San Millán de Suso (19/03/15)

The following morning we had a hearty Continental breakfast of yoghurt, fruit, chorizo and bread at the Hospederia La Calera guesthouse, settled the bill (which we thought at €25 each, was good value for the standard of accommodation we had experienced) and made our way back over to San Millán de Yuso. Part of the monastery complex has been turned into a hotel and beside it there is a modern visitor’s centre and reception facing onto the external courtyard where tickets for the guided tours of both monasteries can be purchased.

San Millán de Suso

The monastery of San Millán de Suso is much smaller and more ancient than it’s grandiose younger brother Yuso. Due to factors such as the age of the structure, it’s geographical location on a hillside, the rainfall levels in the area, the vicissitudes of history (it was burnt by Almanzor, Vizier and de facto ruler of El Andalus in 1002 and sacked by the Black Prince, son of Edward III of England, who was an ally of Pedro the Cruel, king of Castille, in the 1300’s) and neglect, the building has been severely damaged and has required restoration and reinforcement. This has meant that access is only with a tour guide in timed groups of about 20 people.

We booked on the 10:25 tour and received a reduction on the ticket price due to being pilgrims with a credencial. A small bus took us up the mountainside on a winding road through mature deciduous woodland.

San Millán de Suso viewed from Yuso

Arriving, the first thing that struck me was the sense of tranquility. Standing still for a short time and letting the other visitors in the group go on ahead, I was mesmerised by the sound of birdsong, woodpeckers and sheep bells drifting through the dripping trees. I could easily imagine San Millán and his band of followers living here in the surrounding caves as hermits in the 6^th Century. Originally, before the monastery was built abutting onto the cliff face of a outcrop of rock, a natural crevice contained several caves which provided shelter for a community of hermits who lived here in contemplation. These included San Millán himself who was subsequently buried in one of the caves.

The tour guide brought me back to reality from my reverie by shouting up the path at me. I don’t speak Spanish, but a rough translation would probably be “stop hanging around daydreaming and get inside the monastery with the other visitors or you will miss the tour!” and indeed when I looked the other visitors had already gone through the outer door! I ran up to the door, pushed it open and quickly joined them along with David, who was already getting used to my dreamy detailed examinations of ancient buildings!

I have visited ancient Orthodox monasteries in Albania on several occasions and to my mind, the monastery building itself reminded me much more of these than any monastery I have visited in Western Europe before. It combines Visigothic (post-Roman and pre-Arab invasions in A.D. 711), Mozarabic (Christians who lived under Muslim rule) and Romanesque architectural elements. The square tower beside the entrance gate with it’s overhanging eaves and tiled roofs is very picturesque when viewed through the woodland.

View of San Millán de Yuso in valley below from Suso

Stepping through the door I found a cobbled verandah – like atrium with arched openings from which the valley below could be viewed through the mist. The cobbling dates from Visigothic times and the floor is lined with the tombs of the Seven Infants of Lara with the tomb of their tutor, Don Nuño Salido.

Tombs of the Seven Infants of Lara and Don Nuño Salido

The Legend of the Seven Infants of Lara is told in a Spanish epic poem, which like the Chanson de Roland mixes real events and people with wildly exaggerated myths. The “Seven Infants” and their tutor Don Nuño Salido probably were real individuals who lived in the 10^th Century.

They were said to be the the sons of Gonzalo Gustioz the Lord of Salas (an area near Burgos). Reputedly of the blood of the Counts of Castille, they were trained in Cavalry skills by Nuño Salido, and were said to be knighted on the same day. They took part in the Reconquest or wars against the Muslims in Southern Spain.

The theme of revenge runs through the poem and at a wedding in Burgos in 986, one of the infants Gonzalez, the youngest of the seven brothers, quarrels with and kills Alvar Sanchez the relative of the bride called Doña Lambra. Her husband Ruy Velázquez Lord of Villaren, is persuaded to avenge this offence and so Velázquez sends Gonzalo Gustioz, a guest at the wedding to Cordoba, capital of the Umayyad Caliphate, unknowingly carrying a letter written in Arabic addressed to Almanzor asking the Vizier to murder him. Almanzor however, does not murder him, but imprisons him in Cordoba.

Meanwhile Velázquez pretends to make an incursion into Moorish territory accompanied by the seven brothers and arranges for them to be ambushed. The seven infants and Salido fight to the death and are slain and their bodies beheaded. Their heads are displayed in Cordoba, (where a street is still called the Street of Heads). Almanzor shows the heads to Gustioz who weeps when he recognises them, and so Almanzor has pity on him and asks his sister to visit Gustioz and console him. She seems to do this very effectively (!) because she gives birth to Gustioz’s son who is named Mudarra.

