[Gocamino] "Sintesis del Codigo Calistino" movie

[Rosina]

Hi Christa and Alexander,

Aimeric Picaud was a 12th century monk and scholar from Porthenay-le-Vieux in Poitou who made the pilgrimage to Santiago around the year 1140. He is widely believed to have written the Codex Calixtinus, book V of which is credited with being the first travel guide ever written, since it reads as such and it is full of practical advice for pilgrims (It also contains some terribly? unflattering comments?about? the people from Navarra and a description of how the Cathedral of Santiago looked in the 12th century.



The Codex, also known as "Liber Sancti Jacobi" (Sacred books of Saint James) was?written on 225 parchments and it consists of five "books". The first contains? prayers and hymns for Santiago's feast day. The second relates the famous 22 miracles realized through? the intervention of?Santiago in the 11th and 12th centuries. The third "book" is about the "translatio"? (the removal) of the decapitated body of Saint James from the outskirts of Jerusalem to Galicia after he was executed by King Herod in the year 44. The fourth narrates the expeditions of Charlemagne and the adventures of Roland as they fought against the Muslims in Spain. (The famous epic poem "Chanson de Roland" is based on this book). The fifth and last book is popularly known as "the guide", and it contains guidance and directions in the pilgrimage to Santiago together with warning about con-artists ?in the Camino, thieves, prostitutes, unclean water, dangerous foods and all sorts of tourist traps and scams. The depiction of Navarra and its environs, and the Navarrese, is pointedly negative and?abrasive and it seems to display a personal vendetta against them on the part of the writer.

-----By the way, if you want to see some incredibly gruesome, and real, ?photographs of some of the going ons in the?"running of the bulls" (Fermines) in Pamplona last July let me know and I'll send them to you. Your hair will stand up in astonishment and shock.----?

Anyway, the Pablo Iglesias movie being finished, "Synthesis of the Codex", is based on "Book 5".

The best known of pilgrim hymns "Dum Pater Familias" closes the Codex.

The?work contains an opening letter presumably signed?by Pope Calixtus II, who had been a childhood friend of the powerful?Santiago Archbishop Diego Gelmirez. But since that Pope died about 20 years before the work was finished, the letter was probably created to honor the Pope and give the Codex his name.

The?original Codex is?kept in the Santiago Cathedral, and fairly good facsimiles of it, written on parchments, and very expensive, may be purchased in the Cathedral's gift shop.? If one does not want to purchase such?reproductions at least one can get a very good idea of what the?original is like.

The whole Codex is written in Latin. A couple of years ago a?USC (Universidad de Santiago de Compostela) postgraduate student wrote a translation of?into Spanish. as a doctoral dissertation. ?The student used colloquial applications of the language and a free and quite irreverent approach, and reading her monograph was?very illuminating and a heck of a lot?of fun. Unfortunately, as far as I know, she never published it.??



Hugs!



Rosina