Abou-El-Haj (Barbara)_Santiago de Compostela in the Time of Diego Gelmirez

8/20/2019 Abou-El-Haj (Barbara)_Santiago de Compostela in the Time of Diego Gelmirez

1/16

Santiago de Compostela in the Time of Diego GelmírezAuthor(s): Barbara Abou-El-Haj

Source: Gesta, Vol. 36, No. 2, Visual Culture of Medieval Iberia (1997), pp. 165-179Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the International Center of Medieval ArtStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/767236 .

Accessed: 28/09/2013 06:56

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of

content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms

of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

The University of Chicago Press and International Center of Medieval Art are collaborating with JSTOR to

digitize, preserve and extend access to Gesta.

http://www.jstor.org

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=ucpresshttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=icmahttp://www.jstor.org/stable/767236?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/stable/767236?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=icmahttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=ucpress


2/16

Santiago

de

Compostela

in

the Time of

Diego

Gelmirez'

BARBARA

ABOU-EL-HAJ

Binghamton University,

SUNY

Abstract

Santiago

de

Compostela

is

examined

in

the

context

of

Diego

Gelmirez's

supra-regional

and

regional,

ecclesi-

astical and

seigniorial

ambitions.

His lavish

enterprises,

which

catalyzed

two

communal

rebellions,

nclude

artistic

programs

designed

to

make visible

the

prelate's

repre-

sentation of his

apostolic

see. Each of

Gelmirez's

ad-

vances

toward

raising

his

see to

metropolitan

ank

(and

expanding

his

lordship

in

western

Galicia)

is noted

to-

gether

with

the

architectural

esign

and

decoration

of the

new

cathedral.

Among

these

advances,

the

systematic

production

f

the cult of

St. James has been

undervalued

and

the

pilgrims

attracted

by

the

cult

have

been

regarded

as the

cathedral's

unique

audience.

When the violent at-

tacks

by burghers

and

canons on the

cathedral and

the

prelate

are

integrated nto hishistory, ocalaudiences can

be understood as

the

target

of

specific

sets of

images.

These include

particularly ggressive figures

of the urban

vices of lust and

avarice,

the

latter conceived

icono-

graphically

as a

type

for

Judas to whom the

communards

are

repeatedlycompared

n

Gelmirez's

chronicle,

he His-

toria

Compostellana.

Historians of

Santiago

de

Compostela

in

the time of

Diego

Gelmirez

have examined the

means

by

which

the

prel-

ate

raised himself to

bishop,

archbishop,

and

preeminent

ord

of

western Galicia

without

assessing

the

role Gelmirez's

av-

ish

artistic

projects

might

have

played

in

these endeavors.

Art

historians

have examined

building

technology,

architectural

design and models, and the content of the sculpturalrepre-

sentations to

identify

how

the

cathedral and its

decoration

projected

Gelmirez's ambitions for

his

apostolic

see and

ad-

dressed

pilgrims

attracted in

large

numbers to St. James's

shrine,

without

assessing

either

the social

consequences

of

excessive

building

on

the

cathedral

chapter

and

the

town,

or

the

responses

to these

groups

that

may

have been

embedded

in

the

sculpture.2

In

either

case,

discussion is framed

within

regional

and

supra-regional

nvironments.

This

paper

calls for

the

local to be

examined

in

equal

measure to

the

regional

and

supra-regional.

The

spectacles

orchestrated for

the

cult

of

St.

James attractedan

alternativeaudience to

local

dissidents,

pilgrim

visitors who

would

have

experienced

the

cathedral's

imposing space,

images,

liturgies

and

processions

in

the ab-

sence of the

seigniorial

authorityby

which

they

were

created

in

the first

place.

Such celebrations

counterpose

the

equally

spectacular

rebellions

staged

a few

years

prior

to the mid-

and

endpoints

of

the

reign

of

Gelmirez,

whose

ambitiousand

volatile record

will serve as

the framework for

discussion.

Gelmirez's

rise from

cathedraladministratorof

Santiago

de

Compostela

(1093-1094;

1096-1100)

to

bishop

in

1100

and then

archbishop

n

1120 relied

upon

the

successful

stag-

ing

of the

apostolic

cult of St. James and

the installation

of

the apostle'schurch as the principalpilgrimagedestinationof

northwest

Europe.

Neither could

have been

a

foregone

con-

clusion even

at the

height

of

pilgrimage

in the firsthalf of

the

twelfth

century.

A successful

cult,

however that

may

be

con-

strued,

had

to be constructed: in

texts,

spectacles,

liturgies,

processions,

all

staged

within

dramatic

architecture and

ar-

ticulated in abundant

images.

In other

words,

cults had

to

be

articulated

in the

opulent

topographies

that

transfigured

highly particularized

activities into transcendent

events

for

which

consensus was the

object,

not the

premise.

Gelmirez'sactivities

towardthis

end were recorded

un-

der

his own

supervision

in a chronicle known

as the

Historia

Compostellana.3

They encompassed a volatile mix of eccle-

siastical and

seigniorial

initiatives

that

included,

above

all,

his

pursuit

of

metropolitan

rank

commensurate with the

ap-

ostolic statusof his

see and with his de facto

lordship

in

west-

ern

Galicia,

accomplished

by

means

of

political

and

artistic

enterprises

of

staggering

extravagance.

He

positioned

himself

to rival

Rome;

to

guarantee

the mistrust of

Toledo,

which

re-

garded Compostela

as a

competitor

for

the

primacy

of

Spain;

and

to

expand

his see at the

expense

of

Braga.4

He

might

have

expected

to

exceed

his

ambitions

when Calixtus

II,

the

brother

of his former

mentor,

Raymond

of

Burgundy,

became

pope

in

1119.

Calixtus,

however,

while

awarding

metropolitan

sta-

tus to

Compostela

the

following year,

also confirmed

Toledo

and Braga as well. Gelmirez expended a fortune or two on

shrines,

on

building,

and on bribes

to the

papal

curia5

and

to

the rulers of

Le6n-Castile.

By

1104,

he had

purchased

the

privilege

to wear

an

archbishop'spallium

on all

major

litur-

gical

feasts.6

Nonetheless,

he had to

wait until

1120

for

his

metropolitan

rank,

encouraged

by

the

large

sums

he

handed

over

to

Rome in

1118 that

likely

supported

Calixtus's

nomi-

nation to

the

papal

throne.

Another

bribe,

recorded

in

1124,

the

year

of

the

pope's

death,

must have had

a similar

purpose.

Gelmirez

simultaneously

spent

substantial sums on

Queen

Urraca,

with whom

he

engaged

in

a

protracted

struggle

over

the

succession in

Galicia from

1109 until her

death

in

1126,

alternatingbetween battles, "the queen's machinations,"and

reconciliations

cemented with

gifts.

According

to

Reilly,

the

gifts

provided

the

bishop

with the

extensive domains

that

consolidated his

position

as the

"paramount

uthority

n west

central

Galicia."7

Money

was also

"alternatelycajoled

or

ex-

torted,"

as

Fletcher

put

it,

by

Urraca's

son

Alfonso VII

well

into the 1130s.

Characterized

n

the Historia as

"immense

and

immeasurable

sums of

money,"

t

helped

to

remedy

financial

losses

afterAlmoravid

conquests

had ended

the flow of trib-

utary gold

dinars from the

south.8

Additional

resources went

GESTA

XXXVI/2 @ The

International

Center of

Medieval

Art

1997

165

This content downloaded from 193.54.110.35 on Sat, 28 Sep 2013 06:56:33 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp


3/16

ii

i

..

,

i~i~i••ii1

..

.

... ....

•

,•

:

,•

•

i i

il:• :

'•

•

,.•.•,•...........................•j;

i

........

