Santiago de Compostela in the Time of Diego Gelmrez

Author(s): Barbara Abou-El-Haj

Source: Gesta, Vol. 36, No. 2, Visual Culture of Medieval Iberia (1997), pp. 165-179
Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the International Center of Medieval Art
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/767236 .
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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'ssupra-regionaland regional,ecclesiastical and seigniorial ambitions. His lavish enterprises,
which catalyzed two communalrebellions,includeartistic
programs designed to make visible the prelate's representation of his apostolic see. Each of Gelmirez's advances toward raising his see to metropolitanrank (and
expanding his lordship in western Galicia) is noted together withthe architecturaldesign and decorationof the
new cathedral. Among these advances, the systematic
productionof the cult of St. James has been undervalued
and the pilgrimsattractedby the cult have been regarded
as the cathedral's unique audience. When the violent attacks by burghers and canons on the cathedral and the
prelateare integratedintothis history,local audiences can
be understood as the target of specific sets of images.
These includeparticularlyaggressive figures of the urban
vices of lust and avarice, the latter conceived iconographicallyas a type forJudas to whom the communards
are repeatedlycompared in Gelmirez'schronicle,the Historia Compostellana.
Historians of Santiago de Compostela in the time of
Diego Gelmirez have examined the means by which the prelate raised himself to bishop, archbishop,and preeminentlord
of western Galicia without assessing the role Gelmirez's lavish artisticprojects might have played in these endeavors. Art
historians have examined building technology, architectural
design and models, and the content of the sculptural representations to identify how the cathedral and its decoration
projected Gelmirez's ambitions for his apostolic see and addressed 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.2In either case, discussion is framed within
regional and supra-regionalenvironments.This papercalls 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 absence 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 midand endpoints of the reign of Gelmirez, whose ambitious and
volatile record will serve as the frameworkfor discussion.
Gelmirez'srise from cathedraladministratorof Santiago
de Compostela (1093-1094; 1096-1100) to bishop in 1100
and then archbishop in 1120 relied upon the successful stag-

ing of the apostolic cult of St. James and the installation of

the apostle's churchas the principal pilgrimage destination of
northwest Europe. Neither could have been a foregone conclusion even at the height of pilgrimage in the first half of the
twelfth century.A successful cult, however that may be construed, had to be constructed: in texts, spectacles, liturgies,
processions, all staged within dramatic architecture and articulated 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's activities toward this end were recorded under his own supervision in a chronicle known as the Historia
Compostellana.3 They encompassed a volatile mix of ecclesiastical and seigniorial initiatives that included, above all,
his pursuit of metropolitan rank commensurate with the apostolic status of his see and with his de facto lordship in western Galicia, accomplished by means of political and artistic
enterprisesof staggering extravagance.He positioned himself
to rival Rome; to guaranteethe mistrustof Toledo, which regarded Compostela as a competitor for the primacy of Spain;
and to expand his see at the expense of Braga.4He might have
expected to exceed his ambitionswhen Calixtus II, the brother
of his former mentor, Raymond of Burgundy, became pope
in 1119. Calixtus, however, while awardingmetropolitanstatus 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 curia5and to
the rulers of Le6n-Castile. By 1104, he had purchased the
privilege to wear an archbishop'spallium on all major liturgical 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 supportedCalixtus's nomination 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 protractedstruggle 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 "paramountauthorityin west
central Galicia."7Money was also "alternatelycajoled or extorted,"as Fletcher put it, by Urraca'sson Alfonso VII well
into the 1130s. Characterizedin the Historia as "immense and
immeasurablesums of money,"it helped to remedy financial
losses after Almoravid conquests had ended the flow of tributary gold dinars from the south.8Additional resources went

GESTAXXXVI/2 @ The InternationalCenter of Medieval Art 1997

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165

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FIGURE 1. Santiago de Compostela,cathedral, westfacade, 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.9In the same years, the bishop remodeled the
altarof St. James into a splendid shrine and advancedthe new
cathedral, the space and setting that were designed to draw
pilgrims in the first place (Fig. 1).
Gelmirezinheriteda cathedralalreadyunderconstruction
according to an ambitious design formulated under Diego
Pelhez and Alfonso VI (1065-1109), who were commemorated in two capitals in the apse.'0 A vast structurehad been
planned, funded with tributefrom Granadapromised or given
by the king at a council held at Santiago, between December
1074 and January1075. In Serafin Moralejo'selegant phrase,
the king and bishop respondedto Pope GregoryVII, who was
"preparingto disavow, with eloquent silence ... 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 commemorationin 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 transregionaldesign, 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 caricaturedby Santiago's transept,which is broaderthan
the cathedral nave (Fig. 2).13 The scale envisioned in this
design perfectly suited Diego Gelmirez'spursuitof metropolitan 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: met by the whole population,barefoot,the bishop
and clergy, also barefoot, were followed into the city by
crowds of people, singing hymns and psalms.14 Such spectacles were orchestratedto attractand energize audiences. Even
acquisitions of bodies or relics of saints by less dramaticadventures were styled as thefts demanded by the saints themselves, 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 miracles 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 multipliedfrom 1100, the year of Gelmirez's
episcopal appointment.Between 1100 and 1110 the eight miracles reported from the mid-eleventh century expanded into
yearly miracles.17 The Codex, falsely attributedto Pope Calixtus II, neatly inserted,posthumously,the papal enthusiasmfor
St. James thathad been absentin GregoryVII's letterof 1074.
In the same years, Gelmirez moved to embellish liturgical spectacles designed to draw the audiences that would provide confirmationand consensus for the exalted status of his
apostolic see. Each of his initiatives, undertakenwithin the
first few years of his bishopric, seems to have alienated a
groupof his canons. In 1102, as partof a sweeping reform,he
received permission to designate within his chapter, simultaneously 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.18Perhaps 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 completed a lavish remodeling of St. James'saltar,over the strenuous 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,20which reproducedsalient features
of Peter's shrine in Rome (Fig. 4). Gelmirez inscribed the
shrine with his name and his expenditureof 75 silver marks.21
KarenMathews 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 beneficiaries of episcopal largesse.22

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FIGURE 2. Santiago de Compostela, cathedral, groundplan (after Conant).

