death

Caesarius of Heisterbach, Dialogue on Miracles (cont’d)

amelia.kennedy

Introductions and updated translations by Josh Parks

About the Text

Note bene: The stories translated here concern themes of sin, death, and punishment, in particular hanging.

Drawn from the miracle collection compiled by Cistercian monk Caesarius of Heisterbach (c. 1180-1240), the stories below, presented as a dialogue between a novice and an experienced monk, illustrate some of the dangers pilgrims faced on the Camino de Santiago.

The first story points to the role of moral uprightness, common sense, and civil authorities in resisting those dangers. After a thief infiltrates a group of pilgrims and claims that one of their horses is his, a local judge devises a way to test his story. When the thief can’t remember which horse supposedly belongs to him, the group laughs at him and the judge sentences him to death. Notably, this is not technically a miracle story: the thief is defeated by his own ineptitude, not by the supernatural intervention of St. James. And yet the narrator frames it as an instance of God’s protection, and even emphasizes to the novice that sin’s punishment—such as the accuser’s death by hanging—always ultimately comes from God.

In the second story, unlike in the one above, the earthly justice system fails and St. James must miraculously intervene to save his pilgrims’ lives. After a pilgrim is falsely accused and convicted of theft, he is sentenced to death. But his son insists on taking his punishment and is hanged in his place. After sorrowfully completing his pilgrimage, the father returns and finds his son alive and well thanks to St. James’s intervention. This miracle then spurs more devotion, and the father and son return to Compostela out of gratitude. This story’s conclusion also offers a glimpse at how miracle stories spread: After being brought back by pilgrims to their hometowns, stories could travel through networks of monks and clergy.

Translation: Dialogue on Miracles 6.25

Of the false pilgrim who was hanged by the just judgment of God, after blaming his crime of theft on a true pilgrim.

Not long ago, a group of pilgrims was traveling from Germany to the dwelling of St. James. One night, a false brother joined them. After they left the guest house in the morning, he followed them out to the city gate. He seized one of them by the hand, crying out that this one had stolen his horse. A judge ordered them to return to the guest house. All the pilgrims testified that the one whom the hostile man had attacked was a sincere and good man. The judge, acting wisely, ordered that, without the thief1 present, the horses have their saddles and bridles taken off and be led into the stable. When this was done, he said to the thief, “Go in and lead your horse out.” He entered and led a horse outside, but it was not the one that he had said had been stolen at the gate, because at the time he had not looked at it closely enough. Then they all laughed at him, even the one whose horse had been brought out, and when they explained what happened to the judge, the deceitful man was hanged on a gallows. See now how God protects those who walk in innocence and punishes the evil of connivers?

Novice: I remember you said earlier that sin’s punishment is from God.

Monk: The prophet Amos is our witness that every punishment is from God, saying, “Shall there be evil in a city, which the Lord has not done?” (Amos 3:6). Or as the Lord says through Isaiah, “I am the Lord, I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create evil” (Isaiah 45:6-7). “Evil” here means punishment and tribulation, which seem evil to their sufferers, though they are good in themselves as creations of God. Now I will give you an example of how sin’s punishment is from God.

Translation: Dialogue on Miracles 8.58

Of the man who was saved from hanging by St. James.

A certain citizen of Utrecht set out with his son to the dwelling of St. James. It happened—if I remember correctly—that in a certain place their host lost something, and he grew suspicious and accused the man of theft in front of the city’s judge. The man denied it and said, “God knows and St. James witnesses that I’ve never been a thief, nor a friend of a thief.” The judge did not believe his words, but condemned the innocent man to death by hanging. When the son saw that his father was condemned, and that the testimony of his brothers [i.e., fellow pilgrims] was doing him no good, he wept and cried and said to the judge, “I ask you, lord, that for the sake of God and St. James you would hang me and let my father go. For I know that he is innocent.” The judge, moved at last by the son’s tears and insistence, absolved his father and hanged him instead. His father went on with his companions in deep sadness. When they arrived at the dwelling of St. James, he prayed to him for his son’s soul. Later, when they returned to the place of the hanging, he said to his brothers, “Look, brothers: it’s my son. I beg you to stop for a minute while I take him down and bury him.” When the son heard his father’s voice, he replied, “Welcome, father, for I am still alive!” When he’d been taken down and asked about the cause of this miracle, he said, “St. James the Apostle has sustained me in his arms from the moment I was hanged on the gallows until now. I didn’t get hungry, I didn’t thirst, I felt no pain—nothing has been better for me in all the days of my life.” Immediately they both rushed to the Apostle, the son to perform his vow, the father to give thanks, and then they returned safely to Utrecht. This miracle was well-known and famous in that city, just as our fellow monk Wilhelm, who was the canon there, has told us.

