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COUNCIL * * CONSEIL
OF EUROPE * * * DE L'EUROPE
Architectural heritage
Reports and Studies, No. 16
PUBDGIV027
The Santiago de Compostela Pilgrim Routes
& u > S L , c & c ^i f ^o c r\j& i s
Report of the Bamberg Congress
Strasbourg 1989
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COUNCIL * * CONSEIL
OF EUROPE * + * DEL'EUROPE
The Santiago de Compostela Pilgrim Routes
A Council of Europe congress
organised in co-operation
with the Deutsches Komitee fur Denkmalschutz
and the Deutsche St.-Jakobus-Gesellschaft e.V.
Schney Castle/Bam berg (Federal Republic of Germany)
29 September-1 October 1988
Architectural heritage
Reports and Studies, No. 16
Strasbourg 1989
French edition:
Les chemins de Saint-Jacques-de-Compostelle. Rapport du Congres de Bamberg
ISBN 92-871-1745-4
Strasbourg, Council of Europe, Publications and Documents Division
ISBN 92-871-1746-2
Copyright, Council of Europe, Strasbourg, 1989
Printed In France
- i -
S U M M A R Y
FOREWORD 1
MESSAGE FROM THE SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE COUNCIL OF
EUROPE 2
WELCOMING ADDRESS by Prof. Dr. Wolfgang WILD 5
CONTRIBUTIONS
- Via Peregrinalis ad Sanctum Jacobum
by Klaus HERBERS (Federal Republic of Germany) . 9
- The Central European road system, with particular reference
to the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period
by Hermann KELLENBENZ (Federal Republic of Germany) 13
- The inventory of historic routes in Switzerland (IVS) in
relation to the Santiago pilgrim routes
by H.P. SCHNEIDER (Switzerland) 23
- Following in the footsteps of the Santiago pilgrims in
the Upper Rhineland
by Hedwig R6CKELEIN / Gottfried WENDLING (Federal Republic
of Germany) 33
- A fresh approach to the "Pilgrim's guide to the way of
St. James of Compostela"
by Andre de MANDACH (Switzerland) 37
- The development of the Camino de Santiago in Castile and
Leon between 850 and 1050
by Fernando LOPEZ ALSINA (Spain) 48
- The "Journey to St. James" and the French pilgrim routes
and heritage
by Rene de la COSTE-MESSELIERE (France) 55
- The "Via Francigena" and the Italian routes to Santiago
by Paolo CAUCCI VON SAUCKEN (Italy) 59
- Pilgrims to Santiago and their routes in Scandinavia
by Christian KRO'TZL (Finland) 64
- Santiago pilgrim routes in Belgium - Results and
observations
by Dirk AERTS (Belgium) 71
- Pilgrimage songs
by Eusebio GOICOECHEA ARRONDO (Spain) 77
- Pilgrims and pilgrimages yesterday and today, around the
example of Santiago de Compostela
by Robert PLO'TZ (Federal Republic of Germany) 90
- ii -
ADDITIONAL CONTRIBUTIONS
- Statement by the Mayor of Pamplona (Spain) Ill
- The Santiago Pilgrim routes in Asturias
by Florencio COBO ARIAS and Luis FERNANDEZ GARCIA (Spain).. 114
- A common goal for the associations of friends of the
Santiago route
by Angel Luis BARREDA FERRER (Spain) 11?
- The song of Roncesvalles - The Santiago pilgrims' way and
means of social communication
by Hortensia VINES (Spain) 119
- Communication by Mrs Livia RICCI 123
APPENDICES
- Programme of the Congress 127
- Conclusions of the Congress 130
- List of participants 131
- 1 -
F O R E W O R D
As part of the Council of Europe's action to promote "the
Santiago de Compostela Pilgrim Routes" as a European cultural
itinerary, the Congress on the Santiago de Compostela Pilgrim Routes
- organised with the co-operation of the Deutsche St. Jakobus
Gesellschaft e.V. and the support of the Deutsches Komitee fiir
Denkmalschutz - was held from 29 September to 1 October 1988 at Schney
Castle near Bamberg in the Federal Republic of Germany.
It is because of the contribution of pilgrimages to Santiago de
Compostela to the development of the European identity since the
Middle Ages that the Council of Europe is now working for their
revival as a European cultural route. As early as 1984 the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted a
recommendation on this subject. The aims of this project are set out
in the Declaration read out by the Secretary General at Santiago de
Compostela on the occasion of the launching of the activity in October
1987. These aims embrace the implementation of a major programme of
co-operation and exchanges to promote public awareness, identify the
routes and mark them with a common emblem and co-ordinate the various
cultural and tourist activities and the restoration of monuments.
In the identification of the routes, the Council of Europe has
been assisted by a specially appointed group of specialists and by
researchers, university lecturers, Saint James societies and learned
societies anxious to contribute to the project. The Congress was
specifically intended to offer such people a forum, but the main aim
was to take stock of European work on identifying the pilgrimage
routes, and encourage scientific research into their impact. Mayors
from many towns along the routes were also present.
During the Congress a visit was made to the city of Bamberg,
which was an important centre for the Saint James tradition in
Germany, and a signpost marked "Council of Europe/Santiago de
Compostela Pilgrim Route/ European Cultural Itinerary" was unveiled in
front of the St. James's Church.
This publication is a compilation of the statements presented by
contributors, the conclusions of the Congress and a list of
participants.
_ 2
OPENING OF THE CONGRESS AT SCHNEY CASTLE
MESSAGE FROM THE SECRETARY GENERAL
OP THE COUNCIL OP EUROPE
The Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Mr Marcelino
Oreja, has been detained in Strasbourg by a meeting of our Committee
of Ministers and has asked me to convey to you his personal greetings
and best wishes for the success of this Congress on the Santiago de
Compostela pilgrim routes organised with the support of the German
authorities and in co-operation with . the Deutsche Sankt-Jakobus
Gesellschaft.
As the proceedings begin, I should like to pay tribute to the
scientific circles, learned societies and St James associations which
have paved the way for us and have become very special partners in our
work.
Some have done so because they wished to share their knowledge
and research with us, others because they have carried the flame of
the pilgrimages or walks to Santiago and have often ensured their
continuity. The fact that we are holding this Congress in
collaboration with the Deutsche Sankt-Jakobus Gesellschaft is proof in
itself of the importance we attach to their work.
I should also like to express our gratitude to the German
authorities in the person of the Bavarian Minister of State for
Science and Cultural Affairs, who is our host today. I welcome you
too, Minister, in your capacity as Chairman of the German National
Committee for the Architectural Heritage, which has always given the
Council of Europe its active co-operation. We are also grateful to
the Committee of International Experts which helped us to organise
this Congress in the Council of Europe and is still assisting us in
the creation of this cultural itinerary.
I should also like to address the local elected representatives
who have honoured us with their presence. Through them, I should like
to pay tribute to the mayors of the towns and villages which go to
make up the network of routes in Europe, as they are the vital links
in our work, those on whom a large part of the task we are undertaking
together depends.
Lastly, I should like to thank all the rapporteurs and
participants who have come from afar to share with us the adventure of
creating this cultural itinerary.
Sincere thanks are due also to the Deutsche Sankt-Jakobus
Gesellschaft and to all those who have contributed either to the
practical organisation or to the scientific groundwork because we all
know how much time and effort has been req uired of them and all the
enthusiasm they have displayed.
- 3 -
It was barely a year ago that the Council of Europe proposed in
Santiago de Gompostela the revitalisation of the pilgrim routes to
that city as the first European cultural itinerary. From our point of
view, one could hardly find a phenomenon closer to the very essence of
the Europe we wish to build than this pilgrimage movement, whose
routes, above and beyond the religious dimension, which was the
pilgrims' profound motivation, have remained a meeting place, a medium
of exchange, a means of communication and a source of solidarity which
is the basis and origin of our own identity.
The Santiago de Compostela Declaration, which you all know, lays
down the main lines of our work within a framework befitting an
intergovernmental organisation for political co-operation such as the
Council of Europe, in which a human view of society goes hand in hand
with the protection of human rights. These main lines are:
- identification of the Santiago de Compostela pilgrim routes
throughout Europe;
- signposting of the routes with a common emblem; and
- the launching of an extensive programme of European co-operation
through the restoration and rehabilitation of the architectural and
natural heritage lying in the vicinity of the routes and the
organisation of cultural activities and exchanges between the
towns and regions situated along them.
This Congress which I am privileged to open today on behalf of
the Secretary General of the Council of Europe represents a milestone
in our work and gives us an opportunity to pursue two lines of
thought.
First of all, scientific thought, with a view to encouraging the
work of identification of the old pilgrim routes and knowledge of the
architectural, historic, literary and musical heritage handed down by
the pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostela and their role in European
culture and the European identity.
Secondly, thought about the implementation of this cultural
itinerary. And I should like to reiterate the underlying purpose of
the process initiated by the Council of Europe: to bring out the
historical and cultural contribution made by this pilgrimage movement
to the forging of the European cultural identity. The set of
principles and values which represent a heritage common to European
nations whatever their geographical location, whether or not these
routes pass through them.
For this reason, our work is aimed not only at the pilgrims, who
are guided by spiritual motives, but also at those expressing cultural
practices peculiar to our own age and society.
As we have pointed our on several occasions, and I should like to
do so once again today, the purpose of our work is not merely to
revive the Santiago de Compostela pilgrim routes for nostalgic,
erudite or archaeological reasons, but also to project them into the
future.
- 4 -
Revitalisation of the Santiago de Compostela pilgrim routes is
also an incentive to thought about this period of social change we are
experiencing, a change no less traumatic than that which marked the
transition between the first and second millenia, the very period in
which the Europeans who preceded us set out for Santiago de
Compostela. The time dimension is no longer the same. We accept
diversity as a factor for unity between peoples. Ways of life change
and, to this extent, the Santiago de Compostela pilgrim routes, which
are European routes par excellence, convey to us a message of hope, of
a society capable of prospering in the search for an ideal.
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WELCOMING ADDRESS
by Prof. Dr. Wolfgang WILD
Bayerischer Staatsminister fur Wissenschaft und Kunst
President des Deutschen Nationalkomitees fur Denkmalschutz
I am pleased to be able to welcome you on behalf of the Bavarian
Government to your Congress on the Santiago de Compostela pilgrim
routes. We in Bavaria certainly appreciate the fact that the only
recently founded St Jakobus Gesellschaft has managed to bring such an
important Council of Europe event to Bamberg. It is a great day for
our town of Bamberg too - and I am sure that the Mayor, Mr Rohner,
agrees with me on this - because although Bamberg is a long way from
Santiago de Compostela, it was one of the many stopping-places, and
certainly a pleasant one in those days too, along the pilgrim route.
All the more reason then for remembering the significance of the
mediaeval pilgrim routes and asking what has happened in Europe since
then and whether there are not in fact a lot of good things that could
be handed down from the past to the present.
I should also like to wish you every success in your Congress in
my capacity as Chairman of the German National Committee for the
Conservation of Historic Monuments. Your presence is not only
appreciated by Bavaria: the Federal Minister of the Interior,
Dr. Friedrich Zimmermann, my deputy on the Bureau of the Committee,
and my colleagues at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have asked me to
tell you how pleased they are at the holding of this Congress and wish
you success in your work.
It is a particular pleasure for me, Mr Oreja, to be able to tell
you for once in person how grateful I am that an important area of
culture, conservation has gained importance and received a fresh
impetus as part of the Council of Europe's European policy during your
term of office. Close co-operation with the Council of Europe in the
conservation field has been an important concern of the German
National Committee since it was founded in 1973. I need merely remind
you of the International Closing Conference of European Architectural
Heritage Year 1975 in Berlin, the Conferences on Crafts and
Conservation (1980 and 1984) and Urban Renaissance (1981), and the
major events held this year: the Conference on the Protection of
Monuments in the Countryside held in Merdingen in May under your
patronage, Mr Secretary General, and the Colloquy on Mining
Engineering Monuments as a Cultural Heritage held in Bochum in
September. The German National Committee has always gladly supported
the aims and causes taken up in such a variety of ways by the Council
of Europe by organising events of its own, producing information
material and also acting as joint organiser, as in the case of your
Congress.
At the Conference of European Ministers responsible for the
Architectural Heritage held in Granada in October 1985, revitalisation
of the pilgrim routes to Santiago de Compostela was adopted at the
initiative of France and Spain as a major theme of the Council of
Europe's architectural heritage programme.
- 6 -
I know from the work of the Council of Europe's Steering
Committee for Integrated Conservation, under the leadership of
Professor Schmid, to whom I extend a very warm welcome as a staunch
advocate of this idea, that thorough preliminary work has already been
done. Nearly a year ago, in Santiago itself, the project was
officially launched at a big public ceremony. In addition to this,
extensive background material, signs and a very impressive map of the
pilgrim routes have been produced.
One may ask why the Council of Europe has picked the pilgrim
routes to Santiago as a special topic. In view of the many problems
facing the heritage today, are there not more important things than
the revival of religious traditions which have long since disappeared
from the collective consciousness, especially in an age reputed to be
irreligious?
I think the Council of Europe is right to be active in this
particular field.
For the routes leading to the tomb of the Apostle James at
Compostela illustrate the deep-rooted interdependence of Europe as a
whole more clearly than nearly any other historical phenomenon. Above
and beyond its spiritual significance, the Christian West's greatest
pilgrimage, in which millions of people from all social strata took
part for widely varying motives, was reflected in communications
(roads), in town planning (hospices, inns, pilgrimage churches and
hospitals), in literature (legends, heroic epics, especially about
Charlemagne), in art '(transfer of artistic trends, churchmasons'
guilds, Moorish influence on style) and even in the development of a
particular costume associated with the pilgrims.
In the Middle Ages, pilgrims wishing to travel to Compostela
could do so freely, with legal protection and the blessing of the
ecclesiastical and secular authorities. In later centuries, however,
the Reformation, the Enlightenment and administrative and
ecclesiastical decrees, reduced the flow of pilgrims, but without
bringing it completely to a standstill.
A revival of the pilgrimage to Santiago has been noticeable in
all European countries for about a decade. National and regional
associations for its promotion have been formed in France, Italy,
Great Britain, Spain and Switzerland, and also in Germany with the
St. Jakobus-Gesellschaft. Above and beyond the subject's academic
significance, the spiritual dimension also plays a part.
In thinking back to the spiritual and physical unity of mediaeval
Europe, and thus reflecting upon our identity, the Council of Europe
is endeavouring, with its project on pilgrim routes as cultural
itineraries, to re-awaken or rediscover an awareness of our traditions
and history in order that the goal of European unification with a
basis in history may be made clear to young people in particular.
