Diego Gelmírez, the Cult of St James and the Liber sancti Jacobi

In the previous chapter it was suggested that the first archbishop of Compostela, Diego Gelmírez, was acutely aware of the problems that the advent of crusading to the East had caused in the Iberian peninsula and that as a result he was one of a number of individuals who were instrumental in propagating the idea of the iter per Hispaniam in Iberia in the early 1120s. Diego is an intriguing character, whose political and ecclesiastical dealings led his modern biographer to describe him as ‘Saint James's Catapult’, and it is perhaps not surprising that he played such a prominent role in the early development of crusading in Iberia, especially given his close connections with Pope Calixtus II. Indeed, it should be noted that as well as preaching the crusade in Spain at Compostela in 1124, Diego was also a witness to the foundation charter of the confraternity of Belchite, which suggests that there may well have been a more co-ordinated strategy for promoting crusading in Iberia than has previously been thought. However, in spite of the fact that the excitatoria from the council at Compostela of 1124 recorded how spiritual rewards offered to crusaders in Iberia were granted not only on the authority of SS. Peter and Paul but also on that of St James the Great, there has been a division of opinion in the secondary literature about whether or not Diego Gelmírez saw in the crusading movement an opportunity to enhance the standing of the cult of St James itself.