Novice: What you’re saying is amazing!

Monk: I will report another miracle of St. Thomas the Apostle, which I think is even better.

Notes

1 “Thief” (Latin: fur) here and below refers to the man who has accused another of theft, not the one who’s been accused. Scott and Bland translate this as “accuser” to avoid this confusion, but this obscures a nuance in the text: the narrator knows who the true “thief” is before any of the characters do.

References

Translations are based on the edition by Joseph Strange: Caesarii Heisterbacensis monachi Ordinis Cisterciensis Dialogus miraculorum. 2 vols. Cologne, 1851. Available online via Archive.org: Volume 1, Volume 2.

An English translation of the full text has been completed by Henry von Essen Scott and C.C. Swinton Bland: Dialogue on Miracles by Caesarius of Heisterbach. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1929. Available online via Archive.org: Volume 1, Volume 2.

Caesarius of Heisterbach, excerpts from the Eight Books of Miracles

amelia.kennedy

Introductions and translations by Josh Parks.

About the Text

Nota bene: The thirteenth-century stories translated below concern themes of sin, death, and punishment; the second story (Book 3.62) in particular describes a scene of severe self-harm.

The first story (Book 2.19) introduces a moneylender whose act of pilgrimage proves a failure. Despite the moneylender’s devotion to St. James, which includes an expensive pilgrimage to Compostela, his behavior remains greedy and selfish. When sickness drives him to the point of death, he appeals to St. James for mercy by pointing to his acts of devotion. But James responds that his sins still stand between him and salvation. James returns the money that the moneylender spent on the pilgrimage, even though he refuses it, and then James disappears. This story suggests that pilgrimages were not always straightforward acts of asceticism; for the rich they could also be luxurious displays of wealth. But this expensive kind of devotion, the narrator concludes, cannot undo the sins of greed and usury.

In the second story (Book 3.62), we see St. James watching out for the fate of even the most inexperienced and unworthy pilgrim. Gerard embarks on his pilgrimage on a whim, and the devil takes advantage of his ignorance by impersonating St. James and urging him to injure and then kill himself. Gerard’s companions flee and leave him for dead. But as the demons carry Gerard’s soul past a church, the real St. James intervenes and appeals to the Virgin Mary on Gerard’s behalf. Mary rules that his soul must be returned to his body, and the man awakens, safe but severely scarred from his ordeal. He then joins a monastery out of gratitude to the Lord and spends the rest of his life there. This story portrays pilgrimage as a place of spiritual warfare, where demons and saints battle over pilgrims’ souls, often with severe bodily consequences for the pilgrims themselves.

These stories were compiled by the Cistercian monk Caesarius of Heisterbach. While he is best known for the Dialogus miraculorum (Dialogue on Miracles, c. early 1220s), he also produced a collection known as the Libri VIII miraculorum (Eight Books of Miracles, c. 1225). It is from this latter collection that the following stories are drawn. The fundamental plot of 3.62 is not unique to Caesarius; it appears in different versions in other medieval miracle collections, including the Liber Sancti Jacobi.

Translation: Book 2.19

Of a moneylender, to whom St. James returned money when he died.

A certain moneylender lived in the city of Trier. One day, he was moved to visit the dwelling of St. James in Compostela. He spent five pounds of silver and lived luxuriously on his journey, and when he was back home, he did not give anything to the poor. Having returned home, he turned to moneylending as before.

After several years, he grew gravely ill, and since he feared to die, he frequently prayed to St. James, recalling his pilgrimages, works, and monetary gifts to him in his memory. “St. James the Apostle,” he said, “remember how I spent five pounds in your service.”