FIGURE 3. Santiago de Compostela, cathedral, nave (photo: A.y R. Mas

[Arxiu Mas], Barcelona).

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.23Nonetheless, building proceeded slowly. By 1112 the east end was advanced
enough to demolish the tiny churchof Alfonso III, left standing and functioning as the cathedralcrossing was built around
it.24This strikingexpansion in scale was in keeping with vast
new churches forming a fragmentary monumental topographythat extended from northeastEnglandto Sicily.25Such
ventures, utterly discrepant with local communities and resources, were realized not by possession of resources alone,
and certainly not by cooperation between the builders and
their towns, but ratherby the control exercised over resources
within the political economy of the seigniorial clergy. Hence,
the civil strife catalyzed by excessive building challenged the

whole spectrumof 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'scanons led by one of
his proteg6s,26and a group of patrician burghers. Together
the latter two stormed the cathedralprecinct and took control
of the town for a year, during which time they assaulted the
episcopal palace, in which the bishop had had to confine himself "as if in a hiding place . . . He did not dare contradict
their statutes nor refuse their demands.. . the traitors possessed everything, in everything they obtained their 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
numerousassaults; stones, arrows,spears fly over [Gelmirez's
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FIGURE 4. Santiago de Compostela, ciborium over the altar of St. James,

1105 (Serafin Moralejo).

.
depraved assailants set fire to the
splendid] altar . .The
churchof the blessed James and burnit on both sides because
no small part of the church was covered with planks and
straw."28When Gelmirez and Urraca took refuge in the cathedral bell tower, Compostelans pillaged 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 traitors, more than 3000" to hide in Santa Maria. From there he
punched his way throughwalls from house to house and then
to the treasury of San Pelayo.30The queen finally made her
escape by agreeing to a reconciliation and a peace pact that
would confirmthe communards'urbanadministratorand 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, CountPedro,to whom,
instead, she denounced the commune.31
Meanwhile,the rebels huntedfor the bishop "thirstingfor
[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 cardinalcanon
until, with two armed men, he passed as one of the selfappointed sentinels out of the city, and met with allies who
brought him mounted support. "Protectedby no small troop
of soldiers"he rode to Iria,where he was received "as if risen
from the dead."33"The arroganceof the Compostelans [was]
broken, on the one hand by ... many assaults, on the otherby
the sword of anathema."According to the Historia, the more
sensible canons and citizens accepted his excommunication.
From Iria, the bishop excommunicated all the inhabitantsof
Compostela,which, the Historia reports,utterlyweakened 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 hyperbole. The traitors ran here and there, "and fortified the city
with a palisade, barriers, a stone parapet and wooden ramparts;they encouraged and exhorted the people, but in vain."
A large numberwho had not taken partin the "infamoustreason" saw the city besieged on all sides, the trees and grain
fields cut down, heads, feet or hands amputated,the dead not
buried. They saw the queen's army grow larger each day, and
theirown diminish, and fearedthatthe city, if it were attacked,
would fall easily. "Who would not eagerly cast himself
against the traitors?Who would not extirpatethe 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,surrendered
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 hundredin all, were exiled and their
propertyand goods confiscated. The anathemawas lifted and
peace declared. Fifty sons of the major families of Compostela were surrenderedas hostages for reparations,townsmen
swore an oath of fealty to the bishop and queen, and when the
bishop enteredCompostela,he was "receivedwith greatjoy."35
Througheighteen pages of the printedtext, the Historia
presents a blow-by-blow account, complete with dialogue
among the conspirators,among the bishop and the queen and
their allies, punctuatedwith denunciations of the "traitors."
The humiliationsof the bishop and queen are sparedno detail.
Each of the principalsis cast in counterpoiseto the others:the
evil conspirators,compatriots of Judas; the vengeful queen;

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and the merciful bishop, compared in turn to Christ, Daniel,

and the Three Hebrews. Nonetheless, the commune was defeated not by the bishop's spiritual arsenal but by the real
thing, thousands of horsemen and soldiers. Accordingly, the
sanctions imposed were strictly seigniorial and ratherlimited:
a small fine and only one hundredof the claimed 3,000 rebels
exiled.36 Although Gelmirez's own brother Gundesindo, administratorof the town (accused of many evils likely pertaining to his supervision of the market), was killed, one of the
leading communards,Pedro Helias, became Dean of Compostela from 1122 to 1124, and Gelmirez's second successor as
archbishopin 1143.37One 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
promoterof their treason,"went on to be twice the villicus or
administratorof Compostela after Gelmirez's death (11401141 and 1149-1150).38
The otherwise omniscient authorialvoice 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."39Pastor de Togneri suggested that the commune was driven by an economic
power struggle, characteristicof contemporarycommunalrebellions, as at Laon and Vdzelay, in which the complaints of
burghersand peasants were recordedin 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 cathedral and its
dazzling shrine. The burghers'principal competitor was the
chapter,which, at least later in the century underArchbishop
Suairez de Deza (1173-1206), possessed outright twentyeight of one hundredsouvenir stalls.41The very same issues
prompted the riot in 1136 when, once again, the archbishop
barely escaped assassins. This time, Gelmirez took refuge inside 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 archbishopinto perpetual exile.42
The ceremonies and the phrases employed in the Historia's account of the first commune, then, provided a satisfying, if temporary,closure to a rebellion that might well have
succeeded in establishing a franchised town with some degree of autonomy from its bishop. Hence, Gelmirez'sfirst order of business was to restore the sites of his spiritual and
secular authority,his burnedapostolic churchand his pillaged
palace.43 The unfinished cathedral roof, set on fire by the
communardsin 1117, was repairedand provided with a stone
thrower aimed at the town.44 Its crenellations may have been

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FIGURE5. Santiago de Compostela, Cathedral Museum, spiral columns

from the north portal (photo: Santiago, Camino de Europa).

partof these repairs,or addedby Gelmirez to fortify "thetowers and unfinishedworks of the cathedral"in 1115 against an
anticipated invasion by Urraca prompted by the bishop's alliance with her son Alfonso (Fig. 1).45A fortified cathedral
would have been just as useful against the hostile community
within Compostelathat launchedits commune within the year.
Building seems to have resumed and to have been completed to a few bays beyond the crossing by 1120,46 without alteration to either the scale or the lavish references to
St. Peter's.The cathedral'stranseptportals and, later, the west
portal (ca. 1160-1180) were framed with marble and granite
spiral columns (Figs. 5, 10). Moralejo recognized these as explicit references to the columns that supportedthe ciborium
over St. Peter'sshrine and to Solomon's Temple, their legendary provenance. This reference to the Temple invoked the
scripturalmodel for excessive building at a time when the periodic debate over ecclesiastical luxury revived both the content and the phrases of Jerome'slate fourth-centuryblast. At
Compostela the columns, magnified, multiplied and projected
onto the portals, framed the whole of James's church, configuring it as a giant shrine, a lavish church of the sort that
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FIGURE 6. Santiago de Compostela, cathedral, frieze above south portal
(photo: author).

