by the Light: Experience, Narrative, and Identity in Late Medieval and Early Modern Jaén

Modern histories of the shrine of Nuestra Señora de la Capilla (Our Lady of the Chapel) in Jaén, Spain emphasize the continuity of devotions at the site and the importance of tradition in local religious culture. The shrine's origins lie in the testimony of four witnesses who, in 1430, recounted in detail their experiences of seeing a heavenly procession. These witnesses, however, made little attempt to decipher the meaning of what they saw. That interpretation came only much later, as seventeenth‐century authors fit it into their narratives of Jaén's central role in the “reconquest” of Spain. This article examines how successive efforts to translate the lived experiences of these individuals — in their own testimony, as reframed by later writers, and as incorporated into civic traditions — have structured the experiences of generations of local residents.