The Pilgrimage Across Medieval Spain Essay, Research Paper

This is my second submission of this essay because I wanted a more appropriate title. Sorry.

THE PILGRIMAGE ACROSS MEDIEVAL SPAIN: “El Camino de Santiago”

The Camino de Santiago began for most 10th century pilgrims in Paris,

on Rue de St.Jacques. It stretched over 1,700 kms. through France and Spain, terminating at the north door of the great cathedral in Santiago. The road was lined with monasteries and charitable hostels, run for the benefit of the pilgrims making their long journey to see the relics of St. lago. An order of knights was established for their protection along the way. There is even a 12th century book, written by a French monk about the details of this road and it is considered to be the world’s first tourist guide book. The pilgrimage to Santiago was an extraordinary phenomenon of travel in an age when most people would scarcely venture outside the town or village in which they were born. So why did so many pilgrims risk their lives to make such a journey? The answer was simply one of blind faith. They believed in the power of miracles and were told that their journey would guarantee them remission of half their time in Hell. They did not doubt for a moment that the tomb beneath the high altar of Compostela Cathedral held the true remains of St. James the Apostle, first cousin to Jesus Christ. It seemed scarcely credible to these pilgrims that the whole business was an immense ecclesiastical fraud! The legend of how the bones of St. lago reached this part of Spain bears this out at each point in its development. The legend begins with a claim that lago (James) journeyed to northwest Spain to convert its inhabitants to Christianity. However, the Bible never specifies exactly where James went on his evangelistic crusade into Spain.Then James returned to Jerusalem where he was (in fact) beheaded by Herod Agrippa in 44 A.D. for his energetic propagation of the faith, becoming the first of the followers of Jesus to attain martyrdom.The legend of Santiago records that two of James’ disciples removed his corpse from its grave and by the end of seven days had transported it to the coast of northern Spain at Iria Flavia (now Padron) where it was reburied further inland in a Roman cemetery and then lost and forgotten for 750 years! Ford wrote in 1845, that the supposed “seven day” voyage was extremely fast-paced “since the Oriental Steamship Company can do nothing like it.” In 813 A.D., the remains of St. lago were miraculously discovered at the present site of Santiago’s cathedral by a shepherd who happened to see a strangely bright star hovering over a cemetery. Recent excavations beneath the cathedral floor have coincidentally uncovered the remains of a Roman mausoleum, adding credence to the legend of the bright star. In fact, the last part of the city’s name, “Compostela”, is possibly derived from the Latin, “campus stellae”, meaning “countryside where a star shone,” but most historians believe it is most likely from the Latin, “compost terra”, meaning “burial ground” or “cemetery”. The 9th century was a particularly opportune time for the Spanish church. Over the previous 100 years, the Moslem Moors had swept across the Iberian peninsula gaining control over all but the northern mountain kingdom of Asturias. In doing so, the Moors introduced a concept entirely new to the West, that of the “Jehad” or Holy War. The Moors seemed to draw great strength and inspiration from their champion, the Prophet Mohammed, whose death in 632 A.D. was still in popular memory and from whose body a single bone had been preserved in the great mosque at Cordoba in southern Spain. It did not take much imagination to infer in these Dark Ages, how the Moslems had gained their ascendance in Spain. Similarly, the discovery of the bones of St. lago together with the legend of their origin was the perfect Christian opening to begin their own “Jehad”. Alphonso II, the Christian king of the northern province of Asturias, visited the site of the discovery of the relics and built a small chapel and shrine on that spot. The saint was adopted and Spain had found its champion against the Moslem invasion. Over the next six centuries, Santiago Matamoros, the Moor Slayer, as he came to be known, miraculously “appeared” at some forty battles against the Moors, even assisting in the massacre of the American Indians in the New World. It was an odd role for a fisherman-evangelist but presented no problems for the Christian propagandists. It was the age of the First Crusade (1085) and the reconquest of the Moslem controlled Holy Land had begun. People of Christian doctrine wanted to believe in the legend of St.Iago so it gained a kind of truth. As Ford so acidly wrote, “If people can even believe that St. Iago ever came to Spain at all, the rest is clear sailing.” In the 11th century, there were three possible pilgrimages for Christians. Those who journeyed to Rome were called “Romeros.” Those who journeyed to Jerusalem were called “Palmeros,” but only those who made the hazardous journey to Santiago were allowed to be called “Pilgrims”. In sanctity, each journey was considered equal.The Way of St. James, as it is customarily called in English, was primarily a French route, originating in Paris. It is estimated that of all the pilgrims who took this road 80 per cent were from outside of Spain and most of those were from France. It must be remembered that the French did not want the Moorish onslaught to sweep eastward into France and so, the Catholic church in France was only too eager to promote the myth of St. lago if it would be an aid to the Spanish armies who were attempting to reconquer the Iberian peninsula back from the Moslem infidels. The pilgrim route was lined with monasteries, hostels and churches where French was spoken and where French priests officiated.If one could have gathered with the crowd that might have assembled around the Tour St. Jacques on the left bank of the Seine River in Paris one spring morning in the Middle Ages, it would not be uncommon to have seen perhaps 200 people from all parts of Europe convening to form a band of pilgrims ready to begin their arduous and dangerous journey to the tomb of St. lago in the cathedral at Santiago. Many of this assembled group would have been Christian laymen seeking salvation, some of whom would have been in an advanced state of age and would die on route. There would have been knights who in battle vowed to make the journey if they survived their Crusade. They rode horses and took their ladies with them. There were monks and priests, and sometimes even cardinals who had dreamed for years of visiting Santiago as the crown of their life within the church. As well, there were criminals who were told by their judges, “Five years in jail, or pilgrimage to the tomb of St. James, whichever.” These criminals, if this is the proper term for them, for many of their offences were petty, were required to obtain a certificate at Santiago called a “Compostela”, proving the completion of their pilgrimage. In Spanish border cities like Pamplona, a lively trade operated in these certificates because of the businessmen who made frequent journeys to Santiago to collect their certificates and then sell them to those who did not wish to undergo the hazards of western Spain. The criminal laid out good money for the certificate and then had a high time in Spanish inns returning to France seven months later to submit his proof to the sentencing judge. Another group of people undergoing the pilgrimage were the beggars, robbers, forgers and thieves who moved forward and backward along the long pilgrimage road, living off of the travellers for years at a time. The sixth group amongst those waiting to leave Paris on their journey were the merchants, architects, itinerant painters, weavers and other craftsmen who used the road as a marketplace. Among those persons were the French who were more interested colonialism than religion. The buildings they erected along the route to Santiago were outwardly churches and monasteries but inwardly, they were intended as future stepping stones for the French kings. All the groups however had one thing in common. They wore the same uniform, famous throughout Europe: a heavy cape which served as a raincoat and a nightly blanket; a two and a half meter staff with a gourd attached at one end for carrying water; the heaviest kind of sandal for hiking such a long distance and a curious kind of broad-brimmed felt hat, turned up in front and marked with a few bright scallop shells. “I shall take the cockle shell” became the pilgrim’s cry throughout Europe. Already, the French had learned to make a famous dish from their visits to Santiago; scallops in wine sauce served in a scallop shell and hence known as “coquile St. Jacques.” The scallop shell is the pilgrimage symbol emblazoned on half the churches in Spain, and on many coats of arms.