Bernardof Clairvaux attackedin 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,"
attackedor otherwiseentrappedin 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 appearancewithin the cathedralon
the ciborium (Fig. 3), where he is the central figure among
three apostles on the gabled front.49 These figures markedthe
specificity of apostolic succession claimed by Gelmirez and
the archbishop'secclesiastical posturevis-a-vis Rome. Both the
prelateand 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 prerogative 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 archbishopin 1120, Gelmirez'sexpenditures shifted. To mark his new rank, "he built a palace
in addition to the church of the blessed James, ample and
elevated, worthy and sumptuous, sufficient as is fitting to receive 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 northportal, because, 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

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FIGURE 7. Santiago de Compostela, cathedral, west facade, Pdrtico de la

Gloria, St. James (photo: author).

and ascending continuously,"53an 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 urbanside of the cathedral
with the canons' residence may have been no longer suitable
nor safe for a metropolitanresidence. 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, recordedin such
excruciating detail by the prelate'sown men, it is strikingthat
the figurative sculptureon the cathedral'stranseptportals has
been representedalmost exclusively as addressingpilgrim audiences.55Moralejoidentifiedcoordinatedimages of sin andredemption originally displayed on the northportal that opened
toward the new archiepiscopal palace. According to the Pilgrim's Guide, this was the door throughwhich pilgrims from
France enteredthe cathedral.These sculptureswere dispersed

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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 cathedralmuseum after

the north side was remodeled in the eighteenth century.They
included figures of Adam and Eve created, reproached and
expelled from paradiseby God, without, however, the central
scene of the Fall. Moralejo linked the Genesis narrativeto an
isolated scene of the Annunciation, pairing Mary of the Ave
with Eve, whose sin she redeemedjust as Christ,who appears
enthroned,redeemed Adam's sin. Beneath these figures, the
north portal would have served for a penitential rite performed 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 superabundanceof demons,
pendantto 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, crucialevents,
the Crucifixion and the Three Marys at the Tomb, are also
unusually absent.57In effect, punishment is portrayedin the

...

FIGURE 9. Santiago de Compostela, archiepiscopal palace to left, lower

story ca. 1120 (photo: author).

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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 tyrannicalpowers for the defense of
his church,"59we might see embeddedin sculpturesdepicting
transcendent Christian narratives and morals the very same
spiritualthreatsthat were inoperativeduringthe rebellion and
absentfrom the penalties imposed at its conclusion. They seem
to affirmthe spiritualauthorityof the bishop in images if not
in reality.
KarenMathews noticed the extent to which evil and violent figures exceed benevolent ones in the south tympanaand
suggested that they alluded to Gelmirez'sbetrayalby his canons and burghers, most pointedly in the scene of Christ arrested, betrayedby Judasfor thirtypieces of silver.60 Such an
analogy would accord with the occasions on which the prelate 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 passages 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 authorityand submission that, indeed, would have been deployed in penitential rituals.62Nonetheless, as with the Betrayal, the Healing
of the Blind also provides a suggestive, if inoperative,typology 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 surprisinglylarge 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 allegories of lust, capitals carved with lust in the south transept
(Fig. 13).63 In addition, extraordinarilyaggressive, genderequal figures of lust tormentedon the north portal archivolts
marked the archbishop's regular entrance into his cathedral
(Figs. 14, 15), while a capital in the lower arcadeof the north
transept, marking his route to the choir, displayed avarice
hanged by demons and tormented by fire (Fig. 16). The archivolt and capital figures are strikingbecause their tormentis
brutal,even by twelfth-centurystandards,when this select set
of vices was firstprojectedonto public, architecturalsculpture
in the guise of identifiable social types. Such figures accompanied an endless variety of the tormentedon capitals in
churches such as V6zelay and Autun. In the latter, in the
context of new and fearsome scenes of Judgment,clergy and
pilgrims appear among the elect and a harlot and merchant
(stereotypedurbansins) among the damned,each groupin the
center of otherwise generic souls rising from their sarcophagi.
At Autun,these figures addressedhostile local audiences with

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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,
Moralejolinked capitals depicting the cardinalsins 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 greaterurgency, scholars have found the Calixtinus'suniformly affirmative account of St. James's cult, its liturgies, pilgrimage,
souvenir trade, the cathedral and its decoration, sufficient to
interpretthe sculptureas 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, Archbishopof the
see of Compostela by the grace of God, [who] ordered this
book to be written and to be placed in the treasuryof blessed
172

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FIGURE 11. Santiago de Compostela, cathedral, south facade, left tympanum,Temptationsof Christ (photo: A.y R. Mas
[Arxiu Mas], Barcelona).

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FIGURE 12. Santiago de Compostela, cathedral, south facade, right tympanum,scenes of the Passion (photo: A.y R. Mas
[Arxiu Mas], Barcelona).

173

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IX.
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insurgentsof 1116-1117 are described as "the most depraved

allies of Judas"or as Iscariots four times.69
O. K. Werckmeisterproposed that at Autun, as Moralejo
later argued for Santiago, the north portal was the site for
public penance,70 a humiliatingritualin which penitents prostrated themselves in the same posture as Eve, portrayedon
the lintel above, and were ritually expelled from the church.
Subsequentlythey 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 Judgment carved and inscribed on the west portal facing the cemetery. The sculpture at Autun, however, addressed the local
community. It was part of a panoramaof violence and struggle 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
landlordregime threatenedand in turn threatening,in 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 urban setting with just such
an audience, a local one to whom, from the perspective of the
bishop and his allies among the canons, the threatof temptation, 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 northportal 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 northportal was, as well, the archiepiscopalportal, adjacentto Gelmirez's new palace, a setting for the bishop's visualization of his
threatened seigniory in the guise of an aggressive spiritual
authority positioned 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.

