About the Texts
If you travel to Santiago de Compostela today, you will have ample opportunity to purchase a scallop-shaped souvenir. These shells have long been a symbol of St. James, and as the following four documents show, they were sometimes a source of concern for the church of Compostela, which aimed to regulate the production and sale of shells in various ways.
As indicated by our other series of shell-related texts (Documents on the Sale of Shells to Pilgrims), the Compostelan church sought to control the sale of shell-shaped badges to pilgrims within the city. These items, often made from lead or tin, constituted an important source of revenue for the church.
In the documents translated here, the main concern is instead with preventing the manufacture and sale of these items outside of Santiago de Compostela. While the archbishop of Santiago could likely exercise effective control over shell sales within his diocese (and to a lesser extent, the archdiocese), the Camino stretched over a vast amount of territory, including large swaths of the archdiocese of Toledo, the diocese of Pamplona, and the diocese of León. To clamp down on sales in these areas, the archbishop of Compostela needed assistance from the pope.
Text #1 is a letter from Pope Alexander IV and dates to 1259. Alexander denounces the manufacture and sale of counterfeit shell badges (produced outside of Santiago) and places the bishop of Lugo (about 100 km from Santiago) in charge of ensuring that his commands are carried out.
Illicit shell badges remained a problem in 1266, as we can see from Text #2, a letter from Pope Clement IV on the same problem. Clement here threatens not only the people making and selling counterfeits, but also the pilgrims who bought and wore them.
Text #3, written by Pope Gregory X in 1272, shows that counterfeit scallop shell badges remained an ongoing issue.
In 1327 [Text #4], the bishop of Lugo, Juan Martínez, was commissioned by Pope John XXII to enforce the prohibition on forging and selling counterfeits outlined in Pope Alexander IV’s earlier letter, which he quoted in full and upon which he then elaborated.
All four of these documents are preserved in Tumbo B, a cartulary compiled during the 1320s under the archbishop Berengar of Landorra and the treasurer Aymeric of Anteaic. Bishop Juan Martínez’s letter [Text #4] shows a renewed interest in dealing with longstanding problems and reviving previous papal directives and privileges that had perhaps lapsed.
Translation: Text #1
21 January 1259.
Bishop Alexander, servant of the servants of God, sends greetings and apostolic blessings to the venerable brothers, the archbishops and bishops constituted throughout Spain and Gascony.
The Apostolic See ought to oppose the presumptions of evil ones and to restrain their excesses with pastoral solicitude. Indeed, it has come to my attention from my venerable brother the archbishop of Compostela that certain ones in Spain and Gascony, detained by the detestable ardor of inflamed greed, presume with their own temerity to forge and sell counterfeit insignia of St. James. Therefore, wishing to inhibit these presumptuous people by your zeal, we firmly order your brotherhood by apostolic letter, in the virtue of obedience, that each of you in your cities and dioceses, by you or by others, compel those presumptuous ones of this sort to desist from such presumption, with an advance warning, through the ecclesiastical censure without need for appeal. In any case, I enjoin my venerable brother the bishop of Lugo with my letter that he, himself or through others, pursue those who contradict this apostolic mandate for punishment by my authority, curbing them with appeal postponed, notwithstanding any indulgence through which the execution of my mandate regarding this matter should be impeded or hindered in any way.
Given in Anagni, 12th Kalends of February, in the 5th year of my pontificate.
Translation: Text #2
1 January 1266.
Bishop Clement, servant of the servants of God, sends greetings and apostolic blessings to his venerable brother, the archbishop of Compostela.
It has been brought to my attention by my beloved sons, the chapter of Compostela, that although [the insignia of St. James] have long been made according to ancient and approved and hitherto peacefully observed custom, and it should be obtained that the insignia of St. James, which are called conche [i.e. scallop shells] in the common tongue, be made by that authority; and although the greater part of their [the chapter’s] income consists in that which they receive and have been accustomed to receive for a long time; nevertheless certain sons of iniquity presume by their own temerity to make or mint false and counterfeit forgeries of the insignia of St. James, to the peril of their souls and causing no little damage and grievance to the chapter [of Compostela]. As such, I order your fraternity by apostolic writ that you, by my authority, strictly prohibit under the penalty of indefinite anathema all pilgrims visiting the threshold of St. James from presuming to buy or wear any false insignia of this sort.