<

•:,2

ff

•

••i

......:;i•i•...••i i• I•• •

•.....•

• ?• • •i

ii~i::•

.....

:•;i••i••~i••

•

....

• z

......

.

.

..........

. .........:•

";.........

• •

=:t•i•

::

:•'•

FIGURE 1.

Santiago

de

Compostela,

cathedral,

west

acade,

ca.

1160-1180,

with

archiepiscopal palace

to

left (after

Conant).

for a small

navy

to

assure the

safety

of

pilgrims traveling by

sea to

Santiago.9

In

the same

years,

the

bishop

remodeled the

altarof St. James into

a

splendid

shrine

and advanced the new

cathedral,

the

space

and

setting

that were

designed

to draw

pilgrims

in

the first

place (Fig.

1).

Gelmirez nherited

a cathedral

already

underconstruction

according

to an ambitious

design

formulated under

Diego

Pelhez

and Alfonso VI

(1065-1109),

who were

commemo-

rated

in

two

capitals

in

the

apse.'0

A

vast structurehad

been

planned,

funded with tribute rom Granada

promised

or

given

by

the

king

at a council held at

Santiago,

between

December

1074 and

January

1075. In

Serafin

Moralejo'selegant phrase,

the

king

and

bishop responded

to

Pope Gregory

VII,

who was

"preparingo disavow,with eloquentsilence ... the role Saint

James

played

in

the

evangelization

of

Spain

and ... his

body

at

Compostela.""'

Royal largesse,

however,

did not

guarantee

continuity

in

the

project,

which faltered within little

more

than a decade. In

1087

or

1088

Diego

Peliez

was

deposed

and

imprisoned

as a

traitor,

and Alfonso

directed Andalusi

gold

to

Cluny

in

exchange

for a

daily

commemoration

n the

masses of the dead consecrated to the

king,

his

ancestors,

and

his

descendants,

and for a small

legion

of Cluniac monks to

impose

themselves

together

with the Roman rite on

Spanish

churches in

newly conquered

territories.'2

The new

building

of

transregional

design,

on a scale that

overwhelmed the

tiny

church of Alfonso III

(Fig. 3),

would

set

Compostela among

the

most

imposing

churches

of its

day, including

not

only

the

great pilgrimage

shrines,

such

as

Saint-Sernin of Toulouse with which

it

has

been

regularly

compared,

but also

Speyer, Cluny,

Monte

Cassino, and,

above

all,

St. Peter's in

Rome,

whose

prototypical

shrine

transept

was caricatured

by Santiago's transept,

which is broader

han

the cathedral nave

(Fig.

2).13

The scale envisioned

in

this

design perfectly

suited

Diego

Gelmirez's

pursuit

of

metropol-

itan status for the

apostle's

shrine.

At

considerable

cost,

eco-

nomic and

social,

he

staged

himself as the

centerpiece

of his

own

spectacles, projecting

his cathedral and

palace

as the

setting,

and

the cult of

St.

James as an

attribute.

To that

end,

after his installation as

bishop,

Gelmirez

conducted

a

survey

of his

possessions

in

Braga,

whence he made off with the

bodies

of

St. Fructuosus and

three

others,

whom

he carried

back

to

Compostela

in a

triumphal procession.

This

classic

furta

sacra

is described in

grand

and

stereotyped phrases

in

the Historia: metby the whole population,barefoot, hebishop

and

clergy,

also

barefoot,

were

followed

into the

city by

crowds

of

people, singing hymns

and

psalms.14

Such

specta-

cles were orchestrated o attractand

energize

audiences. Even

acquisitions

of bodies or relics of saints

by

less dramaticad-

ventures

were

styled

as

thefts demanded

by

the

saints

them-

selves,

who

charged

their

pious

thieves to remove them to

sites where

they

would

be

properly

venerated."5

It is

probably

no coincidence that the collection of

mir-

acles in Book

II

of the Codex Calixtinus-the

assemblage

of

texts devoted to St. James's

liturgies,

miracles,

the fabulous

and fictionalized

exploits

of

Charlemagne,

and

the

Pilgrim's

Guidel6-rapidly

multiplied

rom

1100,

the

year

of

Gelmirez's

episcopal appointment.

Between

1100

and

1110

the

eight

mir-

acles

reported

from the mid-eleventh

century

expanded

into

yearly

miracles.17 The

Codex,

falsely

attributed o

Pope

Calix-

tus

II,

neatly

inserted,

posthumously,

he

papal

enthusiasm

or

St. James

that had been absent

n

Gregory

VII's letter of 1074.

In the same

years,

Gelmirez moved to embellish

liturgi-

cal

spectacles designed

to

draw the audiences that

would

pro-

vide confirmationand consensus for the exalted status of

his

apostolic

see. Each of

his

initiatives,

undertaken

within the

first few

years

of his

bishopric,

seems to have alienated a

group

of his canons. In

1102,

as

part

of a

sweeping

reform,

he

received

permission

to

designate

within his

chapter,

simulta-

neously inflated from twenty-four to seventy-two canons,

seven cardinal canons entitled to celebrate

mass at the

high

altar

fully

vested

and

mitred,

who must have dazzled

their

audiences.

They

enhanced the

Compostelan liturgies

as well

as

the

discrepancy

among

the

canons,

now

divided into two

tiers.18

Perhaps

with

some

forethought,

Gelmirez

compelled

his

canons to swear a

personal

oath of

loyalty

to him.19

By

the fifth

year

of his

bishopric,

Gelmirez had com-

pleted

a lavish

remodeling

of St.

James's

altar,

over the stren-

uous

objections

of

the

chapter

who

thought

that the old altar

had

been

built

by

James's

disciples.

This decision must

have

deepened

the

anger

of canons

upon

whom a

comprehensive

discipline had been imposed in the reforms of 1102. The new

altar was faced with marble and over it Gelmirez erected a

gold

and silver

ciborium,20

which

reproduced

salient features

of Peter's shrine

in

Rome

(Fig.

4).

Gelmirez

inscribed the

shrine with his name and his

expenditure

of 75 silver marks.21

Karen Mathews

compared

this sum and the 100 silver marks

that the

prelate

spent

to

purchase

a

single gold

chalice to the

twelve marks

per

month the

bishop

offered for

subventing

the

chapter's

meals,

as a

comparative

measure of

the bene-

ficiaries of

episcopal

largesse.22

166




4/16

~:i::.il..-...--::-~:?~

--?-?--?iC:

~i i~

r

I~ -~ ::

i: :: :::: ::: :"i: i 4 ::

."ir

* ??i~~-s?-?+ p

~ ?i

:: :":

r--r:albs **:ri-:?L

i:_::

g

C

t L?

~? ?9

g

J

IrOl icli

a

f ~a

::::iP

r~

4

- ::

:

FIGURE 2.

Santiago

de

Compostela,cathedral,groundplan(after Conant).

Two

years

after the shrine was

completed,

the cathedral

project

was

in need

of

subvention.

Alfonso VI

(1107)

granted

a

royal

mint,

according

to the

Historia,

to

"provide

for the

costs of construction..

.

and its

perpetual

maintenance,"

an

exceptional

and lucrative

gift

that should in no

way

exclude

the likelihood that most of

the

bishop's

revenues came

from

normal

seigniorial

taxes and

surcharges.23

onetheless,

build-

ing proceeded slowly. By

1112

the

east end was advanced

enough

to

demolish

the

tiny

church

of Alfonso

III,

left stand-

ing andfunctioningas the cathedralcrossing was built around

it.24This

striking

expansion

in scale was in

keeping

with

vast

new churches

forming

a

fragmentary

monumental

topo-

graphy

that extended from northeast

England

to

Sicily.25

Such

ventures,

utterly discrepant

with

local communities and re-

sources,

were realized not

by possession

of resources

alone,

and

certainly

not

by

cooperation

between

the builders

and

their

towns,

but

rather

by

the control

exercised

over resources

within the

political economy

of the

seigniorial clergy.