Kg.

..

FIGURE 13. Santiago de Compostela,cathedral, south transept,capital with

Lust (photo: author).

explicit spiritualthreats,carved above the lintel of the resurrected: "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 figurationof 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 narrativecapitals in the cathedral,66in an equally
distinctive depiction. He is not only tortured by fire, he is
hanged as a criminal, the form of execution reserved for lowborn thieves. This iconographic formula was well known to
artists, who used it to portray a standardmiracle 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 second 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 portrayedat V6zelay,68but as a common thief executed
by demons. If, by this visual alteration,avarice was projected
into Judas's punishment, at Santiago, conversely, we might
see in avarice an allusion to Judas the traitor.In this unusual
form, he might have been intended to threatenGelmirez'senemies who, indeed, are comparedto JudasIscariot in key passages of the Historia. The firstparagraphof the chronicle, the
preface to the prologue, extends and specifies the standard
threatsof damnationand excommunicationagainst evildoers,
anyone who would steal or destroy the book, with the same
punishmentas "Judas,who handed over the Lord (proditore
Domini) ... may he be damned forever in the inferno."The

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 addressesvarious audiences, see K. R. Mathews,
"'They Wished to Destroy the Temple of God': Responses to Diego
Gelmirez's CathedralConstructionin Santiago de Compostela, 11001140" (Dissertation, University of Chicago, 1995). As a memberof the
author'sdissertationcommittee, I have benefitted from our discussions
about Santiago over several years. See also A. G. Biggs, Diego Gelmirez, 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 Medieval 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.

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FIGURE 14. Santiago de Compostela, cathedral museum, male figure of

Lust (photo: author).

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femalefigure of
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FIGURE 16. Santiago de Compostela, cathedral, north transept, capital

with Avarice (photo: after Durliat).

FIGURE 17. Autun, St.-Lazare, nave capital with Suicide of Judas (photo:
after Grivot and Zarnecki, Gislebertus).

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3. See the preface to the prologue (discussed below). The Historia was
edited by E. Falque Rey, Historia Compostellana (Corpus Christianorum, 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, almost the entire span of Gelmirez'sprelacy. However, the description of
the 1136 rebellion at the end of the chronicle describes the archbishop
posthumously ("D. uenerabilismemoriae")and must have been written
after his death in 1140. HC, III, 46, ed. Falque Rey, xx-xxi, 504.
4. For Gelmirez's quarrels with Toledo and Braga, see R. A. Fletcher,
Saint James's Catapult: The Life and Times of Diego Gelmirez of Santiago de Compostela (Oxford, 1984), 206-11.
5. See Fletcher's itemized list of gold and silver coins from various
French, Italian and taifa mints, and precious liturgical and Muslim ornaments, "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, Ascension, 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 midpoint between Gelmirez's appointmentsas bishop and archbishop. See
B. Reilly, The Kingdom of Leon-Castilla under Queen Urraca. 11091126 (Princeton, 1982), 144. For sections on the queen's "machinations," HC, I, 102, 107, ed. Falque Rey, 172-74, 180-84.
8. "Immensam pecuniam" and "incomputabilempecuniam,"HC, II, 91,
ed. Falque Rey, 411-12. Alfonso VII (died 1157) ceased these exactions around 1137, according to Fletcher, Saint James's Catapult, 25759. 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 Compostela (Santiago, 1898-1911), IV, 129-35; 209-15. Urraca was the
Infanta, widow of Count Raymond (d. 1107) and the daughter of Alfonso VI. She proclaimed herself "Lord of 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
threatenedby 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 threatenedwith a fine twice the amount of what they took, a payment 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 merchantstraveling
overland in 1072. Reilly suggests that the king's offering formed part
of 30,000 gold dinars received from Abd Allah in returnfor 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 charterthat places
the king in Santiago to celebrate a great council, see F L6pez Alsina,
La Ciudadde Santiago de Compostelaen 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,"in The Art
of Medieval Spain: A.D. 500-1200 (New York, 1993), 174-83, esp.

175, who concluded that Alfonso encouraged Santiago's apostolic ambitions in the Council of 1074-1075.
12. Pelaez was accused of preparingto 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), 10312, esp. 110, citing C. J. Bishko, "FernandoI and the Origins of the
Leonese-Castilian Alliance with Cluny,"Studies in Medieval Spanish
Frontier History (London, 1980), 1-136. Between 1076 and 1080 Cluniac monks began to "penetratethe great abbeys." Among them was
Bernardd'Auch, Abbot of Sahagin, who was appointedprimateof Toledo 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'Abbayede Cluny,ed. A. Bruel, 6 vols.
(Paris, 1876-1903), and S. Moralejo, "On the Road: The Camino de
Santiago,"esp. 176.
13. On the architecturalhistory of Santiago de Compostela, see K. J. Conant, The Early ArchitecturalHistory 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 ad locum, 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 sanctorum corpora susceperunt et episcopo preeunte et clero in ciuitatem
suam cum hymnis et canticis et pia deuotione detuleruntet 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-Crandelland P Gerson,
The Pilgrim's Guide to Santiago de Compostela.A Gazetteer (London,
1995); Gerson, J. Krochalis and A. Shaver-Crandell,The Pilgrim's
P.
Guide to Santiago de Compostela. A Critical Edition (London, 1997).
For the Codex Calixtinus, see Liber Sancti Jacobi "Codex Calixtinus",
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,"in 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 Santiago, Estudio Codicoldgico y de Contenido (Centro de Estudios Jacobeos, Monografiasde Compostellanum,II) (Santiago de Compostela,
1988).
17. Only 1109 lacks one; see K. Herbers, "The Miracles of St. James,"in
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 certaines l61itesde pouvoir," in Mdlanges R. Crozet, I (Poitiers, 1966),
597-608, esp. 601; eadem, ConflictosSociales y EstancamientoEconamico 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 engaged reluctantly,if at all. Five years before his
death, he renewed his promise of a cloister, optimistically referredto 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

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Patremomnipotentem, quod ab hoc presenti die et deinceps uobis obediens et fidelis semper in omnibus ero et uitam uestram et membra et
honorem totum, quem habetis nunc uel habituri estis, defendam exaltabo absque aliqua fraude et 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 reconstruction of Gelmirez's shrine from the description in the Pilgrim's
Guide, see S. Moralejo, "'Ars Sacra'et sculptureromane monumentale:
Le Tresor et le chantier de Compostelle," CCuixdi,XI (1980), 189238, and L6pez Ferreiro,Historia de la Iglesia, III, 236.

