[Steppes] Santiago de Compostela

[Catalina Elvira Osorio Lopez de Xerez]

Camino de Santiago de Campostela
Medieval pilgrims inspire modern tourists

by Gael Stirler

The legends of James, the brother of Jesus, tell how he traveled to Spain 
and preached the gospel after the death and resurrection of Christ. He 
returned to Jerusalem and was beheaded by Herod Agrippa in 44 AD, but his 
followers rescued his remains and an angel miraculously returned his body to 
Spain in a stone boat. The apostle and his two disciples were entombed near 
the northwest tip of Spain and forgotten until the 9th century when the tomb 
was discovered by a hermit, Pelayo, in a "field of stars," or campo stella. 
His bishop, Theodomir, built a church on the spot and news spread fast of 
this new shrine. The Church encouraged pilgrimages to Santiago (Saint James) 
in the 13th century because the Saracens had blocked the route to the Holy 
Land and the Papacy had relocated from Rome to Avingon, France. Christians 
and Moors were in a struggle for supremacy of the Iberian peninsula, and the 
influx of pilgrims helped to secure the northern part of Spain. Donations by 
wealthy pilgrims helped to build more elaborate churches along the way as 
well as refuges, hospitals, and hotels.

The Journey


The Camino crossed the Pyrenees and turned west. Click to enlarge.


The Camino, or road, to Campostela was not one road but many that funneled 
into Santiago from all over Europe. [See a map of all the routes, here.] The 
most famous part of the Camino began at the Basilica of St. Mary Magdalene, 
in the center of France at Vézelay, then headed southwest through the 
Limosin and Aquitaine regions before crossing the Pyranees mountains into 
Spain at Pamplona. From there the Camino proceeds west across the high 
plains of Spain.

Many came for a miracle, others for forgiveness or to fulfill a vow, and 
some traveled the Camino for adventure.


Pilgrims, or perigrinos as they say in Spain, mostly traveled on foot, but 
some of the wealthier pilgrims preferred to go by horseback. The historical 
guidebooks say that the trip from southern France to Santiago de Campostela 
took 28 days by horseback, and more than 2 months on foot...





Catalina
Sanguinem dumtaxat causam virtutis pendate