Hence,

the civil strife

catalyzed by

excessive

building challenged

the

.

jr

mill-

~::-~;,:-~ss~8asle~d~aBi~~sCeW..?

IV IN

::4:

......

FIGURE 3.

Santiago

de

Compostela, cathedral,

nave

(photo: A.y

R.

Mas

[Arxiu

Mas], Barcelona).

whole

spectrum

of

political,

judicial,

economic

and

spiritual

jurisdictions

exercised

by

abbots

and

bishops.

At

Santiago,

the first rebellion

was launched in 1116.

The

beneficiaries

of Gelmirez's

extravagant building

and

apostolic

allusions,

aside

from

himself,

were

pilgrims,

the

transient visitors who were

the alternative audience to the

insiders,

a hostile faction of Gelmirez's

canons led

by

one of

his

proteg6s,26

and a

group

of

patrician

burghers. Together

the latter

two stormed the cathedral

precinct

and took control

of the town for a year, duringwhich time they assaulted the

episcopal

palace,

in

which the

bishop

had had to confine him-

self "as if in

a

hiding place

.

.

. He did not

dare contradict

their statutes

nor refuse their demands.. .

the traitors

pos-

sessed

everything,

in

everything

they

obtainedtheir ends."27

"The

bishop

and the

queen

were in

the

bishop's palace

when

they

heard a clamor

and

din

from the

city,

and

feared

in

what

manner the

companions

of Iscariot had incited

the

citizens

against

them.... The church of

the

Apostle

was taken

by

numerous

assaults; stones,

arrows,

spears

fly

over

[Gelmirez's

167




5/16

~

FIGURE 4.

Santiago

de

Compostela,

ciborium

over the altar

of

St.

James,

1105

(Serafin Moralejo).

splendid]

altar . .

The

depraved

assailants set fire to the

church of the blessed James

and

burn

t

on both sides

because

no small

part

of

the church

was covered with

planks

and

straw."28When

Gelmirez

and Urraca took

refuge

in the ca-

thedral bell

tower,

Compostelanspillaged

the

palace;

others

set fire to

the tower. When the

queen

left,

"they

[the mob]

make a

dash

at

her,

grab

her

and

throw

her on the

ground

in

a

slough,

ravish her like wolves

and shred

her

clothing."29

The

bishop

escaped

through

the midst of the

"perverse

trai-

tors,

more than 3000" to hide

in

Santa

Maria. From there he

punched

his

way

through

walls from house to house and

then

to the

treasury

of San

Pelayo.30

The

queen

finally

made her

escape

by agreeing

to a reconciliation and

a

peace pact

that

would confirm

he communards' rbanadministrator nd

chap-

ter

prior;

this was

another

attack on

Gelmirez,

whose

brother

and

nephew

held these offices. She was to secure

approval

from her son Alfonso VII and

his

ally,

Count

Pedro,

to

whom,

instead,

she

denounced the

commune.31

Meanwhile,

the

rebels

hunted

or the

bishop

"thirsting

or

[his]

blood."32Hidden

under a

cape,

Gelmirez

again escaped,

crawling

over

the tiled roof to the canons'

dormitory,

from

there to the

palace,

and then to the house

of

a cardinal canon

until, with two armed men, he passed as one of the self-

appointed

sentinels out of the

city,

and met with allies who

brought

him

mounted

support.

"Protected

by

no

small

troop

of soldiers"

he rode to

Iria,

where

he was

received "as

if risen

from the dead."33 The

arrogance

of the

Compostelans

[was]

broken,

on the one hand

by

...

many

assaults,

on the other

by

the sword of anathema."

According

to the

Historia,

the

more

sensible canons and citizens

accepted

his

excommunication.

From

Iria,

the

bishop

excommunicated all

the

inhabitants

of

Compostela,

which,

the Historia

reports,utterly

weakened the

Compostelans.

Not

waiting

for this

unlikely

effect,

the

bishop

assembled

a

great

army

of

horsemen and foot

soldiers,

which

were

joined by legions

marshalled

by

Urraca to blockade

and

destroy

Compostela,

described

in

melodramatic

hyper-

bole. The

traitors ran here and

there,

"and fortified the

city

with a

palisade,

barriers,

a

stone

parapet

and wooden

ram-

parts; they

encouraged

and

exhorted

the

people,

but

in vain."

A

large

numberwho had not taken

part

n

the "infamous rea-

son"

saw the

city

besieged

on all

sides,

the trees

and

grain

fields cut

down, heads,

feet or hands

amputated,

he dead not

buried.

They

saw

the

queen's

army grow larger

each

day,

and

their

own

diminish,

and fearedthat the

city,

if

it were

attacked,

would

fall

easily.

"Who would not

eagerly

cast himself

against

the

traitors?

Who would not

extirpate

the abominable

conspiratorsagainst

his

bishop?

Who would not

destroy

those

who want to destroy crown and priesthood?Who would not

scorch those who

violated and burned the

church

of the

Apostle?

All Galicia

holds the authors of such

a

crime to be

enemies;

all

Galacia

is

thirsty

for their

blood."34

Finally,

the commune was

brought

to

a

programmatic

end

by

reversing

the

act with which it had been constituted.

The rebels swore an oath to end their

brotherhood,

urrendered

their briefs

(statutes?)

to

the

bishop

to

be

destroyed,

and were

assessed

a

fine of

1,100

silver marks. The

traitors,

"whether

canons or

citizens,"

one hundred

n

all,

were exiled and their

property

and

goods

confiscated. The

anathemawas

lifted

and

peace

declared.

Fifty

sons

of

the

major

families of

Compos-

tela were surrenderedas hostages

for

reparations,

ownsmen

swore an oath of

fealty

to the

bishop

and

queen,

and

when

the

bishop

entered

Compostela,

he was "receivedwith

great oy."35

Through eighteen pages

of

the

printed

text,

the Historia

presents

a

blow-by-blow

account,

complete

with

dialogue

among

the

conspirators,among

the

bishop

and the

queen

and

their

allies,

punctuated

with denunciationsof the "traitors."

The humiliationsof the

bishop

and

queen

are

spared

no detail.

Each of the

principals

s

cast

in

counterpoise

o the others:

the

evil

conspirators, compatriots

of

Judas;

the

vengeful queen;

168




6/16

and the merciful

bishop, compared

in turn to

Christ,

Daniel,

and the Three Hebrews.

Nonetheless,

the commune

was

de-

feated not

by

the

bishop's spiritual

arsenal but

by

the real

thing,

thousands of horsemen

and soldiers.

Accordingly,

the

sanctions

imposed

were

strictlyseigniorial

and

rather imited:

a

small

fine

and

only

one hundredof the

claimed

3,000

rebels

exiled.36

Although

Gelmirez's

own brother

Gundesindo,

ad-

ministratorof the town

(accused

of

many

evils

likely

pertain-

ing to his supervision of the market),was killed, one of the

leading

communards,

Pedro

Helias,

became Dean

of

Compo-

stela from 1122 to

1124,

and

Gelmirez's second successor as

archbishop

n

1143.37

One

may

take

this as a measure of the

power

and

persistence

of

this

group

of dissidents.

