NEW Publication, "Tvrpinvs Domini gratia archiepiscopvs: Notes on the Codex Calixtinus" (Rosa M. Rodríguez Porto)

This article (in Medieval Studies in Honour of Peter Linehan, Firenze: SISMEL - Edizioni del Galluzzo, 2018) re-examines the illustrations of the Codex Calixtinus (Santiago, ACS, CF 14), in an attempt to give account of its singularity, namely, its almost exclusive focus on the legendary expedition of Charlemagne to Spain. By means of a minute analysis of the materiality of the codex and of its intricate assemblage of disparate texts, together with a critical evaluation of the earliest Carolingian cycles and a discussion of the Crusading overtones they may have had in the twelfth century, new evidence is offered for a re-dating of the Calixtinus c. 1147-1154. In the midst of the conquest of Almería and a projected alliance with France, these images were intended to attract international attention towards the Apostolic shrine and to foster Compostela’s ambitions against Toledo, even at the price of displacing more ancient and cherished myths about the discovery of the relics of St. James by the kings of Asturias.