Galician History – Page 4 – ULTREYA TOURS BLOG

The meaning of Ultreya Suseya Santiago de Compostela

Our company name is Ultreya Tours. Ultreya or Suseya are relatively common names for services providers on the Camino de Santiago (spas, restaurants, hotels, transporters and obviously travel agencies) and there is probably no expression more linked to the Camino de Santiago. But many people in Spain and on the Camino do not know what it stands for.

Ultreya Rocks on the Camino de Santiago

This post explains what we believe Ultreya means. But we would like to warn you that although we know it comes from Medieval Latin meaning “further” and it has been used since at least the 12th century no one really knows how it came to be linked with the Camino de Santiago and when people started using it.

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Pilgrims Rituals in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela

Like millions before you over the centuries, you finally accomplished the Camino de Santiago and reached the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. For 1000, pilgrims reaching Santiago have accomplished various Rituals, which we would like to detail in this article.

The Cathedral of Santiago

The Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela is a masterpiece of Romanesque and Baroque art. It is the support and main attraction to the City of Santiago de Compostela which was built around it. It is the resting place of the Apostle Saint James and its historical and spiritual importance for the building of Spain and Christianity as we know it is huge.

Cathedral of SAntiago de Compostela

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The story of his eminence the Archbishop Don Diego Xelmírez the Salva Regina of Santiago de Compostela

When learning about the History of Santiago de Compostela there is one man that regularly comes up as the saviour, historian, architect and politician that made this city possible. We are of course talking about Diego Gelmírez or Xelmírez (Latin Didacus Gelmirici) (ca 1069 – ca 1149) who was the second bishop (from 1100) and the first archbishop (from 1120) of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Santiago de Compostela.

Medieval miniature from the monastery of Toxos Outus representing Diego Gelmírez ordering the two new riders into his entourage

He is a prominent figure in the history of Galicia and an important historiographer of the Iberia of his day. Diego involved himself in many quarrels, ecclesiastical and secular, which were recounted in the Historia Compostelana, which covered his episcopacy from 1100 to 1139 and serves as a sort of gesta of the bishop’s life.

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