ce
and industrial activity. The city, despite its local character, wore an
international garb, much to the benefit of Galician, even Spanish, arts
and literature. It is a pity that so little research has been made
concerning these pilgrimages and the influences they brought to bear on
the history of the country. A book treating of this subject would be a
highly interesting account of one of the most important movements of the
middle ages.

The Moors under Almanzor pillaged the city of Santiago in 999; then they
retreated southwards, as was their wont. The Norman vikings also visited
the sacred vale, attracted thither by the reports of its wealth; but
they also retreated, like the waves of the sea when the tide goes out.

After the last Arab invasion, an extemporaneous edifice was erected in
place of the shrine which had been demolished. It did not stand long,
however, for the Christian kings of Spain, whose dominions were limited
to Asturias, Leon, and Galicia, ordered the construction of a building
worthy of St. James, who was looked upon as the god of battles, much
like St. George in England.

So in 1078 the new cathedral, the present building, was commenced, and,
as the story runs, it was built around the then existing basilica, which
was left standing until after the vault of the new edifice had been
closed.

The history of Spain at this moment helped to increase the religious
importance of Santiago. The kingdom of Asturias (Oviedo) had stretched
out beyond its limits and died; the Christian nuclei were Galicia, Leon,
and Navarra. In these three the power of the noblemen, and consequently
of the bishops and archbishops, was greater than it had ever been
before. Each was lord or sovereign in his own domains, and fought
against his enemies with or without the aid of the infidel Arab armies,
which he had no compunction in inviting to help him against his
Christian brothers. Now and again a king managed to subdue these
aristocratic lords and ecclesiastical prelates, but only for a short
time. Besides, nowhere was the independent spirit of the noblemen more
accentuated than in Galicia; nowhere were the prelates so rebellious as
in Santiago, the Sacred City, and none attained a greater height of
personal power and wealth than Diego Galmirez, the first archbishop of
Santiago, and one of the most striking and interesting personalities of
Spanish history in the twelfth century, to whom Santiago owes much of
her glory, a