21.

"Hanc tabulamDidacus presuljacobita secundus / Temporequinquenni

fecit episcopi. Marcas argenti de thesauro jacobensi / Hic octoginta
quinque minus numera. Rex erat Anfonsus, gener ejus dux Raimundus, / 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 nonetheless 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 cartularyknown as TumboA, designed
by Gelmifrez'streasurer, Bernard, shortly before 1129, to encourage
Alfonso VII to offer donations to Santiago as his predecessors had
done; see L6pez Alsina, La Ciudadde Santiago de Compostela, 28-43.
One hundred seventy-nine documents from the cartulary,dating from
818 to 1183, were published by A. L6pez Ferriero in the appendices
to the first four volumes of his Historia de la Iglesia. For the lavish
portraitsthat decorate the Tumbossee M. Diaz y Diaz, E L6pez Alsina,
and S. Moralejo Avarez, Los Tumbosde Compostela (Madrid, 1985),
43-100.
24. Under the section "De Destructione Veteris Ecclesie et De Choro Nove
Ecclesie," the early medieval church is described, in phrases frequently
used by ambitious builders, as very old and threateningcollapse: "Uetustissimamecclesiolam ... , que intraimmensamnoue ecclesie capacitatem inminente ruina lapsum minabatur,"HC, I, 78, 2, ed. Falque
Rey, 121.
25.

O. K. Werckmeister, "Romanesque Geopolitics" (unpublished paper,

"Medieval Art History Now," Northwestern University, April 29-30,
1994).

30.

32.

"Presto sunt enim hostes nostri, qui nos insecunturet sanguinem nostrum sitiunt,"HC, I, 116, 2, ed. Falque Rey, 212-13, esp. 213.

33.

"Eas [equitaturas]igitur adductasascendit episcopus cum assedis suis

et non modica militum turba iam munitus uenit Iriam, et quasi a captiuitate fugiens, quasi a mortuis resurgens ab amicis suis receptus est,"
HC, I, 116, 3, ed. Falque Rey, 214.

34.

"Frangitursupercilium Compostellanorum,hinc multitudine obsidentium et crebris assultibus, illinc anathematis gladio." "Discurrunthuc
et illuc Scariothides et muniunt ciuitatem uallo, sepibus, aggere lapidum et ligneis propugnaculis, animant atque hortanturpopulum, sed
incassum. Postquam enim non modica pars Compostellanorumexpers
nefande proditionis uidet ciuitatem circumquaqueobsessam, arbores
truncari,segetes colligi, capita, pedes aut manus amputari,mortuorum
corpora non humari, uidet etiam regine exercitus cotidie augmentari,
suos autem decrescere.... Magna pars nimirum Compostellanorum
quaquenocte aufugiebatmetuens ciuitatempenitus destrui.""Quisenim
non irrueretauide in proditores?Quis non extirparetipsos nefandos in
episcopus suum conspirantes? Quis non destrueret regnum et sacerdotium destruere uolentes? Quis non combureret apostolice ecclesie
uiolatores et combustores? Tota Gallicia habet infestos tanti facinoris
auctores, tota Gallicia sitit sanguinemeorum."HC, I, 116, 4, ed. Falque
Rey, 215.

35. HC, I, 116, 6, ed. Falque Rey, 217.

36.

For contemporarypeasant and urbanrebellions in Sahaghin,Lugo, Carri6n, Burgos, and Palencia dating from 1087 (Sahag6n) to 1184 (Lugo),
see R. Pastor, Resistencias y Luchas Campesinas en la Epoca del Crecimiento y Consolidaci6n de la Formaci6n Feudal. Castilla v Leon,
Siglos X-XIII (Madrid, 1980), esp. 122-41.

37.

See R. A. Fletcher, The Episcopate in the Kingdom of Le6n in the

Twelfth Century (Oxford, 1978), 53.

38.

"Vilielmus Siginides, huius proditionis maximus incentor,"HC, III, 47,

ed. Falque Rey, 508.

39.

See note 26.

40.

Pastor de Togneri, "Diego Gelmifrez,"601-3. The abbot of V6zelay

and the bishop of Laon were assassinated in 1106 and 1112 in the first
of the clashes thatchallenged seigniorialeconomic monopolies throughout the twelfth century. See J. Scott and J. O. Ward,Hugh of Poitiers.
The VWzelayChronicle (Binghamton, N.Y., 1992), esp. 318-31 on the
Accord of 1137, and A Monk'sConfession. The Memoirs of Guibert of
Nogent, trans. P.J. Archambault(University Park,PA, 1996), esp. 14457. The conflict in Compostela was exacerbated by the struggle between Gelmirez and Urraca;see L. Vizquez de Parga, "La revoluci6n
comunal de Compostela en los afios 1116 y 1117,"Anuario de Historia
del Derecho Espailol, XVI (1945), 685-703.

41.

