 |
Codex Calixtinus page showing Charlemagne and his knights on
their way to Santiago de Compostela. Photograph: Universal /Getty Images
|
The Codex Calixtinus - the "Liber Sancti Jacobi" - Book of Saint James is a priceless 12th-century illustrated manuscript
containing what has been described as Europe's first travel
guide. The 225 parchment pages include a guide to the pilgrimage routes to Santiago. About the authors
They also tell the story of how St James the Apostle's body was supposedly
transported from Judea on a raft without oars or sails, which swiftly crossed
the Mediterranean and travelled north through the Atlantic before grounding in
north-western Spain. From there it was supposedly dragged inland by two oxen,
and the body was buried in a forest.
It was only eight centuries later, however, that locals began to claim the
tomb of St James could be found there. Pilgrims eventually began to travel to
the site, and an 11th-century pope declared that on certain years pilgrims could
obtain plenary indulgence for their sins and so avoid purgatory.
The manuscript, apparently commissioned by Pope Calixtus II, helped
popularize a pilgrimage that still attracts tens of thousands of people every
year. The author claimed pilgrims traveled from as far away as Scotland, Ireland,
Wales, Jerusalem and Asia seeking "mortification of the body, increase of
virtue, forgiveness of sins ... and the protection of the Heavens".
This guidebook also included warnings against eating some local fish which
would cause you to "die soon afterwards or fall ill".
Buen Camino!
