The Scholarly Pilgrim Podcast Season 1
Please click on the buttons below to subscribe to the Scholarly Pilgrim podcast on Apple or Spotify. Or you can listen by pressing the play button on the individual players found in each episode description below.
S1 E1 – Origin Legends of Camino de Santiago
December 2022
This episode discusses the legends that describe how the bodily remains, or relics, of St James made their way to Spain from the Holy Land and how they were eventually discovered hundreds of years later. It also explains how the church in Santiago de Compostela communicated and reinforced these stories to support the cult of St James, particularly during the 12th century, the Golden Age of the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage.
S1 E2 – Medieval Motivations for Embarking on Camino de Santiago
January 2023
This episode discusses the factors which motivated medieval pilgrims to leave their homes and undertake the long and perilous journey to Santiago de Compostela. It covers the topics of sin and salvation, penitential pilgrimage and saintly intercession. Miracle stories from the Liber Sancti Jacobi (Book of St James) and church sculptures play a prominent role in helping to understand pilgrim backgrounds and motivations.
S1 E3 – Early Days of Compostela and Camino de Santiago
February 2023
This episode discusses how the shrine of St James, town of Compostela and the Camino de Santiago started to evolve after the supposed discovery of the tomb of St James in the first half of the 9th c. It also explains how increasing wealth of the shrine led it to become a target of Viking and Muslim raiders. It further shows how early royal patrons increased the prestige of the shrine while developing and protecting the initial pilgrimage route.
S1 E4 – The Rise of Pilgrim Towns on the Medieval Camino de Santiago
March 2023
This episode focuses on the second half of the 11th century, the pivotal period that set the stage for a boom in pilgrim traffic in the 12th century, the golden age of the Camino de Santiago. It will discuss changing power dynamics in Spain which led to an increasing emphasis on the pilgrimage. It will then show how the monarchs developed or repopulated a chain of towns along the Camino that would facilitate the movement of large numbers of foreign pilgrims and merchants.
S1 E5 – Urban Revolts on the Medieval Camino de Santiago
April 2023
As pilgrim traffic started to boom in the 12th century, merchants and artisans living along the Camino de Santiago became wealthy and sought a greater say in the administration of towns and markets. Simmering tension between townspeople and local lords, including abbots and bishops, sometimes exploded into chaotic and violent rebellions. This episode discusses events surrounding revolts that took place in the pilgrim towns of Sahagún and Santiago de Compostela in the early 12th century.
S1 E6 – The Role of Money on the Medieval Camino de Santiago
May 2023
This episode attempts to unravel a mystery surrounding a group of minters found on the twelfth-century façade of the church of Santiago in the pilgrim town of Carrión. The complex role of money on the medieval Camino de Santiago will be explored. What message did the sculptures on the façade send to those who handled money along the Camino?
S1 E7 – Templars and Hospitallers on the Medieval Camino de Santiago
June 2023
This episode will explore the roles played by the Templars and Hospitallers along the medieval Camino de Santiago. In addition to providing security and hospitality these military orders cared for the spiritual wellbeing of pilgrims and helped facilitate the movement of wealth along the pilgrim roads. Legends and mysteries surrounding the Templars will also be discussed.
S1 E8 – Medieval Guilds of Compostela and Camino de Santiago
July 2023
This episode will explore the development of influential guilds in Santiago de Compostela that allowed merchants and artisans to significantly advance their economic and spiritual interests. It will also discuss how these guilds allowed tradespeople and the shrine of St James to overcome the moral stigma from their association with money while dramatically enhancing the infrastructure and appeal of the Camino de Santiago.
S1 E9 – Franks and Native Spaniards on the Medieval Camino de Santiago
August 2023
This episode discusses the burgos of medieval Pamplona as a means to explore the complex state of relations between Franks and native people in pilgrim towns along the Camino de Santiago in Spain. It will also explain how tension between these groups was enflamed by the notion of Frankish cultural superiority which was propagated through stories about Charlemagne and native Spaniards.
S1 E10 – Jewish Communities on the Medieval Camino de Santiago
September 2023
This episode discusses the Jews who lived in pilgrim towns along the medieval Camino de Santiago. It will explore the origins of Jewish communities along the Camino, the role they played in the pilgrimage’s devotional infrastructure and the nature of their interactions with neighboring Christians. It will also discuss how Jews were viewed by monarchs and Church elites, and the issues which contributed to their expulsion from Spain.
S1 E11 – Season 1 Recap: Golden Age of the Camino de Santiago
November 2023
This episode provides a recap of the ten episodes in Season 1. It discusses the Camino de Santiago’s origins and patrons, pilgrim motivations, events and trends that contributed to its exploding popularity, and its impact on the people who lived along the pilgrim roads in the 12th century, the golden age of the pilgrimage.
Season 1 People & Places
This section includes descriptions and images related to some of the people and places discussed in the podcast series. It will be updated after the launch of each new podcast episode.
Church of Santiago de Padrón
An ancient stone can be seen today under the altar of Padron’s church of Santiago which was built in the first half of the 12th century. According to legend, the boat carrying the relics of St James from Jerusalem was moored to this stone. The town of Padrón is named after it (pedrón in Galician means stone). It appears to be of Roman origins, with the inscription indicating that it was part of an altar dedicated to Jupiter.