And when he had disturbed the apostle with these words, the blessed apostle appeared to him, stood before him, and said, “I am the apostle James, whose dwelling you visited with your money.”

Thrilled to hear this, the moneylender began to cry out and said with tears, “St. James the Apostle, help me!” He repeated this over and over.

The apostle answered him: “Your sins stand in your way. I worked on your behalf as much as I could, and I achieved nothing. The demons bring many terrible accusations before the highest judge of things that you did. Justice has been weighed, and you have been judged deserving of eternal punishment. Look, I have in my hand the five pounds that you spent in my service. I give them back to you.”

But the moneylender shouted, “My lord, my lord, I don’t want to take them back!” The apostle wrapped the money in a little cloth, put it on the moneylender’s head, and disappeared. The moral of this story is that it is not possible to please God or his saints with costly alms that come from bad money. This story was told to me by a certain devout priest who said that he had come to know it accurately.

Translation: Book 3.62

The example of a pilgrim seduced to death by the devil, whose soul holy Mary, by the prayers of St. James, ordered to return to his body.

Lord Hugh of Damas, the abbot [of Cluny],1 used to tell the story of a certain brother in his monastery. This brother’s name was Gerard, and when he was still a layman, he desired to hurry to the dwelling of St. James. And so he prepared the things necessary for the journey under the light of the day on which the journey was to be undertaken, while his concubine slept, defeated by the pleasures of the flesh.

And when he had gone a little way on the journey with his companions, the old enemy—the one who sometimes transfigures himself into an angel of light—desired to deceive him. This very enemy appeared to the pilgrim in the likeness of St. James and said to him, “You must know that because of the evil deeds you have done you will not be able to attain salvation unless you do what I am going to tell you. First, cut off your [genitals] and then kill yourself, and by doing this you will have an eternal reward.”

The man thought that he was really St. James the Apostle, and when he ordered him to do these things, he seized a piece of iron and cut off his [genitals]. And after that he wounded himself mortally by dragging it across his throat. When his companions heard that he was near death and saw him expelling his last breath—so that they saw him soaked in blood—they abandoned him and, frightened, fled with haste, lest someone think that they had killed him for the desire of money or some other reason.

Once the man had died, the devil took the soul of the one he had deceived, and he and his followers were more than a little delighted at their prize. But by the will of God, while they were passing near the church of St. Peter, St. James the Apostle came up to them with St. Peter and said to the group of demons, “Why have you taken the soul of my pilgrim?”

And when they had inflicted whatever evil they could on him and he had reached his end, St. James said to them, “You should know truly that you will not rejoice any more for his destruction, for under [the illusion of] hope for me you have led this ignorant one to death by the snare of your deceptions. And that which he has done in obedience to me, he has done earnestly. But if you fight against this, let us go to the judgment of the holy mother Mary.” 

So they came to the holy mother of God, and when they asked what would please her, Mary herself, the virgin full of piety, judged that the soul ought to return to the body so that he could be purged of the evil deeds he had done through penance. And so this was done: by the merits of holy Mary, Peter, and James, the soul returned to the body. 

It is said that the man, remembering, found himself safe and with only a bruise remaining to show where his neck had been cut. But his reproductive organs, which he had cut off himself, had not been restored to him, and nothing remained there other than a downward-facing hole through which he urinated. Therefore he left death behind as if he was waking from sleep, not forgetful of these benefits which divine mercy bestowed on him according to the saving intercession of the glorious virgin Mary and the apostles.

When he had been raised from the dead, he lifted his hands and his soul to the heavens of the Lord, and he praised the Lord and his saints for their great benefit to him. But when he had made his pilgrimage to St. James and then reached the aforementioned monastery of Damas [i.e., Cluny], he became a monk there, and he lived many days afterward to the end of his life devoted to the service of the Lord and his mother and his saints.

Notes

1 “Dominus Hugo abbas Damiacensis“: In this case, Damiacensis seems to refer not to a location (such as Damietta in Egypt) but rather to the House of Damas, a French aristocratic family to which Hugh, abbot of Cluny, belonged.

