Cresconius () ( 1036 – 1066) was an 11th-century

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

of Iria Flavia and

Santiago de Compostela Santiago de Compostela, simply Santiago, or Compostela, in the province of Province of A Coruña, A Coruña, is the capital of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, in northwestern Spain. The city ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

who succeeded Vistruarius.torres
/ref> Cresconius was a supporter of King Ferdinand I of Castile and educated Ferdinand's son, García II of Galicia and Portugal, who would later be crowned by Cresconius himself as king of the newly reestablished

Kingdom of Galicia The Kingdom of Galicia was a political entity located in southwestern Europe, which at its territorial zenith occupied the entire northwest of the Iberian Peninsula. In the early 10th century, the Kingdom of Galicia was formed following the div ...

. Like his contemporary

Odo of Bayeux Odo of Bayeux (died 1097) was a Norman nobleman who was a bishop of Bayeux in Normandy and was made Earl of Kent in England following the Norman Conquest. He was the maternal half-brother of duke, and later king, William the Conqueror, and w ...

, Cresconius was a " warrior bishop" and during a

Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

invasion of Galicia, he gathered an army and defeated the invaders. He fortified Castellum Honesti ‒ a castle known today as Torres do Oeste which once stood in Catoira, Spain ‒ with the goal of blocking future invasions via the estuary,

Ría de Arousa The ''Ría de Arousa'' is a ria, a saline estuary in Galicia, Spain. It is one of the five '' Rías Baixas'', and located between the Ría de Muros e Noia ( es, gl) to the north and the Ria de Pontevedra to the south. The peninsulas of Barb ...

, and also built the city walls of Santiago de Compostela.

Cresconius and the Primacy of Santiago

Cresconius believed that because Santiago was the burial place of

Saint James the Greater James the Great ( Koinē Greek: Ἰάκωβος, romanized: ''Iákōbos''; Aramaic: ܝܥܩܘܒ, romanized: ''Yaʿqōḇ''; died AD 44) was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. According to the New Testament, he was the second of the apostles t ...

, his see naturally occupied a superior place amongst the dioceses of the West as an "apostolic see." To this end, he proclaimed himself ''Episcopus Iriensis et Apostolicae Sedis''. However, this assumption was not supported by

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

and

Pope Leo IX Pope Leo IX (, , 21 June 1002 – 19 April 1054), born Bruno von Egisheim-Dagsburg, was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 12 February 1049 to his death in 1054. Leo IX is considered to be one of the most historica ...

excommunicated Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to deprive, suspend, or limit membership in a religious community or to restrict certain rights within it, in particular those of being in communion with other members of the con ...

him at the

Council of Rheims Reims, located in the north-east of modern France, hosted several councils or synods in the Roman Catholic Church. These councils did not universally represent the church and are not counted among the official ecumenical councils. Early synodal cou ...

(1049). Nevertheless, Cresconius continued using this title, and the bishops of

Lugo Lugo (, ) is a city in northwestern Spain in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia. It is the capital of the Lugo (province), province of Lugo. The municipality had a population of 100,060 in 2024, ...

Dumio The Monastery of Dumio (sometimes Dumium or Dumio, in Portuguese ''São Martinho de Dume''), is a former paleo-Christian monastery in the civil parish of Dume, municipality of Braga, in northwestern Portugal. Originally a Roman villa, it was the ...

Oviedo Oviedo () or Uviéu (Asturian language, Asturian: ) is the capital city of the Principality of Asturias in northern Spain and the administrative and commercial centre of the region. It is also the name of the municipality that contains th ...

, and

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

acknowledged his authority and primacy. In 1056, he presided over the Council of Compostela where he prohibited the use of weapons by clerics, and also forbade that clerics be married. He opened

parochial schools A parochial school is a private primary or secondary school affiliated with a religious organization, and whose curriculum includes general religious education in addition to secular subjects, such as science, mathematics and language arts. The w ...

and fought pagan superstitions in existence even before the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

conquest of Galicia.

References

External links

As Torres de Oeste na historia. A súa importancia na defensa compostelana
1030s births 1066 deaths 11th-century Roman Catholic bishops in the Kingdom of León 11th-century Galician bishops Bishops and archbishops of Iria and Compostela {{Spain-RC-bishop-stub