You have taken on a major task which will certainly involve a lot
more work. This Congress is just one step, albeit an important one,
towards the successful accomplishment of that task. The discussions
beginning here will be continued in 1989 in Bari (Italy). I hope that
the Bamberg meeting produces important findings and positive results
and meets with a good response among your partners. I hope too that
you will feel at home in Bavaria and in Bamberg as one of the many
stopping-places along the road to Santiago de Compostela.
Thank you.
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C O N T R I B U T I O N S
9
VIA PEREGRINALIS AD SANCTUM JACOBUM
by Klaus BERBERS (Federal Republic of Germany)
In order to apply the image of "via" to my talk, I must take you
along a road which not only follows the well-known scientific
highways, but also resembles a mountain path, in that we shall touch
on numerous disciplines, including theology, the cultural sciences,
archaeology, the history of art, philology and general history.
In all cultures, the meaning of "road" extends beyond the idea of
an actual path to cover a wide variety of concepts. We talk about
life's road, the right road etc, and in all the major religions the
word has a figurative sense. For example, the concept is to be found
not only in Buddhism and Islam but also in Greek thought, especially
in Plato and, later, Hesiod. The latter speaks of two roads, one of
which is arduous and leads to virtue (oCpe^rs), the other being easy
and leading to pleasure (noovrj). These conceptions were close to
the meaning of "road" or "way" in the Old and New Testaments.
However, just as the road image has a wide variety of meanings in
the Christian religion, the idea of "peregrinatio" at first had a
figurative meaning. The peregrinatio pro Christo conceived in the
High Middle Ages did not yet convey the idea of a concrete goal; it
simply meant wandering through unknown lands in search of Christ.
In the llth century the word "peregrinatio" also acq uired the
meaning of a journey to sacred places, "peregrinatio ad loca sancta".
Visits to Jerusalem and the places where Christ lived were the main
components of the "peregrinatio pro Christo"; it was simply a more
concrete way of seeking Christ.
Of the three major destinations of these "peregrinationes ad loca
sancta", it was the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela that kept the
idea of road or roads most alive. Why do Santiago pilgrims speak more
about their journey than about the destination of their pilgrimage?
There are many reasons for this, and we may be able to grasp some of
them by studying the development, utilisation and functions of the
road to Santiago.
Let me recall some of the stages in the development of the
worship of St James at Compostela.
Legends had it that St James preached the gospel in Spain, then
returned to Jerusalem to become, in 44 AD, the first of the Apostles
martyred by King Herod. His disciples took his body and put it in a
boat which miraculously came ashore in Iria Flavia in Spain. The
Apostle's body was then buried in Compostela. However, the inhabitants
of Galicia reverted to their pagan religion and so the Apostle's tomb
was forgotten until Charlemagne or one of his contemporaries
discovered it.
There are many variants of this legend but we cannot go into the
details here. Even so, it is almost certain that a tomb was found at
the beginning of the 9th century and identified as that of St James.
The local cult spread very quickly, and by the 12th century the
pilgrimage to Santiago had achieved the same renown as those to
Jerusalem and Rome.
- 10 -
The famous "Pilgrim's Guide", the fifth volume of the Liber
Sancti Jacobi (c. 1150-1160), tells us of the roads that led to
Santiago. It says that pilgrims in France set out from St Gilles, Le
Puy, Vezelay and Tours (Paris) and that either on the French side of
the Pyrenees or in Spain their paths converged into a single route,
the "Camino franees", which took them to Santiago.
Closer inspection of these roads shows that those in Spain did
not always follow the Roman roads. In Navarre, for example, Sancho
III the Great (1004-1035) constructed the iter Sancti lacpbi
for his military campaigns against the Mohammedans.Besidesthis
military function, the "pilgrim roads" might also have served
safe-conduct or commercial purposes. Indeed, it is difficult to
separate trade routes from "pilgrim roads". If we examine the first
urban centres in northern Spain, we can observe the interdependence of
trade and pilgrimages, as pointed out by H Pirenne and later by Garcia
de Valdeavellano. In this connection it showed not be forgotten that
the pilgrimages themselves were also an economic factor. The pilgrims
setting out to Santiago were free to choose their own route; in fact
they followed whatever roads they could find : trade routes, royal
roads and sometimes even tracks used for transhumance, as has been
shown in respect of south-western France. However, spiritual
traditions and goals also influenced the choice of routes. The
aforementioned "Pilgrim's Guide" devotes a long chapter (8) to
advising pilgrims to visit the various religious centres in southern
and south-western France. Perhaps the author was merely seeking to
subordinate these "competitors" of Santiago, as Mr C Diaz y Diaz
recently claimed, but this implies that the centres were already
well-known and being visited in the 12th century. In France, the
Tours route (via Turonensis) and the St Gilles (Toulouse) route
(via Aegidiana, Tolosana)should be distinguished from the routes
acrosstheMassifCentral (via Podensis and via Vizeliacensis).
The term "pilgrim road" fits the Le Puy and Vezelay roads bettertKan
the two just mentioned. However, this classification, which can
easily be verified by observations, is a rough one, because in general
it is difficult to speak of pilgrim "roads" or "routes". These terms
were invented by Romance philologists and art historians, whose
contested or amended theories should not dominate our conceptions
nowadays. In a wider historical context, the expression "pilgrim
road" may denote the routes preferred by pilgrims. Again, the further
one gets away from Spain and France, the vaguer the notion of specific
routes for Santiago pilgrims becomes.
Accordingly, in order to find out about the system of roads in
central Europe, we must consider the findings of archaeology and of
research into royal itineraries etc. However, such research does not
only produce hard facts but also raises many q uestions. This is the
starting point for our search for the roads taken by the pilgrims.
On the positive side, we have several accounts by pilgrims
themselves that contain enough details to enable us to establish which
itinerary they followed. In the case of France, Italy, the
Netherlands and Spain, the documentation available is fairly
extensive. However, in the case of the countries east of the Rhine
and in the north there are not enough sufficiently detailed accounts
to allow a precise itinerary followed, at different times in history to
be reconstructed. Our only option is to turn to other sources. We
therefore try to draw conclusions from information on mediaeval
transport taxes, the material provided by hospices and monasteries and
the locations of other narrative or diplomatic sources. We also look
- 11 -
at churches dedicated to St James and the facts emerging from the
history of art etc. However, we must reserve our judgement on the
merits of this methodology. In most instances it is very difficult to
connect such information with the Santiago pilgrim routes. A case in
point is south-western Germany, which we are beginning to explore
rather more extensively. For this area the Council of Europe map
provides a basis for identifying the network of old roads, but not yet
the itineraries preferred by pilgrims. For that reason, I propose
first of all gathering all the vestigial material connected with the
cult of St James in Europe before tackling the problems of the
"pilgrim roads". Even if this method produces less "reliable"
results, it should give us a better grasp of the problem of the
"roads".
The actual sources are not the only problem concerning the
concept of "pilgrim roads". Another problem is the fact that the
concept grew up in a specific ideological context at the end of the
19th century and the'beginning of this century, when the main stress
was on the cultural implications of the roads. In the field of
Romance philology, Joseph Bedier posited that the "pilgrim roads" were
responsible for the rise of "chansons de geste". In the history of
art, Emile Male and Arthur Kingsley Porter attempted to apply the same
argument to the rise of Romanesque architecture. We cannot assess
these theories here, but we should stress that they are still to be
heard (although often criticised) in any discussion of "pilgrim
roads". The cultural importance of the roads extends well beyond these
two aspects, since they also affected music and mentalities.
In a comparison between the "Santiago road" and the roads to Rome
and Jerusalem, these various "cultural" aspects are particularly
prominent. The differences between the roads lie in each one's
significance for the pilgrimages concerned. In Rome and Jerusalem
pilgrims had to visit sacred places in the city or the environs, but
the actual road was of less importance. As for the Santiago pilgrim,
he arranged a fairly individual spiritual programme for himself along
the way. Although this programme was rooted in traditions, its
individuality no doubt contributed to the popularity and success of
pilgrimages to Santiago. In this connection it should not be
forgotten that the road to Santiago was itself the setting for the
devout pilgrim's religious life: the pilgrim was not therefore linked
to any particular church or a centre of worship. The purpose of his
worship was spiritually fulfilled while he was still on his journey.
The "via peregrinalis", according to the Liber Sancti Jacobi, is the
way "of the just, the joy of saints, faith in the resurrection and
life". It is a 'way of penitence but also of salvation.
The Santiago roads are thus a subject which raises not only
practical q uestions regarding their routes, etc, but also many
q uestions concerning their theological, economic, philogical, artistic
and historical implications and conseq uences in a wider sense. Let us
try during this conference to comprehend some of these aspects; let us
seek the path that leads us to the "pilgrim roads".
(summarised version of my statement)
- 12 -
BIBLIOGRAPHY
This list is restricted to a few recent works of a specialised
kind (a longer version of my talk with precise references is to be
published in the "Jakobus-Studien" series, Narr Verlag, TObingen, Vol.
2).
Y BOTTINEAU, Les chemins de Saint-Jacq ues, Paris 1983
(1987 German edition with updated bibliography)
F COHEN, Roads and Pilgrimage : A study in Economic Interaction, in :
Studi Medievali, 21/1980, p. 321-341
M C DfAZ Y DfAZ, El codice calixtino de la catedral de Santiago,
Santiago 1988
K BERBERS, Per Jakobuskult und der Liber Sancti Jacobi, Wiesbaden 1984
K BERBERS, Der Jakobsweg. Hit einem mittlealterlichen PilgerfOhrer
unterwegs nach Santiago de Compostela, Tubingen 1986
K BERBERS (ed.), Deutsche Jakobspilger und ihre Berichte,
(Jakobus-Studien 1) Tubingen 1988
B KOTTING, Peregrinatio religiosa. Uallfahrten in der Antike und das
Pilgerwesen in der alten Kirche, MOnster 1950
G B LADNER, Bomo viator. Mediaeval Ideas on Alienation and Order,
in: Speculum 42/1967, pp. 233-259
F LOPEZ ALSINA, La ciudad de Santiago de Compostela en la Alta Edad
Media, Santiago de Compostela 1988
R PLOTZ, Peregrini - Palmieri - Romei. Untersuchungen zum
Pilgerbegriff der Zeit Dantes, in: Jahrbuch fOr Volkskunde NF
2/1979, pp. 103-134
R PLOTZ, Santiago-peregrinatio und Jacobuskult mit besonderer
Beriicksichtigung des deutschen Frankenlandes, in: Gesammelte
Aufsatze zur Kulturgeschichte Spaniens 31/1984, pp. 24-135.
- 13 -
THE CENTRAL EUROPEAN ROAD SYSTEM, WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO THE
MIDDLE AGES AND THE EARLY MODERN PERIOD
by Hermann KELLENBENZ (Federal Republic of Germany)
I.
In 1907 the geographer Friedrich Rauers published a map shoving
the road system of the Holy Roman Empire. It appears as a confusing
network of routes, and makes the reader wonder how travellers ever
found their way. In reality, however, their choice was limited, since
a large number of factors forced them to restrict themselves to a few
major routes when heading for a distant destination. These factors
included not only the good or bad condition of the roads or
geographical features such as mountains or valleys, marshlands, dense
and dangerous woods or difficult river crossings, but also - more
importantly - the fact that the empire was fragmented into so many
territories, archbishoprics, bishoprics and: abbeys, electorates,
principalities, counties and free imperial cities. Each of these
territories had its own financial and economic policy based on the
idea of making the largest possible profit out of the road system and
its traffic. Initially, it is true, the road system was in the hands
of the King, but with the decline in royal authority and the rise of
the territorial states, power over the road system passed largely to
the rulers of these territories, who rebuilt and exploited them in
various ways. These included levying customs duties and tolls,
compelling carters and other travellers to accept the protection of a
territorial lord, and not permitting them to pass through certain
central places without setting up shop and offering their wares for
sale for a set time.
II.
The aim of this article is to describe the state of the roads,
and to discuss the means which existed for building and improving
roads and for replacing ferries and fords with bridges. We will also
consider the major developments in transport and the role played in
this connection by territorial authorities and private undertakings.
This will be followed by a brief outline of the most important routes.
Finally, examples will be given of the time needed for a particular
journey and of the cost of travelling, together with some information
about the maps available and the literature for travellers (including
pilgrims).
III.
The road-building achievements of the Romans as far as the Limes
and in the Rhineland can be mentioned here only in passing. The most
important thing to note is that the German Kings generally took over
the routes used in the Roman period, which the local communities
(under the supervision of the local count) were responsible for
maintaining. The concept of a highway (Landstrasse) as a public
route, particularly for military purposes, is attested from an early
- 14 -
period, for example in the traditional laws of the Bavarians. A terra
popular in the late Middle Ages was the "common highway" (gemeine
Landstrasse), to refer to a road which belonged in common to the land
and its ruler, and served traffic passing through the land, as opposed
to local roads and cattle tracks. The Latin term "strate" (or "strata
publica") appears frequently from the 12th and 13th centuries. In
German this became "strazze" (modern German Stralie).
With the expansion of territorial authorities the responsibility
for the upkeep and security of roads, as we have seen, gained renewed
importance. For example, only the ruler was permitted to build new
roads, the costs being met from levies on persons and goods using the
road. In this connection it is worth mentioning in passing the
outstanding achievement of the people of Urseren who, by building a
chain bridge linking them with Uri, opened up an international long
distance through-route, which was thereafter the most direct road
between . the Netherlands and Italy. The St Gotthard pass, first
recorded in 1236, however, was not initially able to take wheeled
traffic. Another famous example is the Kuntersweg. Heinrich Kunter,
citizen of Bolzano (Bozen) and Hall, had this road built after
receiving permission from the local ruler in 1312. He drove a road
through the Eisack gorge from Bolzano to Klausen. He was permitted to
levy a toll for the use of this road, which was initially only a
bridlepath. He and his heirs were also permitted to open two taverns
along this "Landstrasse". The Kuntersweg only became passable for
carts under Duke Sigmund in 1480, when blasting was carried out to
widen it. The opening up of the Septimer Pass is another example. In
1387, Jacob von Castelmur undertook to build a road across the
Septimer for the Bishop of Chur, to enable carts to carry a load of up
to 36 Rubbs (900 Ibs) from Tingen to Plurs. In return the Bishop
permitted Castelmur to levy a toll ("WeglSsi") set at a level
acceptable to the Milanese merchants. This privilege was granted
initially for 10 years, but it was provided that Castelmur's heirs'
should continue to maintain the road. Yet another example is provided
by the Kesselbergstrasse built by Duke Albrecht IV of Bavaria in
association with Munich merchants at the end of the 15th century,
creating a steeper but shorter route along the Kochelsee and the
Walchensee, avoiding the stretch of road through Murnau which was
subject to flooding.