References

Caesarius of Heisterbach. Die Fragmente der Libri VIII Miraculorum des Caesarius von Heisterbach. Edited by Aloys Meister. Rome 1901. For these specific stories, see Book 2.19, p. 92-93 and Book 3.62, p. 185-87.

Stone ruins of Heisterbach Abbey

Ruins of Heisterbach Abbey, pictured around 1900 (image via Library of Congress).

Royal Documents on Protections for Pilgrims to Santiago

amelia.kennedy

About the Texts

These three royal documents delineate pilgrims’ rights and protections during the thirteenth century. The first two were issued by King Alfonso IX (1171-1230) and the third by King Alfonso X (1221-84). In reading these texts, we gain insight into some of the problems and challenges that pilgrims faced.

The first document [Text #1] is undated but pertains to King Alfonso IX. Historian Fernando López Alsina situates the document prior to the 1228 Council of Salamanca. This text discusses the subject of pilgrims’ deaths, as well as common problems afflicting pilgrims (such as unscrupulous donkey-drivers who overcharged them, or inn-keepers who took advantage of them). These various abuses of pilgrims had previously been denounced in the sermon Veneranda Dies, which forms part of the Liber Sancti Jacobi. While Text #1 is not the first document to discuss the free circulation of pilgrims, it is the first known document to address pilgrims to Santiago specifically.

In February 1228, while at the Council of Salamanca, King Alfonso IX of León issued a constitution [Text #2] concerning pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela (as well as pilgrims to other sites). The council was held under the auspices of the papal legate John of Abbeville for the purpose of bringing the Spanish Church into better alignment with the reforms of the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215. In particular, this document specifies a procedure for handling pilgrims’ deaths and the distribution of their belongings. Death along the Camino was a risk all pilgrims undertook; some fell ill, became dehydrated or exhausted, encountered bandits, were attacked by animals, or succumbed to inclement weather. The concern demonstrated here for pilgrims’ belongings suggests that many pilgrims were quite well-off and had substantial assets on their person.

Finally, the third document translated here [Text #3] dates to 1254, during the reign of Alfonso X. It likewise concerns challenges facing pilgrims and outlines protective measures that should be taken. Unlike Alfonso IX, who ruled a smaller territory more centered on northern Spain, Alfonso X governed a larger area (as can be seen from his longer list of titles). Santiago de Compostela was no longer as central to the Castilian king’s domain, but pilgrimage to Santiago nevertheless remained a concern.

Texts #1 and #3 are found in the Tumbillo de Concordias, a collection of documents probably compiled during the late thirteenth century, relating to the administration of Santiago and its surroundings. Texts #2 and #3 are in Tumbo B, a cartulary produced c. 1320s under the authority of Archbishop Berengar of Landorra, decades after either document was originally written. However, the fact that they were copied into Tumbo B suggests that they remained relevant in the fourteenth century.

What differences do you notice between the texts? Why might kings have been interested in protecting pilgrims? What can these documents tell us about royal justice and administration during this period? About the experiences of pilgrimage?

Translation: Text #1

[Statute given by King Alfonso IX in favor of the pilgrims to Santiago.]

He who receives leadership over a kingdom from the Lord ought to care for all those gathered by the control conferred by God under the protection of his wings and to defend them along the journey against the plots of depraved men and the various dangers of the way, especially those who have less protection, and most especially those who are going out from their homeland and away from their kin on account of God, those who, after God, do not have a protector except for the Catholic prince, before other princes. Therefore I, Alfonso, King by the grace of God of León, Galicia, Asturias, and Extremadura, recognize that I am especially responsible for pilgrims, since my realm is graced by the presence of the body of the most glorious Apostle James, to whom the nations of all the lands from all parts of the world gather for prayer. Thus, for the love of God, from whom the power of the kingdom is given to me, and also by the singular protection of the aforesaid most glorious Apostle, both my kingdom and all of Spain survives. I firmly wish and decree and institute that it should be perpetually conserved by all my successors that pilgrims of God and St. James should be immune from all harms throughout my entire kingdom. Nor should any host or anyone else dare harm them in any way. Therefore, when pilgrims who are arriving are invited in by hosts, no one–neither innkeeper nor anyone serving at the inn–should dare to draw them in violently or impel them or provoke them with abuses or do any sort of violence to them. But whosoever should do any of those things, if he is the owner, owes ten morabetinos to the royal official, or five if he is a servant. And such a servant should be sent outside of the house of the owner. And if the servant should have more money, he owes ten morabetinos. And whoever does not have what he owes is to be beaten.