Given in Vézère, Kalends of January in the third year of my pontificate.
Translation: Text #3
7 March 1272.
Bishop Gregory, servant of the servants of God, sends greetings and apostolic blessings to his beloved sons the bishop-elect and chapter of Compostela.
You have brought to me the symbols of St. James, which are called conchee [i.e. scallop shells] in the common tongue, the likes of which have been made in the city of Compostela since time immemorial. Therefore, inclining to your supplications, I strictly prohibit by the authority of those present that scallops of this sort be made anywhere but in the aforesaid city.
Therefore, let no one infringe upon this page of my prohibition or contradict it with reckless abandon. But if anyone should dare to try, he should know himself to have incurred the indignation of God Almighty and his apostles, Saints Peter and Paul.
Given in Orvieto, Nones of March, in the first year of my pontificate.
Translation: Text #4
24 May 1327.
Juan, Bishop of Lugo and delegated by the Apostolic See regarding the matters described below, sends greetings to the reverend fathers in Christ, the archbishops and bishops of Spain and Gascony to whom the present letter is addressed.
And you should firmly and humbly obey my commands, or rather, the apostolic commands, namely the letter which I received from Pope Alexander IV of happy memory, with his authentic bulla hanging from a hemp cord, which was presented to me by the archbishop [Berengar of Landorra] and chapter of Compostela; the tenor and contents of the letter are the following:
[Text #1: letter from Pope Alexander IV in 1259].
The aforesaid archbishop and chapter produced and showed this to me, and they complained that some people in your cities and dioceses, detained by detestable greed and burning with the zeal of avarice, mint, make, and sell fake symbols of St. James, which are called conche in the common tongue of Galicia, to pilgrims going to Santiago or returning from the pilgrimage–with considerable damage and harm to the church of Compostela. On account of which, I was asked by the archbishop and chapter to proceed against the people making and selling such items. Wishing to obey the apostolic mandate as I am held to do, I therefore ask each of you and your people, by the apostolic authority which I discharge, and in the virtue of holy obedience. And I order you–you yourselves or others–to prohibit this practice within your cities and dioceses lest from now on anyone presume to coin, make, or sell fake symbols of St. James. And if anyone does so, you should proceed against them with ecclesiastical censure, not to mention other legal remedies. Moreover, I, with apostolic authority, warn those presuming to do such a thing once, twice, and a third time, giving them a period of 15 days to cease the aforesaid activities. But if they do not desist, even after having been warned three times, I will carry out a sentence of excommunication against them as I have written here. I wish that you cause this sentence of excommunication to be solemnly publicized in your churches and dioceses on Sundays and feast days. As a sign of faith and testimony whereof, I secure this letter by affixing my seal.
Given in Compostela, 23rd day of the month of May, in the year of our Lord 1327, in the presence of the venerable men Master Juan, Judge; Martín Bernardez, Cardinal; Aymeric of Anteiac, Treasurer; Fernando Martínez, Canon; members of the church of Compostela; witnesses, specially summoned and called regarding the above.
I, Alfonso Yañez, sworn public notary of Compostela, saw, held, and read the letter of the Pope Alexander IV, and at the order of the aforesaid reverend father the bishop of Lugo, I subscribe and sign with my usual sign as a witness of the above.
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 #33.
Text #2
González Balasch, María Teresa, ed. Tumbo B de la Catedral de Santiago. Santiago de Compostela: Edicios do Castro, 2004. Document #331.
Text #3
González Balasch, María Teresa, ed. Tumbo B de la Catedral de Santiago. Santiago de Compostela: Edicios do Castro, 2004. Document #333.
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 #39 [incomplete].
Text #4
González Balasch, María Teresa, ed. Tumbo B de la Catedral de Santiago. Santiago de Compostela: Edicios do Castro, 2004. Document #229.