The maintenance of roads was closely linked to the levying of
customs duties. When the local rulers were granted by their feudal
overlords the right to the tolls levied in their territory, they were
also expressly req uired to see that repairs to the roads ("reparatio
viarum") were carried out and to ensure the safety of merchants and
their goods. There were several ways of doing this. First of all the
individual local communities were obliged to maintain roads through
their territory. For larger scale works such as bridge building,
several communities needed to work together. The costs were met out
of the income from the toll houses. Occasionally the revenue from
abbeys and their farmland (called "Urbar") were set aside for this
purpose.
Concerning the actual state of individual roads, a certain amount
is known from travel narratives, including those of pilgrims. Felix
Faber, a Dominican from Ulm, travelled along the Kuntersweg in 1483 on
his way to Jerusalem, after the road had been widened. Faber writes
"Only two years ago this road was so bad that it was only passable
- 15 -
with great difficulty, leading one's horse by hand. I can remember
the dangers I faced on my first pilgrimage on this road. To my right
were yawning chasms, to my left towering walls of rock. The road was
in such an appalling state that satirical songs were sung about". As
late as 1525 the road from Brixen to Klausen was said by carters to be
dangerous to life and limb.
Only a little is known about the techniq ues of road building. The
document authorising the building of the Kuntersweg mentions wood,
stones and lime as materials needed for the work, from which we may
infer that embankments, wooden railings and bridges of varying sizes
were constructed. In the road-widening works ordered by Sigmund of
Tyrol, fire and gunpowder were used for blasting. Unfortunately,
nothing is known in detail about the techniq ue used in the building of
the steep Kesselbergstrasse.
The Romans were skilled in the art of paving, and this art was
not entirely forgotten in the Middle Ages. In towns, from the 14th
century, market places and streets began to be paved - principally for
health reasons - Cologne being one of the earliest examples. The
citizens of a town were granted a special charter permitting them to
lay paving stones. The little town of Sterzing, at the southern end
of the Brenner, was one which obtained such a charter. Paving stones
were often brought in from long distances. The Bishop of Freising, for
example, owned a quarry in the region near Bolzano whose crumbly
porphyry was particularly suitable for making paving stones.
The weather presented on of the most serious dangers along the
road. Streams in spate as a result of heavy thunderstorms could wash
parts of roads away, and even worse damage could result from flooding.
The foundations of the road could be broken up by frost. Roads could
also be damaged by heavy vehicles. These included the four-wheeled
carts which (in certain regions) could carry a load of 30-35 cwt and,
according to regulations from the 16th century even as much as 55 cwt.
The famous Frammersbach carters carried loads of up to 30 cwt with
small harness (kleines Geschirr) and almost 50 cwt with large harness
(grosses Geschirr).
Bridge building was important for crossing rivers, particularly
where fords and ferries were inadeq uate. Initially people made do
with wooden bridges, but from the llth century stone bridges began to
be built again, such as the one in Regensburg. During the 16th
century a new bridge-building era began, initiated by Italian
architects and engineers.
It is impossible to discuss the communications network at the
time without considering waterways and the various possibilities of
using water as an alternative to road transport. Where there was a
choice water routes were preferred, particularly for downstream
travel, simply because of the difficulties involved in land transport.
Various kinds of boats or ships were used, as well as rafts. Rafts
were in use on all the rivers flowing from the Alps and the smaller
mountain ranges, principally of course for transporting wood, corn and
other heavy goods but also for passengers. On the large rivers,
particularly the Rhine and the Danube, shipping was well organised, on
the Danube with its barges ("Schachteln" or "Zillen"), on the Main as
high up as Bamberg, and on the Rhine from Basle. Raftmen's and
- 16 -
boatmen's guilds organised the river traffic. The stretch from Mainz
to Cologne, for example, was reserved for the Mainz boatmen's guild,
which had its own market boats carrying out regular journeys.
Travelling upstream, however, road transport was q uicker, since the
boats needed to be towed upstream along a towpath.
The local rulers delegated the control over roads to special
officials. In 1508 the Emperor Maximilian appointed Paul Stickl of
Imst to the post of Inspector of Roads and Streets ("bereyter der weeg
und straBen") for a period of one year. During this time he was
req uired to inspect ("bereiten") four times the high Reschen pass, the
low road over the Brenner pass as well as the freighthouses situated
on these roads, to report defects to the officials responsible and to
instruct them to have these defects put right by their feudal vassals.
He carried out these duties until 1514 and recommended two road
inspectors to succeed him, one of whom was to be responsible for North
Tyrol, the other for South Tyrol. The posts survived into the 17th
century. Road inspectors were req uired to prepare reports on the
condition of roads. In special cases, experts were called in, such as
the master builder Jorg Kolderer, who made an official report on the
state of the roads in Tyrol in 1524. He complained about the poor
condition of the road on various stretches of the Brenner and Reschen
routes. He mentioned the need for clearing and paving the
carriageway, the latter presumably only in villages, and for sweeping
water from road. On the Kuntersweg, the rocks ("Kofi") were to be
broken up, and both dry-stone and mortared walls to be built.
The right of the local rulers to provide protection has already
been mentioned. This was intended to make journeys through the
territory safer and was provided on payment of a protection levy. It
was originally a royal prerogative, but under the Hohenstaufens it
fell more and more into the hands of the local princes. Direct
protection by the King or Emperor continued to be provided only in
territories under direct imperial overlordship. The Imperial Decree
of 1548 recognised once again the local lords' right to provide
protection and req uired them to ensure the safety of the roads. Where
protection was provided, there was also a duty to compensate for
damage. Under the Imperial Decree of 1548, if a traveller was
attacked, the bells were to be rung and the overlord and his vassals
were to hurry to the victim's assistance to arrest the culprit.
Goods and passenger transport and the postal service were also
subject to intervention by the authorities. During the Middle Ages a
transport system had already developed capable of serving
long-distance trade so that a merchant need no longer accompany the
goods himself. Societies were formed, particularly in the difficult
Alpine regions, to facilitate transport by sharing the work, at the
same time ensuring themselves of an income. The initiative came from
the southern slopes of the Alps and gave rise to special types of
association in Switzerland, Tyrol, Bavaria and Swabia. These
societies were called "Porten" in the Swiss confederacy, whereas in
Tyrol and on the northern side of the Alps the system was known as the
"Rottfuhr". The origins of this system go back to the late 12th
century, where it is attested in the Adige region between Rovereto and
Bolzano. The Rottfuhr system was organised so that not only the
horses but also the porters and their carts (sledges in winter, rafts
on the rivers) were changed at each staging post. On the roads
- 17 -
used by the Rottfuhr there were warehouses and barns in which the
freight was stored until it could be transported further. Transport
by this system took time, and merchants were therefore interested in
having q uicker means of transport available in emergencies.
Conseq uently, from the 15th century on, the Adirittura, Tarfis or
Einachs carting systems grew up alongside the Rottfuhr. Similarly, in
Lindau around 1500, the transport of corn and salt was reserved for
the Rottfuhr men, whereas the transport of mercantile goods was
carried out by fast professional carters.
In contrast to maritime transport, in which a number of important
improvements in shipbuilding technology and navigation were made
during the Age of Discovery, only modest technological improvements
came about in overland traffic. The four-wheeled wagon had probably
existed since the 13th century, but it was only during the end of the
14th that heavy solid wheels were replaced by lighter spoked wheels.
Originating in Italy, coaches and carriages later became widespread.
To begin with the coachwork was solidly attached to the wheel axles,
but later, to absorb the shock, it was hung from a chassis. From the
end of the 16th century these vehicles were provided with windows.
Particularly important improvements were made to harnesses, resulting
in the vehicle being pulled from the animal's shoulder rather than
from its neck, which improved traction by a factor of about 3.6.
Braking arrangements for freight vehicles were originally very simple,
consisting of a spoke, (a bundle of twigs or sticks) shoved between
the wheels. It was not until around 1700 that iron chains, wheel
shoes and screw brakes came into use.
By this time it was possible to travel in comfort if one could
afford it. Fit men still travelled by foot or on horseback, and some
resourceful carters had already started acting as travel agents. In
1595, for example, the Englishman Fynes Moryson paid 17 crowns
(probably each at 80 Kreuzer) for a journey from Augsburg to Venice to
a carter who provided horses, accommodation and food. From the end of
the 15th century, anyone in a particular hurry could travel by the
postal service, that is the service of horses and carts changed
regularly at staging posts (Ger. Poststationen, from the Latin
"positae stationes"). Early forms of postal service developed by
towns, estates and private individuals particularly during the 15th
century were taken over by the Bergamo family of Taxis. In 1490 they
set up a postal network for the Habsburg Emperor Maximilian, though it
was only during the 16th century that this was systematically
expanded.
Every traveller needed to rest on the way and find accommodation
overnight, and if he fell ill, he needed to ensure that he would
receive care and treatment in a hospital. Taverns (from the Latin
taberna) are attested in central Europe from the llth century,
rather later than in the West. The "Miracle Books" mention
hospitia, some of which took in overnight paying guests,
occasionally providing catering as well. More often, however,
travellers catered for themselves. A special law of guest and host
developed, implying that the innkeeping trade was well-established and
widespread. From the late 13th century inns became slightly more
comfortable, with several guest rooms, a dining room and a sitting
room. Each inn had a particular name and the owner advertised this
with a sign showing an eagle, a lion, a star, etc. However, this was
still a long way from the southern German hospitality vividly
described by Michel de Montaigne.
- 18 -
A word should be said here about the hospitals. They cared for
the sick, but they also took in guests. Pilgrim hospitals occupied a
special place. With the growth in pilgrim traffic after the year
1000, the hospitality of the monasteries, particularly the Benedictine
houses, could no longer cope with the demand and from the mid-llth to
the early 12th centuries many hospitals came into existence along the
major pilgrim routes to Rome, Jerusalem and Santiago de Compostela.
In the Alps, the initiative was taken principally by bishops and
monasteries. These hospitals were freq uently built near bridges.
Numerous hospitals, a special category, were built in the towns by
prosperous citizens.
IV.
Which were the most important routes? We will restrict ourselves
to the area bounded in the north by the North Sea the German Baltic
coast, to the west by the Rhine, to the east by the Oder region and
Bohemia, and to the south by the Alps. The most important north-south
route passed through the Rhineland. This was the q uickest and best
route between the Netherlands and Italy. The routes which passed
through this area were favoured by the troubles of the Hundred Years'
War in the west, which afflicted large areas of France and Burgundy.
In the 16th century the wars between Habsburg Spain and the Kings of
France had a similar effect, as did the French Wars of Religion and
the Thirty Years' War. Accordingly the preferred routes were those
which passed through Lorraine and Alsace to Basle, reaching Lombardy
over the St Gotthard pass. Starting from the major trade centres in
the Netherlands, originally Bruges and later Antwerp, a number of
roads could be chosen, Aachen, Cologne and Trier being particularly
important places of pilgrimage. During the war in Gelderland
(1542/43) and in the war over the Archbishopric of Cologne in 1585,
the Rhineland was avoided in favour of the Ardennes, the Eifel, the
Hunsriick and the Moselle valley. Communications via Cologne were
cheaper simply because of the terrain, and the routes from the
north-west to Mainz were more expensive because of the roads through
the mountains.
The easiest route from Cologne and Mainz was up the Rhine to
Basle. Because of difficulties on the river the land route was
preferred and in particular the left bank of the Rhine where the
ancient cities of Worms, Speyer and Strasbourg were situated. Before
the Dutch Revolt, most of the traffic over the Alps headed towards
Basle. It then moved east, giving greater importance to towns in the
Northern Netherlands and Northern Germany, from Middelburg and
Rotterdam to Emden, Bremen, Hamburg and LUbeck. East of the Rhine
axis the most important meeting place was Frankfurt, with its fair.
From Frankfurt there were several routes to the south reaching the
Alpine passes through Augsburg, Nuremburg and Regensburg, while for
those coming from the Rhine there were other routes which came
together in Dim and led via Lindau to the Grisons passes. From
Augsburg, the High Road (obere Strasse) led south over the Fernpass
and Reschen, while the Low Road (untere Strasse) passed through
Innsbruck and over the Brenner. The High Road got its name from the
stretch along the upper Inn valley, whereas Innsbruck, on the Low
Road, lay further down the same valley.
- 19 -
The Salzburg route could be taken either from Nuremburg and
Regensburg, or from Augsburg and Munich. Although longer, it was
preferred for a while in the 16th century, though in the 17th the
Tyrol crossing won favour again.
An important route for merchants as well as for pilgrims to
Compostela was the one leading from the Lake Constance area to Geneva,
Lyon and down the Rhone. This formed the link with the saffron, woad
and wine-producing region of South-West France, as well as leading to
Eastern Spain, where saffron was also grown. This was also used as an
alternative route when the road over the Grisons passes, through
Lombardy to Genoa and over the sea, was troubled or blocked.
One of the densest networks of roads was that in the area between
the Rhine and the Weser, on account of the wealth of the cities, the
busy trading and the heavy through traffic from the Netherlands to the
coast and to central and Eastern Germany. Some of the most important
meeting places were Dortmund, Soest, Munster and Osnabruck; from here
the roads fanned out and led to Bremen, Hamburg, Minden, Hameln,
Hoxter and Kassel. The best known road was the Hellweg, which started
on the Rhine and forked in two at Paderborn. Other destinations in the
east were the towns in the Harz mountains, Magdeburg on the Elbe,
Erfurt in Thuringia and Leipzig and Naumburg with their major fairs.
The most important north-south routes met up at Frankfurt and
Nuremburg; the main junctions before the coastal towns were Liineburg
and Brunswick. A popular diagonal route in the north-west was the
"Flemish Road" from the Netherlands to Bremen. The "Ox Road"
(Ochsenweg) from Jutland crossed the Elbe west of Hamburg. As an
alternative to the Belt and Oresund crossings there were overland
routes between Hamburg and Lubeck, but there were also isthmus routes
further north which facilitated the crossing from the west coast to
the fjord ports, and along the Baltic coast there was a land route
from Lubeck through Mecklenburg and Pomerania to Stettin and Danzig.
In central Germany Erfurt, Halle and Leipzig and well as Brunswick and
Magdeburg were junctions on the trade route from the west and the
south to the North Sea and the Baltic. In addition there were links
between Nuremburg and Prague, Breslau and Frankfurt an der Oder. The
royal residences, notably Hanover, Berlin and Dresden only started to
gain in importance as junctions in the road network from the 17th
century.
