Meyer Schapiro’s ‘Road not Taken’: San Millán de la Cogolla and Resistance to the Roman Rite

Research reveals that San Millán de la Cogolla offers unique evidence of resistance to the Roman rite following its adoption at the Council of Burgos (1080). Unlike Santo Domingo de Silos, where Meyer Schapiro previously identified visual markers of this resistance, San Millán preserves both written and material evidence. The study focuses on the Arca of San Felices and its Romanesque ivories (c. 1090), contextualizing them within broader political and religious shifts that threatened the cult of Emilian, the monastery’s patron saint. It argues that efforts to promote Felix, a local hermit linked to Emilian, constituted a form of resistance against the imposition of the Roman rite. This challenges Schapiro’s original thesis by demonstrating San Millán de la Cogolla as a more comprehensive case study for understanding this historical phenomenon.

Harris, J. A. (2014). Meyer Schapiro’s ‘Road not Taken’: San Millán de la Cogolla and Resistance to the Roman Rite. Hispanic Research Journal, 15(5), 381–397. https://doi.org/10.1179/1468273714z.00000000097