St. James Matamoros

[Maura Santangelo]

David,

Melczer's book on Santiago gives a very good account of the
socio-political history of the camino and it is worth reading.  As I
understand it Santiago was to the Spanish soldiers what Mohammed was to
the Moors in battle.  One can see how  the clashes along the camino,
between Christians and Muslims as defining modern christian Europe and
as well as defining the concept of holy war.  It would seem that things
have changed very little.

I did go back to Silvia Poggioli's piece, I was a bit chilled by the
comment made by a young Arab interviewed by Poggioli about the building
of a mosque that "we have been waiting for this moment for 500 years" .

Maura