See Pastor de Togneri, "Diego Gelmirez,"603 and n. 32. Perhaps the

mint granted by Alfonso VI to Gelmirez, from whom the burghershad
to purchase their coins, also prompteddiscontent. This is quite a different picture of Santiago'spilgrimage economy from the one provided in
the fifth book of the Codex Calixtinus, The Pilgrim's Guide, which
projects in its lively description of vendors in the north square-the
"paradise"on the episcopal side of the cathedral-an active marketand
a surplusof pilgrims and coins. The scale and value of pilgrimage have
been assumed and generalized from this account. Gelmirez's wealth is
characterizedby scholars such as Fletcher, The Episcopate in the Kingdom ofLedn, 55, as "based partly on grants of land from the rulers of
Le6n-Castile, partlyin the offerings of pilgrims, the streamof whom he
encouraged until it became a flood, and it enabled him to give outward
expression of it by building,"including the cathedraland the imposing

26. HC I, 114, 13, ed. Falque Rey, 208, describes the treason of a canon
raised and educated by Gelmirez in his palace, sent to France to study
grammar"at no small cost," who accuses the bishop of having diminished the dignity of their church and heavily oppressed them underthe
yoke of his domination.
27. HC I, 111, 4, ed. Falque Rey, 193: "Episcopusautemin palatio suo quasi
in latebris statutus eorum nec contradicere, nec petitioni eorum...
obuiare audebat... Omnia possidebant,omnibus impetrabantconplices
proditionis."
28. HC, I, 114, 2, ed. Falque Rey, 200-201, esp. 201: "Episcopus et regina
in palatiis episcopi, postquam audiere ciuitatis clamores et strepitus et
qualiter socii Scariothis incitauerint ciuitatem in se, timuere... Expugnatur apostolica ecclesia crebris assultibus, uolant saxa, sagitte,
tela super altare... Perditissimiexpugnatoresimponuntignem ecclesie
beati Iacobi et eam utrimqueincendunt;non modica enim pars ecclesie
erat cooperta miricis et tabulis."
29. HC I, 114, 5, ed. Falque Rey, 202-3: " ... accepta fide securitatis ab
eis egressa est a turre.Quam ut uidit cetera turbaegredientem, concursum in eam faciunt, capiunt eam et prosternunthumi in uolutabrum,
rapiunt eam more luporum et uestes eius dilaniant..."

HC, I, 114, 6-7, 10-12, ed. Falque Rey, 203, 204-7.

31. HC, I, 110; 115, 1-2, ed. Falque Rey, 189, 210-12.

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adjacentpalace. Fletcher'smetaphoris borrowedfrom the very men who

orchestratedthe events that attractedpilgrims. The same phrase was
used by Raoul Glaberto describe pilgrimage to Jerusalemand by Ad&mar of Chabannesfor pilgrims trampledas they rushed to the tomb of
St. Martialof Limoges in 1018; see R. Landes, "The Dynamics of Heresy and Reform in Limoges; a Study of Popular Participation in the
'Peace of God' (994-1033)," in Essays on the Peace of God: The Church
and the People in Eleventh-CenturyFrance, ed. T. Head and R. Landes
(Historical Reflections, XIV) (1987), 467-511, esp. 492-93, n. 87;
idem, Relics, Apocalypse, and the Deceits of History. Ademar of Chabannes, 989-1034 (Cambridge,MA, 1995), 67-68.
42. HC, III, 46-48, esp. 46, 3 and 47, 3, ed. Falque Rey, 504-12, esp.
506-7, 509-10. See J. R. BarreiroSomoza, "Gelmirez,Diego," in Gran
Enciclopedia Gallega, XV (Santiago, 1974), 232-56, esp. 243-54.
43. HC, I, 116, 6, ed. Falque Rey, 216-17.
44. Conant, Santiago, 24, n. 1. This would have been no more unusual
than the crenellations furnished for Saint-Denis, as Dieter Kimpel and
Robert Suckale recognized from Suger's oblique comment in De Administratione, c. 27: "We also committed ourselves richly to elaborate
the tower[s] and the upper crenellations of the front, both for the
beauty of the churchand, should circumstancesrequireit, for practical
purposes."See Abbot Suger on the Abbey Church of St.-Denis and its
Art Treasures,trans.E. Panofsky,2nd ed. G. Panofsky-Soergel (Princeton, 1979), 47 and D. Kimpel and R. Suckale, Die gotische Architektur
in Frankreich 1130-1270 (Munich, 1985), 80. In the next century,
Reims's communardsfurnished themselves with stone throwers which
they had removed from the cathedral; see B. Abou-El-Haj, "Program
and Power in the Glass at Reims," in Radical Art History: An International Anthology (Festschrift Otto-KarlWerckmeister),ed. W. Kersten
(Zurich, 1997).
45. Noted by Mathews, "They Wished to Destroy the Temple of God,"
127; see HC, I, 109, 3, ed. Falque Rey, 187-88.
46.

See D'Emilio, "The Building and the Pilgrim's Guide," 193.

47. S. Moralejo, "Primitiva Fachada norte de la Catedral de Santiago,"

Compostellanum,XIV (1969), 623-68; idem, "Saint Jacques de Compostelle. Les Portails retrouves de la Cathedrale Romane," Dossiers
d'Archeologie, XX (1977), 87-103, esp. 96-98. For Bernardof Clairvaux's attack on excessive building, see C. Rudolph, The "Things of
Greater Importance."Bernard of Clairvaux'sApologia and the Medieval AttitudeTowardArt (Philadelphia, 1990). For a brief discussion of
the debate over luxury building, which addressed both monastery and
cathedralchurches, see B. Abou-El-Haj,"ArtisticIntegrationInside the
Cathedrals,Social Consensus Outside?"in Artistic Integration in Early
Gothic Churches, ed. K. Brush, P Draper, V. Raguin (Toronto, 1995),
214-35, esp. 223-24.
48.

On the candlestick, the metaphorical significance of the figures is inscribed on the greasepan: "The burden of light is the work of virtue.
The shining doctrine preaches that man may not be obscured by vice"
(Lucis on' virtutis opus doctrina refulgens. Predicat ut vicio non tenebreturhomo). C. Oman, The Gloucester Candlestick(London, 1958), 1;
for the translation,O. K. Werckmeister,Medieval Art History. A Short
Survey (Evanston, IL, 1986), 219. Moralejo, "Saint Jacques de Compostelle. Les Portails retrouv~s,"98, suggested that the armed figures
carved within withered (leafless) vines on the cathedralcolumns evoke
passages in Psalms, Isaiah and Ezekiel, and may refer to Gelmirez's
reforms at Santiago. The Historia alludes to "restorersof the untended
vineyard of the church of St. James."Moralejo also suggests that they
recall epic figures in a "sorte de chanson de geste moralis~e."Because
some figures carved on the columns are armedwith shields and swords,
they also have been described as depicting epic battles: idem, Santiago,
Camino de Europa. Culto y Culturaen la Peregrinacian a Compostela
(Santiago, 1993), 380-84.

