Ancien proffesions. The parchment and its manufacture.
Maiestas Domini de San Clemente de Taüll

San Millán de la Cogolla. Los Marfiles de su arca-relicario.

Saint Millán died on twelveth november in theyeara 574 according to Don Gonzalo de Berceo ithe codex on a page of his poetry. Saint Millán was canonized in 1030 in hte presence of: hte king of Navarra Don Sancho the mayor and his wife the queen Lady Muniadonna, Don sancho bishop of Pamplona, Don Julián bishop of Oña, Don Munio bishop of Álava and Don Mancio bishop of Huesca. And with all of them as witnesses his mortal remains were moved from the tomb in which they were buried to the urn of silver and precious stones, which had been commisioned for the event by Don Sancho, which was his first reliquary.
With the finalizationg of the building works of the monastery of Yuso, (also called “de abajo”) and the subsequent consecration, the mortal remains of the saint were moved to the monastery and places inside the golden and ivory reliquary- chest.
This reliquary- chest was made in the Middle ages according to the standard and the symbolismof that time. It was church shaped ( similar to the City of God ). they used the most beautiful and desired materials of that time: gold, ivory, and a lor of precious stones, The cration of it was directed and undertaken by Don Blas the abbot of Yuso at that time, the monk Munio colaborated with the ornamentation of it with beautiful verses. Because of its worth, however, its construction wouldnot have been possible but for the generous donations given by the king of Navarra and his wife, who were the main donors together with Don Ramiro of Calahorra, Don Sancho’s brother ; Don Aparicio, a young noble friend of his ; the count of Lara, Don Gonzalo Salvadoréz, his wife and a noble woman called auria. Probably there more doners that contributed to its construction butwe do not who they were. We know the others because all of them are represented on either ivory or in golden plates thanks to the description of the chest, before its destruction, by two benedictine historians.
The chest- reliquary had been kept intact since its construction in the Monastery until the arrival of Napoleonic troops in 1809.With the napoleonic invasion there was the fear that the relics of Saint Millán, kept and revered for so long, might be stolen because of the value of its contents (the same as happen to many such as those of Sant Felices relics) the abbot Emeterio Garcia after consulting with the monks, decided to moved the relics to an ordinary wooden chest, according to the act dated the seventeeth september in 1809. This decision was the right decision because on twentieth december in that year the convent plundered by French troops. The convent had been abandoned by the monks on seventeenth september. According to the order of Jose I to supress all religious order in Spain and the consequent abandonment of the clausters and convents.
French troops strippped rellics of it the golden plates and all precious stones. They did not take the ivories but they were serious damaged.the ivories were stolen over the years when the convent was abandoned.
On twenty first december in 1813 when the war of Independence finished Benedictine priests returned to the monastery which was in a pitiful state. Because the state the monastery and the community had been left there was modest restauration of the relicary- chest, eighteen ivories, fourteen of which actually belonged to the chest of saint Millán and four of them came from the chest of Saint Felices, master of Saint Millán, and some agatas and pieces of crystal found in the Monastey.The relics of Saint Millán were put intact on ninth october when the abbot was P. Iñigo Villanueva.
The description of the fourteen ivories, which were recouped and belong to the chest of Saint Millán, is as follow.
NOTE: the order in the description is fortuitous, that is, it does not correspond with its position in the chest.

1º At the upper part of it the devil mocked Saint Millán because the saint in his old age is being served by women. At the lower part Saint Millán fightsthe devil.Refering to this part Sir Gonzalo de Berceo puts the following words in the mouth of Saint Millán “ your actions are more bitter than the worst slander”.

2º Sicorio, good and brave man, had a maid who he appreciated.And when she became blind he sent her to Saint Millán who he was really devoted. At the upper part of the ivory, Saint Millán touch the blind’s eyes who recoversher sight. At the lower part it is seen the woman expressing gratitude to the saint for his help and saying goodbye.




3º The robbery of the horse.Two thieves steal ahorse(Saint Millán horse?) and became blind because of their bad action; on the second part they regret their action, give back the horse and recover their sight.