Indeed,

the

violence of 1116-1117 was a

single

episode

in

a conflict that

erupted again

in

1136,

to

be

recorded

in

equal length

and

detail. Another

perpetrator,

Guillermo

Seguin,

"the

principal

promoter

of their

treason,"

went on

to be twice the villicus or

administratorof

Compostela

after Gelmirez's death

(1140-

1141

and

1149-1150).38

The otherwise omniscient authorial

voice

of the

Historia

is virtually silent on the rebels' motives. Only a vague and

stereotyped

accusation,

that the

bishop

had diminished the

dignity

of the church of

Santiago

and

oppressed

the canons

under the

yoke

of

his

domination,

is voiced

by

Gelmirez's

cherished

canon,

whom

he raised

in

his

palace

and whom he

sent to

study

in

France "at no small

expense."39

Pastor

de To-

gneri suggested

that the

commune was driven

by

an

economic

power struggle,

characteristic

of

contemporary

communalre-

bellions,

as at Laon and

Vdzelay,

in

which the

complaints

of

burghers

and

peasants

were

recorded

n

detail.40

Canons were

dissatisfied with

unequal prebends,

while

burghers

wanted

control

over

their

market

(under

the

authority

of Gelmirez's

brother),

lower rents for their

stalls,

and a

greater

share

in

profits from pilgrims attracted to the new cathedraland its

dazzling

shrine. The

burghers'

principal

competitor

was

the

chapter,

which,

at least later in the

century

under

Archbishop

Suairez

de Deza

(1173-1206),

possessed

outright twenty-

eight

of

one hundred souvenir

stalls.41

The

very

same issues

prompted

the riot in

1136

when,

once

again,

the

archbishop

barely

escaped

assassins. This

time,

Gelmirez took

refuge

in-

side

the restored

cathedral,

locked

himself within the

grill

that

protected

his

stunning

altar

shrine

and

hid

beneath

its

ciborium,

which his

assailants

pelted

with

stones

from

the

gallery

above. The

communards offered Alfonso VII

3,000

silver

marks to send the

archbishop

nto

perpetual

exile.42

The ceremonies and the phrasesemployed in the Histo-

ria's

account of the first

commune,

then,

provided

a

satisfy-

ing,

if

temporary,

closure to a rebellion that

might

well have

succeeded

in

establishing

a franchised town

with

some de-

gree

of

autonomy

from its

bishop.

Hence,

Gelmirez's first or-

der of business

was to restore the sites of his

spiritual

and

secular

authority,

his burned

apostolic

churchand his

pillaged

palace.43

The

unfinished cathedral

roof,

set on fire

by

the

communards n

1117,

was

repaired

and

provided

with a stone

thrower aimed at the

town.44

Its

crenellations

may

have been

.........

....

...

ox?JR

4ej.>

X:%~~

........."

M~

FIGURE 5.

Santiago

de

Compostela,

Cathedral

Museum,

spiral

columns

from

the north

portal

(photo:

Santiago,

Camino

de

Europa).

part

of these

repairs,

or added

by

Gelmirezto

fortify

"thetow-

ers and unfinishedworks of the

cathedral"

n

1115

against

an

anticipated

invasion

by

Urraca

prompted by

the

bishop's

al-

liance with her son Alfonso

(Fig.

1).45

A

fortified

cathedral

would have been

just

as useful

against

the hostile

community

within

Compostela

hat aunched ts commune within

the

year.

Building

seems to have resumed and to have

been com-

pleted

to a few

bays beyond

the

crossing by

1120,46

with-

out alteration

to

either the scale

or

the lavish references to

St.

Peter's.

The

cathedral's

ransept

portals

and,later,

the west

portal

(ca. 1160-1180)

were

framed

with

marble and

granite

spiralcolumns (Figs. 5, 10). Moralejo recognizedthese as ex-

plicit

references to the columns that

supported

the ciborium

over St. Peter's

shrine

and

to

Solomon's

Temple,

their

legend-

ary provenance.

This reference to the

Temple

invoked the

scriptural

model for excessive

building

at a time when the

pe-

riodic

debate

over ecclesiastical

luxury

revived

both

the con-

tent and the

phrases

of Jerome's ate

fourth-century

blast. At

Compostela

the

columns,

magnified,

multiplied

and

projected

onto the

portals,

framed the whole of James's

church,

con-

figuring

it as a

giant

shrine,

a lavish church of the sort that

169




7/16

...........

O W

........

t RX

....

......

......

.

.....

......

. ...........

.

........

. . . . . . .

FIGURE 6.

Santiago

de

Compostela,

cathedral,

frieze

above

south

portal

(photo:

author).

Bernard

of

Clairvaux attacked

n

scathing

rhetoric in

1125.47

Among

the columns were shafts

originally framing

the north

portal (Fig. 5) that display the early Christian eucharistic

imagery

of

gathering

grapes

as well as the

contemporary

haunted

tanglewood. Figures entangled

in a

"withered

vine,"

attacked

or

otherwise

entrapped

n the darknessof sin as on the

Gloucester

Candlestick,

1102-1111,48

bring

the columns

into

line with the

program

of sin and

redemption

identified

by

Moralejo

in

the

transept sculpture,

discussed below.

Prominent

figures

of

St. James

on all three entrances

(Figs.

6,

7)

magnified

his

appearance

within the cathedralon

the ciborium

(Fig.

3),

where he

is

the central

figure

among

three

apostles

on the

gabled

front.49

These

figures

marked

he

specificity

of

apostolic

succession claimed

by

Gelmirez and

the

archbishop's

cclesiastical

posture

vis-a-vis Rome.

Both the

prelate

and

the

pope

could claim descent from

apostles

whose

tombs

they possessed,

while most

bishops

were

generically

descended from

unspecified

apostles.

From this succession

derived the

episcopate's

exclusive and

threatening preroga-

tive to bind and loose sinners in

excommunication,

anathema

and

penance,

a

spiritual

arsenal whose dramaticrhetoric was

matched

only by

its

impotence.

It

had been

put

to use

in

the

rebellion

just

a few

years

earlier,

with the

usual

lack of

effect.50

After his elevation to

archbishop

n

1120,

Gelmirez's

ex-

penditures

shifted. To mark his new

rank,

"he

built a

palace

in addition to the church of the

blessed

James,

ample

and

elevated, worthyand sumptuous,sufficientas is fittingto re-

ceive a

multitude

of

princes

as well as

people" (Figs.

8,

9).51

He

may

have transferredthe

episcopal

residence from

the

south to the north side of the

basilica,

that is to

say, away

from the

portals

that faced the canons' houses and the town.52

He

also

had a

private chapel

built above the north

portal,

be-

cause,

according

to

the

Historia,

"the choir of the

church

of

blessed

James

was at a

distance

from this

palace

[it

was

not]

and it was

very

laborious

to

come and

go

there

descending

.............

ZZ

.......

... .

0:::

:In

Poi

ii:x>

FIGURE 7.

Santiago

de

Compostela,

cathedral,

west

facade,

Pdrtico de la

Gloria,

St. James

(photo:

author).

and

ascending

continuously,"53

n

explanation

that excludes

the likelihood

that

such

an

exposed path might

have been

dangerous

for the

archbishop

even after the commune had

been

put

down,

just

as the south or urban side

of the

cathedral

with the canons' residence

may

have been

no

longer

suitable

nor safe for a

metropolitan

residence.

In

any

case,

the

new

palace

provided

direct

and secluded access to the cathedral

and

to

Gelmirez's

new

chapel.54

In the light of the events of 1116-1117, recorded n such

excruciating

detail

by

the

prelate's

own

men,

it is

striking

hat

the

figurative sculpture

on the

cathedral's

ranseptportals

has

been

represented

almost

exclusively

as

addressing

pilgrim

au-

diences.55

Moralejo

dentifiedcoordinated

mages

of sinandre-

demption

originally

displayed

on the north

portal

that

opened

toward the new

archiepiscopal palace. According

to the

Pil-

grim's

Guide,

this

was

the

door

through

which

pilgrims

from

France enteredthe cathedral.These

sculptures

were

dispersed

170




8/16

-Tv-

xo

?--~;:-- --::

-*11

n

.