A few brief notes should be added here on the speed and cost of
travelling. A traveller could cover around 30 km a day, though a
group of riders could reach 70-75 km. Even goods traffic, if urgent,
could cover 50 km in a day. The Eigenachs carts took five to six
weeks to get from Augsburg to Venice, while goods using the Rottfuhr
service took three to four months. In 1515 Lukas Rem from Augsburg
travelled from Brussels to the Lech in Austria in six days by post
horses, whereas with his own horse he would have needed 13 or 14 days.
It is hard to make any definite statement about travel costs,
when the traveller might be a vagabond, a pilgrim, an artisan, a young
nobleman (who would usually in the company of his tutor), or even a
prince or other ruler, who would travel with a large entourage. An
artist could partly cover his travel costs by accepting commissions on
route, as Albrecht Durer did on his journey to the Netherlands in
1520-21. From the end of the Middle Ages, there was the additional
cost of customs duty levied by the authorities. Particularly during
the 16th century carters were constantly demanding price increases.
- 20 -
To give themselves an idea of the tolls, merchants drew up books
showing the varying tariffs which applied depending on the value of
the goods and the volume of traffic.
Finally, travellers needed to be informed about the route they
would take. One famous map was produced by Erhart Etzlaub of
Nuremburg on the occasion of the Holy Year of 1500. This enabled a
pilgrim to Rome to find his way through a network of roads spreading
out fanwise from Nuremburg. Places of pilgrimage were marked with a
church. Another useful aid were the milestones, though these mostly
ceased at the borders of the Empire. During the 16th century printed
itineraries and travel books became available, like that of the
Bergamo doctor Gratarolus, which appeared in 1561 in Basle with
medical advice, or that by Jorg Gail of Augsburg in 1563. Travel
narratives became more and more freq uent from the late 16th century
under the influence of humanism, and in the next century travel
literature reached its first peak with the writings of Martin Zeiller
and Matthaus Merian.
- 21 -
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Fritz VOIGT, Verkehr, 2. Band, 1. und 2. Halfte, Die Entwicklung des
Verkehrsvesens, Berlin 1965.
Hermann KELLENBENZ, Landverkehr, Fluss-und Seeschiffahrt im
europaischen Handel (Spatmittelalter-Anfang des 19. Jahrhunderts), in:
Les Grandes voies maritimes dans le monde, XV-XIX siecles. Rapports
presentes au Xlle Congres International des Sciences Historiq ues
par la Commission Internationale d'Histoire Maritime a 1'occasion de
son Vile Colloque (Vienne, 29 aout - 5 septembre 1965),
Bibliotheq ue Generale de 1'Ecole Pratiq ue des Hautes Etudes, Vie
Section, Paris, S.E.V.P.E.N., 1965, 65-174.
id, Verkehr I: Geschichte, in: Handworterbuch der Wirtschafts-
vissenschaften (HdW) V, 1979, 225-238.
id, Verkehrs-und Nachrichtenwesen, in: Derselbe, Wirtschaft und
Gesellschaf t Europas 1350-1650 (Handbuch der europaischen
Wirtschafts-und Sozialgeschichte Band 3), Stuttgart 1986, 285-303.
id, Das Verkehrswesen zwischen den deutschen Nord-und Ostseehafen
und dem Mittelmeer im 16. und in der ersten Halfte des 17.
Jahrhunderts, in: Trasporti e sviluppo economico, secoli XIII-XVIII, a
cura di Anna Vannini Marx (Istituto Internazionale di Storia Economica
F. Datini, Prato, Pubblicazioni-Serie II, Atti delle "Settimane di
Studio" e altri convegni 5, Firenze 1986, 99-121.
Hans Conrad PEYER unter Mitarbeit von Elisabeth MULLER-LUCKNER (Hg.),
Gastfreundschaft, Taverne und Gasthaus im Mittelalter (Schriften des
Historischen Kollegs, Kolloquien 3), Mvinchen/Wien 1983.
Wallfahrt kennt keine Grenzen, Ausstellung im Bayerischen
Nationalmuseum, Miinchen, 28. Juni bis 7. Oktober 1984, Redaktion
Thomas Raff.
Otto STOLZ, Geschichte des Zollvesens, Verkehrs und Handels in Tirol
und Vorarlberg, Innsbruck 1953.
Uta LINDGREN, Alpenubergange von Bayern nach Italien 1500-1850,
Miinchen 1986.
id, Alpenubergange vor 1850. Landkarten-Strassen-Verkehr, in :
Beiheft 83 der Vierteljahrschrift fur Sozial- und Wirtschafts-
geschichte, Wiesbaden 1987.
Friedrich BRUNS (t) u. Hugo UECZERKA, Hansische Handelstrassen
(Quellen und Darstellungen zur hansischen Geschichte, Neue Folge,
Band XIII, Teil 2), Weimar 1967, 35-122.
- 22 -
W ichtige Handdsstrassen zi c i sc hen Ost-If o rdsee, Adri ati sc hc m u nd L i gu ri sc hem Meer.
- 23 -
THE INVENTORY OF HISTORIC ROUTES IN SWITZERLAND (IVS) IN RELATION
TO THE SANTIAGO PILGRIM ROUTES
by H.P. SCHNEIDER (Switzerland)
The Inventory of Historic Routes in Switzerland (IVS) ,is
connected in two ways with the theme of this congress:
firstly, the pilgrim routes obviously form a large part of the
historic road network;
secondly, the Council of Europe's European cultural route
programme has been the decisive factor in promoting the idea of a
project aimed at researching and bringing back to life a Santiago
pilgrim route in Switzerland. This is the so-called "Obere
Strasse" running from Konstanz and Rorschach to Geneva via
Einsiedeln.
These two aspects, the Inventory of Historic Routes in
Switzerland and the "Obere Strasse" project are described below.
The Inventory of Historic Routes in Switzerland (IVS)
The IVS is an institution attached to the Geographical Institute
of the University of Bern. It was set up in 1984 by the Swiss
Government to prepare an inventory of historic routes in Switzerland.
The main aims of the IVS are:
to prepare the inventory within the time limit imposed by the
Swiss Government, i.e by 1995;
to promote historic routes on as large a scale as possible with
a view to their more effective protection.
The IVS was set up in application of the Federal Nature and
Landscape Conservation Act, under Section 5 of which the Swiss
Government must provide the cantons with information on which to base
their spatial planning decisions relating to nature and landscape
protection.
Under the terms of the above-mentioned act three main federal
inventories are currently under preparation: the ISOS (Inventory of
sites worthy of protection in Switzerland), the IFF (Federal inventory
of landscapes, sites and natural features of national importance) and
the IVS, which is basically concerned with he linear elements of the
cultural landscape.
We use both historical information and geographical and
morphological information in the course of our research.
This historical research is based on old maps, and plans from
various periods, iconographic sources and written sources. In
parallel with the historical research, part of the project involves
the systematic mapping of surviving sections and features of the
communications network on the ground, since the inventory is concerned
with communications routes which are still visible. It is necesary to
- 24 -
identify the various surfaces and types of construction, and features
of the communications network such as milestones, crosses, old toll
booths, chapels, hospitals etc. The final result of this work is a
network of routes which are still visible on the ground and worthy of
protection. A map showing part of the network of 19th century trade
routes in the canton of Graubiinden provides a good example of this
(figure 1).
Historic routes as a basis for the spatial planning of the future
This map shows that we are abandoning the present traditional
system in Europe of protecting particular sites in favour of the
linear protection of entire routes. In addition to isolated features
of the road network (churches, chapels or sections which are
particularly interesting from the morphological point of view), this
policy extends such protection to entire communications networks.
What is the political importance of this approach? Given that
the IVS is a legal planning instrument with binding force for the
federal authorities, all future road construction or land improvement
projects must take into account the historic network as the decisive
structural feature of the cultural landscape.
In future the new road network will have to be justified, at
least theoretically, in relation to the old network rather than the
reverse, which has been true in particular of Swiss spatial planning
practice - and I presume that of Europe as a whole. It is q uite
likely that there will be opposition, mainly on economic grounds, when
the first maps are published in 1989.
The presentation of this map during the congress can be justified
on two main grounds:
1. the map provides the first practical guidelines at European
level with regard to the future spatial planning process aimed
at giving greater consideration to the traditional cultural
landscape. This is of some importance in the light of the
efforts already undertaken by the Council of Europe on
both the Santiago pilgrim routes and the "European Campaign
for the Countryside" in order to preserve traditional
cultural assets;
2. with regard to the efforts to revitalise and protect the
Santiago pilgrim routes and features of the road system, one
can expect the same difficulties as with historic routes in
Switzerland.
Protection through revitalisation
Irrespective of legal considerations, historic routes will be
protected better if:
1. they are known (no protection without information)
2. they are used appropriately
3. they have a certain economic value, particularly in the field
of tourism.
We are trying to take these three points into consideration by
emphasizing the revitalisation of historic routes as footpaths seen as
an additional tourist attraction.
- 25 -
The example of the Stockalperweg over the Simplon Pass
Revitalisation of this 17th century track and all its associated
features as a historic footpath is a contribution to "green tourism".
The Stockalperweg was designated by Switzerland as a
"demonstration project" for the Council of Europe's European Campaign
for the Countryside (figure 2).
Starting from the Stockalperpalast in Brig, this cultural walk
takes us over well-preserved sections via the old staging post, where
goods used to be transferred, disused alpine mines and various other
features connected with the route as far as the staging post at
Gondo, near the Italian border (figures 3 to 5).
The "Grosse Walserweg" (Walser Trail) is a similar project drawn
up by the Swiss National Tourist Office.
The "Obere Strasse" Project
At the same time we are working on the footpath known as the
"Obere Strasse", from the church of St. James in Konstanz or Rorsehach
via Einsiedeln to Geneva. Our aim is to make a detailed and
scientific inventory of this route and revitalize it by creating a
direct and richly documented historic footpath. The IVS can play only
a restricted part in research into academic themes such as pilgrim
routes; we try to do this through a co-ordination service made up of
experts on this q uestion. A first meeting of the co-ordination
service has already been held. ""
At present the project is still in its early stages, and so I
will restrict my remarks to partially completed research. I will base
these remarks partly on the work of the IVS in general and secondly on
research rapidly completed by Heinrich Oberli of the IVS on the
Konstanz-Rapperswil and Rorschach-Einsiedeln sections, particularly in
relation to a land improvement project threatening the Santiago
pilgrim route.
Function and structure of the pilgrim routes
Research is restricted in particular to morphological and
topographical analyses on the ground and two deductions which can be
made from these about the function and structure of the pilgrim
routes. Before I say anything at all about the function and structure
of the roads in the early Middle Ages, I must ask you to imagine the
state and origins of the roads of the time.
The situation in Switzerland can be described, very
schematically, as follows:
most roads did not have a hard surface; this led to the formation
of hollow paths, typical of the Swiss plateau and Pre-Alps,
this phenomenon was even more pronounced where the ground was
steep and the sub-soil soft.
In bad weather the roads became q uagmires, causing frequent
changes of route and leading to the development of several alternative
routes through parallel hollow paths. In those days transport by
coach was rare, but there were many possible ways of transporting
goods on foot. Most of the time sumpters were used or, wherever
possible, navigable waterways.
- 26 -
The state of the roads merely reflected the inadeq uate
organisation of transport in those days. Maintenance of the roads was
mainly the responsibility of the local community. This duty, which
placed the burden.of road maintenance on those who used them most
often, dated back to the Roman practice of "collatio viae".
It was not only the state of the roads and lanes which
discouraged travel, but also social, economic and political
conditions. One of these factors, for example, was personal safety on
the roads: it is q uite easy to see that the hollow paths must have
provided ideal conditions for highway robbers. There were also
freq uent changes of political power in those days. Moreover, there
were many barriers (as we can see from a Bernese customs register for
the period 1279 to 1700) for the collection of a large number of taxes
of various kinds. All of this made travelling difficult.
Examples of taxes:
road maintenance tax,
bridge-tolls and other tolls, transport fees and charges,
tolls for the upkeep of roads which were expensive to maintain,
customs duties on goods,
customs duties in proportion to the weight and value of goods.
In short, considering the travelling conditions of the time, I
presume that neither the pilgrim's staff nor his scrip can have given
him any help whatsoever.
Most of these findings have been confirmed by Mr Oberli's field
work on the "Obere Strasse" from Konstanz to Einsiedeln via
Rapperswil. The roads of the period cannot be said to follow a single
route, but rather several parallel routes.
It is just as difficult to make a rigid separation between
military, economic or other functions. The existing roads were used
for all kinds of purposes. Numerous other features of the road
network, such as monasteries, hospices and bridges, provide obvious
landmarks (figures 6 to 10).
I intend to conclude with these general considerations, since our
research began relatively recently.
To sum up, I for my part would not go so far as Schopenhauer,
speaking of the importance of the Santiago pilgrim routes, but simply
say:
The Santiago pilgrim routes are not everything, but without Santiago
pilgrim routes everything is nothing.
Nevertheless, I am certain that with the support of the Council
of Europe the Santiago pilgrim routes can make a decisive contribution
to the conservation of European cultural assets. At this point, dear
pilgrims, I wish you a safe journey to Santiago de Compostela through
a Europe with a cultural heritage as carefully preserved as possible.
- 27 -
Figure 1 : 19th century trade routes in the canton of Graubunden
- 28 -
Figure 2 : Plan of che Scockalperweg
- 29 -
Figure 3 : The Simplon staging post
Figure 4 : Sections of the Stockalperweg
- 30 -
Figure 5 : Disused Alpine gold mine
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- 31 -
Figure 7 : The Devil's Bridge, Etzel pass
Figure 8 : Fischingen Abbey, Thurgau
- 32 -
sssssi s& s& g& tssi i i i
Figure 9 : The abbey at Einsiedeln
Fi g u r e 10
A s t a t u e of St James at Alt e ndor f
- 33 -
FOLLOWING IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE SANTIAGO PILGRIMS
IN THE UPPER RHINELAND
by Hedwig ROCKELEIN / Gottfried WENDLING .
(Federal Republic of Germany)
Surrounded by the summits of the Black Forest and the Vosges, the
Upper Rhineland stretches along the Rhine between Basle and Rastatt.
This region, which today is divided by political frontiers between
three countries - Switzerland, France and Germany - formed a single
whole from the political, economic and religious points of view until
the end of the 17th century.
Routes
There were several Roman North/South routes still partially used
in the Middle Ages. Along the slopes of the Vosges the most westerly
route led directly to the gateway to Burgundy and the road to Lyons
via Belfort. Whereas the direct Roman road avoided the settlements
between Strasbourg and Basle, the mediaeval route was diverted to pass
through towns such as Selestat, Colmar and Mulhouse.
