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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