Also, anyone who receives pilgrims into their home should treat them nicely and faithfully, and should not dare to change the previously-advertised measure either of wine or of grain or of anything else. Whoever does so owes ten morabetinos, and moreover is compelled to hand over the agreed-upon measure to the pilgrim.

Also, if it should happen that any pilgrim becomes sick in my kingdom, he is permitted to make arrangements for his belongings freely and according to his volition. And after his death, however he arranged to dispose of his things should be observed in full. The pilgrim, however, should be advised that the host will receive his finest clothing if he should die. But neither the host nor anyone else should dare to take any of his other belongings except that which the pilgrim left to them in his will. If, however, the pilgrim did not make a will, then if he has companions from his homeland, they should bury and make arrangements for him as they see fit. And they should make an oath in the hands of the chaplain and the host that they will faithfully bring the deceased pilgrim’s belongings back to the heirs, and not carry off anything from them except for the best outfit which is owed to the host.

But if the deceased did not leave a will and also does not have companions from his land, then he is to be buried honorably by the host and the chaplain, and the necessary things are to be administered for his funeral. The host should receive a third part of his belongings. The royal official should receive a third part. And the church that has his grave, a third part. And neither the primary host nor the chaplain nor anyone else should dare to take anything from the companions of the deceased, just as in the case of the deceased himself. But the friends of the deceased should have his belongings peacefully, as long as they swear themselves to be such. But if anyone should complain that they [e.g. the host or anyone else] took something, it should be restored. If this happens, the guilty party should receive nothing, and he owes the royal official 100 morabetinos. And let it also be prohibited by the bishop of that place under the pain of excommunication lest either the host or anyone else take cunningly from the sick person the portion of the chaplain. And if anyone is caught doing this, he incurs the penalty mentioned above.

Also, let no donkey-driver dare to lie about the destination or the distance, nor cause any pilgrim to descend by violence or fraud of any sort before he leads him to the agreed-upon location. Whoever is caught doing any of these things should lose his donkey or any travel permit. And moreover he owes the royal official five morabetinos if he is a servant, and the owner of the license should also lose the license. And the one serving should owe five morabetinos, and if he does not have enough, he should be publicly flogged.

I constitute these things to be firmly observed out of love for my most glorious patron, for the remedy of my soul and that of my ancestors. Furthermore, so that anyone who becomes aware of it should graciously see to the security and convenience of pilgrims.

Alfonso, by the grace of God, king of León, to all of his vassals who have lands along the Camino Francés from Mansella to Santiago, sends greetings. You know that I made a decree and constitution about how pilgrims who come through my kingdom to Santiago should live and be treated. And I firmly order you to observe and cause to be observed that decree and that institution which I made and sealed with my seal, throughout all your lands. And if you do not, you will lose my grace and love.

Translation: Text #2

[Another statute by Alfonso IX concerning pilgrims, modifying the previously outlined procedure for handling a deceased pilgrim’s belongings.]

