Münzer on the Road from Santiago de Compostela to his Stay in Benavente. Dec. 21-20, 1494

Münzer:
“The 21st of December, saying goodbye to Santiago, we left after eating, and after 5 leagues we arrived in the little hamlet of Ferreiros, where we lodged at a very bad inn. In the morning we rode nine leagues, passing the little hamlet of Mellid, to the small town of Segonde, and similarly, on the 24th, to the town of Puente Marín, crossing a great river; after eight leagues, we arrived at the little place called Sarriá. All of this region has fertile land and is mountainous, but is sparsely inhabited. These people eat primarily pork, and in all their habits are truly dirty and pig-like.
On the 25th, the festival of the Nativity of Our Lord, we rested here for a day. That same day I received some letters from Jodocus Mayer, father-in-law of my brother, carried to me by a certain pilgrim, in which there was news of a great epidemic in Nuremburg.
The 26th, in the morning, crossing mountains and valleys we finally came to the town of Cebreros, at the top of a high mountain called Malfaber. They were nine long leagues.
The 27th, descending from the high mountain and through a long valley of seven leagues, we arrived at the castle of Villafranca. This castle is situated on a pretty little plain, where they produce a great quantity of excellent wine. Vines decorate the monasteries, one of San Francis and the other of Saint Benedict. From the high mountains of Galicia three rivers join there, which have very sweet water, potable and abundant in trout.
The 28th, leaving Villafranca in the morning, passing that fertile plain and the castle called Ponferrada, traveling eight leagues, we arrived at a town called Río at the foot of a very high mountain. This very tall mountain divides Galicia and Castile, is extremely high, and is called Mount Rabanal.
On the 29th, going up and coming down the mountain, after eight leagues, we entered Castile, arriving at the small town of Val, where we stayed in another bad inn. On the 30th, rising before dawn, traveling fast over ten leagues, we were received in the city of Benavente. The road from Santiago to Benavente is fifty six leagues, rather curvy, mountainous and very bad. We bypassed the very famous city of Astorga, which is famous for being a bishopric and having a very strong wall with parapets. When in former times, all of Spain passed from being Catholic in the face of the Muslim invasion, the reconquest began from this city, Asturias and Cantabria, that they call Vizcaya; because only the Asturians and the Basques kept their faith as good soldiers of Christ; you will find this in more detail in the History of Spain.”

What We Didn’t See:
We took a different, more southerly route than Münzer’s, and we had the advantage of wonderful roads, so we did the trip to Benavente from Santiago in one day. But on our route as well, we were surrounded by mountains. Riding on horseback through such rough terrain, in the winter, with bad lodgings had to be a miserable experience.


Münzer:
“Benavente is a small city, badly built and planned with four reformed monasteries: Saint Francis, Saint Dominic, the Holy Spirit and Saint Claire. It is situated on a fertile and excellent plain, crossed by the Aquefontis River, that has a lot of very good trout. This river flows into the Duero River along with more insignificant ones, which drains into the sea, near Portugal.
The city belongs to don Rodrigo, count of Benavente who, with the Duke of Seville, are the grandest and richest nobles of the King of Spain. There was also a time in the old days when the Count fought the Kings of Castile; he always faced him, since he is descended from Castilian royal blood.
The Castle of Benavente is of the most noble and beautiful in all Castile, and after the fortresses of Granada and Seville, it has no equal in Spain. It is situated outside the city, on a small mountain. It is square, and has in each of its four corners a very fortified tower, with parapets and many strong bulwarks. It is adorned in its interior with a square patio, with chapels, pavilions and rooms of diverse kinds of brick. All of the artesonado ceilings of the pavilions and rooms are decorated with gold, and the columns are of marble. What else? Everything there tends towards the sumptuous. At the foot of the castle's mountain flows a small river called the Orbigo. The castle's foundations are all vaulted, with arches, rectangles, etc., so scrambled that you would think you were in a labyrinth. There is a very long subterranean passage that descends to the river, so that horses may go down it; and there are so many underground rooms for mills, and to take up water, such as I have never seen, much less would I believe it. I have never seen upon the earth any castle similar to this one, in the subterranean spaces, caves and beauty.
The Count was not in residence, that magnificent and splendid man, but the chamberlain, who in the Spanish language is called the "Alcalde," personally showed us everything. The Count is very fond of animals. He has nine lions, and two more, and a wolf, which get along well and eat together in tranquility. We saw a black man who approached them and caressed them, and they were complaisant about it. Behold the one who achieves such intimacy, who makes the most ferocious beasts show affection with their guardians. The captain assured me that fifteen hundred ducats a year were needed to maintain those animals. A few years ago, he also had an elephant, which died one winter, because it could not stand the cold. There is a lot to write about this noble castle, but I will omit it for brevity's sake. However, it is beautiful, especially the view over the river and in all directions.”

