The Reverberations of Santiago's Bells in Reconquista Spain

THE REVERBERATIONS OF SANTIAGO'S BELLS IN RECONQUISTA SPAIN Ali Asgar Alibhai Southern Methodist University As the impetus of the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela grew throughouttheMiddleAges,itssymbolicsignificancetomedievalEurope's Christians became widely recognized by Spain's Muslim population. The fourteenth-century North African and Spanish chronicler, Ibn Idhäri, describes the pilgrimage to Santiago, or Shánt Yaqüb as it is called in Arabic, in the following words: It is the greatest existing Christian shrine in the country of AlAndalus and the vast lands connected to it. Santiago's cathedral carries the same significance to them as the Ka'bah does to us. They vow by it and make pilgrimages to it from the farthest parts of Rome (Christendom) and beyond. They believe that the tomb which is visited there is the grave of Yaqüb (James), one of the twelve disciples, may Allah have mercy on them. [They believe] that he was the most special ofthem to Essa (Jesus), may peace be upon him. They call him Essa's brother because of his companionship with him. Some ofthem believe that he is the son of Joseph the Carpenter. Santiago is the burial place of Yaqüb. The)' also call him "the brother ofthe Lord" (Allah is highly and largely exalted from what they say). (2: 294-95) La corónica 36.2 (Spring 2008): 145-164 146Ali Asgar AlibhaiLa coránica 36.2, 2008 Writing in 1312, Ibn Idhäri was describing Santiago while relating an event which occurred there over three hundred years before, and which left a lasting impact upon both the Muslim and Christian populace of Spain for years to come. In 976 the Umayyad Caliph Al-Hakam died, leaving the throne of Al-Andalus to his adolescent son Hishäm II. Hishàm's powerful vizier Al-Mansùr (Muhammad bin Abi Amir), set out to legitimize his control over the inexperienced sovereign and his realm by staging several military campaigns against local oppositions and the Christians in the North.1 He successfully led over fifty raids in Christian territory, which included an attack on Santiago de Compostela in 997 (Kennedy 119-20). According to Ibn Idhäri, the raid on Santiago was the forty-eighth expedition against the Christians. He writes, In August of 997 Al-Mansür and his army arrived in Santiago only to find that the city had been deserted by all its inhabitants. They looted all the valuables of the city and destroyed its buildings, walls, and church. They wiped out all traces ofthe city. Al-Mansûr appointed someone to protect the grave ofJames and to make sure no harm reached it. The buildings of Santiago had been extraordinary and well structured. They were turned into dust as ifthey hadn't existed the day before. (Ibn Idhäri 2: 296) The account of Al-Mansür's devastation of the holy shrine was equally remembered and recorded in medieval Christian sources. In the twelfthcentury Codex Calixtinus, the story of Al-Mansûr's sack of Santiago is told in connection to a miracle ofSt. James in Capitulum 25 ofthe Historia Turpini. The Codex recounts that Al-Mansúr, whose name is distorted to Altumaior, having been promptedby the devil and in an attempt to regain all the lands taken from his predecessors by Charlemagne, decides to conquer all the lands of Galicia. After reaching Compostela, Al-Mansùr's army desecrates the church by depriving it of its many ornaments including its manuscripts, silver tables and bells (tintinnabula). The army 1 Muhammad bin Abi Amir was the häjib (chief minister) for Hishäm. He rose to power by eliminating all his rivals and became the defacto ruler of AlAndalus in 981. Upon his ascension to power he assumed the title Al-Mansür (the victorious). See Hugh Kennedy 109-115. The Reverberations of Santiago's Bells147 uses the church as a stable and shamelessly eats before the altar. For these atrocities, Al-Mansür's armywas punished with dysentery and some were made blind. Al-Mansür was also afflicted by these punishments, and on the advice ofa captive priest he prayed to God and St. James...