About the Text
Composed in Latin between 1199 and 1215*, this poem by an unknown author** celebrates an important pilgrims’ hospital “in the immense mountains” along the Camino de Santiago. Perched in the Pyrenees, the hospital offered a serene oasis where pilgrims could eat, sleep, receive medical care, and enjoy a respite from “perpetual ice” and “wintry air.” The poem’s first editor Fidel Fita gave it the title “Carmen in laudem Roscisvallidis,” which we have adopted here.
The Hospital of Roncesvalles emerged in the context of the high medieval “charitable revolution,” a proliferation of various charitable institutions across Europe. Established in 1132 by Bishop Sancho of Larrosa, the bishop of Pamplona from 1124 until 1142, the hospital at Roncesvalles sheltered travelers across one of the most popular passes of the Pyrenees. The poem, paraphrasing the foundation charter, comments in stanzas 6 and 7 that Bishop Sancho founded his hospital “at the base of the highest mountain of the Pyrenees” with financial assistance from the king Alfonso–that is, Alfonso I “the Battler” of Navarre and Aragon (r. 1104-1134).
Thanks to this poem, as well as the foundation charter on which parts of the poem are based, we know quite a bit about this particular hospital and its history. The poem provides unusual insight into the hospital; typically, hospitals produced largely administrative documents, which later historians piece together to gain an understanding of the hospital’s operations. In this case, however, we have an idea of how the hospital was presented and advertised and how its day-to-day activities were understood.
Given its mountainous location, the hospital at Roncesvalles was clearly built to serve pilgrims and travelers, in particular pilgrims along the Camino de Santiago, “those piously seeking St. James” (stanza 34). Roncesvalles was an important site along the Camino, often associated with Charlemagne, whose military defeat there was memorialized in the Song of Roland, though this connection is not explicitly mentioned in the poem.
Instead, the poet focuses on describing the landscape, a cold and austere place that stands in contrast to the bountiful oasis of the hospital; enumerating the various amenities and services provided, from patching up leather shoes to burying the dead; and praising the founders, donors, and workers who make the hospital’s operations possible.
The Poem: Carmen in laudem Roscisvallidis
1 Venerable house, glorious house, admirable house, fruitful house, it flowers like a rose on the Pyrenees, most gracious to people of all nations. I would like to recount its benefits, the house which I must love sincerely and always. I will be able to praise it multiple times: I see flowing from everywhere the necessary material. I wish to exalt it with praise that can be proved by suitable witnesses; one who wants to despise the truth and venerate falsehood is most odious to heaven, land, and sea. This house is called "the dewy valley" [Roscidee Vallis, i.e., Roncesvalles],1 a necessary house, a hospitable house, open to all good people, showing its back to the bad; the Omnipotent always covers it with his wings.2 5 Pouring out the dew of grace, these goods are generously bestowed by the Holy Spirit, from whom all good things flow; in the present world, it is nourishment to all; and it will be a crown to the faithful in heaven. Bishop Sancho, the founder,3 in honor of the Virgin Mother of God, at the base of the highest mountain of the Pyrenees, established a hospital where one can be saved. When he was named the bishop of Pamplona He founded a hospital in the immense mountains, and aiding him greatly with the expenses was Alfonso, the celebrated king of Aragon.4 Seeing this, the venerable convent of canons, guarding the honesty of morals, and donating many goods to the hospital, made itself a participant in its merits. After the era, 1100 years having elapsed,5 To which quantity 70 more years should be added, the founding of the hospital took its beginning, which is a shelter for those traveling the path. 10 The location, by the rigor of winter, the perpetual ice, and the annual snow, was nearly always burdened, and also by the wintery air; The only serenity is the hospitable house. The earth is wholly sterile by the circuit [of the sun];6 any inhabitant lacks bread, wine, cider, and oil, and wool, and linen; the hospital is ruled by the divine Spirit. Inside, one does not feel the force of cold, nor misery of poverty. For here there remains unceasingly a font of goodness which drives out the starvation of all need. Many have known the merits of this hospital; the way is universal to all seeking the threshold of the Apostles; there is no other such path for those seeking [Saint] James, nor one so common. The hospital, with a generous look, welcomes guests each day, although it is in the mountains, it consoles them freely with necessary things, which flow to them from the aforesaid sources. 