.

..........::

ignF.

NOW:

.............................

....

..........

?k

W-~_-::_:':::__iii :::::.--iiiiiiiiiii~iii:-

:.::

ii--iiii:i~i_:--::::::-::iii~:

i:::i~~i-::_

--::_-:i

iiiiii~iii~i-iAt

10

....

.....iiiiii~~-~-iiii~iiiil:i-:_i:i~iiiiiiii-iiiiii-i

-??D----::::::::::::::::::--::: .iN

O

W

oiiii~

I~.i_:I.~Ili::-_li:-?;-.low-

ii-:---_-:-iiiiiiiii~iiiiiiiiii::::iim

a

i

:::::::i

it

i

O

N':

-::::::'.:::::--:--

FIGURE 8. Santiago de Compostela,archiepiscopal palace to left (photo: A.y R. Mas [Arxiu Mas], Barcelona).

to

the

south facade

(Fig.

10)

or

to

the

cathedral

museum after

the north side was remodeled in the

eighteenth

century.They

included

figures

of Adam and Eve

created,

reproached

and

expelled

from

paradise by

God, without, however,

the central

scene of the Fall.

Moralejo

linked

the Genesis narrative o an

isolated scene

of the

Annunciation,

pairing Mary

of the Ave

with

Eve,

whose sin she redeemed

ust

as

Christ,

who

appears

enthroned,

redeemed

Adam's sin.

Beneath

these

figures,

the

north portal would have served for a penitential rite per-

formed

by

pilgrims

on Ash

Wednesday

(see below).56

The

tympana

on

the south facade

depict

Christ's

temptations

on

the left

(Fig.

11),

deploying

a

superabundance

of

demons,

pendant

to Passion scenes on the

right (Fig.

12):

Christbefore

Pilate,

the

Flagellation,

and the

Betrayal,

out of

sequence.

Here,

as

in

the Genesis

sequence

minus the

Fall,

crucial

events,

the

Crucifixion

and the Three

Marys

at the

Tomb,

are also

unusually

absent.57

n

effect,

punishment

is

portrayed

n

the

...

FIGURE 9.

Santiago

de

Compostela,

archiepiscopal palace

to

left,

lower

story

ca.

1120

(photo:

author).

171




9/16

..............iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

x

-_--X::X:: '.

ol1

..... .

.

. . . .. .. . . . ...

....... ....

. ........

M5?

cK-

....... .....

.....

..

ix

.

..

......

FIGURE 10.

Santiago

de

Compostela,

cathedral,

south

facade (photo:

author).

absence

of

sin,

and

betrayal

and

suffering

are

unresolved

by

redemption.

Together

with

these

highly

selective

narratives,

Moralejo

inked

capitals depicting

the

cardinal sins of avarice

and lust in the

north and south

transepts

to a

sweeping

attack

on

simony,

the sale of all

spiritual

services and of church

offices,

in the

Codex

Calixtinus.s8

Without

assuming

a local

context of

equal

or

greater

ur-

gency,

scholars have

found

the

Calixtinus's

uniformly

affirm-

ative account of St. James's cult, its liturgies, pilgrimage,

souvenir

trade,

the cathedraland its

decoration,

sufficient to

interpret

he

sculpture

as directed

at

pilgrims.

In

this,

they

are

more

selective

than

medieval

authorswho

regularlyproduced

entirely discrepant

texts aimed at distinct

audiences,

among

which the

Historia and the

Codex

Calixtinus

are excellent

examples.

If

the Historia is taken into account in

the manner

stated

in

its

preface,

as a

history

of

"Diego,

Archbishop

of the

see of

Compostela

by

the

grace

of

God,

[who]

ordered this

book to be

written and to be

placed

in

the

treasury

of blessed

James

..."

to

tell

of

his ".. . honors and how

many legacies

and ornaments and

dignities

the

archbishop acquired

for

his

church and

[in

equal

measure]

how

many

persecutions

and

dangers

he enduredfrom

tyrannical

powers

for

the defense

of

his

church,"59

we

might

see

embedded

n

sculpturesdepicting

transcendentChristian narratives and morals

the

very

same

spiritual

hreats hat were

inoperative during

the rebellionand

absentfrom the

penalties imposed

at

its

conclusion.

They

seem

to affirm he

spiritual authority

of the

bishop

in

images

if not

in

reality.

KarenMathews noticed the extent to which evil and vio-

lent

figures

exceed benevolent ones in the south

tympana

and

suggested

that

they

alluded to Gelmirez's

betrayal by

his can-

ons

and

burghers,

most

pointedly

in

the scene of Christ ar-

rested,

betrayedby

Judas for

thirty pieces

of

silver.60

Such an

analogy

would accord with the occasions on which the

prel-

ate

would

have been

celebrated as

a

type

for

Christ,

at feasts

associated with Easter which commemoratethe events of the

Passion.

This

typology

would

also

be in

line with

the

pas-

sages

in the

Historia that

repeatedly compare

Gelmirez to

Christ and his enemies to Judas in the contexts of the events

of both 1116-1117 and

1136.61

The

Passion

sequence

is

preceded by

an anomalous scene of Christ

healing

the

blind,

the

quintessential

miracle that

equates physical

with

spiritual

blindness and demands faith as a

prior

condition for

healing,

depicted

here in

conventional

postures

of

authority

and sub-

mission

that,

indeed,

would have been

deployed

in

peniten-

tial

rituals.62

Nonetheless,

as with the

Betrayal,

the

Healing

of the Blind also

provides

a

suggestive,

if

inoperative, typol-

ogy

for recent events in

Compostela

where

precisely

the

absence of

spiritual

subordinationon the

part

of the "allies

of

Judas"

was remedied not with

penance

but with

fealty.

Along

with the

narrative,

a

surprisingly

arge

and diverse

group

of

figures portrays

the cardinal sin of

luxury,

linked

by

Moralejo

to

pilgrims

called to

penance:

the woman with

the

skull

excoriated

in

the

Pilgrim's

Guide

as an

adulteress

(Fig.

11),

a siren and centaur

(not

Sagittarius), pendant

alle-

gories

of

lust,

capitals

carved with

lust

in

the

south

transept

(Fig.

13).63

In

addition,

extraordinarilyaggressive, gender-

equal figures

of lust tormented on the north

portal

archivolts

marked the

archbishop's regular

entrance

into his cathedral

(Figs.

14,

15),

while a

capital

in

the lower arcade of the

north

transept, marking

his route to the

choir,

displayed

avarice

hanged by

demons

and

tormented

by

fire

(Fig.

16).

The ar-

chivolt and

capital

figures

are

striking

because their torment s

brutal,even by twelfth-centurystandards,when this select set

of vices was first

projected

onto

public,

architectural

culpture

in the

guise

of

identifiable

social

types.

Such

figures

ac-

companied

an endless

variety

of the tormentedon

capitals

in

churches such as

V6zelay

and Autun.

In

the

latter,

in the

context of new and fearsomescenes of

Judgment,

clergy

and

pilgrims appear among

the elect and a harlot and merchant

(stereotyped

urban

sins)

among

the

damned,

each

group

n

the

center of otherwise

generic

souls

rising

from their

sarcophagi.

At

Autun,

these

figures

addressedhostile local audiences with

172




10/16

.

......

ON.

M.M.-

m

im

. .....

..

ard

ag

?R

0

WF

MM

is

g

..........

....

a

N

R

W.

.

... . ..

z.

.....

..........

. . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . .

g g .

] l o w

. . . . . . .. . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . .

