ABSTRACT
This paper aims to point up the conflicts, changing interests and alliances of different protagonists as patrons. By focussing on the object, and the span of time from c. 1075 to c. 1140, it will be asked which persons supported the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela over this period, and which persons refused – sometimes only temporarily – to support the enterprise for special reasons. This contribution is based on a rereading of three important historical sources, the Concordia de Antealtares, the Liber Sancti Jacobi and the Historia Compostellana, as well as on the new archaeological investigation undertaken by a research group from the University of Cottbus under the direction of Prof. Klaus Rheidt. In analysing these texts I would like to stress the interests of the protagonists mentioned above that can be related to artistic patronage, as well as the ambiguities and the information which is not given by the texts. The result is a vivid mosaic of claims, interests and expectations, different to that which would emerge if one focussed on the patronage of a single person.