Routes to the east via the Black Forest:
1. Freiburg - "Hollental" - Hufingen - Donaueschingen;
2. Strasbourg - Offenburg - the Kinzig Valley - Villingen;
3. Strasbourg - Durlach - Bruchsal - Cannstadt.
These routes were already in existence in Roman times. The most
important route was the one through Bruchsal, bypassing the Black
Forest. In the Middle Ages the Strasbourg - Oppenau - Kniebis
Freudenstadt route had not yet been opened up.
Routes out of the Rhine Valley towards the west:
1. Strasbourg - Saverne - Luneville - Saint Nicolas de Port -
Nancy;
2. Selestat - Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines - Saint Die;
3. Colmar - Kaysersberg - Col du Bonhomme - Saint Die.
After the Col du Bonhomme there was a route which branched off
towards the south-west via Gerardmer and Remiremont. The most
favourable route to the south-west was no doubt the old Roman road via
the gateway to Burgundy, which avoided all the Vosges passes.
In the Middle Ages the only bridges across the Rhine were at
Basle, Breisach and Strasbourg. Between these bridges people used
fords and ferries. In addition, the river itself was a route used,
for example, by many groups of pilgrims returning from Rome.
- 34 -
Accounts of the mediaeval pilgrims show that they mainly
followed the major trade routes. They might be induced to leave these
routes by: *'.
a. circumstances outside their control, such as wars, disease or
floods;
b. the desire to visit certain shrines situated at some distance
from the main routes (eg Einsiedeln, Thann or Mont-Sainte-Odile).
Lodgings
Most pilgrims had to depend on the charitable institutions of the
monastic communities, and later also on those of the towns. By the
early Middle Ages Benedictine communities had already begun to give
shelter to travellers and pilgrims; this was part of their acts of
charity. Sometimes the hospice was not directly next to the monastery
but slightly further on at the edge of the road (at Eschau, for
example). Often these monastic hospices were replaced by the
"Elendenherbergen" of the towns (eg at Selestat and Strasbourg).
The new religious orders of the 12th and 13th centuries took up
the tradition of lodging travellers and pilgrims; this applied, for
example, to the Franciscans at Kniebis, the Augustinian canons at
Truttenhausen near Mont-Sainte-Odile and at Saint-Arbogast in
Strasbourg, and the Order of Saint Anthony at Isenheim. In Haguenau a
hospice dedicated to Saint James was opened in 1374. This
"Elendenherberge" gave shelter to all pilgrims and travellers. On the
other hand, Saint Martin's hospital in Haguenau did not take in
pilgrims, even though the hospital church had an altar dedicated to
Saint James. Contemporary sources mention the existence of a Saint
James' hospital before the year 1222 at Urloffen, near Renchen in
Baden, but all further traces of this have been lost in the mists of
time. Nothing precise is known about its function.
The fact that a hospital or hospice was dedicated to a particular
saint does not tell us anything about its function, which can only
be elucidated by the written sources for each particular case. The
hospices, including those dedicated to Saint James, took in - at least
in the upper Rhineland - not only Santiago pilgrims but all other
pilgrims and all poor travellers.
Confraternities
There were 12 confraternities of Saint James in the upper
Rhineland, of which the following five can be studied from documentary
evidence: Waldshut (1513), Basle, St. Jakob an der Biirs (15th
century), Basle Saint Leonard (1480-1525), Kaysersberg (1494) and
Strasbourg (1484-1525).
The Waldshut shoemakers' guild took its name from the altar
dedicated to Saint James in the parish church. It was open to all and
its purpose was the salvation of its own members' souls. It had
nothing to do with the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela.
The same applies to the confraternity of Saint James at
Kaysersberg. Although there is other evidence for the existence of
pilgrims, there was no relation between these pilgrims and the
confraternity.
- 35 -
The Basle confraternity of St Jakob an der Birs was an
organisation for the inmates of a hospice for the incurably ill, all
citizens of Basle. The dedication was adopted from the nearby Saint
James's Chapel. To our knowledge, the confraternity of Saint James
and Saint Leonard in Basle, on which there are many surviving
documents, had nothing to do with the Santiago pilgrimage although the
iconographic material portrays the apostle as a pilgrim.
In the documents of the Strasbourg confraternity we find for the
first time advice for pilgrims. In this case the president- of the
confraternity had no doubt made the pilgrimage to Santiago. But these
regulations were valid only for him, not for the other members of the
eight-man committee (the "Achter") and the ordinary members of the
confraternity. Here again, assistance to pilgrims passing through
Strasbourg was not one of the confraternity's objectives. In any
case, the alms it distributed to pilgrims were very meagre.
Summary
According to the available information, the confraternities of
Saint James known to have assisted in the upper Rhineland were
associations organised for the purpose of prayer for the souls of the
dead. In short, they were not confraternities of Santiago pilgrims
for Santiago pilgrims. We must therefore conclude that - at least as
far as the upper Rhineland is concerned - the confraternities of Saint
James were of no importance to the pilgrimage to Santiago de
Compostela.
With regard to pilgrims' hospices, the picture is similar. Of
course, it was possible for poor strangers, travellers and pilgrims to
spend the night in hospices in all towns and fairly large villages.
These hospices were also found along the communication routes, most of
them maintained by religious institutions. None of these hospices was
reserved exclusively for Santiago pilgrims. In the upper Rhineland it
can be proved that there was no special infrastructure for the
latter. But was such an infrastructure really necessary? And, above
all, were there really large numbers of Santiago pilgrims here in the
upper Rhineland? Were the Santiago pilgrims not simply part of the
immense crowd which thronged the roads - merchants from near and far,
beggars and rogues, noble travellers, peasants perhaps making their
way to market, mercenaries and wandering monks, refugees from war or
plague, outlaws and ... pilgrims? Pilgrims making their way to and
from all kinds of shrines including, among many others, the Santiago
pilgrims.
To date, in the upper Rhineland, we have not found any evidence
to show that there was a very large number of pilgrims, whether of
local origin, or passing through, either i'n documents or (for example)
the various chronicles.
Of course, in this region, there is a great deal of evidence of
the cult of Saint James, whether in the form of churches or altars,
statues, crosses, place names or roads. However, these are evidence
of the cult of Saint James in general rather than evidence of the
pilgrimage routes. The term Santiago pilgrim route properly applies
only to those mediaeval or modern routes closely associated in
function with the cult of Saint James or the Santiago pilgrimage. In
the upper Rhineland, at least, such routes do not exist.
- 36 -
That is why we remain sceptical about the Council of Europe
project entitled "Santiago de Compostela European cultural route". It
is unreasonable to interpret any evidence of the cult of Saint James
as proof of the existence of a pilgrimage route. It would be much
more sensible to include in the same way all aspects of the cult of
Saint James and, where this is still possible, protect them and
maintain them as historic monuments. This objective would of course
have to involve conservation of former sections of the route, as is
already being attempted in Switzerland. On the other hand, a European
network of. so-called Santiago pilgrim routes would be more likely to
camouflage the evidence, which varies from region to region and from
one historical period to another.
The "camino frances" in Spain is a uniq ue feature which cannot be
reproduced, and which finally becomes - at Santiago de Compostela - a
broad river fed by many small springs. Each one of these springs was
a pilgrim, with his own route, setting off from his own house and
returning to it, God willing. Pilgrims, the true protagonists of
cultural exchange in Europe, with their hopes, adventures and
experiences, and their religious and spiritual outlook, are in danger
of being forgotten in the research on the Santiago pilgrim routes.
-
37
-
A FRESH APPROACH TO THE "PILGRIM'S GUIDE TO THE VAY OF
ST. JAMES OF COMPOSTELA"
by Andre de MANDACH (Switzerland)
Until now the development of the Pilgrim's Guide of Saint James
during the 12th century has not succeeded in arousing much enthusiasm.
But only an interdisciplinary and European approach can
provide a detailed picture of the Santiago macrocosm, and for this
purpose it is important to have a good understanding of the successive
microcosms.
There are four major q uestions.
I. Can the Guide's development be divided into four stages?
II. Can the existence of these four versions be proved by studying
the variants?
III. Does the fourth version, dating from 1159-64, in the cathedral of
Santiago de Compostela, contain four interpolations, including
two major additions on Saint-Gilles du Card and Vezelay? In
addition, had the third Santiago pilgrim route been extended to
Vezelay whereas in previous versions it had started only at
Perigueux?
IV. What do the successive versions of the Guide tell us about the
history of art, dance and liturgy?
These essential problems req uire careful attention. In order to
retain an element of "suspense", I will not reveal my findings until
the end of this paper.
I. THE FOUR VERSIONS OF THE BOOK OF SAINT JAMES
1. First version. The "Book of Saint James" A, earlier than 1139
This "Book of Saint James" contains:
a. Epistle attributed to Calixtus II
b. Miracles of Saint James
c. Translation of Saint James
d. Liberation of Spain by Charlemagne and Roland ordered by Saint
James (chronicle attributed to Turpin)
e. Appendix C to this chronicle
.This version englobes the oldest text, the A text of the
pseudo-Turpin, and contains not a single trace of any pilgrim's
guide (1).
2. Second version. 1139. Vezelay-Compostela. Aimeri Picaud:
second edition of the "Book of Saint James"
- 38 -
On top of parts a. to c. mentioned above and a reworked
version (the D text) plus e. of the Turpin, this version contains
four additions:
f. Shrines of the holy martyrs of the 3rd century.
The four routes from the South of France and Tours
g. Passion of St Eutropius of Saintes (fourth route)
h. Three pilgrim hymns by Aimeri Picaud
i. Bull of Innocent II. Vezelay, 1139
Safe conduct for Picaud: the eight previous texts are authentic.
It should be emphasized that f. is the only Santiago pilgrim's
guide which achieved any currency outside the Iberian Peninsula (2).
3. Third version. Circa 1154 (?), Compostela-Alcobaca.
Third edition of the "Book of Saint James"
The only surviving copy of this Santiago pilgrim's guide is
contained in MS Alcobaca 334 (Portuguese National Library, Lisbon),
fol. 106 v. - 219 r. An edition of this version, which has not
previously been published, is being prepared by Hans-Wilhelm Klein and
myself. Five other texts have been added to it. It contains new
variants of the Turpin (d) and the Guide (g) which later became the
basis of the fourth version (3).
4. Fourth version. 1158-64. By "HA" of Compostela.
Fourth edition
Of this version too there is only one surviving complete
manuscript, the "Book of Saint James", kept in the archives of the
cathedral of Compostela. Between the death of Alfonso VII "el
Emperador" in 1157 and 1164 a copyist now referred to as "HA"
(Hamel-A) reorganised and copied the various elements of his model,
which must have been similar to the Alcobaca text, producing the
following five books:
I. Office
II. The Miracles
III. The Translation
IV. The Chronicle of Charlemagne and Roland (Pseudo-Turpin)
V. The Pilgrim's Guide
The manuscript also contains texts on a variety of subjects not
copied by HA. Shortage of space prevents me from listing these here (4)
The Pilgrim's Guide of the fourth version
This is a hotch-potch concocted by HA of Compostela circa 1164.
A. Introduction emphasising the Spanish sections and the Tours route
Chapters 1-6. Routes, halting places, favourable and
unfavourable watercourses.
- 39 -
B. The four French routes of the Santiago Pilgrims
Chapter
Basques.
the honest Poitevins and the wicked Gascons and
Chapter 8a: development of f. - the shrines, with extension of
route III from Perigueux to Vezelay (four interpolations).
Chapter 8b: g. Passion of St Eutropius of Saintes
C. Compostela; the canons, the cathedral, pilgrims' safe conduct
Chapters 9-11.
Part A takes up a. q uarter of the guide, the rest being divided
equally between parts B and C. This guide is a "museum" containing
texts which each have their own date of composition and their own
author. Only part B is known to have existed before the 1160s, around
the time when the second version, the Picaud-Vezelay version, was
written. If this is the work of Aimeri Picaud, a Poitevin and priest
at Saint-Pere sous Vezelay, it is surprising that route III of the
1139 text begins only in Perigueux (rather than in Vezelay, as it does
in the text of HA written at least 20 years later).
HA unwisely attributed the whole of the foreword to his guide to
Pope Calixtus II (1119-1124). Various other tales are attributed to
Calixtus II, his chancellor Aimeric (who served under various popes
from 1123-1141) or to both together. On this point Berbers q uotes
Abbe Pierre David, who considered these attributions to be additions
by the final copyist (HA), who was well aware of the importance of
Calixtus and his chancellor for the bishopric/archbishopric of
Compostela (5).
It would be absurd to regard this HA guide, which is such a
motley collection, as the work of a single author. It would be even
more
;
incautious to attribute it in its entirety to the worthy Father
Aimeri Picaud.
It is regrettable that nobody has studied the D and Alcobaca
manuscripts, which would teach us a lot about those who amended them.
Many scholars, for example, have fallen into the trap and opted for
Father Picaud, who made the pilgrimage to Compostela with his
concubine Flandrine (Flandrensis) in the years 1139-40. Study of the
"Book of Saint James" by HA of Compostela and its fifth volume, the
museum-like pilgrim's guide, has all the aspects of a lucky dip! There
are therefore four versions of the "Book of Saint James". The first
is composed of the texts centring on the pseudo-Turpin (before 1139),
the second being the D-Vezelay-Picaud version (1139), the third the
D200-Alcobaca version (circa 1154) and the fourth the HA-Compostela
version (1158-1164). It is important to record the changes made to
the original text and accordingly examine the variants and
interpolations, which tell us a great deal about those who introduced
them.
II. DEVELOPMENT OF THE VARIANTS
I have used a table in seven columns to set out the variants.
The first gives the reference number, while the second and third list
the positions of the passages in q uestion in the Alcobaca and
Compostela manuscripts. In columns 4-6 I have set out the variants of
- 40 -
the second to fourth versions. Lastly, in the seventh column, I have
included my own commentary." To include the table would exceed the
limits of this paper. I can, however, simply point out that the
errors of the third and fourth versions and their additions are
manifest (6).
III. THE FOUR INTERPOLATIONS IN THE FOURTH VERSION
The four interpolations made by HA to the traditional text of (f)
relate to the two masterpieces of the new wave of Romanesq ue art,
Saint-Gilles and Vezelay, and to Bordeaux and Santo Domingo de la
Calzada. The first two are lengthy interpolations, the last two very
brief. The following references are to the Vielliard edition:
A. Saint-Gilles du Card, 36.28 - 46.14
B. Vezelay and Saint-Leonard de Noblat, 50.17 - 56.16
C. Saint-Seurin, Bordeaux, 80.3 - 80.5 (18 words)
D. Santo Domingo de la Calzada, 80.15 - 80.17 (22 words)
Whereas the short pilgrim's guide (f) followed immediately after
the Pseudo-Turpin and its description of Saint-Seurin, Bordeaux,
Chapter8(a)of the new pilgrim's guide in book V comes after a
long gap. It therefore proved necessary to complete this new guide by
inserting a brief reminder about the shrine visited by those pilgrims
travelling via Bordeaux.
