The study of medieval architecture can lead one down many paths. Formally analyzing architectural design and building techniques, identifying models and influences, and examining architectural symbolism are all valid approaches that each lead in some degree to an understanding of a particular monument or group of monuments in the medieval world. Another path, one that I shall follow here, concerns the examination of literary sources and, more specifically, the accounts of miracles associated with church building in Norman Italy during the eleventh and twelfth centuries (Figure 3.1).