. . . . . .. . . . . .

. . . . .

. . . . . . .

O N A M

. . . . . . .. . . . . . .

FIGURE 11.

Santiago

de

Compostela,

cathedral,

south

facade, left tympanum,

Temptationsof

Christ

(photo:

A.y

R. Mas

[Arxiu Mas], Barcelona).

?M:?

iff

k W ` - T : 11

F ?

FIGURE 12.

Santiago

de

Compostela,

cathedral,

south

facade, right

tympanum,

cenes

of

the Passion

(photo:A.y

R. Mas

[Arxiu Mas], Barcelona).

173




11/16

IX.

..........

...............

.......

............................

........ . ............

....................... .... ... .

.............

...

.

...... ............

.................

....................

.. ..................... .......

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................

......................

..............................

................................

.............................

...................... ...........................

....

........................

............

........ .

...........

.................

...... ...............................................

.......................

...............

. . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . ......

.............

................

. ................

.............. ...

...

...

. . . . . .. . . . . .

. . . . . . .

. . . . .

. . . . . . . .

. . . . . . .

. . . .

. . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . .

.

. . . . .

. . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . . .

. . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

FIGURE 13.

Santiago

de

Compostela,

cathedral,

south

transept,capital

with

Lust

(photo:

author).

explicit spiritualthreats,carved above the lintel of the resur-

rected:

"Everyone

whom no

impious

life has

betrayed

will

rise

thus,

and the

light

of

day

will shine for

him

without

end,"

for the

elect,

and for the

damned,

"May

this terror

terrify

whomever

earthly

error

binds,

for

the

horror of the

figures

here shows that it will come true."64

At

Santiago,

the

figuration

of

lust

is

doubled,

portrayed

by

both a man and a woman bitten

in

their

genitals.

The

woman,

for

good

measure,

has her

tongue dragged

out

and

bitten

by

demons.65Avarice

appearsamong

the

relatively

few

figural

and narrative

capitals

in

the

cathedral,66

n

an

equally

distinctive

depiction.

He is

not

only

tortured

by

fire,

he is

hanged

as a

criminal,

the form of

execution

reserved for

low-

born thieves. This

iconographic

formula was well known to

artists,

who used it to

portray

a standard miracle

in

which

saints revive those

unjustly

condemned,

a

topos

that

figures

among

St.

James's

miracles

in

the

Codex Calixtinus.

It

was

also used to

portray

retribution,

as in the mass

hanging

of

thieves who tried to break into

Bury

St. Edmunds.67The sec-

ond sense is

the

one

conveyed

in

the

capital.

A

similar

figure,

carved

at

Autun

shortly

later,

depicts

Judas

hanged

for

selling

Christ for

thirty pieces

of silver

(Fig.

17),

not

as

the suicide described

in

Matthew

(27:

3-5)

and

portrayed

at

V6zelay,68

but

as a

common thief executed

by

demons.

If,

by

this visual

alteration,

avarice was

projected

into Judas'spunishment,at Santiago, conversely, we might

see

in

avarice

an

allusion to Judas the traitor.

In

this unusual

form,

he

might

have been intended to threaten

Gelmirez's

en-

emies

who, indeed,

are

compared

o Judas Iscariot

n

key

pas-

sages

of

the Historia. The first

paragraph

f the

chronicle,

the

preface

to the

prologue,

extends and

specifies

the

standard

threats

of

damnationand excommunication

against

evildoers,

anyone

who would steal or

destroy

the

book,

with the same

punishment

as

"Judas,

who

handed over the Lord

(proditore

Domini)

...

may

he be damned forever

in

the inferno." The

insurgents

of 1116-1117 are described as "the

most

depraved

allies of Judas" or as Iscariots four times.69

O.

K. Werckmeister

proposed

that at

Autun,

as

Moralejo

later

argued

for

Santiago,

the north

portal

was the site

for

public penance,70

a

humiliating

ritual

n

which

penitents pros-

trated themselves in the same

posture

as

Eve,

portrayed

on

the lintel

above,

and were

ritually

expelled

from the church.

Subsequently they

could be

readmitted,

absolved

of

their sins

and

eligible

for the lucrative offices of the

dead,

liturgically

elaborated

by

the same

bishop

who had had the Last

Judg-

ment carved and inscribed on the west

portal

facing

the cem-

etery.

The

sculpture

at

Autun, however,

addressed the local

community.

It was

part

of a

panorama

of violence and

strug-

gle depicted

there,

at

Saint-Sernin,

and

elsewhere,

on the

basis of which Werckmeister characterized

Europe

in

the

first half of the twelfth

century

as an

antagonistic society,

a

landlord

regime

threatenedand in

turn

threatening,

n

images

whose

menace

was

magnified

in

inverse

proportion

to

the

seigniorial authority

exercised

by clergy

over

hostile and

resistant

subject populations.

Santiago was just such an urbansetting with just such

an

audience,

a local one to

whom,

from the

perspective

of

the

bishop

and his allies

among

the

canons,

the threat of

tempta-

tion,

sin and the

promise

of

retribution absent

redemption

might

also

apply,

and for

whom the torturedurbanvices

may

have made the transcendent

scriptural

narratives

decorating

the north

portal specific

to the immediate social

environment

of the cathedral and its

prelate. Normally

referred to as

the

French

Door,

according

to the

Pilgrim's

Guide,

the north

por-

tal

was,

as

well,

the

archiepiscopal portal,

adjacent

to

Gelmi-

rez's

new

palace,

a

setting

for the

bishop's

visualization

of

his

threatened

seigniory

in

the

guise

of an

aggressive spiritual

authoritypositioned literally

on the

body

and tomb of

the

apostle

James. In this

scenario,

his

burghers

and his canons

would be the alternativeto

pilgrims

as the default audience.

NOTES

1.

When

I

chose this

title,

I

was unaware of the

similarly

titled

review

article

by

K.

Herbers,

"Santiago

de

Compostela

zur Zeit von Bischof

und Erzbischof

Diego

Gelmirez

(1098/1099-1140),"

Zeitschrift

fiir

Kirchengeschichte,

XXXVI

(1987),

89-102.

2. For a recent

study

that addresses

various

audiences,

see

K. R.

Mathews,

"'They

Wished to

Destroy

the

Temple

of

God':

Responses

to

Diego

Gelmirez'sCathedralConstruction n Santiago de Compostela, 1100-

1140"

(Dissertation,

University

of

Chicago,

1995).

As a member of the

author'sdissertation

committee,

I have benefitted from our discussions

about

Santiago

over several

years.

See also A.

G.

Biggs, Diego

Gelmi-

rez,

First

Archbishop of Compostela (Washington,

1949);

M.

Stokstad,

Santiago

de

Compostela

in the

Age

of

the

Great

Pilgrimages

(Norman,

1978);

L.

Vones,

Die 'Historia

Compostellana'

und die

Kirchenpolitik

des

nordwest-spanischen

Raumes,

1070-1130

(Cologne,

1980);

and

my

own brief accounts: B.

Abou-El-Haj,

"The Audiences for the Me-

dieval Cult of

Saints,"Gesta,

XXX

(1991),

3-15; eadem,

TheMedieval

Cult

of

Saints.

Formations and

Transformations

Cambridge,England,

1994,

rpt. Cambridge,England,

1997),

19-22.

174




12/16

....

mow..

:

ME

iiiii~

FIGURE

14.

Santiago

de

Compostela,

cathedral

museum,

male

figure

of

Lust

(photo:

author).

::

: ::

iii:iiii_-iiii:::: i:

-ii:i--_i:iiiiiiiii~P~i- -::I:::

&~.,.:?