When the first pilgrim's guide (f) was written, the church of
Santo-Domingo de la Calzada was still not widely known. In 1076 this
Saint Dominicus had built a bridge and a small section of the Santiago
pilgrim route in west Navarre for Alfonso VI. King Alfonso had at
that time just taken part in the occupation by Castile of this region,
situated between Najera and Burgos. However, the first small church
was not consecrated until 1106, by the Bishop of Calahorra-Najera.
Around 1160 the prestige of Saint Dominicus, the builder of the
pilgrims' road, increased considerably. In about the period 1160 to
1164 it was therefore necessary to bring the guide up to date (7).
A. Saint-Gilles du Card
The interpolation on Saint-Gilles is divided into three parts:
a. The life of Saint Giles, the miracle which God performed for
Saint Giles and Charlemagne, pardoning the emperor's sin of incest
with his sister (siring of Roland): 36.28 - 40.16
b. The saint's reliq uary, detailed description of this marvel of
Romanesq uear~ tfromaround the middle of the 12th century:
40.16 - 46.5
c.
the
Tirades against various "enemies", vituperative attacks on
Sf
Magyars, Chamalieres("Haiite-Loire), Sainte-Seine (diocese of
Dijon), the Cotentin and Cambrai: 46.5 - 46.14.
This interpolation takes into account the building, at about the
middle of the 12th century, of the admirable church of the abbey of
Saint-Gilles, with its majestic crypt, the latest word in Romanesq ue
art (8).
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- 43 -
B. Vezelay and Saint-Leonard de Noblat
This is the longest interpolation. It extends the third
Santiago pilgrim route from Perigueux to Saint-Leonard de Noblat and
Vezelay. .
a. : It first provides a description of.the abbey church of Vezelay
and relates the translation of the body of St Mary 'Magdalene by
Badilon from Aix-en-Provence to Vezelay: 50.17 - 52.13.
b. The second part describes the abbey of Saint-Leonard de Noblat,
on the pilgrim .route from Vezelay to Perigueux, and makes offensive
insinuations against the abbey of Saint-Leonard de Corbigny (Nievre),
in which the monks of Corbigny are alleged to have seized possession,
of the relics of Saint-Leonard in order to attract pilgrims to their
monastery.
The addition of the section on Vezelay has historical reasons.
The abbey church of Vezelay was destroyed by fire in 1120. In 1132
the altars of a new.church were consecrated, but work on the fabric
and sculptures,continued well into the second half of the 12th century
(9). In 1139 it was therefore premature to highlight Vezelay as a
pilgrimage centre. At about 1160, on the other hand, it was necessary
to include a description of this, the latest product of the new wave
of Romanesque art.
Similarly, until about 1120, Saint-Leonard de Corbigny was only a
simple priory of the Carolingian abbey of Flavigny. It subseq uently
became an independent abbey and later appropriated the relics of
Saint Leonard. It was only some time later that its success gave rise
to criticism. The latest artistic trends and the bitter criticisms
contained in the interpolations are new elements in the Guide,
elements not found in the first versions of the text.
What do these interpolations tell us about the history of art,
theatre and liturgy? This q uestion deserves a provisional answer.
IV. THE THREE GENERATIONS OF THE GREAT PILGRIMAGE CENTRES
Barral y Altet and Gaborit-Chopin have demonstrated the existence
of three generations of great Romanesque churches.
A. The first generation
The first generation came into being between 1060 and 1080 on the
Santiago pilgrim routes and includes the churches of Saint-Martin in
Tours, Saint-Martial in Limoges, Sainte-Foy in Conques, Saint-Sernin
in Toulouse and Saint James in Compostela. All these shrines have
threefold or fivefold naves, towers on the west front and above all an
ambulatory. Until the 19th century this was called a "carole", and it
could be used for processions or liturgical dances performed "en
tresse" (in plaits) and referred to in fact as "caroles". Further
details relating to Saint-Riq uier (Centula) and Sainte-Foy de Conques
are given in my 1979 and 1985 publications and in Robert Lafont's 1987
work (see bibliography). A new performance of the "tresse" (plait) of
Sainte-Foy de "Conques will be presented on the pilgrim routes by a
Barcelona group set up by Robert Lafont (Montpellier) in 1989 (10).
- 44 -
B. The second generation
' i '
The second generation dates from shortly "before or shortly after
the First Crusade, launched by Urban II. This type has only one very
broad nave, with Venetian, Byzantine or Oriental style cupolas.
Examples include Pamplona, Perigueux and Le Puy. Cluny III, financed
by the benefactions of Alfonso VI, is of the same type (11).
C. The third generation
The third generation appeared in Burgundy, particularly at
Vezelay. The churches of this..type belong to. an opposing tradition,
that of Anzy-le-Duc, in which horizontal rather than vertical lines
dominate (12).
The first two versions'Of the "Pilgrim's Guide to the way of
Saint James" both reveal a unitary approach from the historical,
architectural, liturgical and choreographical points of view. The
third .stage version broadens this framework through the introduction,
about 1160, of the third generation in a motley, museum-like
collection concocted by the late compiler HA.
An interdisciplinaryapproach to these three generations leads us
on an extraordinary journey through space and time, and from shrine to
shrine, those symbolic places which for many centuries have made the
Santiago pilgrim routes what they are.
- 45 -
NOTES
1. Mandach 1961, 91-99, 364-369; Mandach 1990, ch-. V.
2. Mandach 1961, 106-126, 373-376, especially 373; Mandach 1969,
811-837, g) Passion of Saint Eutropius of Saintes; Mandach
1970, 62-69. A. The place name Elle-poselle is derived
from the Latin ILLA-PULCELLA (Saint Eustella).
3. Mandach 1961, 301, 378.
4. Whitehill 1944; Hamel 1965; Berbers 1984; Klein 1986;
Berbers 1986; Vielliard 1938; Romero de Lecea 1971.
Several folios by HA have been replaced by folios copied
by another copyist. Berbers 1986, 19 n 2, 98 n 72,
103 n 93, 124 n 193, 127 n 211.
5. Berbers 1986, especially 87 et No 7.
6. Mandach 1969, 811-827.
7. Hell 1979, Nos 112-117.
8. Barral i Altet 1984, 7, 92, 300; Hell 1979, 134 Nos 64-66.
9. Richter 1979, 120-1145; Barral i Altet 1984, 472a, figs. 27,
64, 65.
10. Clapham 1936; Barral i Altet 1984 (with bibliography);
Mandach 1979-Contribution, Mandach 1979-La 'Chanson',
33-43; Mandach 1984, 717-728; Mandach 1986, 17-46; Lafont
1987, 21-26.
11. Clapham 1936; the publications of Georges Gaillard; Goni
Gaztambide 1949, 385-389.
12. Richter 1979, especially 59-76, 120-145.
- 46 -
SHORT BIBLIOGRAPHY
BARRAL I ALTET, Xavier; Avril, Francois; Gaborit-Chopin, Danielle,
Le monde roman, 1060-1220; Les royaumes d'Occident. Vol II:
I/Europe septentrionale et occidentale,Gallimard,Paris,1984;
idem, Romanische Kunst. Zveiter Band; Nord- und Westeuropa,
1060-1220, Beck, Munchen, 1984.
CLAPHAM, Alfred W., Romanesq ue Architecture in Western Europe,
Oxford, 1936.
DIAZ y DIAZ, Manuel, El codice calixtino de la catedral de
Santiago, Estudio codicologico y de contenido,con lacolaboracion
deMariaAraceli Garcia Pifieiro y Pilar delOro Trigo, Centro de
estudios jacobeos, Santiago de Compostela, 1988, 359 p., pi.
(Monografias de Compostelanum 2). [The author has kindly sent me
this important book after the Congress in Schney Castle, and I was
thus unable to make use of it]
GIL MUNILLA, Ladislao (Universidad de Zaragoza y Haro), "El Pseudo-
Turpin de Compostela (Su valoracion historico-cultural en base a los
estudios filologicos de Hamel y Mandach)," Cuadernos de
Filologia del Colegio Universitario de Logrono (en prensa).
GONI GAZTAMBIDE, J., "La fecha de construction y consagracion de la
catedral romanica de Pamplona", in: Principe de Viana 10 (1949),
385-389.
HAMEL, Adalbert, Per Pseudo-Turpin von Compostela, Aus dem
Nachlass herausgegeben von Andre de Mandach. Sitzungsberichte der
!!
id* Bayenschen Akademle der Wissenschaften, phil. hist. Klasse, 1965,
Heft 1, Beck, MUnchen.
HELL, Vera und Hellmuth, Die grosse Wallfahrt des Mittelalters,
Kunst an den romanischen Pilgerstrassen durch Frankreich und
Spanien nach Santiago de Compostela,Wasmuth,Tubingen,1979.
HERBERS, Klaus, Der Jakobskult des 12. Jhs. und der 'Liber sancti
Jacobi'. Studien ilber das Verhaltnis zvischen Religion und
T554 GesellschafT
Forschungen 7).
im hohen Mittelalter,Wiesbaden, (Hist.
HERBERS, Klaus, Der Jakobsveg. Mit einem mittelalterlichen
PilgerfOhrer untervegs nach Santiago de Compostela,GunterNarr,
TUbingen, 1986, 189 sT, Karte.
KLEIN, Hans-Wilhelm, Die Chronik Kacls des Grossen un Roland.
Ediert, kommentiert und Ubersetzt von H.- W.i TFi nk, MUnchen, 1986,
193 S.
LAFONT, Robert, "A propos des travaux d'A. de Mandach: 'mystere
primitif et danse ceremonielle" [de Sainte Foy a Conques], in:
Aubailly, Jean-Claude, ed, European Medieval Theatre. Theatre
Medieval Europeen. Bulletin de la Societ6 Internationale pour
1'Etude du Thektre Medieval 2 (1987), 21-26.
- 47 -
MANDACH, Andre de, j.Naissance et developpement de la chanson de
geste en Europe; I, La Geste de Charlemagne et de Roland, Droz,
Geneva, 1961 (PRF 69), 462 p., ill. maps.
MANDACH, Andre de, "La genese du Guide de pelerin de Saint-Jacques,
Orderic Vital et la date de la Geste de Guillaume", in: Melanges
offerts a Rita Lejeune, Gembloux, 1969, II, 811-827.
MANDACH, Andre de,
franco-occitan inedit 'Lee': a la decouverte
Chroniq ue dite Saintongeaise. Texte
d'une chroniq ue
gasconne du Xllle siecle et de sa poitevinisation, Beihefte zur
ZRP 120, Niemeyer, Tubingen, 1970, 364 p., map.,. ,
MANDACH, Andre de, "Contribution a 1'histoire du theatre en Rouergue
au Xle siecle: un mystere de Sainte Foy?'
1
in: Giraud, Yves, ed,
La vie theatrale dans les provinces du Midi. Actes du lie
Collogue de Grasse, 1976, Gunter
Place, Paris, 1979, 15-32, 5 ill.
Narr, Tubingen; Jean-Michel
MANDACH, Andre de, "La 'Chanson de Sainte Foy' en occitan: chanson de
geste, mystere ou 'theatre de danse'?", in: Giraud, Yves, ed,
ibid, 33-43, 6 ill.
MANDACH, Andre de, "Pour une nouvelle conception du devenir des.
genres: le role du theatre", Atti del IVe Colloquio della Societe
Internationale pour 1'Etude du Theatre Medieval, Viterbo,
July 1984, a cura di M Chiabo et al., Centro di Studi
Medioevale e Rinascimentale, Viterbo, 1984, 717-728.
sul Teatro
MANDACH, Andre de, "Le role du theatre dans une nouvelle conception
des genres", in Actes du XVIIe Congres International de
Linguistiq ue et de Philologie Romanes, Aix-en-Provence, 1983,
Universite de Provence, Aix-en-Provence, 8 (1986), 27-46, ill.
MANDACH, Andre de, "Neues zum Pilgerfuhrer der Jakobsvege", in :
Plotz, Robert, Herausgeber, Internationale Tagung zu den Jakobsvegen
in Europa (Schloss Schney, 28. Sept. - 1. Okt 1988), Deutsche St.
Jakobus-Gesellschaft e.V.,
Druck]
Aachen, 1989 (Jacobus-Studien, Band 2) [im
MANDACH, Andre de, Naissance et developpement de la chanson de
geste en Europe; VI, Chanson de Roland, Transferts de mythe dans
le monde occidental et oriental, Droz, Geneva [in preparation]
[1990].
RICHTER, Gottfried, Romanisches Burgund, Zur Geschichte des.
christlichen Abendlandes, Urachhaus, Stuttgart, 1979, 166 S., ill.
ROMERO DE LECEA, C, Libro de peregrinacion del Codice Calixtino,
Madrid, 1971. .
VIELLIARD, Jeanne, ed, Le Guide du pelerin de Saint-Jacq ues de
Compostelle. Texte latin du Xlle siecle, edition et traduction
francaises d'apres les mss. de Compostelle et de Ripoll, Macon,
1938, 1981.
WHITEHILL, Walter M, Libro Sancti lacobi, Codex Calixtinus; I,
Texto, Santiago de Compostela, 1944.
- 48 - .
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CAMINO DE SANTIAGO IN CASTILE AND LEON
BETWEEN 850 AND 1050
by Fernando LOPEZ ALSINA (Spain)
The idea underlying the content of this communication is that
the Camino or Caminos de Santiago have reached out over a good part of
Europe through a process of varied chronology and significance whose
social, economic, political, artistic, cultural and spiritual
consequences for the various segments of the Camino have differed
widely from one age to another from the 9th century to the present
day. Within this approach, I should like to make some points
concerning the first two centuries of the development of the
westernmost stretch of the Camino, which runs across the north of the
Iberian Peninsula through the ancient kingdoms of Navarre, Castile and
Leon.
