The Manuscript Mystery: The Unholy Theft of the Codex Calixtinus (part 1 of 2)

In a plotline that seems to come straight out of a Dan Brown movie, in 2011 a priceless medieval manuscript is stolen from the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral. What follows is a web of bizarre twists and turns, blackmail, infighting, backstabbing, greed and... REVENGE.

 
On July 7th, 2011, cathedral organist Joaquín Barreira walks into Santiago de Compostela Cathedral, just before morning mass. One of the choirboys runs up to him and cries: ‘Sir! Have you heard, sir? Have you heard? They’ve stolen the Codex!’ 

Joaquín initially thinks the boy must be kidding, because what he’s saying is simply impossible. The Codex Calixtinus, a twelfth-century manuscript dedicated to Saint James, the jewel of medieval Spanish writings. Of inestimable value to the cathedral and to all the millions of pilgrims who flock there each year. The manuscript has been faithfully kept in the archives for over eight hundred years. Now someone has had the audacity to steal it: From the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral, from an armored room, from a very thick vault. Without leaving a trace of forced entry. Surely, that can’t be happening. Right? But soon Joaquín himself will become one of the main suspects in the theft of the Codex Calixtinus.

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