49. James's central role as one of three princes of the apostles (together
with his brotherJohn and with Peter) is figured in sculpture and in the
text of the Codex Calixtinus. He appears among the central figures of
the south transeptfrieze in the Transfiguration,an event witnessed only
by these three among Christ'sdisciples (Matthew 17: 1-8, Mark 9: 28, Luke 9: 28-36). See Moralejo, "Saint Jacques de Compostelle. Les
Portailsretrouves,"100-103. By no coincidence, the Transfigurationis
mentionedtwenty-eighttimes in the first four books of the Codex Calixtinus, and the liturgy for the feast of St. James, recorded in Book III,
cites the Transfigurationand other events that set James and his brother
John apartfrom the other apostles. See Mathews, "They Wished to Destroy the Temple of God," 165.
50.

See the repeatedpapal sanctions invoked under similar circumstances,

recorded in the cartularyof VWzelay,Scott and Ward, VWzelayChronicle, 108-29.

51.

"Fecit itaque palatia secus ecclesiam beati lacobi, ampla atque excelsa,
idonea itaque atque regalia, que turbamprincipumatque populorum,ut
decet, capere sufficiant."HC, II, 25, ed. Falque Rey, 268; see Mathews,
"They Wished to Destroy the Temple of God," 129-32.

52. The author of a modern pamphlet describing Gelmirez's palace cites

eleventh-centurycouncils convoked at Compostelaby Bishop Cresconio
as evidence that the prelate lived togetherwith the cathedralclergy, and
that the canonica and the episcopal palace were situated next to the
present rua de Conga along the south side of the cathedral complex.
However, the present consensus has the palace rebuilt on the same site,
adjacent to and north of the cathedral; Barreiro Somoza, "Gelmirez,
Diego," 237. The Historia's rubric is "Quod ConstruxitNova Palatia,"
II, 25, ed. Falque Rey, 268. On the unusual arrangementfor direct access from Gelmirez's palace to the episcopal chapel, see J. Williams,
"La arquitecturadel Camino de Santiago," Compostellanum, XXIX
(1984), 267-90, esp. 272.
53. HC, II, 25, ed. Falque Rey, 268. "Et quia ab his palatiis procul erat
chorus ecclesie beati lacobi et laboriosum ualde erat illuc assidue descendendo et ascendendo ire ac redire, composuit capellam suam sursum super porticum, ante quam fit moneta, in fronte ecclesia beati
lacobi dextra egredientibus ab eadem apostolica ecclesia."
54.

After 1117 and 1120 Gelmirez had both the necessity and the excuse to
build for security as well as grandeur.The north transeptplaza became
the site for vendors and the marvelous fountain built by the cathedral
treasurer,Bernard,dated in his inscription 11 April 1122. See ShaverCrandell and Gerson, The Pilgrim's Guide, 89. The aqueductand fountain are described also in the HC, II, 54, ed. Falque Rey, 324-26. The
plaza is called the "paradise"in the Guide. This is another invocation
of St. Peter's where, however, the paradise with its fountain was situated before the principalentrance. See S. Moralejo, "Le Lieu Saint: Le
tombeau et les basiliques medievales," Santiago de Compostela: 1000
ans de pelerinage europeen (Ghent, 1985), 41-52, esp. 44.

55.

K. Mathews has gone further in placing the sculpture within the local
setting, while simultaneously following Moralejo's interpretation;
"They Wished to Destroy the Temple of God," 183-88. Moralejo has
datedthe portalsculpturebetween 1102 and 1117,the latter"commedate
extreme"; "Saint Jacques de Compostelle. Les Portails retrouv~s,"90.

56.

S. Moralejo, "Artistas, patronos y ptiblico en el arte del Camino de

Santiago,"Compostellanum,XXX (1985), 395-430, esp. 422. For public penance at Santiago, see idem, Santiago, Camino de Europa, 387;
Santiago de Compostela: 1000 ans, 44.

57.

See Moralejo, "Primitiva Fachada norte," 242-44. A serpent coiled

around a tree as in traditional representationsof the Fall appears, instead, together with a censing angel between Christ and the temptors
on the left tympanum of the south transept portal. Moralejo, "Saint
Jacques de Compostelle. Les Portails retrouv~s,"98, interpretsChrist

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as the new Adam, citing J. M. de Azcairate,"La Portadade las Platerias

y el programa iconogrifico de la Catedral de Santiago,"Archivo esde arte, XXXVI (1963), 1-20, esp. 8; Moralejo, "Le Lieu Saint,"
pairol
49; Durliat, La sculpture romane, 329.
58.

CodexCalixtinus,17,trans.Moralejo,Torres,andFeo, 188-234, esp. 214.

59.

"Didacus Dei gratia Compostellane sedis archiepiscopus iussit hunc librum fieri et in thesaurobeati lacobi reponi ut, si aliquis per eum legere
uoluerit, legat et cognoscat quantos honores et quantas hereditates et
ornamentaet dignitates ipse archiepiscopus sue ecclesie acquisiu[er]it
et quantas persecutiones et pericula a tyrrannicis potestatibus pro sue
ecclesie defensione pertulerit."HC, preface to the prologue, ed. Falque
Rey, 3.

60.

Mathews, "They Wished to Destroy the Temple of God," 196-98,

206-8.

61.

"Non manet ambiguum, immo plerisque declaratum,eo quod quidam

canonicorum simili zelo seducti patriarcharumcontra fratrem suum,
uel ludas contra Christum, predictum egregium archipresulemdominum eorum et patrem spiritualem deponere nulla exigente ratione
machinati sunt,"HC, III, 46, 2, ed. Falque Rey, 505. The unmistakable
comparison is in the authors'account of his intercession with Alfonso
VII in 1136: "Paterignosce illis, quia nesciunt, quid faciunt,"HC, III,
53, 1, ed. Falque Rey, 522-23; cited by Mathews, "They Wished to
Destroy the Temple of God," 202.

62. Mark 10: 52, Luke 18: 42. For this miracle in illustratedlives of saints,
see Abou-El-Haj, The Medieval Cult of Saints, 43-44, 196.
63.

64.

