The Tombs of the Saints - Santo Domingo de la Calzada

Most chapters of the fifth book of the medieval Codex Calixtinus are a page, or maybe two, in length with only a few short paragraphs of information; the route through Spain which I wrote about previously is covered in only 16 lines.  However, two chapters are notable for their relative length: Chapter IX which describes the city and Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela; and Chapter VIII which describes the saints' tombs to be found - and visited - during your pilgrimage. This latter chapter describes 28 saints' tombs over the course of its eight pages although interestingly only five of these tombs are in Spain, the remainder are in France.

So why this diversion about the Tombs of the Saints? Well, today we arrived at Santo Domingo de la Calzada.  Its name refers to its founder, Dominic de la Calzada and his is the first of the Spanish Shrines in the Codex. He was a hermit in the 11th century who became ordained and built a bridge, hospital and hotel for pilgrims as well as a paved causeway ('calzada' in Spanish). The current town grew up around these constructions and he is buried in the town's cathedral.

One of the miracles attributed to Santo Domingo de la Calzada is that of the miracle of the 'hanged innocent'.  A 14th century German pilgrim staying in the town was wrongly accused of theft. The 'witnesses' for his successful appeal were a pair of beheaded, supposedly cooked chickens that sprung to life on the dining table declaring his innocence. Consequently there are chicken related links throughout the town including restaurant names and, bizarrely, the keeping of two chickens in a cage in the cathedral.  One of my fellow travellers told me that the cathedral shop also does an interesting line in chicken related souvenirs...