What Münzer Saw:
Münzer saw a splendid fortress, with all the furnishings of the Count intact and his menagerie as well. Of all of that, only two of the four towers are left—Napoleon’s troops trashed the castle, and looted whatever items that were still there. They also destroyed all of the convents cited by Münzer. The fortress remained a ruin throughout the 19th century.

What Münzer Never Saw: (June 23, 2011)
In the 20th century, the section with the four towers was converted into a Parador with additional newer sections built on that house the guest rooms. A Mudéjar octagonal ceiling, rescued from another site, was installed in a salon in the old fortress section, to replace the destroyed ones Münzer saw.

Of the subterranean labyrinth of passages, one section survives, which certainly shows the extremely thick walls of the old fortifications. This passage now leads to a bar.

Münzer sort of comes full circle here: outside the dining room is the same passage we quote above, in Spanish. I’m not sure he ever slept here, but we did.
This brings to the end this year’s portion of the Itinerary. The visit to Benavente came on December 30, 1494, nearly at the end of the year. Hopefully next year we will be back following Münzer’s footsteps in a new year ourselves.

Thoughts From the Art Historian:
Having now followed about 3/4 of the Itinerary, we have found that many of the conclusions we drew last year still hold true. As a man of his time, Münzer was interested in contemporary events and contemporary sights. Old structures only deserve notice when they are important to the present, such as the Alhambra. History is an arbitrary thing—to a 15th-century mentality, historical fact as we insist on today was non-existent. Münzer cheerfully declares that Charlemagne built the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela; he is far more interested in the church’s relics, and is certainly not smitten with the ideals of pilgrimage.
For us now, historical accuracy as we interpret it has become paramount. This has led, during the last several decades, to the careful restoration of historical buildings and their contents to the best of medieval archeological standards, with commentary and informative plaques and literature to guide us in what we see. It makes tourism so much easier and informative. Forty years ago, when I began coming to Spain, things were very different. It was still the Franco years, and the entire country was in almost a frozen state of reaction. Many historical buildings were rapidly deteriorating, many had been damaged in the civil war. Painted altarpieces sat in open cloisters. Art History itself was not yet so sophisticated, still mired in thinking of buildings and objects as “works of art,” and by the canon of the day, late medieval Spain was an inferior backwater as compared with the superior visual cultures of Italy and Flanders. But in the bad old days, it was still possible to see older ways of life, and many churches showed the accumulation of centuries of additions and modifications; they cheerfully juxtaposed grandfather clocks with Early Modern altarpieces.
With regime change, with Spain becoming a part of the European Union, and with the evolution of Art History, restoration processes, and medieval archeology, many of the monuments are readily accessible, and when possible, cleaned, and much of the detritus of succeeding centuries removed, and if a church or palace was added to over many eras, each portion is clearly indicated. This has made possible such projects as a reconstruction of the Romanesque stone choir by Master Mateo & Co., in Santiago de Compostela.
As an Art Historian, and one who uses documentation extensively, I should applaud all this, and I do. But I wonder: are we really unearthing the past? Or are we imposing our own canon of historical accuracy on something far more complex that was changed over time? The synagogues of Barcelona, Córdoba and Tomar have survived by accident, because they became storage facilities or were recycled for other uses. It’s great to see them as synagogues again, but can we ever really get into the minds of the medieval Jews who built and used them? Can a modern pilgrim to Santiago de Compostela ever have the same mindset as a 12th century one?
When we follow Münzer’s itinerary, beyond the fragments that survive, can we ever see it through his mindset? Stay tuned until our next exciting chapter!