Case file · Apparition / miracle
The star-field lights of Compostela
Tradition says the hermit Pelagius saw lights over a wood in the early 9th century, leading Bishop Theodemir to the tomb of Saint James; the story is first written down in the Concordia de Antealtares of 1077.
1077 CE · 42.88, -8.54 · status: legend
The sceptical view
Historians treat the account as a foundation legend; 'Compostela' probably derives from a word for burial ground rather than 'campus stellae'.