TEXT _ Esteban Perelló Renedo
ILLUSTRATION _ Luis Sendón Cedrón
Galician’s historians have rightly termed the first half of the 12th century as the “Age of Xelmírez”, the result of the influence exerted by the first Archbishop of Santiago de Compostela. Xelmírez made an important contribution to the glory of Santiago. He oversaw the completion of the cathedral, had the cloisters built, as well as the archbishop’s palace that is still named like him nowadays and the Canons’ House.
In addition, he was the responsible for the new floors in the churches of San Fiz, San Bieito, San Miguel and Santa María Salomé. He took a great interest in Santiago’s urban morphology, opening up the streets that huddled around the cathedral and installed drainage systems that were in use up until the 19th century. He ensured a steady flow of supplies by all over Europe for the city, reinforcing the trade road from Pontecesures and Padrón, defending the inlets, and even had a fleet of warships organized to defend the coasts.
Yet all this was not enough to win over the local inhabitants. Merchants, traders, craftsmen, military leaders, the clergy and possibly even artists and intellectuals all joined forces against Xelmírez, who suffered several attempts on his life.
