St Facundas, St Primativus and Charlemagne - Sahagun

Yesterday on my mammoth walk I passed through Sahagun, a small town on the River Cea. It is thought that the name derives from a shortened version of 'San Fagun' or Saint Facundus, one of two Chrisitan martyrs mentioned together in the Codex and whose shrines can be found here.  The other is Saint Primativus.  According to tradition Fagun and Primativus were Christian natives from Leon. They were tortured and beheaded on the banks of the River Cea and according to some accounts milk and blood gushed from their headless necks.

Continue through Sahagun and on the way out you cross the Cea over the Puente de Canto and emerge on the other side at the “Field of Charlemagne’s Lances”, a grove of poplar trees and the site of a miraculous tale described in the Codex.  According to the legend, Charlemagne was in pursuit of a Saracen Caliph with the intention of liberating the way for pilgrims to Santiago. Preparing for battle the following day, soldiers left their weapons thrust into the ground overnight and...

 '....at dawn the next day, those men who in the coming battle were to receive the palms of martyrdom for their faith in God found that their lances had grown bark and were covered by leafy branches. Astonished beyond telling, and attributing the miracle to God’s divine power, they cut them off at ground level. From the staves whose roots remained buried was born the great forest that even today can be seen in that place.'