Yuso y Suso

On Thursday, we went to two ancient monasteries, Yuso y Suso (Latin words implicating below and above, respectively). We first visited Yuso and got a great tour. Yuso is home to a few documents which are the earliest examples of written Castilian (Spanish [Castilian or Castellano is what we normally call Spanish. This trip made it necessary to distinguish between other regional Spanish languages, such as Catalan and Basque]).

The Castilian is written in the margins of these Latin prayers, defining Latin words and phrases in Spanish that could no longer be understood by the people living in Spain (also at this monastery, coincidentally, is one of the earliest written items in Basque). The monastery was quite impressive. Construction began in the tenth century

Some very old Gregorian chant hymnals are at the monastery, some of the oldest in Europe, dating back nearly four hundred years. The monastery is still in use, and has been kept in such great condition, in part, by the alabaster stone used for flooring. Alabaster soaks up moisture like a sponge, preserving some incredible paintings

My favorite part of the monastery, however was an old relic box containing some sort of remains of St Millan. The relic box dates back over a thousand years to the very start of the 11th century. It was beautiful.

After lunch, we climbed up the hill to Suso, St Millan's original monastery. This monastery dated clear back to around the year 400, just 50 years after Constantine made Catholicism the state religion of Rome. There were additions that had Moorish Arab influence, and more renovations since then, but the original walls of the monastery were quite clearly visible, as well as the original chapel. St Millan was a hermit monk who helped pilgrims along the Camino Santiago, and was one of the earlier post New Testament saints to be canonized by the Catholic church. His tomb still rests in his 1600 year old monastery.