True History of the Camino de Santiago: The Stranger Than Fiction Tale of the Biblical Loser Who Became a Legend

By Cameron Powell

There are good reasons you might want to walk the Camino de Santiago, or Way of St. James -- but St. James himself is surely not one of them. Cameron Powell tells you the history of the Camino de Santiago that has never, till now, been told. You'll never think of James, the Camino, or the making of the stories you believe in the same way.

As this satirical alternative history novella gets underway, a nameless narrator is walking the Camino de Santiago with his mother. He's divorcing from his wife, his mom's cancer is back, and he's hungry for meaning. But he knows "next to nothing" about his mother's plan to make him walk 500 miles.

He knows the Camino began around the reign of King Alfonso II - "whom responsible historians surely call The Fonz" - in the 9th century, and that, in the New Testament, Jesus referred to James and his brother John as "Sons of Thunder".  

Whoa. Jesus gave out nicknames? But why 'Sons of Thunder'? Were they like Riverdancers? Expert drummers? No, the "most probable" reason, per a Bible commentary well-known among people who know their Bible commentaries, was that there was "something fervid, and glowing, and powerful in their genius and eloquence."

But then, late one night on the trail, Cameron and a mad Spaniard named Julio discover an ancient codex inscribed: "The Codex of Alfonso II, King of Asturias".

Julio looked at me, eyes wide. "Will the world finally learn what happened?"

"We are going to win a Nobel Prize," I breathed.

As they stay up all night to read the 9th-century Codex, it spills answers to all the burning questions of the thinking Camino pilgrim, including:

* Is there any chance at all that a Middle Eastern Jew's bones are in a crypt in Santiago de Compostela, Spain?
* Why, in the cathedrals along the Camino, are there so many portraits of St. James riding his horse over people?
* Did the legend of James in Spain -- and the nation of Spain, sort of -- really begin with a scribal error in an old manuscript -- the modern equivalent of a typo?

We're spirited to early 800s northwestern Spain, where King Alfonso II is in a pickle. Muslim armies have taken over most of Iberia, and now the Moors are lapping at his southern borders.

The King is in dire need of revenue, and soldiers. A new priest offers a solution: pilgrims. All they need is a relic. Like splinters from the One True Cross, or (believe it or not) some Holy Foreskin. Any body part from a saint. The King is all ears. There's just one problem…

"All the good saints are taken."

"What do you mean, 'taken'?"

"Well, there is this James fellow."

"What's wrong with him?" the King asks. And so, of course, should you.

In a brilliant, laugh-out-loud critique, the King's canny court rabbi transports the reader to James' curious appearances in the Gospels, where it becomes clear that James' "genius and eloquence" were not what Jesus had in mind, and that even for the desperate king, James was, er, not among the top choices.

From the author of the acclaimed memoir and Camino travelogue "Ordinary Magic" comes this irreverent, witty, but ultimately serious-minded fictionalization of the Camino's true history. With crackling dialogue, historically accurate (and footnoted!) renderings of an alternative universe, and color illustrations, it's that rare history of the Camino that's funny, thought-provoking, and unforgettable.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cameron Powell
• Release date: Jan 15, 2018
• ISBN: 9781393446392

Cameron Powell

Cameron Powell is a writer, six-time startup entrepreneur, consultant and coach, a largely repentant lawyer, and a semi-pro karaokist. Once upon a time, as a young lawyer, he got to say “Your honor, I represent the United States.” In early childhood pictures there is evidence of his mother committing lederhosen. He is a graduate of the University of Colorado at Boulder and Harvard Law School. A rugged indoorsman, he also skis and hikes.

Book preview

Mascot Books

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True History of the Camino De Santiago

©2018 Cameron Powell. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means electronic, mechanical, or photocopying, recording or otherwise without the permission of the author.

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ISBN-13: 978-1-68401-756-0

True History of the Camino de Santiago

Praise for Ordinary Magic

Also by Cameron Powell

Ordinary Magic

Before you enjoy this irreverent fictionalization of the Camino’s true history, get one of the best Camino books ever written—and, if you order before the official release date, you can get the audiobook for yourself or a friend free.

See the website for Ordinary Magic and the joyful videos of a grand adventure or use this link to check out the book Ordinary Magic at your favorite online bookseller.

Inspiring—and, amazingly, fun… almost impossible to put down. Studded with gems of spirited observation and wit—black humor of the most fond and loving sort…

— Mary Dearborn, Hemingway: A Biography

The most painfully honest and therefore true thing I have read in a long while.

— Rachel Mariner, Bill Clinton Hercules

One of the most profound pieces of written word I’ve ever read in my life. It is pure joy.

— Andrew Arentowicz

It has the true ring to it. I didn’t want to stop reading. It reminded me in parts of one of my favourite writers, recently departed Jim Harrison. It is about love, pure and simple.

— Christopher Ayres

In tears. A magnificent writer, so eloquent in expression.

— Francesca Barnes

Praise for True History

True History of the Camino de Santiago

"True History of the Camino de Santiago is that rarest of creatures, a fanciful yet fact-based romp. By turns alternative history and satire, parody and farce, it is also a deeply serious look at the stories we tell ourselves, the legends we create, and how and why we do so. In the end, it’s a story about how we find meaning, both skillfully and unskillfully."

— Adam Weiss—Jersey City, NJ

Outside of this book, you won’t find a finer background on the Camino de Santiago. Inside of this book, it’s very dark.

— Teddy Determann—Washington, D.C.

Every person who walks the Camino, and is not insane, should read this book. Like its author, it is learned, funny, witty, and true.

— Julio Redondo—8-time Camino Trekker, Bilbao, Spain

Genius! Brilliant idea to have crafted a very humorous, intelligent and wonderfully entertaining conversation between King and court. Always my favorite part. Had me laughing out loud. As a passionate reader of many, many books, I know a good thing when I see it. I wish I had read this amazing book before I walked my Camino.

— Inge Pfannenmueller—Camino Trekker, Erlangen, Germany

I threw up in my mouth a little bit when I read this.

— Pope Benedict XVI

First the book about cats and now this? Powell is writing at the height of his powers.

— Cardinal Dolan

AUTHOR NOTE

This is a work of fiction, rooted in fact.

There are footnotes for the curious.

Corrections to facts are welcome!

Any resemblance to persons, etc. is rarely coincidental.

Some names have been changed.

But mostly to protect the reader.

The 1,200-Year Old Camino de Santiago

It was mid-September when I boarded a flight from New York to Bilbao, in northeast Spain, and I still knew next to nothing about the Camino de Santiago. El Camino de Santiago is the Spanish name for the Way of Saint James, which refers to any of a handful of pilgrimage routes that all conspire to end in the northwest Spanish town of Santiago de Compostela. We, by which I mean my mother, had chosen to walk one of the 500-mile routes.

Yes, that was my reaction too.

The idea behind the Camino, I had gathered before I left, was that you walked to Santiago to see the crypt of, or to honor the presence of, the bones of St. James, one of the twelve disciples of Jesus, and the first to be martyred. Wikipedia said that:

Legend holds that St. James’s remains were carried by boat from Jerusalem to northern Spain where he was buried on the site of what is now the city of Santiago de Compostela.¹

Apparently the boat sailed from Jerusalem, across the Mediterranean, up the cost of Portugal and western Spain, and around the tip of the Iberian Peninsula, where at last it made land in a bay of scallop shells. Many miles inland, James’ Spanish disciples buried the headless bones of James the Greater, son of Salomé and wealthy Zebedee, brother of the Quiet John.