Mudarra is raised in Cordoba and Gustioz is released and returns to Salas. But when Mudarra turns fourteen he goes in search of his father and learning of the treachery of Velázquez he avenges the death of his half-brothers by killing Ruy Velázquez while he is on a hunting expedition, and then gathering together a band of follower, he attacks the castle of Villaren, where Doña Lambra is captured, stoned and burnt at the stake. Mudarra then lives happily ever after as he is adopted by Gustioz’s and inherits his estate.  

This story of revenge and blood feud seemed strangely at odds with the peace and tranquillity of Suso, but I suppose all human passion, hatred, ambition and strife is ultimately stilled by death and the stone sarcophagi in the atrium spoke of this. Certainly the epic conjures up well, the mixed loyalties of the Reconquest period given that, for example, king Sancho the Strong married his sister to Almanzor and Christians sometimes allied with the Muslims as the early Spanish kingdoms struggled with each other as well as the Moors. To quote the poem itself seems appropriate:

        “Seven gentler boys, nor braver, were never nursed in Spain,       

          And blood of Moors, God rest your souls, ye shed on her like rain.”

This is not the only literary association with Suso as according to tradition, the atrium is said to be the spot where Gonzalo de Berceo, the 13^th Century Benedictine monk, wrote his poetry in the developing vernacular language of his time instead of in Latin, thereby creating the earliest literature by a known author in Spanish. It was also at Suso that the Glosa Emilianensis was written.

Medieval Graffiti

At the other end of the atrium are the tombs of three queens of Navarre Doña Toda, Doña Elvira and Doña Jimena dating from the 10^th and 11^th Centuries. The walls of the atrium are covered with graffiti written by pilgrims and monks in the 11^th and 12^th Centuries.

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monasterio_de_San_Mill%C3%A1n_de_Suso

Accessing the main building through a Mozarabic doorway from the atrium, three different phases of construction can be discerned although the construction at first seems quite complicated. The first phase of building construction is in front of the original caves where the hermits lived and has been built onto the original cliff face. It is Visigothic and dates from the 6^th and 7^th Centuries.

Original Hermit's Caves

The most westerly facing cave contains bones from medieval burials, which can be seen in an alcove through a modern glass window. These must be the burials of important people being sited so close to the tomb of San Millán, but their names have been lost.

Beside this is the Oratory Cave of San Millán where the saint was originally buried in A.D. 574. Although his actual relics were removed to Yuso in 1030, a dark alabaster sepulchre was placed in the cave in the 12^th Century and is one of the oldest statues in Spain. Beside this can be seen further caves

Sepulchre of San Millan
Photo: Cruccone
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/Monasterio_Suso_cenotafio_SMillan.jpg

In front of the caves can be seen the 10^th Century Mozarabic monastery which was built in A.D. 959 with characteristic horseshoe shaped arches. This second part of the building took advantage of some of the caves and is oriented to the south and west. In 1002 Almanzor, burnt this part of the building and the original monochrome decoration on the arches has been largely destroyed, though remnants remain.

Visigothic structure left, Mozarab horseshoe arches right.
Blue tiled Reliquary of the Wood to right of central arch
Photo: Jose Luis Filp Cabana
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Monasterio_de_San_Mill%C3%A1n_de_Suso._Iglesia.jpg

The third part of the building was completed in the 11^th and 12^th Centuries when the Benedictines arrived and lengthened the horseshoe arches with two further Romanesque ones.

Other extensions to the building have not survived and the building was finally abandoned in 1835 when Mendizábal closed many religious houses including Yuso and Suso (although Yuso was later given to the Augustinians).

Near the Ossuary cave can be also be seen an unusual reliquary consisting of a blue tiled box attached to one of the pillars which contains an ancient piece of wood. This relates to a story about San Millán in which some workers were said to be building a barn when they found that the timber they were going to use as a support was not the right length. However, after San Millán had prayed, the timber was miraculously found to have lengthened in size and a left over piece of wood not used for building was preserved in the reliquary!

The monastery of San Millán de Suso is an interesting and atmospheric place evocative of so much Spanish and Camino history and with added benefit of being in such a beautiful location. David and I agreed that it our visit to San Millán de la Cogolla had been well worth the effort involved in taking a detour off the main Camino Francés route.