See S. Moralejo, "Saint Jacques de Compostelle. Les Portails retrouv6s," 96, for the siren and the centaur. Sirens also appearon a number
of capitals. They may refer to Gelmirez's enemies in the 1136 rebellion, who are compared to the enemies of the Lord and Christ, and
whose gentle and fraudulentwords, in the mannerof sirens, attracteda
large numberof citizens to them: "Blandis et fraudulentisuerbis magnam partem ciuium more Sirenum, aduersus Dominum et Christum."
HC, III, 46, 2, ed. Falque Rey, 505-6.
I use Werckmeister's translation, Medieval Art History, 198. Werckmeister characterizedthe lintel as depicting "an indissoluble [social]historical dynamic of authorityand resistance,"fully coordinated with
the bishop's augmentedliturgy of death. See idem, "Die Auferstehung
der Toten am Westportal von St. Lazare in Autun,"Friihmittelalterliche Studien, XVI (1982), 208-36, esp. 217, 236. Among V6zelay's
capitals, a female figure of lust is also sexually assaulted; see E Salet
and J. Adh6mar, La Madeleine de VWzelay(Melun, 1948), P1. 29; for
avarice, P1. 31; K. M. Sazama, "The Assertion of Monastic Spiritual
and Temporal Authority in the Romanesque Sculpture of SaintMadeleine at V6zelay" (Dissertation, Northwestern University, 1995).
See also the pioneering article by M. Schapiro, "From Mozarabic to
Romanesque in Silos," AB, XXI (1939), 312-74, rpt. in Romanesque
Art (New York, 1977), 28-101, esp. 36-38, Fig. 7. Schapiro discussed
the image of Hell in the Beatus Apocalypse copied and painted at Santo
Domingo de Silos, 1091-1109, where avarice appears in the center as
a merchant bowed by moneybags, tormented by snakes and demons,
while lust is portrayedto one side as a couple in bed, also attacked by
demons. Schapiro reproducedthe female figure from Santiago's north
archivolt without her male companion, Fig. 10. For a discussion of
change in the hierarchy of vices, see L. K. Little, "Pride Goes Before
Avarice: Social Change and the Vices in Latin Christendom,"American
Historical Review, LXXVI (1971), 16-49. A. Weir and J. Jerman,Images of Lust. Sexual Carvings on Medieval Churches (London, 1986),
provide a repertoireof male and female figures of lust; see esp. 32, 58,
61, 66-67.

65.

Weir and Jerman, 102, cite Isaiah 57: 3-5 as a source for figures who
pull out their tongues or grimace and for some megaphallic men: "But
draw near, sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the
whore. Upon whom have you opened your mouth wide and put out
your tongue? Are you not children of transgression,a false seed? Who
seek your comfort in idols under every green tree, sacrificing children
in the torrents, under the high rocks?"

66.

Approximately one quarter of the capital sculptures are carved with

figures; most of them are in the transepts,the sections of the cathedral
completed under Gelmirez. Among them there are few narrative subjects. See Mathews, "They Wished to Destroy the Temple of God," 148,
citing Durliat, Le sculpture romane, 313-26.

67.

See H. Schrade, Die Vita des Heiligen Liudger und ihre Bilder (Mtinster, 1960), Fig. 12, for the illustration of a hanged man rescued. At
Bury St. Edmunds, the painting of the thieves hanged after they had
been miraculouslyparalyzedas they tried to enter the monasterychurch
took aim at the convent's contemporary enemies. Not long after Edmund's life was illustrated, the abbot hanged a thief who, according to
the burghers,would have suffered less had he lived just one block away,
inside their jurisdiction. See B. Abou-El-Haj, "Bury St. Edmunds
Abbey between 1070 and 1124: a History of Property, Privilege and
Monastic Art Production,"AH, VI (1983), 1-29, esp. 10, and The
Medieval Cult of Saints, 93, 179-82.

68.

Salet and Adh6mar,La Madeleine de VWzelay,P1. 31, nave capital 79.

H. Setlak-Garrison,"The Capitals of St. Lazare at Autun: Their Relationship to the Last JudgmentPortal"(Dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles, 1984), 38-41, for the association of Judas with
avarice.

69.

"Quod si fecerit aut ex ignorantiarapueritseu aliquo dolo eum destruxerit, auctoritateOmnipotentis Dei et beate Marie Virginis et beatorum
apostolorum Petri et Pauli et beatissimi lacobi et omnium sanctorum
Dei et nostra auctoritatesit maledictus et excommunicatus et cum luda,
Domini proditore,et cum Dathamet Abiron,quos uiuos terraabsorbuit,
in inferno perpetualitersit dampnatus. Amen Amen." HC, preface to
the prologue, ed. Falque Rey, 3. For the traitors of Compostela in
1116-1117, "perditissimilude socii" and "socii Scariothis,"HC, I, 114,
1, 2, ed. Falque Rey, 200-201, esp. 200.

70.

0. K. Werckmeister, "The Lintel Fragment Representing Eve from

Saint-Lazare,Autun,"JWCI,XXXV (1972), 1-19; Moralejo(see above,
note 56), linked rites of penance performed by pilgrims at the north
portal to the Codex Calixtinus's condemnation of avarice in two contemporarycontexts. First, in an extended attackon simony that broadly
targets all sales of spiritual services along with the purchase of ecclesiastical offices, simoniacs are comparedto Judas, condemned for eternity for the same crime, who is cited eight times in this sermon, while
Simon Magus, for whom simony is named, is cited only once; Codex
Calixtinus, 41-42, 45, trans. Moralejo, Torresand Feo. (At Autun, by
contrast, Simon Magus was given equal representationalspace with Judas; see D. Grivot and G. Zarnecki, Gislebertus Sculptor ofAutun [New
York, 1961, rpt. New York, 1985] 128-29 and Setlak-Garrison,"Capitals of St.-Lazare,"80-85.) In the second instance, perpetratorsof a
variety of frauds committed against merchants and pilgrims traveling
to Compostela are also compared to Judas. "They give a sample of
good wine and sell another poor wine. Or they sell cider for wine, or
adulteratedwine, or fish or meat cooked three days old that makes the
pilgrims sick. . . Whom do they resemble other than the traitor Judas
who betrayedthe Lord with a kiss?" Codex Calixtinus, 214, the sermon
on the election and translationof St. James known as the "Veneranda
Dies."

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