ACADEMIA Letters
Santiago (Saint James) and Galicia: Main Aims of the
Codex Calixtinus
José Antonio López Sabatel, UNED
The Codex Calixtinus
Liber Sancti Jacobi is the name given to the compilation of fve books of diferent nature
(hagiographic, liturgical, homiletic, musical, and narrative) related to the Apostle Santiago
the Greater and the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. The frst to give it this name, which
has been enduringly popular, was Joseph Bédier, in 1929. [1] The volume that is preserved in
the archive-library of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela is called Codex Calixtinus.
This edition is considered the oldest and most complete of all compilations and the original
source from which the other preserved copies were made. [2]
The introduction to the Codex contains a clear exhortation to use its content to glorify the
Apostle’s devotion. Therefore, it was soon sought to distribute this compilation of Jacobean
writings through total or partial copies of the original manuscript. The frst two partial copies
of the Codex were produced in 1173 by Arnaldo de Monte, a monk from the Benedictine
monastery of Ripoll (Catalonia), and about 1175 by the scriptorium of the Cistercian abbey
of Alcobaça (Portugal), showing, in this way, the infuence of the cult of Santiago in that
decade. [3]
Purpose
There is no question that the Codex Calixtinus was an instrument of Jacobean politics at the
time. Nor is there any doubt regarding the infuence of the Cluny’s Order from part of the
Academia Letters, July 2021
Corresponding Author: José Antonio López Sabatel, jlopezsa13@gmail.com
Citation: López Sabatel, J.A. (2021). Santiago (Saint James) and Galicia: Main Aims of the Codex Calixtinus.
Academia Letters, Article 1702. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1702.
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©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0