Without writing a book about it (there is enough of those on the Camino already), the story of Santiago goes something like this:
Santiago is the name the Spanish people gave to James, the elder, the apostle of Jesus Christ. After the crucifixion of Jesus, James ventured westward to the Iberian peninsula to preach the gospel. There is no mention of this in the bible, but the story appears in later texts of the eighth and ninth centuries. On his return to Jerusalem, he was beheaded by the orders of Herod in A.D. 44.
His remains were then collected and returned to the northwest corner of Spain, where he had preached. How they arrived there is a bit of a mystery. One account says that they were place into a stone boat that had neither sails nor oars nor crew and somehow arrived near the land at Padron; another account says that the remains were shipped back, but off the coast of Spain the ship floundered in heavy seas and went down. Sometime afterwards James' body was washed ashore covered in scallop shells. His body was taken inland to a mount that is present day Santiago de Compestela and buried.
Santiago's tomb was all but forgotten for 800 years until a religious hermit reported seeing flashing lights on the hilltop. After a favourable investigation by the local bishop a church was built on the site and Santiago began his rise as a martyr for Spain, 800 years after the fact. The timing was fortuitous, Spain was in the throes of driving out the Islamic Moors who had occupied Spain since A.D. 711. In A.D. 845 Santiago appeared in a dream to King Ramiro I and told him that Jesus Christ had given him Spain to watch over and protect and that he would accompany Ramiro into battle astride a white horse and carrying a shining sword. So was born Santiago Matamoros (Santiago the Moorslayer).
This was to mark only one several appearances of Santiago during the Reconquest of the Iberian peninsula.
In A.D. 1122 Holy Year Status was granted to the shrine of Santiago by the Pope, allowing pilgrims to receive an indugence and absolution of all their sins. This greatly increased the number of pilgrims journeying to Santiago. As well, the Codex Calixtinus appeared around this time. also known as Liber Sancti Jacobi, or the Book of Saint James, it added greatly to the life of Saint James, as well as being the first guidebook on the camino.
The Moors were finally driven out of their last stronghold in 1492 and by then Santiago and the pilgrimage were firmly established
His remains were then collected and returned to the northwest corner of Spain, where he had preached. How they arrived there is a bit of a mystery. One account says that they were place into a stone boat that had neither sails nor oars nor crew and somehow arrived near the land at Padron; another account says that the remains were shipped back, but off the coast of Spain the ship floundered in heavy seas and went down. Sometime afterwards James' body was washed ashore covered in scallop shells. His body was taken inland to a mount that is present day Santiago de Compestela and buried.
Santiago's tomb was all but forgotten for 800 years until a religious hermit reported seeing flashing lights on the hilltop. After a favourable investigation by the local bishop a church was built on the site and Santiago began his rise as a martyr for Spain, 800 years after the fact. The timing was fortuitous, Spain was in the throes of driving out the Islamic Moors who had occupied Spain since A.D. 711. In A.D. 845 Santiago appeared in a dream to King Ramiro I and told him that Jesus Christ had given him Spain to watch over and protect and that he would accompany Ramiro into battle astride a white horse and carrying a shining sword. So was born Santiago Matamoros (Santiago the Moorslayer). This was to mark only one several appearances of Santiago during the Reconquest of the Iberian peninsula.
In A.D. 1122 Holy Year Status was granted to the shrine of Santiago by the Pope, allowing pilgrims to receive an indugence and absolution of all their sins. This greatly increased the number of pilgrims journeying to Santiago. As well, the Codex Calixtinus appeared around this time. also known as Liber Sancti Jacobi, or the Book of Saint James, it added greatly to the life of Saint James, as well as being the first guidebook on the camino.
The Moors were finally driven out of their last stronghold in 1492 and by then Santiago and the pilgrimage were firmly established
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