15 The entrance is open to all, infirm and healthy, not only Catholics but also pagans, Jews, heretics, idlers, the vain, and, to put it briefly, both good and profane. Here are performed the six works ordered by God7 to be done by humankind, lest when the jubilee year arrives, one be judged guilty, and set apart from the faithful as a Pharisee.8 The goodness of this house thus is amplified Such that, through it, the Lord is often praised. The celestial cohort rejoices in it; but the legions of demons are greatly alarmed. In this house, the feet of paupers are washed, their beards are shaved with razors, their heads are washed and their hair cut; It would take too long to tell of everything that follows. If you saw the shoes of the poor there being repaired with leather, then you would praise God. You would recount the benefits of this house loudly, and you would greatly admire it with all your mental energy. 20 Someone stands at the door offering a portion of bread to those passing by, doing no action apart from this one and prayer, that God give consolation to the house. Here, one who seeks, receives the benefit of charity, and the one has asked does not suffer refusal;9 what this house gives out free to everyone is not a human work, but a divine one. In a maternal manner, it nourishes many orphans, correcting them piously, with hand, sticks, and mouth, so that they learn how to live by manual labor, and are not forced to seek subsistence with shame. This house provides the highest cure for the sick, proffering to them the best things which the farms produce and indeed many more things than that which this writing is able to enumerate. Women with splendid honesty of morals, lacking filthiness and deformity, are charged with their service here; they care for the sick with the fullness of piety. 25 There are two most suitable houses for the sick, one for women, the other for men; They are appointed for their use and enjoyment, and are ready for all kinds of benefits. There is in it a chamber adorned with fruits; there are almonds and pomegranates, and other kinds of fruits are seen which come from diverse parts of the world. During the day, the divine light brightens the houses of the sick, and at night, lamps shine like the early morning light; in the middle, there is an altar, at which Catherine is venerated continuously,10 along with Marina.11 The work of piety is practiced on the sick, who rest on soft and well-equipped beds. One does not leave except for free, and having accepted the gift of health. There are lodgings set aside for them, which flow with running water; baths are prepared at once for those seeking them, so that their bodily filth may be washed away. 30 If the companions of the sick wish to stay, the father of the order commands that they be venerated, and that necessities be given to them diligently, until it happens that they are refreshed. When someone migrates [i.e., dies], a burial is provided, as the laws and Scripture command; There is a basilica in which those who have paid their debt to nature remain justly forever. For the flesh of the dead that which is apt is what is rightly called a "carnarium" (from the word carne).12 Often visited by a legion of angels, as is proved by the mouth of those hearing it. In the middle of this basilica,13 there is a famous altar, for purifying the souls of contagion; there one celebrates the mystery dear to the King of Kings, but this is very bitter to Prince of Darkness. Those piously seeking St. James, bearing with them gifts for James, looking around the machine of burial, give praises to God on bended knee. 35 Its form is in all respects square; the summit of the square is domed, at whose pinnacle is placed a cross, the form through which the rage of the enemy lies prostrate. The most energetic man, the King of Navarre14 built here the church of pilgrims;15 donating to it a perpetual revenue of 10,000 solidi and 400. An emperor16 fathered the mother17 of this king;18 his father was Sancho the Battler.19 A most wise king,20 a lover of all probity, and a defeater of his enemies. The brothers and sisters of this house are often stewards of all the aforesaid things; they lead a regular life and morals,21 and they disdain the secular world and its honors. The guardian of all this is named Martin,22 a man of praiseworthy life, like a tall pine, thus spreading out his bosom widely for the poor of Christ. His insides are full of the divine spirit. 40 He conserves, he increases these possessions of the poor, offering his suffering for the poor, for the glories of the celestial Father are had through great tribulations. The Lord has given him the role of manager, expecting a reckoning from this share accordingly. When he has made a good return on investment, he will receive a worthy reward. The house offers many good assets which are not declared on the present page. Unless this series of rhymes comes to an end, the prolixity will bore the listener.
