The Tasty Pilgrim

It is attributed to a monk by the name of Aimery Picaud who comes from the Poitou region in the West part of France. He travels on horse back and has Gerberga a Flemish lady with him. We now follow in his footsteps along the Camino Frances.

The language he uses in his writings is Latin, as was usual in the 12th century. He is keen to share his experiences and there is an underlying conviction that what is of interest to him would be useful to others. In fact it is a new approach to writing from personal experience in the twelfth century. You might regard it his weblog. He includes a list of towns he passes through and the stages of his journey, Roncevalles, Pamplona, Logrono, Santo Domingo de la Calzada, Burgos, Leon, Compostalla. With this, he is combining information on art, travel and pilgrimage in a comprehensive way. Thus he includes information on food and wine and their availability, on safe and unsafe drinking water and on where to look out for bandits and robbers. He also comments on customs of people he meets. He is genuinely interested in language and gives one of the first recorded lists of Basque words. His description of the architecture and sculpture of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostella is the first of its kind in the West since the fall of the Roman Empire. He does even attempt to use technical architectural terms. He shows himself to be a many sided person indeed in his PILGRIM’S GUIDE TO SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELLA! Such a journey was no mean feat in those days, as it is not signposted by yellow arrows that we follow nowadays. Many fell ill and died on the way. Just a handful of pilgrims made it to their destination and returned to their homeland.

“The ways deep and the weather sharp

“ And the horse galled, sore-footed, refractionary

“And the night fires going out, and the lack of shelters,

“And the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly

“And the villages dirty and charging high prices”

Off late critics see him as a typical grumpy tourist with his comments, but they are so wrong. He is a man of God and spends time as a pilgrim on the way to seek the holy martyr. Christian conviction tells you that a pilgrim is a special person and it is your religious duty to show him hospitality and help and offer him the best fare in the house. This is how you honour the Saint buried in the cathedral. He is shocked and disappointed, when the wine is vinegar really and the food mouldy. Awful that there are bandits robbing pilgrims of their meagre possessions. This is his state of mind and he is right. Lord, make this world a better place ! He is so inspirational. Professor John Dagenais at UCLA department of Spanish & Portugese uses his writings as a special project in the course for Medieval Spanish. They say that you are only dead, when people stop talking about you. Well now is not it amazing ? Aimery is still with us then.