Cathedral De Compastela
The Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela is at the end of a very long and arduous but informative road that often started in France and led into Northern Spain. The road to Santiago served as one of the main centers of civilization in the twelfth century, at the height of its international fame and importance. During this time people did not readily have access to information such as we do now. Many of the people in the Middle Ages did not know how to read or write and did not have other resources to get any inkling of what was happening it the world. By going on pilgrimage to Santiago, people had an opportunity to interact with others. They also received some education from the churches and the relics within them. The relics served as conveyers of the history of both the regions in which they were found as well as the history of Christianity.
Saint James, an apostle to Christ was the main draw of pilgrims to Santiago. It is believed that his body is buried beneath the Cathedral at Santiago de Compostela. Saint James was one of the first apostles to suffer martyrdom in Jerusalem in 44CE. Saint James and his relics were especially important to the pilgrims of the Middle Ages in that he lived in Spain and fought against the Moors. During this time, Christian Europe was constantly fighting the Moors for control of Spain. During the battle of Clavijo, near Nájera in 845 CE, St. James was nicknamed the "Moor Slayer" because the Christian Spaniards suddenly saw the Apostle [James] descend from the sky mounted on a white charger, having in one hand a snow-white banner on which was displayed a blood red cross, and in the other a flashing sword. St. James single-handed slew sixty thousand Moors (Starkie 23). The story of the miracle that St. James had performed led to the cult of St. James and thousands of pilgrims flocked to behold his bones in Spain.
In fact, so many pilgrims traveled the roads to Santiago that the pilgrimage was only third to Jerusalem and Rome. Out of the cathedral and the cult of the Saint arose the town of Santiago which one of the main centers of civilization at the time. Hospitals were commissioned by the Spanish government and an economy based on tourism grew and flourished. Pilgrims needed housing and food, but they also wanted souvenirs of their journey. They bought "holy relics," toes of Saints, the milk of the Virgin Mary and slivers of the actual cross, to name a few. The road to Santiago was a virtual highway of information. People of all classes and social standing traveled together. Kings, knights, Clergymen and peasants all traveled together. Information came as stories from pilgrim to pilgrim, but also from experience. In a journal kept by Domenico Laffi in 1673, Laffi talks of the museums, churches, large cities and small villages he saw as well as holy ceremonies and discussions with fellow pilgrims.
Pilgrims became carriers of information. Not only did they interact with all they met and saw, but then they returned home and shared this information with others who could not make the pilgrimage. The actual pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela became as holy as the shrine itself. Books were written about it, not only journals like the one by Laffi, but fictional tales and especially the Codex Calitinus. The Codex Calitinus was a series of five books all written about the cathedral and the pilgrim roads. One book is an actual travel guide while other books contain spiritual psalms and songs and historical folklore validating the cult of St. James. In an age where the most people never had an opportunity to travel beyond their village, pilgrimage was an important means of learning about one's world. The pilgrims themselves gathered a wealth of information, but they also served to bring worldly information back to the village. As the pilgrim on the road gathered and exchanged information they ceased being the vesicle of information. The pilgrim him/herself actually became the information.
See the following related pages:
Cult of St. James
Domenico Laffi
Codex Calixtinus
