Charlemagne on the Road to Santiago in the Liber Sancti Jacobi and the Karlamagnús saga

The article presents the Pseudo-Turpin’s Historia, which became widely known in Europe and forms the fourth part of the Liber sancti Iacobi, handed down in the Codex Calixtinus of Spanish provenance. Its fictitious content, which played an important role in attempts to have Charlemagne canonized, is also reflected in Icelandic sagas. Both the hagiographic Tveggja postola saga Jóns ok Jacobs and the fourth part of the Karlamagnús saga, a compilation produced for Haakon IV king of Norway, present Charlemagne as a champion of Christianity in Saracen Spain and defender of the pilgrim route to Santiago. Thus, in the Norse rewriting of Pseudo-Turpin’s Historia and other sources Charlemagne is portrayed both as the ideal king and a crusader, according to his iconic image developed in the 12th-century European literature to legitimize both royal policies and monarchs.