The definitive recognition of this stretch of the Camino
between Roncesvalles and Santiago is placed in the year 1035, a t t h e
latest, by the so-called Cronica Silense, which was written around
1110. According to the chronicle, Sancho III, King of Navarre between
1000 and 1035, ruled with authority throughout the lands between the
Pyrenees and the Castle of Najera, so that the Pamplona-Estella-
Logrono-Najera-Burgos stretch of the Camino became safe against the
Muslim attacks that had until then Ie3to the threatened pilgrims
taking a detour through Alava (1). This passage from the chronicle
makes it clear that by 1035 at the very latest, pilgrims to Santiago
were already taking what was basically the classical route through the
northern Peninsula from Roncesvalles to Burgos - a route which in many
stretches followed the ancient Roman road from Bordeaux to Asseconia
via Astorga and Lugo (2). However, although the Cronica Silense fixes
the Camino geographically, the earliest known record i nwhi ch the
pilgrims' route is explicitly said to be known as the Camino de
Santiago is a document dated 1047 that mentions the foundationor!a
hospital in Arconada, Palencia, on the way to Santiago (3). This way
of defining the hospital's location is extraordinarily revealing,
since it shows that of all the possible destinations for travellers
setting out from Roncesvalles (among them Pamplona, Najera, Burgos and
Leon), it was the name of just one, Santiago, that had by 1050 become
associated with the whole route; an entire network of roads, most of
it very ancient, was henceforth to be identified as the Camino de
Santiago in preference to all other cities to which it gave access,
fReemergence of this collective notion is only explicable as the
result of intense peregrination for many years having cemented the
association between Santiago and an ancient, largely Roman road.
How is it possible for the Camino de Santiago to have become
consolidated geographically, and for the collective identification of
this physical route and the pilgrims' destination to have become
established in the short two hundred year span between the mid 9th and
the mid llth centuries? Part of the explanation lies in the plans of
the ecclesiastics of Santiago, who right since the first half of the
9th centruy had cherished the idea of a great western Europe to take
part in it. Let us see what basis there is for this view.
- 49 -
In about 825, Bishop Teodomiro of Iria discovered a small
construction thatj he claimed, housed the tomb of the Apostle St.
James. The cult of the tomb was organized, or as would be said
"renewed", in a church built for the purpose nearby. The q uestion
inevitably prompted by this cult and by the very attribution of the
sepulchre to Santiago was how and when the body of the Apostle had
come to Galicia. We do not know what answer of a strictly historical
nature was given to this q uestion, or whether indeed the issue was
even thought of in these terms. What has come down to us is a version
of the translatio that, like much other mediaeval hagiography, is
fraught with resort to miracles and divine intervention, perhaps due
simply to a lack of hard facts to relate (4). Once divested of the
supernatural adornments proper to mediaeval mentality, this first
known account of the translatio nevertheless proves to contain
elements suggesting that the translating did not take place
immediately following the Apostle's martyrdom, but several centuries
later, in about the year 500. The account reads roughly as follows.
"In nomine Dei. Leon, Bishop of Jerusalem, to the Kings of the
Franks, Vandals, Goths and Romans. We' announce the removal of the
body of the Most Holy Apostle James, brother of the Apostle John the
Evangelist. . Here in Jerusalem he was beheaded by order of King Herod
and his body was removed in a vessel steered by the hand of God. After
seven days' sailing, the vessel brought up between two rivers named
the Ulla and the Sar, at the place called Bisria. From here the holy
body was transported up through the air towards the sun. His
disciples, sorrowing for the loss of the body, went 12 miles weeping
and praying to God until they came to the spot where the holy body is
buried beneath marble arches. The three disciples who were buried
with him, whose names are Torq uato, Tisefonte and Anastasius, remained
beside the body and through the merits of the Apostle St. James slew
the dragon of Mount Illicine, which is thereafter called the Holy
Mount. The other four disciples returned to Jerusalem in the vessel
steered by the hand of God and related all this to us in a synod. May
you and all Christianity that dwell there give thanks and pray to God
because verily lies hidden there the body of the Apostle St. James
(5)."
Rather than with the text of this epistle, and with what it
may contain of fact or fancy, our interest lies with the way in which
it was deliberatly used to stimulate pilgrimage to Compostela. It is
known that Alfonso II of Asturias, in whose reign the sepulchre was
found, maintained diplomatic contacts with Charlemagne, and that
Carolingian Europe very soon knew of the discovery. The following
text, containing martyrologie, is from about the year 860.
"Hujus beatissimi apostoli sacra ossa ad Hispanias translata
et in ultimis earum finibus, videlicet contra mare Britannicum
condita, celeberrima illarum gentium veneratione excoluntur" (6). The
revealing feature of this text is its mention of the translatio and of
a celeberrima veneratione, for, in my view, this makes it probable
that its author was already acq uainted with the'epistle of Bishop Leon
of Jerusalem; and if accordingly seems certain that both Alfonso II of
Asturias and the ecclesiastics of Santiago took particular interest in
airing throughout western Europe the news of the sepulchre's discovery
and the explanatory epistle of Bishop Leon. Having established the
cult of the Apostle's tomb, they recognized the desirability of
promoting the pilgrimage of Franks, Vandals, Goths and Romans -
western Christianity in its entirety - so as thereby to strengthen
decisively the links between the Kingdom of Asturias and the rest of
- 50 -
9th century Christian Europe. Compostela and'the tomb of the'Apostle
were seen as the key to a foreign policy seeking'- support from the
north. The miraculous discovery of the body of St. James the Apostle
in the Galician finis terrae and the equally miraculous account of its
arrival there .were to spur the Christian world -to throng to
Compostela, drawn by the glamour of the prodigies that, according to
the 12th,century Historia Compostellana, abounded from the very moment
of the holy tomb's discovery (7).
Though the ecclesiastic and secular powers were thus fully
aware of the significance of the sepulchre and its potential as a
centre of pilgrimage, the political circumstances of the Kindgbm of
Asturias in the first half of the 9th century nevertheless hampered
the realization of this project. Most of what became the classical
Camino de Santiago, through the northern Iberian Peninsula lay beyond
the boundaries of the territory held secure by the Christian nucleus
of Asturias To travel across the meseta along the ancient
strata running from Bordeaux to Braga via Astorga, though not
impossible, was a perilous enterprise. Since the Muslim invasion of
711, the lands between the Cantabrian mountains and the River Douro
had suffered great changes: by 750, if not before, ancient cities such
as Amaya Patricia, Virovesca, Clunia, Segisamo, Pallantia, Legio and
Asturicahadvirtually become ghost towns(8),fortheC hristian
princes of the weak Asturias deliberatley sought the creation of a
depopulated buffer zone to absorb Muslim attacks. Between 750 and 850
the northern meseta was ruled over by neither Asturians nor Muslims
(9). The expansion of the Kingdom of Asturias, which both reconq uered
and repeopled the meseta, did not begin until 850, and it was only
then that the Camino de Santiago became an internal artery of
vital importance for the development of the kingdom.
From the reign of Alfonso III (866-910), the Apostle was
associated with the expansion of Asturias as patron saint and' chief
heavenly intercessor for both king and kingdom. The first advocates
and principal promoters of this link were evidently the clergy
entrusted with custody of the Apostle's tomb, who were the material
authors of the royal diplomas recording the Leonese monarchs'
donations to the church in Compostela - donations that were often
justified precisely on the basis of this patronage (10). Eventually,
the Apostle came to be seen as a miles Christi. Though the actual
political practice of the Leonese kings often paid little attention to
the objectives suggested by the various ecclesiastical factions, as is
witnessed by the political alliances into which they entered, the idea
of the crusade was nevertheless being forged throughout this period;
in Carolingian legend the dilatatio achieved by force of arms in the
Iberian Peninsula was already fully identified with the ideal of
"liberating" the tomb of the Apostle and the Camino d'e Santiago from
the sway of Islam.
By about the year 923, the repopulation of the meseta had
brought the classical Camino de Santiago from Roncesvalles to
Compostela under the full control o f t h e Leonese, Castilans and
Navarrese. The southward advance had invaribaly been swifter and
sooner in the west: in the Leonese region, a band of Asturians
descended the River Esla to Le6n as early as 845 (though the city's
definitive recovery did not take place until 856); Asturica Augusta
was repeopled in about 850 by emigrants from El Bierzo; and by the end
of the 9th century the occupation of Zamora, Simancas, Duefias and Toro
- 51 -
had established a line of defensive fortresses along the River Douro.
Shortly afterwards, the repopulation of the Castilian sector was
initiated by the local counts: Rodrigo recovered Amaya .Patricia in
860; Auca, Castrum Sigerici and Ubierna were rebuilt; Burgos was
founded in 884; and Roa, Osma, Clunia and San Esteban de Gormaz on the
Castilian Douro were reached in the year 912. Finally, by 925 Sancho
Garces I of Navarre had recovered Navarre (11).
Though the territorial expansion of the Christian kingdoms
naturally enhanced the safety of east-west travel across the northern
meseta, thereby contributing to the geographical .and conceptual
consolidation of the Camino de Santiago, _ the essential role in
this process must be attributed'to the pilgrims themselves, who may
justly be said to have been the true artifices of the Gamino..
Documentary evidence concerning pilgrim traffic in the 9th and 1.0th"
century is nevertheless extraordinarily scant, though eloq uent and
significant when indirect mention is weighed together with the
occasional direct references. Foremost among the latter, from the
year 886 in the reign of Alfonso III of Asturias, the berieficaries
listed in the diplomas of royal donations to the'Church in Santiago
customarily included that peregrin! who had not been mentioned during;
the three preceding reigns and it is difficult' to imagine large
numbers of travellers braving the road to a remote corner of late 9th
century Galicia for any reason not directly connected with the cult of
the Apostle's tomb (12). The commencement of their appearance in the
diplomas furthermore coincided with the initiation of the extension of
the original church of Santiago to make it the largest edifice ever
produced by pre-Romanesq ue Asturian architecture.
That the finding of the tomb and the story of the translatio
had aroused vivid interest north of the Pyrenees is testified to by
evidence of 10th century contacts between Compostela and the cities of
Tours, Limoges and Le Puy, all three of which came to be important
points on different branches of the Chemin de St. Jacq ues in southern
France. In Saint-Marcial, Limoges, there is a copy of Bishop Leon's
epistle with characters in the 10th century Visigothic style (13); in
the year 906, Alfonso III addressed a letter to the clergy and people
of Tours in reply to the Tours ecclesiastics' inq uiries concerning the
sepulchre of the Apostle (14); and Bishop Gotescalco of Le Puy is
known to have himself made a pilgrimage to Compostela before the year
951 (15).
The first century of pilgrimage to Santiago is for the modern
historian a totally anonymous phenomenon. The first pilgrim from
beyond the Pyrenees whose name is known as a Frank called Bretenaldo
whose humble station is witnessed by his having built a "curtis" with
his own hands (16). After 950 there are records identifying an
increasing number of pilgrims, such as Hugo de Vermandois, Archbishop
of Rheims, who journeyed to Compostela in 961; but most of the pilgrim
traffic remained undocumented both as regards the identity of the
pilgrims and their numbers. The best evidence of the growing,
intensity of this traffic is that throughout the 10th century the
ecclesiastical authorities of Santiago avidly sought the donation of
possessions along the pilgrim route. These points of logistic support
included the monastery of Triacastela and Portomarin, acq uired in 922
and 993 respectively; several villae in Vega de Valcarce; land
beside the River Orbigo; a number of cortes in Leon; and in 1028
the villa of Ledigos near Carrion de los Condes, almost 400 km
from Compostela (17).
- 52 -
By the year 1050, that part of the Camino de Santiago that
runs across the meseta had thus become definitivelyestablished, not
merely as a pilgrim way but as a major artery whose stream of goods,
persons and news was vital to the life of Castile and Leon. Its
spiritual significance apart, it had in common with all great
communication routes its enormous military, political and economic
value. The most vigorous cities of the kingdom - Compostela, Burgos
and Leon - are known by historians as "cities of the way" (18).
Finally, it must not be forgotten that while pilgrims setting
out from Roncesvalles took the Camino de Santiago to reach Compostela,
traffic in the other direction was equally intense. From Santiago,
Le6n or Burgos the Camino de Santiago led to France, and via the
Chemin de St. Jacques to the rest of Europe. Once free of the menace
of the Caliphate of Cordoba, the Christian kingdoms of the western
Iberian Peninsula definitively strengthened their ties with the
remainder of western Christendom. The spiritual influence of
Compostela was not, of course, the only factor involved in this
process. As planned in the 9th century, however, Santiago and its
shrine made a significant contribution because, in the final analysis,
Wallfahrt kennt keine Grenze.
NOTES
1. Historia Silense, ed. Justo Perez de Urbel and Atilano Gonzalez
Ruiz-Zorrilla, Madrid 1959, p. 179. "Ab ipsis namq ue Pireneis iugis
adusq ue castrum Nazara, q uidq uid terre infra continetur a potestate
paganorum eripiens, iter santi lacobi, q uod barbarico timore per
devia alabae peregrini declinabant, absq ue retractionis obstaculo
currere fecit." However, it is clear that the author of the
chronicle "was ignorant of the true beginnings of the Navarrese
dynasty and the sequence of its kings" (p. 40). In view of this
lack of information, it is conceivable that the Historia Silense
erroneously attributes to Sancho Garces III of Navarre what is
historically much more in keeping with Sancho Garces I, the
conqueror of the Rioja. Under this assumption, what was to be the
iter Sancti lacobi may have begun to be geographically stable as
early as 925, and it may have been this new route, now safely
protected from the barbarico timore, that was being used by
Bishop Gotescalco of the Le Puy when he passed through Albelda in
the mid 10th century.
2. Antoninus' Itinerary lists a network of roads that partly coincides
with what according to the Codex Calixtinus was the classical
stretch of the Camino de Santiago between Roncesvalles and
Compostela. It is not always possible to tell today to what extent
Roman roads and mediaeval roads coincided, among other reasons
because, as J. Manuel Roldan Hervas points out (Itineraria
Hispana : fuentes antiguas para el estudio de las vias romanas en
la Peninsula Iberica, Valladolid 1973, p. 99, footnote), there is
still no global modern study of Itinerary 17 ab Asturica
Burdicalam. I have recently been able to aduce convincing evidence
that the ancient dwelling place Asseconia was on the site of modern
Compostela (Fernando L6pez Alsina, "De Asseconia a Compostela :
pervivencia de estructuras viarias antiguas en la Alta Edad Media",
Compostellanum 31 (1986), pp. 307-314.
- 53 -
3. This document has been published and its authenticity q uestioned
by Julio A. Perez Celada (Documentacion del monasterio de San Zoilo
de Carrion (1047-1300), Palencia 1986, pp. 3-5), though the
reference to the Camino de Santiago is not among the anachronisms
he mentions. Pending a large-scale documentary search for the
first validly dated reference to the Camino de Santiago by this
name, the year 1050 would appear to be a reasonable estimate. The
first reference to the Camino's passing through Barbadelo (Lugo)
is also made in the llth century (see Manuel Lucas Alvarez, El
Tumbo de San Julian de Samos (siglos VIII-XII), Santiago de
Compostela 1986, p. 193).
