chapter 4 The Nature of the Journey

And now I recognize and know by experience what they say—that “the love for the fatherland is sweet.” Ricote1 ∵

Pilgrimage in the Middle Ages produced large waves of travelers to and from the various shrines of the saints. By the early modern period, “pilgrimages contin- ued to serve as a pretext for people, whether individually or in groups, to leave their homes in order to go encounter the sanctuary of their devotion.”2 The three most important pilgrimage destinations in Christendom were Jerusalem, Rome, and Santiago de Compostela; of these, Compostela probably was the most popular. And in Europe during Soller’s day, Santiago was without a doubt the second most-important pilgrimage destination in Europe after Rome.3 Santiago de Compostela had been attracting pilgrims internationally since the twelfth century and had existed as a devotional site from centuries before. Around the year 830 after Christ, a tomb was discovered on a local hillside that was claimed to be—on what today are regarded as shaky grounds—that of Saint James, brother of John the Evangelist. The significance of this discovery

1 Cervantes, Don Quixote, 750; Cervantes, Don Quijote, 2:435; “y agora conozco y experimento lo que suele decirse: que es dulce el amor de la patria.” These are the words of the Chris- tianized Moor (Morisco) Ricote in the second part of Don Quijote to his friend and former neighbor Sancho Panza. Speaking on behalf of his Morisco brethren who have been expelled from Spain, Ricote expresses his extreme love of country. His use of the term “fatherland” (patria) emphasizes the connection to spiritual pilgrimage: this patria symbolizes Heaven, from which every Christian pilgrim is in spiritual exile while on earth. The cruel irony here is that despite Ricote’s essential Spanish-ness, he remains alienated from his homeland even while talking with an old friend inside Spanish borders. 2 Lobo de Araujo and Esteves, “Pasaportes de caridad,” 211; “las peregrinaciones continuaban sirviendo de pretexto para que, de manera individual o en grupo, los hombres abandonasen sus casas para ir al encuentro del santuario de su devoción.” 3 Taín Guzmán, La ciudad de Santiago, 11.

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2020 | doi:10.1163/9789004422704_005 the nature of the journey 65 radiated outward and devotion to the apostle increased to the extent that at its zenith during the twelfth century, Compostela attracted multitudes of interna- tional pilgrims.4 The cult of Saint James and pilgrimage to Compostela were more deeply rooted and popular in Portugal than in any other European country from the ninth century on, and there was an elaborate hospitality network to care for pilgrims throughout this kingdom.5 In addition, a portion of society became aware of the need to take care of its destitute population in light of the Gospel mandate to do so,6 even if by the sixteenth century, “the poor were becoming not solely a moral and religious concern, but were increasingly looked on as a social disease.”7 Partially to abate the spread of this societal contagion, hostels and hospitals took in not only the indigent but also all types of travelers, pil- grims and merchants alike, and offered anonymous charity. It was an important service given the difficulty of finding a suitable place to shelter when travel- ing.8 In some parts of Europe, particularly the Protestant north, long-distance travel to pilgrimage shrines had abated severely after the Reformation.The mid- sixteenth-century Council of Trent encouraged pilgrims to visit local shrines over making long-distance pilgrimages. And in the seventeenth century, the Thirty Years’ War impacted religious travel until 1659 in France and Spain.9 This decline in long-distance Christian pilgrimage, however, seems not to have impacted travelers from southern Europe, including Italy, in the late seven- teenth century.10 The pace of arrival of pilgrims to Santiago from Portugal also was particularly brisk in Soller’s day.11 Taken together, the documents in the case file reveal that Soller traveled as a pilgrim, at least part of the way “on horseback” (com cavalgadura),12 from Lisbon, Portugal, to Santiago de Compostela and beyond to Ourense, Spain, just beyond which he was apprehended for impersonating a priest. Soller’s

4 Laffi, Journey, 11–12. 5 Cunha, “A devoçaõ,” 85. 6 2Corinthians 8:9; Matthew 8:20; John 13:15 and 13:35; see Cunha, “A devoçaõ,” 94. 7 Cruz, Discourses of Poverty, 47. 8 Cunha, “A devoçaõ,” 97–98. 9 Laffi, Journey, 12. 10 Laffi, Journey, 12. Pilgrimage from parts of Italy to Compostela persisted into the follow- ing centuries, as well. The travel diary of the eighteenth-century Italian pilgrim Giacomo Antonio Naia is a key example. Read his take on Journey to the West in Viaje a Santiago de Compostela. 11 Cunha, “A devoçaõ,” 107. 12 8r; literally, “on a saddle animal”; alternatively, “on a mount.”