A Step Back Into The Eleventh Century

I swore to my self when I began this to hold all blogs to a page. This is too complicated and too much fun. So I’m going to do background and save the insanities for the next blog. Sorry but I can’t dwell on Medieval Civilization, Feudalism and the likes, this is a fun blog. But about 1000 Present Era, most of the people engaged in this would-be serfs; workers bound to the soil with a six day sun up to sun down working day. Hey! Some things never change! Right? But work was farming, without machinery and usually without animal power. You got less than half the food you grew to show for your efforts. Your land lord too his share.

Anyway, you had other choices in the latter half of the century. You could join a Crusade and go to the Holy Land to rid the world of . . .wait a second . . .no one needed oil back then and so it goes. Pretty soon too many of us were taking off. Walking a couple thousand miles bare footed was still easier than farm labor. So after the First Crusade, we could only give money and the nobility got to . . .see how little the important things never change? So it goes. However, no one could stop us from sinning! Yeah. Here Comes the Sin! There were thousands of them to choose from. And if you didn’t want to spend eternity on the last three levels of Hell, you could bribe, actually buy an indulgence, who had money for that? In fact, who had money, period? Your other choice to save yourself from eternal fire and brimstone was go on Pilgrimage!

Before the Crusades you had three major choices; the Holy Land, Rome, or Santiago de Compostela which is in North West Spain. Once the Turks took over the Holy Land we were told that was out. So, Santiago was a better deal for several reasons. It took longer, so we were away from that toil longer! Yeah! Rome was too expensive with few if any free places to sleep and get a hot bowl of whatever. Santiago had all of those, at bargain prices to boot! Gratis! It became the Cruise Ship Vacation of the Middle Ages! Well, maybe just a little tougher. The Romans had built some great roads, but the feudal system didn’t see any reason to maintain them, so pretty soon they were swallowed up by grass and weeds. For us poor slobs, transportation was walking barefooted. At dawn we rose from straw mattresses if we’re lucky, the stone floor more likely. Some warm gruel, a bit of bread and water, then off we went. On a good day we could cover twenty miles, but why be in a hurry? There were detours here and there to miracle sights. Lots of Black Madonnas! Springs that cured all sort of maladies and we’re all praying for immortality after death released us from endless toil and grief. Now we seek miracle drugs.

b So who was this Santiago? Saint James, one of the original twelve dudes! He got beheaded and according to legend, his remains were slipped on a boat and set sail from the Holy Land. It’s a long way from their embarkation to Santiago de Compostella, but in nine days the boat came ashore where a small shrine was built. Eight hundred years later, Christian knights were fighting for their lives, and they were losing, until a mounted warrior, encrusted in cockleshells, emerged from the sea. He slew so many infidels, our side won! To show their gratitude, a huge church was erected in James’ honor, and his remains were entombed in a huge gold and gem encrusted effigy. When the pilgrimage ends, you step up behind him, give him a hug, and get a cockle shell to show you’ve completed the pilgrimage. Every where we went for the next couple of years people honored our journey. I still wear the shell on my tam. It’s battered and chipped, just like its owner. It still possess some weird magical quality to see what’s over the next hill.

And for those questing magic, try the wonders of this adventure. It’s not for Cruise Ship folks, or those who travel in tour groups. But if you have ever stood transfixed by the beauty and wonder of church chimes pouring over you, or walked narrow lanes among ghosts of future past, then Santiago will stay with you, like that first real kiss of love, forever.