The site was five acres, and the building is described in the letters patent " as a fitting and noble college mansion in honour of the most glorious Virgin Mary and St Bernard in Northgates Street outside the Northgate of Oxford."
In the earliest periods of Christian art this splendour was confined to the figures of the persons of the Godhead, but it was afterwards extended to the Virgin Mary and to several of the saints.
They are held in the public square, the curious and historic Piazza del Campo (now Piazza di Vittorio Emanuele) in shape resembling an ancient theatre, on the 2nd of July and the 16th of August of each year; they date from the middle ages and were instituted in commemoration of victories and in honour of the Virgin Mary (the old title of Siena, as shown by seals and medals, having been "Sena vetus civitas Virginis").
The noveschi, being "fat burghers" with powerful connexions, abilities and traditions, gained increased strength and influence in exile; and five years later, on 22nd July 1487, they returned triumphantly to Siena, dispersed the few adherents of the popolo who offered resistance, murdered the captain of the people, reorganized the state, and placed it under the protection of the Virgin Mary.
Another development of the legend is that in which, having rejected many offers of marriage, she was taken to heaven in vision and betrothed to Christ by the Virgin Mary.
