The Pilgrimage to Compostela in the Middle Ages

A Book of Essays

Linda Kay Davidson, Maryjane Dunn

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9781136514760
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Literary Criticism
• Index: Literature

Nine new studies address the phenomenon of the medieval pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, the legendary burying place of St. James.

CHAPTER 1

The Cult of Saints and Divine Patronage in Gallaecia before Santiago

Alberto Ferreiro

The fourth through the sixth centuries were a time of growing up, in terms of ecclesiastical culture, in the western provinces of the late Roman Empire. In the midst of the Germanic migrations and settlement there arose major ecclesiastical centers at Lérins (France), Braga (Portugal), Toledo (Spain), and Tours (France) among others. We also witness in these unsettling times the emergence of Augustine, Gregory the Great, and Cassiodorus who equaled intellectually the great Greek theologians of the eastern provinces of the Mediterranean. While the East held a virtual monopoly on the most prestigious pilgrimage centers, in the West the See of Tours surfaced as one of the most popular pilgrimage sites, attracting devotion even in the faraway eastern provinces. The cult of St. Martin of Tours (372–97) procured a significant place in the Iberian Peninsula, notably in what are now northwestern Spain and northern Portugal in the ancient province of Gallaecia [Galicia] (see map, page 16).

The task of this essay is two-fold: first, to examine the literary evidence, as found in Gregory of Tours (539–94), Peninsular sources, and others, on the diffusion of Martin's cult in Galicia; second, to attempt to explore in what ways the cult of St. Martin was a precursor to—or paved the way for—the rise of devotion to Santiago in Galicia. I will end our discussion with some thoughts on why the patronage of Martin was abandoned, or set aside, in Galicia-Asturias for that of Santiago in the eighth and ninth centuries. It is not my purpose here to delve into investigating the authenticity of Santiago's remains and tomb at Compostela, or the origins of the cult in pre-eighth century Galicia, nor to his alleged preaching in Galicia. Much ink has been devoted to those questions and continues to be, but I will defer such controversies to others.¹ In the final analysis, no one has been able to establish in the affirmative the veracity of any of these questions. As my friend and colleague, Don Eugenio Romero Pose, of San Martín Piñario (Compostela), said to me as we strolled one evening in front of that great Cathedral in Compostela, “It's all a matter of faith, you either believe [italics mine] Santiago is buried here, or you do not.” Not all matters on the cult of saints in Galicia are left up to assent of faith. We are on much surer historical ground on the patronage of saints in Galicia before Santiago and that story is the focus of my efforts in this essay.

Throughout the entire Roman era Galicia was anything but a remote backwater province on the edge of the Empire. The deep Romanization of Galicia, not at all reversed by the Germanic migrations, is well documented by archaeological and literary remains.² Galicia's orientation towards Lusitânia, greater Iberia, and the Mediterranean is only a partial view of its economic and cultural contacts. Steady and somewhat extensive relations existed between Galicia and its neighbors to the North in what are now Ireland and France.³ The northern connections likewise were not severed by the Germanic migrations to and settlement of Galicia in the fifth century. In fact, economic, political, and cultural activity between Galicia and Merovingian France actually intensified well into the late seventh century. The entry of the cult of Martin of Tours in Galicia was the direct result of these contacts in the middle of the sixth century. Devotion to Martin of Tours in Galicia and a shrine in his honor at Braga was in part the work of his namesake, Martin of Braga (520–79).

Long before an actual shrine was established at Braga to honor Martin of Tours, his fame and reputation had already preceded him. Hydatius, Bishop of Iria Flavia in Galicia (390–470), in his Chronicon, which covers events in Iberia from 378 to 469, bears witness to the popularity of Martin's cult in Iberia (1–36).⁴ Hydatius' comments, characteristic of the Chronicon, are very brief, but no less valuable for the information they provide. The passages are indicative of what aspects of Martin's character attracted devotion to him in Galicia and throughout western Christendom.

