I don't think north-east Wales is unusual in its stained glass portrayal of
St James the Greater with both scallop shell and book. He appears with
these both and a staff in the tracery of the Great East window at York
Minster although without any attribute in the main light (if the
identification of the latter by Thomas French is accepted). At Fairford he
is shown twice (main light window 10 and tracery window 13) with both shell
and book, while James the Less appears with only a club-like staff (main
light window 11).
John Hall
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Sent: 03 February 2000 02:21
Subject: St James and his shells
> Reading between the lines of Edwin Muir's The Pilgrimage to Santiago (not
> very academic but my other notes are at home) - what he says is that the
> body of St James is supposed to have come ashore at Padron and that
> pilgrims came there to gather scallop shells - presumably as an extension
> of the pilgrimage.
>
> The codex Callixtinus MS is a wonderful early example of a tour guide -
> phrase book, notes on where to stay, where not to drink the water, where
> the natives are unfriendly: and as Carlos says, where to buy your
souvenirs
> (in the paradise court beyond the fountain outside the cathedral - as well
> as shells, look out for wineskins, shoes, deerskin scrips, purses, thongs,
> belts ...). Liz, I have a copy of a modern translation of this one here in
> college when you're next in.
>
> We have some iconographic confusion in medieval Welsh depictions between
> James the Greater (he of the scallop shells) and James the Less. At
Gyffin,
> near Conwy, it's James the Less who has a book in his hand (presumably
> this means he's being identified as the author of the epistle that gave
> Luther so much trouble) but in stained glass in north-east Wales James is
> depicted with both scallop shell and book. Is this just confusion or do we
> have a genuine medieval debate over the identity of the author of the
> Epistle?
>
> Maddy
>
>
> Dr Madeleine Gray
> Department of Humanities and Science
> UWCN
>
> 'Reading is sometimes an ingenious device for avoiding thought'
>
>
>
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