Apocalypse

The Apocalypse and the Compostelan Universe

Legends and Prophecies of the End of Time surrounding Compostela, the Saints and the Reconquest of Spain

The World will End in 6000 years

The World will End in 6000 years

The Annus Mundi method of calculating time from the beginning of the world had been largely superceded by the ninth century, nevertheless it still exerted its influence in matters of an eschatological nature.

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Cluny and the Facade of La Charité

Cluny and the Facade of La Charité

At the Benedictine priory of Charité-sur-Loire in Burgundy a large-scale monumental porch relief sculpture depicts Christ in a mandorla surrounded by the Virgin Mary to one side and the archangels Gabriel and Michael on the other.

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The Legend of the Last Roman Emperor

The Legend of the Last Roman Emperor

A legend of a last Roman emperor was part of medieval Western European Apocalyptic conceptions. Much of Christian eschatological thought was predicated on the notion of the four empires of the world from the Old Testament Book of Daniel, an important text in the medieval period.

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Reconquistá

Reconquistá

When Pelayo and his band of warriors defeated the Saracen force at the battle of Covadonga in 722, it was a mere eleven years after the Arab conquest of Spain and the intention was to restore the Visigothic kingdom.

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In this sign you shall conquer

In this sign you shall conquer

The Chrismon became the symbol of the kings of the Reconquista and can be found carved above the entrances of numerous twelfth century church in Aragon.

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Compostela and Cluny

This book was written in various places, that is to say, in Rome, in the lands of Jerusalem, in France, in Italy, in Germany, in Frisia and mainly in Cluny. In 1088 construction began, at a small hamlet in the Burgundian countryside, of the largest church in...

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The riches of a man are the redemption of his soul

The riches of a man are the redemption of his soul

The story of the parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man, from Luke’s Gospel is frequently repeated in the stone carved images of the churches on the pilgrimage roads and its theme that wealth and salvation are incompatible clearly troubled the medieval aristocracy.

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Beatus of Liebana

After the Arab invasion, Christian Spain was restricted to a small kingdom north of the Cantabrian mountains called Asturias. It was from here that the origins of the Reconquest were born and that an abbot, Beatus of Liebana composed a famous commentary on the...

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