Hydatius, in the first reference, mentions Martin of Tours alongside another great luminary of the Church, Ambrose of Milan (15). There are perhaps two underlying reasons for this association. Ambrose of Milan's reputation, to be sure, did not need any legitimization; it was Martin's own stature that was further enhanced as he was aligned by Hydatius with such an eminent ecclesiastic. More to the point, however, both Ambrose of Milan and Martin of Tours were contemporaries of Priscillian, and they together opposed this heretic.⁵ In the same passage, Hydatius praises Martin's virtuous life as a model for emulation, and the miraculous signs associated with his ministry. Miracles and extraordinary feats of faith were believed to be the visible stamp of sainthood and apostolicity.⁶ After his death and burial at Tours devotees reported frequent miracles, which in their turn galvanized devotion to Martin and pilgrimages to Tours. In a second passage, Martin of Tours is mentioned within the context of the Priscillianist heretical controversy that had unfolded in Galicia and in Gaul (15). Hydatius, then, introduced the most authoritative voice against Priscillian: Pope Damasus, the successor of Saint Peter. Ambrose of Milan is invoked again as an opponent of the sect while in Gaul Martin of Tours is said to have echoed the condemnation. Hydatius' main purpose in the entry, it seems, was once again to laud the reputation and influence of Martin of Tours.

Priscillian was an ascetic with extraordinary oratory skills who attracted a significant following of men and women. He and his followers were accused of Gnosticism, promoting apocryphal literature, and questionable sexual liberties.⁷ Priscillian made a sincere attempt to gain official approval for his teachings from Pope Damasus and Ambrose of Milan, but was rebuffed by both (Sulpicius 101). Apparently, Priscillian likewise sought the endorsement from the preeminent ecclesiastic in the Gallic church, Martin of Tours. I believe that within Hydatius' Chronicon all three ecclesiastics were intended to convey the auctoritas of the church: Pope Damasus, as successor of St. Peter, symbolized apostolic censure; Ambrose of Milan, the great scholar-theologian, represented the authoritative learned voice of the Church; and, Martin of Tours, while not learned nor directly apostolic, seemed to have represented the saintly holy man at the grassroots level. What emerged was a three-tiered rejection by the Church, and Martin of Tours occupied a significant place within Hydatius' purposes.

The third and final reference shifts to Martin's reputation after his death. Hydatius, while extolling the literary career of Sulpicius Severus, (c. 360–c. 420), singled out the Vita sancti Martini as his most enduring contribution to posterity (16–7). The passage is compelling evidence that this hagiography from Sulpicius' pen was one of several sources that propagated the fame of Martin of Tours, even into a remote province like Galicia on the fringes of Christendom. Hydatius' testimony does not suggest, in the least, that any shrines in honor of Martin of Tours existed at that time in the Iberian Peninsula. While we cannot rule out completely the possible introduction of shrines in Hydatius' lifetime or soon thereafter, they most assuredly proliferated in the not too distant future.

The earliest witness to a shrine dedicated to Martin of Tours in Galicia, for that matter in all of Iberia, dates from the middle of the sixth century. The documentation of this momentous event did not originate from within the Iberian Peninsula: it came not surprisingly from the pen of Gregory of Tours. Gregory, as Bishop of Tours, made it one of his principal agendas to promote the cult of St. Martin.⁸ The entry of Martin of Tours' cult into Galicia and subsequent proclamation was in part the work of Martin of Braga, who carried out a lengthy and fruitful missionary career within the kingdom of the Sueves of Galicia. Before immersing ourselves into Gregory of Tours' account on this activity, some background is called for on Martin of Braga and the Sueves.

