San Giacomo: Il guerriero e il pellegrino. II culto iacobeo tra la Spagna e l’Esarcato (secc. XI–XV) (review)

San Giacomo: Il guerriero e il pellegrino. II culto iacobeo tra la Spagna e l'Esarcato (secc. XI-XV). By Leardo Mascanzoni. [Uomini e mondi medievali, 2.] (Spoleto: Centro Italiano di Studi sull'alto Medioevo. 2000. Pp. x, 572. Lire 150.000 paperback.)

The cult of St. James and the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela are principal elements in the popular religious life of the High Middle Ages. This volume, divided into two parts, focuses initially on the cult in Spain and Europe generally, and then on its development in the ancient Exarchate of Ravenna. The author attempts to sort out the various persons known as St. James and notes the tendency to assimilate them into one. They were James, the son of Zebedee, one of the Twelve, called the Great, martyred around 41-44 A.D.; James, the son of Alphaeus, also one of the Twelve, known as the Less; and James the Just, reputed brother of the Lord and first bishop of Jerusalem, martyred around 62-63 A.D. Later Spanish tradition held that James the Great, after preaching in Spain, returned to the East where he met his death. His remains, however, reportedly were interred in Galicia, where they were miraculously discovered in the campus stellarum early in the ninth century. From the eleventh century onward the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela attracted the devout from all over western Europe.

Mascanzoni argues that the cult of St. James the Just developed in Byzantium and took root in the Exarchate of Ravenna, but in time that saint was confused with James the Less. Furthermore, he believes that the cult gained favor in Byzantine and Visigothic Spain, especially in seventh-century Mérida, whence it gradually spread northward to Galicia. There the saint came to be identified with James the Great. Meantime, Pistoia in Tuscany, whose Bishop Atto supposedly acquired Santiago's head from Archbishop Diego Gelmírez of Compostela, became the most notable Italian center of the Jacobean cult. In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries mendicant friars and Italian pilgrims making their way in increasing numbers to Compostela disseminated the cult of James the Great in Italy. Much of the second part of this book is devoted to the identification of Italian churches and religious houses dedicated to St. James, though the problem of distinguishing among the different Jameses was a persistent one.

The transformation of St. James into a military saint, in Mascanzoni's view, may ultimately be attributed to Byzantine influence. Twelfth- and thirteenth-century Spanish documents and chronicles alleged that St. James lent aid and comfort to the Christians in their battles against the Moors. Thus, in time he became known as Santiago Matamoros. However, the earliest accounts of these events do not depict him as a combatant but rather as a sort of cheerleader whose presence lent encouragement to the Christians and enabled them to gain the victory. Despite the sources' lack of historical credibility popular belief in the warrior Santiago grew apace.

This well-documented study offers an excellent overview of the European phenomenon of the cult of Santiago de Compostela, but is especially intriguing because of Mascanzoni's argument in favor of Byzantine influence on the spread of devotion to St. James, who assumed the characteristics of a Byzantine military saint. Two maps illustrating the European routes to Santiago as well as the centers of the cult in Italy and an index of names and places are most helpful to the reader. However, there is no bibliography.