- ----::- ii-idi:~i:iai-

:::::__:.I:::::: :::::::c::::;:i;

:::-:::_:::

-:i:::::::i::::::_iliCiii~~i:jilj;:-::l:i:i?l:j:Ji:;i~_'i:--~:"---(::: :-:i:'::: :

?----.

1:i:.::

iii;iiiii-i

~~.-iii?,iiiiiFiil-i

~-iiiidii'ii'iiiiii_-::ii_-:-;

.:.-.:..

~:~~ii,~iiiii~:~:iiliii-'-;iii:,,~~~iiii~~~"i~:i~~s:".:.:ii:ii--iii~ : : :

:~?~i:~::-::::::l:::;i:j:,_:?g

~~~~:-:?l?dli?iiiiiii-'__iii:`l-:-:-:~ii~ii'i'

I;~-,:?lli-:-iiiii

:"---:

:iilaiiii:--

:-:--::::::_

I, ~iiiiii~iiiiiiiii~i:i~M~':~:'~%$E~I~~'~:

: ::::::::j::

~i:'r:~sj~liiiiiiii-i~ii~i~ii~~ai-~~~_iiiii

:.::::.::::::: ::.: i

i_-i:iiji:ii

:::

iiii~:::-:ii.:..

:i:::::l:i:i:

..

FIGURE

16.

Santiago

de

Compostela,

cathedral,

north

transept,

capital

with Avarice

(photo: after

Durliat).

........

.........

........

......

FIGURE

5.

Santiago

de

Compostela,

athedral

museum,

emale igure of

Lust

photo:

author).

?iiiiiiiA

iii~iAM*

elki

w?ii~

FIGURE 17.

Autun, St.-Lazare,

nave

capital

with Suicide

of

Judas

(photo:

after

Grivot

and

Zarnecki,

Gislebertus).

175




13/16

3. See the

preface

to

the

prologue

(discussed below).

The

Historia was

edited

by

E.

Falque Rey,

Historia

Compostellana

(Corpus

Christian-

orum,

LXX)

(Turnholt,1988);

she

also

published

a

Spanish

translation:

Historia

Compostelana

(Madrid,

1994).

All

references will be to the

Latin

edition

as

HC.

The chronicle is

dated

between 1107 and

1139,

al-

most the entire

span

of Gelmirez's

prelacy.

However,

the

description

of

the 1136

rebellion

at the end

of

the chronicle describes

the

archbishop

posthumously

("D.

uenerabilis

memoriae")

and must have been written

after

his

death

in 1140.

HC, III, 46,

ed.

Falque Rey,

xx-xxi,

504.

4. For Gelmirez's quarrelswith Toledo and Braga, see R. A. Fletcher,

Saint James's

Catapult:

The

Life

and Times

of Diego

Gelmirez

of

San-

tiago

de

Compostela

(Oxford,

1984),

206-11.

5. See Fletcher's

itemized list of

gold

and silver coins from various

French,

Italianand

taifa

mints,

and

precious liturgical

and

Muslim or-

naments,

"a

prodigious

expenditure

of effort and treasure

[by

which]

Diego

became an

archbishop."

Saint

James's

Catapult,

205-6.

6.

HC, I,

17,

ed.

Falque

Rey,

41-42,

for the

privilege

dated 31 October

1104

(II

Kal.

Nov.),

which

pertained

to

all

principal

feasts:

Nativity,

Epiphany,

Annunciation,

Last

Supper,

Palm

Sunday,

Easter,

Ascen-

sion,

Pentecost,

Birth of

Mary,

St.

Michael,

Birth of John the

Baptist,

the Feast

of St.

James,

as

well as

All

Saints,

the dedications of

churches,

the feasts of

SS. Lawrence and

Vincent,

and

of

SS.

Martin

and Isidore.

7. That

would have been

just

as Urraca

came to

power

and at

the mid-

point

between

Gelmirez's

appointments

as

bishop

and

archbishop.

See

B.

Reilly,

The

Kingdom of

Leon-Castilla

under

Queen

Urraca.

1109-

1126

(Princeton,

1982),

144. For sections

on the

queen's

"machina-

tions,"

HC,

I, 102,

107,

ed.

Falque

Rey,

172-74,

180-84.

8. "Immensam

pecuniam"

and

"incomputabilem

pecuniam,"

HC,

II, 91,

ed.

Falque

Rey,

411-12. Alfonso

VII

(died 1157)

ceased these

exac-

tions around

1137,

according

to

Fletcher,

Saint

James's

Catapult,

257-

59.

See also

J.

D'Emilio,

"The

Building

and

the

Pilgrim's

Guide,"

in

The Codex Calixtinus

and the

Shrine

of

St.

James,

ed. J. Williams

and

A. Stones

(Jakobus-Studien,

III)

(Tilbingen,

1992),

185-206,

citing

A.

L6pez

Ferreiro,

Historia

de la S.

A. M.

Iglesia

de

Santiago

de

Com-

postela

(Santiago,

1898-1911),

IV,

129-35;

209-15.

Urraca

was the

Infanta,

widow

of Count

Raymond

(d.

1107)

and the

daughter

of Al-

fonso VI. She

proclaimed

herself "Lordof all Galicia,"a title

granted

by

her

father.

If she

remarried, however,

Galicia

would

pass

to her

son,

Alfonso

Raimundez

VII

(ruled

1126-1157).

Among

the

magnates

who swore

allegiance

to her was

Bishop

Gelmirez,

whose

lordship

was

threatened

by

either

outcome;

see

Reilly, Kingdom

of

Leon-Castilla,

45-49.

9.

HC, I,

103,

ed.

Falque

Rey,

174-76. Protection

by

sea

was matched

by

decrees

to

protect

merchants

and

pilgrims.

Those who harmed

them

were

threatened

with a fine

twice the amount

of what

they

took,

a

pay-

ment of

sixty

solidos

to the owner

of the

goods,

and excommunication.

See

L6pez

Ferreiro,

Historia de

la

Iglesia,

III,

Appendix

XXX,

92,

dated

approximately

1112.

10.

See M.

Durliat,

La

sculpture

romane

de la route

de

Saint-Jacques

(Mont-de-Marsan,1990), Figs.

175,

176.

11. Alfonso had

already

waived tolls for

pilgrims

and merchants

traveling

overland in 1072.

Reilly

suggests

that the

king's

offering

formed

part

of

30,000

gold

dinars

received from Abd Allah

in return or

a

pact

of

peace in 1074, The Kingdom of Lean-Castilla under

King Alfonso VI

1065-1109

(Princeton,

1988),

84

n. 61, 213.

For

the charter hat places

the

king

in

Santiago

to celebrate a

great

council,

see

F

L6pez

Alsina,

La Ciudad

de

Santiago

de

Compostela

en la

Alta Edad

Media

(Santiago

de

Compostela,

1988),

410-12. For

Pope Gregory

VII

and St.

James,

see S.

Moralejo,

"On the Road:

The

Camino

de

Santiago,"

n The Art

of

Medieval

Spain:

A.D. 500-1200

(New

York, 1993),

174-83,

esp.

175,

who concludedthatAlfonso

encouraged Santiago's

apostolic

am-

bitions

in the

Council

of 1074-1075.

12.

Pelaez

was accused of

preparing

to cede Galicia to the Normans. For

Cluny

and Alfonso

VI,

see

O.

K.

Werckmeister,

"Cluny

III

and

the

Pilgrimage

to

Santiago

de

Compostela,"

Gesta,

XXVII

(1988),

103-

12,

esp.

110,

citing

C. J.

Bishko,

"Fernando

I

and

the

Origins

of the

Leonese-Castilian Alliance

with

Cluny,"

Studies

in

Medieval

Spanish

Frontier

History

(London,

1980),

1-136. Between 1076

and

1080

Clu-

niac monks

began

to

"penetrate

he