Of the several Germanic tribes who vied for a permanent settlement in the Iberian Peninsula, the lot, so to speak, fell upon the Sueves to occupy what is now Galicia and Northern Portugal.⁹ The principal bishopric in Galicia was at Braga, and the new overlords established their capital there. To date, the archaeological and literary evidence about the Sueves is still rather scarce. What we do have permits us to reconstruct a coherent yet sketchy understanding of their history.¹⁰ While the Suevic kingdom expanded dramatically in the fifth century, it was checked and nearly destroyed altogether by the Arian Goths, who in that era ruled in Gaul and were themselves attempting to carve out an even larger kingdom.¹¹ In the second phase, the Suevic kingdom flourished until 585, when the Arian Goths led by Leovigild—who had been expelled from Gaul by the Franks in 511 but now ruled most of Iberia—destroyed completely the Sueves. According to Isidore of Seville the Sueves, from beginning to end, ruled Galicia for almost 177 years (Historia Gothorum ch. 92).¹²

Throughout this entire period the Sueves maintained an inconstant relationship with the Church. The Suevic kings converted to or rejected both the Arian and Catholic forms of Christianity at various stages, that is, until Martin of Braga arrived in 556. Within this ambivalent religious climate a well-organized church thrived and developed, which exercised significant influence upon Galicia in general and more directly on the Suevic kings. Although many clerics and laity were responsible for this success, the contemporary sources from Gaul and Iberia unanimously identify Martin of Braga as the main catalyst for effecting a permanent and enduring conversion of the Sueves and greater Galicia to Catholic belief.¹³

The precious little that has survived of Martin of Braga's literary output does not justly measure his influence in the Middle Ages.¹⁴ The three major sources containing biographical information on Martin of Braga are Gregory of Tours, Isidore of Seville, and Venantius Fortunatus. We, of course, should not lose sight of Martin's own works which corroborate numerous details in these sources.¹⁵ Succinctly, the following is all that we know about Martin of Braga. Like Martin of Tours, the Bishop of Braga was born in the same province of Pannonia (present-day Hungary). As in the case of the Bishop of Tours, Martin travelled West and there flourished as a missionary. Prior to his westward move, Martin of Braga ventured to the East (presumably Constantinople). He visited the Holy Places (Jerusalem, etc.), and became so learned that, according to Gregory of Tours, “he was second to none” (Liber historiarum 37). Isidore of Seville credits Martin of Braga with the conversion of the Sueves, with the help of the Sue vie King Theodemir, out of Arianism to the Catholic faith. He is further praised for founding numerous monasteries and writing a variety of pastoral and theological works, some of which survived in abundance in the Middle Ages (Historia Gothorum 302–3).¹⁶ Gregory of Tours, however, in his De virtutibus sancti Martini (1. 11), relates the only account concerning the arrival of Martin of Braga to Galicia with the relics of Martin of Tours and the establishment of the first Martinian shrine in the Iberian Peninsula.¹⁷ Insofar as the hagiographical element is concerned in Gregory's account, the narrative bears all of the earmarks of the genre. One miraculous event after another occurs, and they serve the high purpose of demonstrating the authority of Martin of Tours.

Gregory tells of a King Chararic (550?–8?) of Galicia who sought a miraculous cure for his son, apparently afflicted with a life-threatening illness, and who remains nameless in the narrative. As Chararic sought the divine intervention of Martin of Tours there was one major obstacle to be surmounted before the king could obtain the desired cure. Chararic was an Arian Christian and it was widely known God did not heal unrepentant heretics, nor could bishops of the Ari...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Full Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Contributors
• List of Illustrations
• Preface The Pilgrimage to Compostela: Time and Place
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: Bibliography of the Pilgrimage: The State of the Art
• 1. The Cult of Saints and Divine Patronage in Gallaecia before Santiago
• 2. The Geography and History of Iberia in the Liber Sancti Jacobi
• 3. Music and the Pilgrimage
• 4. 1494: Hieronymus Münzer, Compostela, and the Codex Calixtinus
• 5. The Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in the Cantigas de Santa Maria
• 6. The Iconography of St. James in the Indianapolis Museum's Fifteenth-Century Altarpiece
• 7. The Pilgrim-Shell in Denmark
• 8. A Medieval Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela on the Information Highway
• Notes on the Contributors
• Works Cited
• Index