Discussed in S1 E1
Church of Santiago de Cereixo
The south portal of the church of Santiago de Cereixo, likely constructed in the late 12th century, displays one of the earliest surviving sculptures of the translatio. It shows St James lying in a boat surrounded by his disciples. Cereixo is located northwest of Compostela on the Costa da Morte (Coast of Death), called so because of the dangers presented by its rocky shore.
Discussed in S1 E1
Bishop Teodomiro of Iria Flavia (d. 847)
Teodomiro was said to have discovered the tomb of St James after hearing from locals about bright lights hovering over the site. Teodemiro’s tomb was discovered under Santiago Cathedral, showing the importance of the site as he was not buried in Iria (in today’s municipality of Padrón), the center of his bishopric. His tomb cover can be viewed today in Santiago Cathedral.
Discussed in S1 E1
Church of Santa María la Real (Sangüesa)
The lower part of the façade of Santa María la Real, created in the second half of the 12th c., shows scenes from the Last Judgment. The focal point is Christ in Majesty, surrounded by trumpeting angels. Below Christ are the Virgin Mary and apostles. To Christ’s right are the saved, and to his left the damned, along with the archangel Michael who is shown using scales to weigh souls.
Discussed in S1 E2
Santiago Cathedral
Today a unique sculpture related to the sin of lust can be seen on the south portal façade of Santiago Cathedral, called the Puerta de las Platerías (Doorway of the Silversmiths), because these artisans operated in the vicinity. The sculpture, created in the first half of the 12th c. , shows a woman holding a skull. The author of the Pilgrim’s Guide stated she is holding the head of her lover that had been cut off by her husband. According to the story, because of her sin the woman was forced to kiss the rotting head of her lover twice daily. The author of the Guide interpreted it as a warning against adultery.
Discussed in S1 E2
Alfonso III ‘the Great’ of Asturias (866-910)
King Alfonso III of Asturias was one of the earliest royal patrons of the shrine of St James in Compostela. It is from his reign that the apostle begins to be seen as a patron of the Asturian/Leonese monarchs. He sponsored the development of a new basilica which was larger than the initial church built over the tomb of St James by Alfonso II ‘the Chaste’ of Asturias. He also lavished the shrine with gifts including land, property and a precious cross which was decorated with gold and jewels
Discussed in S1 E3
Urraca of León-Castile (1109-26)
Queen Urraca of León-Castile was the daughter of Alfonso VI. Her first husband, Raymond of Burgundy, Count of Galicia, died before she was crowned queen upon the death of her father. She then married Alfonso I ‘the Battler’ of Aragon even though the Church objected to the marriage given that they were second cousins. Her marriage to ‘the Battler’ quickly broke down and contributed to urban revolts in pilgrim towns like Sahagún and Santiago de Compostela. She was able to successfully navigate these rebellions and keep her kingdom together. Urraca was the first queen to rule without a king at any point in the history of medieval Spain.
Discussed in S1 E5
Minting Group from Church of Santiago in Carrión de los Condes
The twelfth-century façade of the church of Santiago in Carrión de los Condes features an extraordinary group of minters on the archivolt. Minters are shown conducting specific tasks related to the creation of coins. The minting supervisor is shown pointing upward toward Christ. It is the most detailed sculptural representation of the minting process to survive from the Middle Ages in all of western Europe.
Discussed in S1 E6
Ponferrada Castle
Ponferrada Castle sits on a hill above the Sil River in a region of Spain known as el Bierzo. It was largely constructed by the Templars in the late 12th and early 13th centuries. The Templars also became lords of the town of Ponferrada. The castle is one of the most iconic symbols of the Templars on the Camino de Santiago. Ponferrada is located on the Camino Francés, about 100 kilometers west of León.
Discussed in S1 E7
North Portal of Santiago Cathedral
In the 12th century the north portal of Santiago Cathedral was called the ‘portal of the French’ and the space fronting it was called the parvis (from the Latin paradisus, for paradise). The parvis was the site of a busy market where pilgrims could buy a variety of goods including shoes, deerskin purses and scallop-shell pilgrim badges. Moneychangers from an elite guild also operated there. The north portal was the main entrance into the cathedral for pilgrims traveling on the Camino Francés and they would have passed under sculptures of Christ in Majesty, apostles including St James, and scenes related to the expulsion of Adam and Eve from paradise. These sculptures no longer exist on this portal which is now referred to as the ‘portal of the Azabachería’, a reference to jet artisans who operated in its vicinity.
Discussed in S1 E8
St Saturninus (San Cernin)
St Saturninus was a bishop of the early Christian church who was the namesake of medieval Pamplona’s Frankish burgo of San Cernin and where there was a church dedicated to him. It has been said that he baptized the people of Pamplona in the 3rd century and he is considered to be the city’s patron saint. His shrine is located in the city of Toulouse, on the southernmost route of the Camino de Santiago through modern-day France. According to the Book of St James (Liber Sancti Jacobi), compiled in the 12th century, Saturninus was killed by pagans after being dragged by wild bulls across a mile-long set of stone stairs.
Discussed in S1 E9
Church of Santa María Jus del Castillo (Estella)
The church of Santa María Jus del Castillo in Estella was built in the 12th century on the site of a synagogue. Jus del Castillo means ‘under the castle’ as the church sat at the base of a castle. After the Jewish community of the Elgacena district moved to a nearby location, King García Ramírez of Navarre (1134-50) gave the site to the bishop of Pamplona to erect a Christian church over it. The church was initially called Santa María y Todos los Santos (St Mary and All Saints). Estella is located on the Camino Francés about 45 kilometers west of Pamplona.
Discussed in S1 E10