*Dating: The 1199-1215 date is based on the years of the priorate of Martin Guerra, who is most likely the “Martin” mentioned in stanza 39.
**Authorship: The poem’s first editor (1884) Fidel Fita thought the poem was written by the chronicler and bishop of Toledo Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada, who uses the name “Roscida vallis” in De rebus Hispanie and describes the hospital of Burgos in similar terms in that text (VII.XXXIII, 1-11). Salvador Martinez also attributes the poem to Rodrigo, adding additional details to support this attribution and connecting the writing of the poem with the bishop’s stay at Roncesvalles on his way back from Rome in 1210. However, the later editor (1996) Antonio Peris questions the attribution of the poem to Rodrigo, arguing that the linguistic/stylistic similarities between the poem and Rodrigo’s description of the hospital of Burgos are tenuous; the biggest similarity is that both use a version of the phrase “repulsam non pati,” which comes from Ovid. Peris also dismisses attempts to connect the poem with Rodrigo’s stays at the hospital as stretching the available evidence: we cannot even be sure if Rodrigo was actually there. Rodrigo was also unfavorable to some of the kings described in the poem. In sum, we do not have a solid attribution for the poem’s authorship.
Notes
1 On etymology, see Cirot, Roscidae valles, Bulletin Hispanique 28 (1926), p. 378; Dubarat-Daranatz, Recherches sur la ville, vol. 3, p. 1013-21; Alonso, La primitiva epica francesa, 145-51.
2 Cf. Psalms 16:8.
3 Sancho de Larrosa, bishop of Pamplona (1124-1142). This stanza and the next more or less paraphrase the foundation charter.
4 Alfonso I the Battler of Navarre and Aragon (1104-34).
5 Era 1170, i.e, 1132 CE.
6 This stanza is reminiscent of the description of Navarre in the Pilgrim’s Guide.
7 The seventh work of mercy, redeeming the captive, was not commonly included until the end of the 12th century.
8 The use of “fariseus” to mean “separate” can be found in Isidore of Seville’s Etymologies.
9 From Ovid: “nullam patiere repulsam.”
10 These relics are now contained in the late 14th-century Relicario de Ajedrez.
11 I.e., Marina of Aguas Santas, a Galician martyr saint of the second century; a Romanesque church in Aguas Santas was built in the twelfth century.
12 I.e., a bone house/charnel house.
13 This building, which still survives, dates to the 12th century and is mentioned in the Pilgrim’s Guide.
14 Sancho VII the Strong (r. 1194-1215).
15 The Collegiate Church of Santa María (replacing an older structure built by Bishop Sancho de Larrosa).
16 Alfonso VII, called ‘the Emperor,’ king of León and Castile, d. 1157.
17 Sancha of Castile, d. 1179.
18 Sancho VII.
19 Sancho VI the Wise (r. 1150-1194).
20 According to Cistercian chronicler Alberic of Trois-Fontaines, Sancho had a collection of 1.7 million books.
21 I.e., according to the Rule of St. Augustine.
22 Prior Martin Guerra (d. Dec. 1, 1215).
References & Further Reading
The poem is available on Xacobeo in French and Latin.
The most recent edition: Peris, Antoni. “El Ritmo de Roncesvalles: estudio y edición”. Cuadernos de Filología Clásica. Estudios latinos. 11 (1996), pp. 171-209.
For more on medieval pilgrims’ hospitals, see our page on Hospitality along the Camino de Santiago.
On Pyrenean pilgrims’ hospitals, see the following:
Brodman, James. Charity and Religion in Medieval Europe. Washington D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 2009. Chapter 3: “To Shelter the Pilgrim: Military Orders, Hospices, and Bridges,” and esp. p. 116-118 on the Pyrenean hospitals at Aubrac, Roncesvalles, and Somport.
Jugnot, Gérard. “Deux fondations augustiniennes en faveur des pèlerins: Aubrac et Roncevaux.” In Assistance et charité. Toulouse: Éditions Privat, 1978. P. 321-341.
