The little-known military march that led some Galicians in their fight for Spain in 1808

Galicia is a Spanish region with an enormous musical heritage, including many pieces of traditional music of unknown origin.

'Mayo longo': a beautiful poem by Rosalía de Castro written in Castilian lands
A few words from the author of the Galician Anthem that will upset the separatists

I've been a fan of traditional Galician music and military music for decades, and I have a large collection of records of both genres, but there's one piece they share that has eluded me until now. This piece is commonly known as the "Hymn of the Literary Battalion" as it accompanied the march of the Literary Battalion formed by professors and students of the University of Santiago de Compostela in 1808 to fight the French invaders. However, it has also been known under the title "Hymn of the War of Independence" as it was composed during that conflict provoked by Napoleon Bonaparte.

The heroic deeds of the Literary Battalion should be known to all Galicians. Moved by patriotic fervor, 1,200 professors and students enlisted in it. After successive battles, only just over 100 survived. In the Plaza de la Quintana in Santiago de Compostela there is a large plaque commemorating these heroes. Their soldiers wore a ribbon that referred to King Ferdinand VII and the French emperor: "To rescue Ferdinand and finish off Bonaparte, Minerva joined Mars". Let us remember that Minerva was the Roman goddess of intelligence, while Mars was the god of war, with which these soldiers expressed the union between the University and the Army in defense of Spain.

The reference to Minerva also appeared on the Battalion's banner, which read "Pallad. Legio", an abbreviation of the Latin expression "Palladis Legio" (Legion of Pallas, another name for the goddess Minerva), along with the Cross of Santiago (a symbol closely linked to Galicia and which today appears on the emblem of the Spanish Army) and a shield with the first two quarters bearing the heraldic emblems of the Crown of Castile (of which Galicia is a part), with the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Galicia in the center. This banner, now somewhat deteriorated, is preserved in the Faculty of Law of the University of Santiago.

In fact, although the aforementioned musical piece is usually referred to as a "hymn", it was actually an instrumental march, creating a situation similar to that of the Spanish Anthem, which comes from the March of the Grenadiers and has no lyrics. In the Virtual Library of Madrid I found a booklet entitled "Popular Songs and Dances of Spain" dedicated to Galicia (see PDF), published in 1910 by the Spanish Musical Union. This booklet includes the Literary Battalion Hymn under the title "Hymn of the War of Independence".

I had a hard time finding a video or audio file with this hymn. Finally, I found it on the Soundcloud account of the Grupo Organistrum, a research group Organistrum was created in 2004 at the University of Santiago de Compostela. The piece is performed with Galician bagpipes and drum, as the soldiers of the Literary Battalion surely heard it:

This piece of music was quite important during the 19th century and into the early 20th century, from what I've been able to find out. Sadly, this hymn is little known today. I hope these lines will help bring it back from obscurity.