Kingdom and Cult

Beatus of Liebana was an ideological keyplayer in the construction of the Kingdom of Asturias and the Cult of St. James.

Beatus de Facundus: The Dragon gives his power to the Beast

When the Muslims conquered the Visigothic Kingdom in 711 and onwards a few remnants of the former court and church took refuge in the fertile strip of Northern Spain which was protected by the Cantabrian Mountains, The Picos de Europa. During the 8th century these refugees slowly took part in forming the kingdom of Asturias, from 788 with a centre in the city of Oviedo.

Oviedo – priceless churches
Oviedo is well worth a visit. It contains a number of fascinating church buildings from the 8th century, some of them still in use. With a peculiar architecture, fascinating carvings and some of them with haunting positions in the mountainous district, they reflect the fact that the Christian refugees of the North were amongst the more competent and intelligent of the former kingdom. (Those with brains are always the first to escape).

The remaining Christians south of the mountain range took refuge in wilder places and hermitages or by relapsing back into the (towards the Muslims less provocative and hence more accommodating) Arian heresy, more specifically the Nestorian variant which claimed Christ to be not the proper but only the adopted son. In the North, however, vigorous theologians took up the fight with Arianism building a spiritual centre for the remains of the Catholic Church of early Spain.

Beatus of Liebana
Foremost in this movement was the monk, Beatus of Liebana  (c. 730 – 800) , who wrote a commentary on The Book of Revelations, the commentaries usually called “A Beatus”. 36 copies of this manuscript exist, 26 of them with their famous colourful illustrations.

The cultural situation in Spain at the time of Beatus lent itself to apocalyptic thinking. But Beatus' Commentary also became important because it helped popularize the legend of St. James, which held that the apostle James had evangelized Spain and was subsequently buried at Santiago. By connecting the legend with the opposition to Adoptionism, and the cataclysmic vision of the Apocalypse, Beatus provided a direct connection with the victorious Christ. This theology encouraged Alfonso II to exploit the nationalistic and political advantages by building a shrine over the saint's tomb. The resulting pilgrimages and association with orthodox Christianity guaranteed greater Carolingian and Western support in the effort of the reconquesta.  

Read more: The Illustrated Beatus: A Corpus of the Illustrations of the Commentary on the Apocalypse. By John Williams.  London: Harvey Miller, 1996 – 2003, vol. 1 -5.