great abbeys." Among

them was

Bernard

d'Auch,

Abbot of

Sahagin,

who was

appointedprimate

of To-

ledo after its

conquest

in 1085. See

Reilly,

Kingdom of

Le6n-Castilla

under...

Alfonso

VI, 95, 114, 211-13,

also

citing

Bishko,

esp.

71-74.

See also Receuil

des chartes de

l'Abbaye

de

Cluny,

ed.

A.

Bruel,

6 vols.

(Paris,

1876-1903),

and

S.

Moralejo,

"On

the

Road:

The Camino

de

Santiago,"

esp.

176.

13. On

the

architectural

history

of

Santiago

de

Compostela,

see K. J. Co-

nant,

The

Early

Architectural

History of

the Cathedral

of Santiago

de

Compostela (Cambridge,

1926);

idem,

Arquitectura

romdnica

de la

Catedral

de

Santiago

de

Compostela,

trans. J. G. Beramendi

(Santiago

de

Compostela,

1983),

with S.

Moralejo,

"Notas

para

una

revisi6n

de

la obra

de K.J.

Conant,"

221-36.

14. See

Fletcher,

Saint

James's

Catapult,

172-73.

The account in the HC

is

very

lengthy;

see

I, 15, 4,

ed.

Falque

Rey,

31-36,

esp.

35: "Exeuntes

ergo

obuiam nudis

pedibus

clerici

subsequenti

populo

totius ciuitatis

usque

adlocum,

qui

Humiliatoriumdicitur,

religiose

processerunt.

Quo

cum

peruenisset episcopus

et se

et,

qui

secum

uenerant, discalciari

precepisset,

clerici

secundum

eius

dispositionem

sacris uestibus

ornati,

nudis

pedibus

existentes,

post

eos

uenientibus

turbis

gloriosa

sanc-

torum

corpora susceperunt

et

episcopo preeunte

et clero

in

ciuitatem

suam

cum

hymnis

et

canticis

et

pia

deuotione

detulerunt

et

in

ecclesia

sancti lacobi

Apostoli Compostellane

sedis

collocata fuerunt."

15. On relic

thefts,

see

P. J.

Geary,

Furta Sacra.

Thefts of

Relics

in

the

Central

Middle

Ages,

rev.

ed.

(Princeton,

1990).

16. The Codex Calixtinus

has

been dated

variously

to

1130,

1137 or

8,

1173.

For the

Pilgrim's

Guide see

A. Shaver-Crandell

and

P

Gerson,

The

Pilgrim's

Guide

to

Santiago

de

Compostela.

A

Gazetteer

(London,

1995);

P.

Gerson,

J. Krochalis and

A.

Shaver-Crandell,

The

Pilgrim's

Guide

to

Santiago

de

Compostela.

A Critical Edition

(London,

1997).

Forthe CodexCalixtinus,see Liber Sancti Jacobi "CodexCalixtinus",

trans.

A.

Moralejo,

C.

Torres,

and

J. Feo

(Santiago

de

Compostela,

1951);

Codex

Calixtinus,

ed. Williams

and

Stones;

M. C. Diaz

y

Diaz,

"El

Codex

Calixtinus:

Volviendo

sobre

el

tema,"

n

Codex

Calixtinus,

ed. Williams and

Stones, 1-9;

A.

Moisan,

Le

Livre de Saint

Jacques

ou

Codex

Calixtinus

de

Compostelle.

Etude

critique

et

litte'raire

Paris,

1992);

M. C.

Diaz

y

Diaz,

El

Cddice

Calixtino

de la Catedral

de San-

tiago,

Estudio

Codicoldgico

y

de

Contenido

(Centro

de Estudios Ja-

cobeos,

Monografias

de

Compostellanum,

I)

(Santiago

de

Compostela,

1988).

17.

Only

1109

lacks

one;

see K.

Herbers,

"The

Miracles

of St.

James,"

n

Codex

Calixtinus,

ed.

Williams and

Stones, 11-35,

esp.

24,

34.

18. See

Fletcher,

Saint

James's

Catapult,

166-70;

R. Pastor

de

Togneri,

"Diego

Gelmirez:

une

mentalit6

a

la

page.

A

propos

du

r61e

de cer-

taines l61itesde pouvoir," in Mdlanges R. Crozet, I (Poitiers, 1966),

597-608,

esp.

601;

eadem,

Conflictos

Sociales

y

Estancamiento

Econa-

mico en la

Espaiia

Medieval

(Barcelona,

1973),

103-31.

The

bishop

promised

his canons

relief and a new

cloister,

both of

which, however,

he under-fundedand

engagedreluctantly,

f at all. Five

years

before his

death,

he

renewed

his

promise

of a

cloister,

optimistically referred

o in

the Historia as "De

Claustro Consummando,"HC, III, 36, ed. Falque

Rey,

483-84;

it

was

not

completed

at his death

in

1140. Four

years

before his

death,

his canons

joined

in

a

rebellion for

the second

time.

19.

HC, I, 20, 4-6,

ed.

Falque

Rey,

48. Item

5 records the

text of the

oath:

"Ego

N... iuro

uobis domino

Didaco

presenti

episcopo per

Deum

176




14/16

Patrem

omnipotentem, quod

ab hoc

presenti

die et

deinceps

uobis

obe-

diens et fidelis

semper

in omnibus ero et

uitam

uestram et membra

et

honorem

totum,

quem

habetis nunc uel habituri

estis,

defendam

exal-

tabo

absque

aliqua

fraudeet malo

ingenio

secundum

posse

et

ingenium

meum

omnibus diebus uite mee."

20. It was later enhanced

with a retable:

HC, III, 44,

ed.

Falque Rey,

502.

The ciborium was

replaced

in 1462 with a

new

baldachin. For a recon-

struction

of Gelmirez's shrine from

the

description

in

the

Pilgrim's

Guide,

see S.

Moralejo,

"'Ars Sacra'

et

sculpture

romane

monumentale:

Le Tresor et le chantier de Compostelle," CCuixdi,XI (1980), 189-

238,

and

L6pez

Ferreiro,

Historia

de la

Iglesia,

III,

236.

21. "Hanc tabulamDidacus

presul

jacobita

secundus

Tempore

quinquenni

fecit

episcopi.

Marcas

argenti

de thesauro

jacobensi

/ Hic

octoginta

quinque

minus numera.

Rex

erat

Anfonsus,

gener

ejus

dux

Raimun-

dus,

/ Presul

prefatus

quando

peregit opus."

See J.

Vielliard,

Le Guide

du Pelerin de

Saint-Jacques

de

Compostelle

(Paris, 1984),

110,

112.

For the

altar,

HC,

I, 18,

ed.

Falque

Rey,

43-44.

22. See

Mathews,

"They

Wished to

Destroy

the

Temple

of

God,"

72-87.

23. For

the

mint,

see

Reilly,

Kingdom of

Leon-Castilla

under ...

Urraca,

272-73.

The

HC,

for all the detail

in its

530

printed

pages,

is

none-

theless

a

highly

selective record

replete

with calculated

omissions,

for

example

of

information about

the sources of the

funds

Gelmirez

spent

so

lavishly.

A

better source is the

cartulary

known as Tumbo

A,

designed

by

Gelmifrez's

reasurer,

Bernard,

shortly

before

1129,

to

encourage

Alfonso VII to offer donations to

Santiago

as his

predecessors

had

done;

see

L6pez

Alsina,

La Ciudad de

Santiago

de

C

Abou-El-Haj (Barbara)_Santiago de Compostela in the Time of Diego Gelmirez

Documents

Transcript of Abou-El-Haj (Barbara)_Santiago de Compostela in the Time of Diego Gelmirez