Los libros de los canónigos compostelanos en la baja Edad Mediaun ensayo de reconstrucción

Abstract

The relevance that the Church of Santiago reached in the Middle Ages resulted in an outstanding scriptural activity and an intense circulation of diverse types of codex in order to ensure its government and the liturgical and cultural duties of its members. However, the fact that very few of these pieces have survived to this day raises significant methodological difficulties that, among other factors, explain the limited interest shown by researchers about Book History in the seat of the Apostle. To address this situation and through a deep examination of a variety of sources, this paper proposes a reconstruction of the late medieval bookish universe of one of the cathedral main actors: the canons. Thus, I will study the volume and type of books they possessed, their supply mechanisms, their use and circulation and the factors that led to the almost total disappearance within an institution that, as a rule, did not satisfy its members’ needs of books.