The biblical book of Acts tells us that St. James was back in Jerusalem by about A.D. 44. It was then that Herod Agrippa had him beheaded. He was the first apostle to die and to be martyred (Saint John his brother, on the other hand, lived to be elderly and died of natural causes). It is unclear who put his body into the boat and sent it to sea, prompting a return to Spain.