Alfonso, King of León by the grace of God, sends greetings to all whom this letter reaches. Just as it is fitting for the royal Majesty to encourage the honest and good customs of his kingdom, so too it behooves the sublimity of regal providence to extirpate the dishonest customs, and especially those which are found to be against God and justice. So it is–upon the insistence and petition of the reverend father John, Bishop of Sabina by the grace of God and legate of the Apostolic See–that I, Alfonso, King of León and Galicia by the grace of the same, constitute and firmly order to be observed as law throughout my whole kingdom that pilgrims visiting the threshold of the most glorious Apostle James, or San Salvador in Asturia, or the shrine of any saint, be permitted to make arrangements concerning all of their goods according to their own volition; and that their wills, whether made in writing or orally, should be fully binding. But if they should die without a will, prevented from making one by death, then their companions from their land who are present at their death should receive in full the goods of the deceased, once they have sworn an oath that they will faithfully restore them to those who ought to succeed the deceased. Otherwise, all the goods of the deceased should be conserved for up to one year under the authority of the diocesan bishop of the place where they died, so that if within a year, the rightful heir(s) should arrive, they may recover the goods. But when a second year has elapsed, if no one has shown up who is a legitimate heir of the deceased, then the diocesan bishop, having God before his eyes, for the remedy of the deceased pilgrims, should distribute the goods in a certain way: namely, a third should go to the church where the pilgrims were buried and to the church’s clerics, and the other two thirds should be assigned for use in the frontier conflict against the Moors.

Also, I order all of my judiciaries to observe this constitution or law that I have promulgated, and that they cause it to be firmly observed for all time.

This was enacted in Salamanca, with the following present, consenting, and approving: the venerable fathers Bernaldus, the archbishop of Compostela; and all the bishops of my kingdom, convoked by the aforesaid legate to the council; as well as the barons of my kingdom. In the year of the Lord 1228, on the feast of St. Agatha the Virgin, in the month of February.

Translation: Text #3

[Statute of Alfonso X confirming the previous statutes and once again modifying the procedure for handling the belongings of a deceased pilgrims.]

Let it be known to all who see this text that I, Alfonso, King by the grace of God of Castile, Toledo, León, Galicia, Seville, Córdoba, Murcia, and Jaén, having thoroughly discussed with the bishops, princes, knights, religious men, and nobles of the whole sacred palace, grant this favor of my piety to all pilgrims and especially those coming to the threshold of St. James from anywhere, that they may safely come, go, and dwell within each of my kingdoms and the provinces subject to my jurisdiction. And also their companions. For I estimate it worthy that, since those performing good deeds merit my protection for praising God, I should defend them from all harm or injury. Therefore, I decree by a royal constitution, valid in perpetuity, that no one should presume to harm or damage pilgrims or their companions by a reckless act. But rather, they should go and come freely, and they should be received safely and without any coercion or violence where they choose. And pilgrims should be freely permitted to acquire necessary goods from anyone they want, with fair weights and correct measures used. And because there is nothing that should mean more to men than that the pen of last will is free, I institute–or rather, declare to be instituted–that if it should happen that any of the above be detained by infirmity, he may freely relinquish his goods in his will and assign them licitly to whomsoever he wishes without any impediment or contradiction. But if he should die intestate, it is permitted to the judges of good descent of that place to dispose of them for the soul. Thus, namely so that before my ears they procure to insinuate and faithfully put into practice, just as they receive them from My Highness, adding that if an attempt is made against the tenor of my constitutions by anyone, it should be amended quickly by the judges of the places or the provinces to whom I gave my power in this matter according to the quantity of the crime and the quality of the criminals. But let the judges of the aforesaid places or provinces know that unless, injury having been inflicted on pilgrims, when they are sought out, they do justice without delay, they must restore double the cost of the injury and they will be able to dread the note of infamy with detriment to their dignity. I order this constitution to be included among my royal constitutions, and I cause it to be published throughout my kingdoms and provinces subject to my dominion.

Given in Burgos, pronounced by the archdeacon Master Fernando, royal notary, on the 6th day of November in the era 1292 [= 1254 CE]. Juan Perez of Cuenca wrote it.

References

Text #1:

López Ferreiro, Antonio. Historia de la Santa A.M. Iglesia de Santiago de Compostela. Vol. 5. Santiago: Imp. y Enc. del Seminario Conciliar Central, 1902. Appendix: Document #15.

Text #2:

López Ferreiro, Antonio. Historia de la Santa A.M. Iglesia de Santiago de Compostela. Vol. 5. Santiago: Imp. y Enc. del Seminario Conciliar Central, 1902. Appendix: Document #14.

Text #3:

González Balasch, María Teresa, ed. Tumbo B de la Catedral de Santiago. Santiago de Compostela: Edicios do Castro, 2004. Document #48, p. 151-52.