Archival History:

Biography / Administrative history:

The 231 manuscript codices of the 10th to the 15th centuries from the Benedictine monastery of Santa María de Ripoll that entered the Archive of the Crown of Aragon as a result of the ecclesiastical property dispossession laws in the first half of the 19th century, represent only a part of the great library of the monastery. Formed over the centuries, both with manuscripts copied in its own scriptorium, active since the 10th century, and by numerous acquisitions, was largely destroyed after the fire of the monastery in 1835. Highlights the manuscripts of the tenth and eleventh centuries of scientific matter, literary and patristic, and an important set of legal codices.

Original Reference Number:

Signatura antigua: Estante 2º, cajón 2º; núm. moderno 10; núm. antiguo 87.

Name of the creator(s):

Monasterio de Santa María de Ripoll (Girona, España)

Scope and Content:

This codex contains the books I (excerpta, fol. 1r-34r), II (omitting the end of chapter 3 and chapter 4, fol. 35r-50v), III (fol. 50v-55v), IV (fol. 55v-79r) and V (excerpta; fol. 79r-84r), plus a letter from the copyist, the monk Arnaldo de Monte, to the abbot and convent of the monastery of Santa María de Ripoll (fol. 84r-85r).

The tradition on the pilgrimage of the apostle Saint James in Hispania begins from the 6th century. But the discovery of its supposed tomb in Galicia at the beginning of the 9th century gave rise to a movement of pilgrimage that became one of the three most important in the Christian West from the 11th century, along with Rome and Jerusalem. That is when the different roads or routes to Compostela are consolidated from all corners of Europe. In this context is compiled around 1140 the Liber sancti Iacobi, composed of a set of diverse heterogeneous materials (liturgical, hagiographic, musical, ...) relating to the apostle Saint James and his sanctuary of Compostela. Among the preserved manuscripts of this compilation, apart from the illuminated codex preserved in the Cathedral of Santiago (known as Codex Calixtinus), this one stands out, copied in 1173 by the monk of the monastery of Ripoll Arnaldo de Monte during his pilgrimage to Compostela for the use of his monastery. Of the five books that make up the Liber, the last, with the title of Iter pro peregrinis ad Compostellam ("Pilgrim's Way to Compostela", also known as "Pilgrim's Guide"), attributed to the French monk Aymeric Picaud, is thought as an aid to the pilgrims who made the journey to the tomb of the apostle. It explains in detail the itinerary to be traveled and the hospitals to which you can go, mentions the example of other famous pilgrims who have already made the trip before, makes geographical descriptions (especially detailed in the case of the city of Santiago de Compostela), recounts unfortunate or dangerous personal experiences to serve as a warning, and lists the sacred sites and relics that must be visited during the tour.

General accessibility conditions:

©MCD. Archivos Estatales (España). La difusión de la información descriptiva y de las imágenes digitales de este documento ha sido autorizada por el titular de los derechos de propiedad intelectual exclusivamente para uso privado y para actividades de docencia e investigación. En ningún caso se autoriza su reproducción con finalidad lucrativa ni su distribución, comunicación pública y transformación por cualquier medio sin autorización expresa y por escrito del propietario.

Image accessibility condition:

Images/documents have no access restrictions

Language and Scripts:

Latín (Alfabeto latino). 

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements:

Iniciales en azul y rojo. Títulos en rojo. Encuadernación en pergamino (S. XIX).

Description Indices:

Camino de Santiago

Peregrinaciones

Medium/Archival Material:

Digitized 

Publication Notes:

Bibliografía: Zacharias García Villada, "Bibliotheca Patrum Latinorum Hispaniensis", II Band, 1 Teil, Wien, 1915.

Notes:

Título en el lomo (S. XIX): "Epistolas de Calixto II sobre milagros de Santiago".
Al final, carta explicativa del contenido del libro, copia del Codex Calixtinus de la Catedral de Santiago de Compostela ("reperi volumen ibidem V libros continens de miraculis apostoli prelibati" [=Sancti Iacobi]), realizada por el monje de Ripoll Arnaldus de Monte, "ceterum quando presentis voluminis transcriptio facta fuit Mº Cº LXXº IIIº ab incarnatione Domini numerabatur annus" (h. 84v-85r).