4º In this Saint Millán, covered with the ornament to celebrate mass, is accompanied by his disciples (Saint) Aselo, (Saint) Geroncio and (Saint ) Sofronio who are in the background offering chalice, the maniple and the missal.




5º Two blind men make a journey of pilgrimageto the tumb of the Saint to ask the favour of sight. Their prayers were heard and the light went into them.when it got dark, the sacristan walked into the tumb and found a lit lamp full of the best oil.

6º Saint Millán is expelling the devil off the senator’s house and hte devil throws stones at the saint from the roof of it.








7º Some people possesed by the devil try to burn the saint while is lyindown. When Saint Millán wakes up and surprises them, they put the blame on hitting each other with the tourches on their heads.






8º Refers to two episodes in Saint Millán’s life.In the uooer part, Saint Millánis visiting Saint Felicesof Biblio to ask him to accepthim as disciple.In the lower part Saint Millán is absorbed by a celestial dream.

9º Saint Millán goes to Cantabria. He warns the citizens if they do not is killed by stop the bad behaviour the city will be destroyed. The profecy is fulfilled. The city is destroy and the population the king Leovigildo



10º Saint Millán expelled the devil from deacon’s mouth who was possesed, he gratefully waves to the Saint.

11º About the miracle that the Saint performed on a disabled woman called Barbara.








12º Saint Millán in his old age in his bed, an angel announces his death, hte saint peacefully surrenders his soul to God. His faithful servant and his disciples shroud him and bury him with great sadness.

13º With a small bowl of wine a grat deal of healthy and ill men saciate. They had gone to the mountains of La Cogolla to kiss the hands of the saint that amongthem dwelt.





14º This ivory can be considerated as a continuation of the previous one. A crowd that had gone in pilgrimage was hungry.The Saint ordered that they be fed but he was told there was food left.
Saint Millán begs God and sends the celler monk to go to the larder where he found enough food to feed all od them.
The quarter lower left part of this ivory does not belong to the same one but to one of hte missing one. This one was joined to this during the first restoration done by the monks aftre the Napoleanic invasion.On it there is a girl playing with the table – cloth that covers the altar of the tomb of Saint Millán.
Among the stolen ivori, one of the pieces is in the Metropolitan Museum in New York.
We willl name this museum very often when referring to the missing Spanish inheriteance. This piece is a marvelous Panthocrator inside a mandorla shape that is in the main frontispice of the ches. The plaque that was in the secundary frontispice was made up of two parts on which Saint Millan’s death and the ascen of his soul to heaven are represented. This plaque is found in Firenze Museum and Boston Museum. Respectively there were four small ivories that wersurrounding the plaque of Saint Millan’s death. They can be seen in Saint Ptersburg Museum(Leningrad).
On sixth november in 1090, the count of Vizcaya and Sir of those territories, trvelled with several monks from his monastery to Biblio and took the remains of Saint Felices (Saint Millan’teacher) to the Monastery of Yuso.
They put the remains in the first chest-reliquary, present from Don Sancho el Mayor king of Navarra, in which the remains of Saint Millan rest.
This chest-reliquary was decorated with silver, ivory and precious stones in 1488 commisioned by the abbot Don Pedro Sanchez del Castillo. There were six plaques, four of them are on the chest of Saint Millan and the another two are dissapeared.

1º Last supper. This is the first representation of the last suppre in Spain.Jesus Christ with eleven apostles are sitting under an arch at a table on the table there are loaves of bread, fish, cups and Knives. There is a big table-cloth that covers apostles’s feet. In front of he table wecan see Judas kneeling down eating something offered by Jesus Christ.

2º Making a thriumphant entry in Jerusalen. On it we can see Jesus riding on a mount in attitude of giving a blessing. He is with two apostles and is being welcomed by four men waving palm blanches.

3º At the upper part of this ivory the resurrecion of Nain’s widow’s son is shown at the lovwer part Saint John the Baptista’s birth is relevied to represented.



4º Thist tells the story of born person blind. At the upper part Jesus smears with mud made from his own saliva (according to the tale from gospel of Saint John) the blind’s eyes. At the lower part the blind man is washing himself in Siloe’s pool. He turns round, thanks to Jesus and receives a blessing.