Saint James Iconography

In Northern Europe, images of Saint James the Greater depict the saint as a pilgrim with staff, prayer book and brimmed hat decorated with a scallop shell. On the Iberian Peninsula, however, the saint is generally portrayed very differently – on horseback trampling a cowering Moor underfoot. This image, and others involving Christian saints intervening in battles, was transferred to Africa and then on to the Americas. Within years of the first American conquests, the Moor under the hooves of the triumphant Saint James was portrayed as an Amerindian. Although it is often assumed that these depictions represent an unfeeling celebration of Iberian victory, the reality is more complex.

This essay explores how cultural exchange and evolving emotional responses to conversion and colonisation led both Iberian and indigenous artists to quite literally carve victory out of defeat. It also looks at how sixteenth- and seventeenth-century outsiders responded to these altered heroes of the Reconquista, and at the continuing consequences of Iberia’s attachment to martial myths.

Engaging the Pilgrim in a Total Sensory Experience: Staging the Arrival in
the Cathedral of Santiago in the Middle Ages:  The Edmund Husserl’s Phenomenology of Embodiment can be helpful in understanding the ways in which pilgrimage centers were transformed during the 12th and 13th centuries. In the Cathedral of Santiago, the alterations are not related to the building as structure, but to a change of perception in its space and its axes. At the turn of the 13th century Maestro Mateo established a new longitudinal axis (W-E) in the sacred topography of the Cathedral thanks to the building of an impressive western porch (Pórtico de la Gloria), the setting of a monumental choir in the central aisle and the placing of
a statue of St. James on the main altar. This dramatically altered the previous transversal axis (N-S) and itinerary created by Diego Gelmírez around 1100, and engaged pilgrims in new kinetic devotional practices in front of the statue of the Apostle. As result of this, a new image of St. James and his pilgrims was promoted throughout the 13th century, such as is shown in some specific examples.

The concept that cultures are neither pure nor immutable but diverse and flexible is not a new one. Cultural hybridity constitutes the effort to retain a sense of balance among traditions, beliefs, practices, institutions, rituals, and imagery within a multicultural venue. The cultural encounter that the conquering Crusaders experienced in the Latin East entailed the process of hybridization of sociocultural constructs, resulting in a new, sophisticated identity that reflected a vital social organism, which resided both within and beyond the margins of country, race, ethnicity, class, and linguistic diversity. Strangers and conquerors in the Land of the Bible, the Latin Crusaders and pilgrims sometimes felt that ‘It would take long to tell’ about that cultural and multi-creed blend.

In this paper, I refer to Queen Melisende (1105-61) as the cultural agent that in herself represented hybridity, and in whose patronage the religious and public domain of Jerusalem was designed anew, demonstrating intriguing diversity and intrinsic artistic patterns of the Frankish contextualisation of local eastern and foreign occidental components within the political boundaries of the relocation. I discuss three visual case studies that embody the Frankish new, performative imagery, and in particular that of Queen Melisende, who in all probability commissioned them. The selection of artefacts follows David Jacoby's major research interests.

Among the decorative capitals of the Santiago de Compostela's cathedral, there is one at the end of the south transept nave, that can  be identified as the image of Saint James apostle. On the one hand, this interpretation is supported by the studies of the iconography of the Apostol of the XII thc. On the other hand, the location where it is represented, an inner portico, located just behind of the north gate of the cathedral, has been taken into account. The third reason is the context in which it has been built in , together with other historiated capitals, and all as being part of the whole decoration of this liminal space. The purpose is based on the semons written in the Liber Sancti Iacobi.

Entre los capiteles que ornan el último tramo del transepto norte de la Catedral de Santiago de Compostela se encuentra uno en el que puede reconocerse una efigie del apóstol Santiago. Se apoya esta interpretación, en primer lugar, en el análisis de la iconografía del Apóstol en la basílica compostelana durante el siglo XII. En segundo lugar, en la atención al contexto espacial en el que aparece, un pórtico interior inmediato a la puerta norte de la Catedral. Por último, en el contexto programático en el que se integra junto con otros capiteles historiados que decoran este espacio liminar y para el que se proponen, como base textual, ideas recogidas en las homilías del Liber Sancti Iacobi.

The Apostle is present:
the statue of Saint James and his pilgrims in the 13th century
Manuel Castiñeiras, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona


At the turn of the thirteenth century Maestro Mateo established a new longitudinal axis (W–E) in the sacred topography of the Cathedral of Santiago. This was made in three successive steps: the carving of an impressive sculpted porch in the western wall, known as the Pórtico de la Gloria (1168–1188); the building of a large stone choir in the central aisle; and finally the placing of the statue of St. James on the main altar for the solemn consecration of 1211. This dramatically altered the previous transversal axis (N–S) and itinerary created by Gelmírez around 1100, offering pilgrims a new longitudinal perception of the building. The physical presence of the Apostle as a “body” at the main altar allowed him to play his role as a true psychopomp and intercessor on behalf of his pilgrims. According to Libro de Constituciones (ca. 1240), the door of the railing that enclosed the sanctuary was opened at least once every day to allow pilgrims to enter and perform certain rites, in particular, to place almonds and lit candles before the statue of St. James. In my opinion, this original statue and the rites related to it changed the former iconography of the Apostle and promoted throughout the 13th century the new image of St. James and his pilgrims, such as the examples of Santiago at Turégano, San Juan Bautista at Uncastillo and Saint Martin at Linz show.

Alonso of Cartagena, one of the most remarkable Castilian intellectuals of the fifteenth century, played a fundamental role in spreading the traditions concerning the life, martyrdom and "translatio" of Santiago. He used the information given by the historian Vincent de Beauvais, instead of Hispanic sources. His disciple Rodríguez de Almela followed him, but adding other historical sources. That is indicative of an effort to affirm the historicity of the traditions of Santiago and rationalize the hagiographic materials.