844
St James rises to smite the Moors
On May 23, 844 an imaginary battle took place between the Spanish Christian forces and the Muslim Emir of Cordoba. In this conflict, the spirt of the Apostle James appeared and led the outnumbered Christians to victory. According to legend, the night before the encounter, Santiago appeared in a dream to the leader of the Spanish forces, King Ramiro I of Asturias, promising him victory. The next day, the warrior-saint appeared on the battlefield, in a full suit of armour riding on a galloping white horse with a sword in the right hand and the banner of victory in the left; henceforth the saint would be known as Santiago Matamoros, Saint James the Moor-Slayer. Though this legend started centuries after the non-event, it became a myth that energized the Spanish Christian Reconquista, the medieval drive to expel Islamic occupiers from the Iberian peninsula.
But what was Saint James, son of Zebedee, doing in Spain? Traditional accounts tell of James being martyred in 44 at the order of Herod Agrippa. Spaniards, however, say that James had earlier preached the Christian message in Iberia before returning home to be executed. His body was taken back to Spain, either by friends or by angels in a rudderless boat, and buried in Compostela (interpreted as “Field of Stars” or “Burial Ground”). It became a major site of pilgrimage and even today the Via Compostela attracts thousands of devotees every year.