4. Resort to miracle, one of the internal characteristics of
translatio legends, is used first in relation to the translatio
itself, secondly when the site for definitive sepulture is chosen,
and finally when the interred saint shows willingness to act
as patron of the local community (Martin Heinzelmann, Translations-
berichte und andere Quellen des Reliq uienkultes, Typologie des
Sources du Moyen Age Occidental 33, Turnhou 1979, pp. 56-57). It
should be understood as the way in which the saint expresses his
desire to be moved to a particular place (p. 63).
5. Further discussion of this fascinating epistle, in which, within
the framework of the mentality of the time, the chronology of the
translatio is first suggested, can be found in Fernando Lopez
Alsina, La ciudad de Santiago de Compostela en la Alta Edad Media,
Santiago de Compostela 1988, p. 119 et seq.
6. The importance of the first extrapeninsular reference to the tomb
of St. James, in the Martyrology of Usuardo (which already alludes
to the saint's burial in Compostela), has recently been emphasized
by Robert Plotz in "Traditiones Hispanicae Beati lacobi : les
origines du culte de Saint-Jacq ues a Compostelle", in 1000 ans de
Pelerinage Europeen, Ghant 1985, pp. 27-39.
7. Historia Compostellana, ed. Emma Falq ue Rey (Corpus Christianorum,
Continuatio Medievalis 70), Turnhout 1988, p. 9 : "Theodomirus
vero episcopus tanto fidentius oculis mentis ad caelestis patrie
considerationem erigebat, q uanto freq uentius beatum lacobum post
basilicam sibi factam miraculis et virtutibus coruscare
conspiciebat".
8. The chronicles Rotensis (Rot 13) and Ad Sebastianum (Seb 13)
attribute a degree of responsibility to Alfonso I of Asturias
(Juan Gil Fernandez, Jose L. Moralejo and Juan I. Ruiz de la
Pena, Cronicas Asturianas, Oviedo 1985, pp. 131-133).
9. On this is based Claudio Sanchez Albornoz's well-known thesis, as
expounded in detail in Despoblacion y repoblacion del Valle del
Duero, Buenos Aires 1966. See also recent comments by Jose Angel
Garcia de Cortazar in "Del Cantabrico al Duero", in Organizacion
social del espacio en la Espana medieval : la corona de Castilla
en los siglos VIII a XV, Barcelona 1985, pp. 43-83.
10. In the book mentioned above in note 5 (p. 147 et seq.) I have
discussed evidence of the genesis of this notion of St. James
as the celestial patron of the Asturian kings and the Asturiano-
Leonese kingdom. Full-blown 12th century formulations of this
concept have been published and discussed by Francisco Puy
Munoz in "Santiago abogado en el Calixtino (1160)", in Pistoia
el il Cammino di Santiago : una dimensione europea nella
Toscana mediovale, Naples 1987, pp. 57-92.
- 54 -
11. See Jean Gautier-Dalche, Historia urbana de Leon y Castilla en
la Edad Media (siglos IX^XIII), Madrid 1979, p. 21 et seq.
12. See the book mentioned in note 5, p. 192 et seq.
' . '* v
1
' * ' '
J
13. This document is discussed by Anscari Mundo in "El Cod. Parisinus
Lat. 2036 y sus anadiduras hispanicas",. Hispania Sacra 5 (1952),
p p . . , 67-78. /..' , , . , . . ...
'- ' i ' >'' i. '
14. This letter was published by Antonio Lopez Ferreiro in Historia
de la Santa A.M. Iglesia de Santiago de Compostela, Vol. 2, < . ,
Santiago 1899, Appendix 27, pp. 57-60.
15. See Luis Vasq uez de Parga, Jose Maria Lacarra and'Juan Uria Riu,
Las peregrinaciones a Santiago de Compostela, Vol. 1, Madrid 1948,
p. 39 et seq. . . < , ., ./
16. See Maria del Carmen Pallares. Mendez and Ermelindo Portela Silva,
"Aproximacion al estudio de las explotaciones agrarias en Galicia
durante los siglos IX al XII", in Actas de las I Jornadas de
Metodologia Aplicada de las Ciencias Hist6ricas. II. Historia
Medieval, Santiago de Compostela 1975, pp. 95-113 ; and Maria del
Carmen Pallares Mendez, El, monasterio de Sobrado : un ejemplo del
protagonismo monastic en la Galicia medieval,. La Corufia 1979,
p. 89, note 14. .
17. See the work mentioned in note 14, appendix 89, pp. 219-220.
18. These nuclei are discussed in the book mentioned in note 11, and
by Carlos Estepa Diez in Estructura social de la ciudad de Le6n
(siglos XI-XIII) (Le6n 1977) and in "Burgos en el contexto del
nacimiento de la ciudad medieval castellano-leonesa" (in La
ciudad de Burgos : actas del Congreso de Historia de Burgos,
Burgos 1985, pp. 23-33).
- 55 -
THE "JOURNEY TO ST. JAMES" AND THE FRENCH PILGRIM ROUTES
AND HERITAGE
, by Rene de LA COSTE-MESSELIERE (France)
On the route to Compostela, one country stands out as the
isthmus, channelling pilgrims from all over Europe to the Iberian
Peninsula and on to Santiago at the outer edge of our continent.
The territories which now form France were undoubtedly crossed,by
numerous routes to Santiago: the "journey to Corapostela" lured
countless pilgrims, both from the various provinces of France itself
and, well beyond France, from the various countries to the north, east
and south-east. ,
However, according to the "Pilgrims/ Guide" - certainly the
best-known today of the five books of the "Liber Sancti Jacobi",
compiled' by a Poitevin probably employed in Pope Calixtus II's
scriptorium - four of these routes were particularly well-known,
from the first half of the Xllth century, as "the great road to
Santiago". ,
The main points of departure for the routes listed in this major
document and mentioned by Aimeri Picaud are Aries and Sant-Gilles for
the southern route, Le Puy and Vezelay for the central route, and
Tours for the northern route. Obviously, however, these starting
points and other centres on the main routes had to be reached on other
routes, details of which have sometimes been preserved in written
sources or local tradition: the various trades left by the pilgrims
themselves are confirmed by the records of the hospices specially
founded to receive them.
Many other traces in art, architecture and even literature thus
allow us to pinpoint the first signs and growth of the cult of St.
James, and to identify a whole network of pilgrim routes across
France. The definite stages on the four main routes undoubtedly
remain pre-eminent, but they also determine secondary routes and
stages, access routes and connections, which are fairly clearly graded
in order of importance. A pilgrim travelling from Conches in Normandy
to Compostela and back could thus reasonably be regarded as having
following a "pilgrim route" from Conches. Conversely, the roads
converging on a port which can be identified as a major point of
departure and arrival are obviously more crowded than others and also
q ualify as pilgrim routes.
We should also remember that routes varies with the passing of
time. By exposing new relics for veneration by travellers,
monasteries could draw pilgrims out of their way and alter the initial
route. Thus, one abbey (St.. Jean d'Angely in Charente-Maritime), which
claimed to possess the head of St. John the Baptist, attracted large
crowds in the 12th century. Later, the direct route again became more
popular, or at least as popular. Examples.of this kind are common on
many of the routes. They deserve emphasising because relics of this
kind attracted pilgrims of all types, including pilgrims to
Compostela, and often led to the building of splendid basilicas, which
greatly enriched the country's heritage.
- 56 -
The artistic traces of pilgrimage - sculpture, stained glass
windows, frescoes - are not simply found in the most celebrated
centres listed in the "Guide":. Aries, . Saint-Gilles, Saint-Guilhem,
Toulouse, on the southern route; Le Puy, Conques, Moissac, Vezelay,
Saint-Leonard, Perigueux on the central routes; and Tours,
Saint-Hilaire de Poitiers, Blaye and Bordeaux on the northern route.
They are also found on all the main highways, and even in areas which
are now isolated: Saint-Guilhem in Languedoc, Conches in Normandy,
Alnay in Poitou-Saintonge; Benevent in the Limousin, Autun in Burgundy
etc. Indeed, they occur on all the old highways linking the main
sanctuaries on the pilgrims' route to Compostela, on the alternative
routes and within a broad radius, from the romanesq ue era to the
gothic and well beyond it. The slides selected for presentation to
the congress participants can only give an impression of this network.
Although they are fewer in number than the maps - whether old or
recent - presented on this occasion, they make it clear that an order
of priorities has to be established, for the sake of greater
efficiency in meeting the req uirements of the Council of Europe in
connection with the operation "The Santiago pilgrim routes - European
cultural itinerary".
In order to give a clearer visual idea, on a modern map of
Europe, of the special character of the roads to St James as links
across France between the countries beyond its frontiers, and between
them and Spain and onwards to the Iberian ""Finistere" of Europe, two
main axes have been selected in the first instance: from the
Nord-Pas-de Calais region to the Ports de Cize in the Pyrenees-
Atlantiq ues and, in the opposite direction, from Somport up to the
valley of the Rhone and the alpine frontiers.
In one way or another, the maritime routes of northern Europe
(Scandinavia and the Hanseatic towns) and from Great Britain and
Ireland, the routes from the Netherlands and Flanders, the Walloon and
Germanic routes and similarly those from Switzerland, Italy, the
Slavonic countries and eastern Europe in general, all converge on
these two main axes.
This selection, proposed by the Centre Europeen d'etudes
compostellanes (Society of the F ri en d sol S a i n t J a m es) F o
Gallia Nostra as a theme for Europa Nostra's Paris Congress in
1987,permits the necessary connections between the 12th century
"Guide" and the more complex and more accurate information provided in
later documents, primarily the famous "Bruges Itineraries"
(14-15th centuries), those of Konig (15th century),fHe"Carta
itineraria europae" (late 15th, early 16th century) and a number
of others.
This choice, which is incorporated in the Franco-Spanish
agreement, also constitutes an initial response to the Council of
Europe's desire to promote this cultural itinerary, from its roots -
those of Christianity - up to our own present-day culture - that of
Europe. And in response to the tastes - already expressed by a great
many "reference pilgrims" in their communications with us, a number of
appendices are already envisaged, primarily the 12th century guide to
the "Via Podiensis" which starts from Puy-en-Velay in the heart of
the French Massif Central mountains.
- 57 -
The standardised scientific documentation which could underpin
any co-ordinated joint action (restoration and revitalisation of
monuments, appropriate signposting, reception, facilities, guides), has
been entrusted to the Heritage Directorate (Ministry of Culture) in
the CEEC in accordance with a working method which is explained in
"Compostella", new series, No.l, 1988, and the first results (184
standardised notes and maps) are now available to it. In the light of
these results, several regional cultural affairs directorates are
considering extending this work ("linear" investigation) to the whole
of the territory covered by the departements in the regions concerned.
Following the article "Europe and the pilgrim routes of Saint
James" in the Council of Europe magazine "A Future for our Past",
No.24 (1984), and following on from the special issue of that magazine
entitled "The Pilgrim routes to Santaigo: a European cultural
itinerary" (No.32, 1988), what a splendid opportunity the Bamberg
Conference provides to illustrate visually texts which have already
been published, and documentation currently being produced in France
as well as in other European countries.
All of this serves to emphasise the importance of the part played
by the pilgrimage to Compostela,in enriching the monumental and
historical heritage of France. Nor should we forget that the
pilgrimage left an impression, which has never been completely
effaced, on the collective memory - an impression which is now being
revived, and which helps France to give the aims assigned by the
Council of Europe to the first of the European cultural routes its
full support and understanding.
- 58 -
"Aumonerie royale" of St. Jean d'Angely (Charente-Maritime) restaured
as it was in the 18th century
- 59 -
THE "VIA FRANCIGENA" AND THE ITALIAN ROUTES TO SANTIAGO
by Paolo CAUCCI VON SAUCKEN (Italy)
The relationship between Italy and Santiago de Compostela dates
back a:very long way. Suffice it to point out that four of the 22
miracles described in Book II of the-"Liber Sancti Jacobi" .expressly
concern Italian pilgrims. This shows that there was an interest in
Santiago in the first half of the 12th.century, and that specific
links existed. Moreover, the freq uent contacts between the Bishopric
in Santiago de Compostela and Rome, many of which existed as a result
of the pilgrims that went to one or other, are recorded in "Historia
Compostellana", which.also bears witness to the existence of Italian
brotherhoods of, former pilgrims as far back as 1120.' It records that,
on the occasion of a trip he made to Rome, to obtain the rank of
Archbishopric for the bishopric in Santiago de Compostela, Bishop
Porto was accompanied and supported by, ".-..- ceteri q uam plures
Ecclesiae beati jacobi confratres, qui Beatum jacobum-olim adierant,
et seipsos ipsi apostoli subjugaverant. Propterea ecclesiam Beati
jacobi usq ueq uaq ue diligebant et eius Episcopum." Further proof of
the strong links between Italy and Santiago, in the time of Gelmirez is
provided by the fact that the sole relict of the apostle from Santiago
cathedral was sent, after lengthy, voluminous correspondence, to
Italy, there it prompted the establishment of a major centre of
worship of St. James in Pistoia.
Furthermore, as research into Italian involvement in pilgrimage
to Santiago de Compostela progresses, new information testifying to
the existence of increasingly complex, intricate relations is
constantly emerging.
Numerous problems arose in connection with this early wave of
interest in St. James in Italy. One of the key problems was to find
routes to Santiago, especially for Italy, which had to take account of
the elongated shape of the peninsula, the Alpine pass and the need to
cross France.
Because pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela is such a long-
established tradition, we have concrete information from which to
identify what came to be called "the true, direct road to St. James"
and the other main routes, though there are still unanswered q uestions
concerning the routes taken by Italian pilgrims during the earliest
pilgrimages.
The purpose of this paper is to reconstruct the development of
the oldest, of the Italian roads to Santiago, the so-called "Via
francigena", and identify its route.
The name refers to one of the oldest roads of the Italian late
Middle Ages, and the first one that attempts were made to rebuild
after the fall of the Roman Empire, for the sake of continuity and for
reasons other than just local traffic. The road was in fact
originally built for the strategic and military purposes of the
Lombards, for use against the Byzantines. To understand why the route
is so tortuous, it is necessary to bear in mind the political
situation in Italy in the 7th and 8th centuries. Once the Lombards
came to power in Italy, they set up a series of duchies in various
- 60 -
parts of the peninsula, but these did hot succeed in forming a united
kingdom. The main centres were the Duchy of Pavia and Trento in the
north, the Duchy of Tuscia in the centre and the Duchies of Spoleto
and Benevento in the south. The Lombards' power was countered by that
of the Byzantines, who controlled the peninsula's coastlines, most of
the Appennine passes at the Adriatic end, and the entire Flaminian
Way, which connected Ravenna with Rome. In order to keep in contact
with Rome from Pavia and the southern duchies, the Lombards therefore
had to choose an inland route far from the coast, and one that they
could defend. That is why, in the High Middle Ages, a route linking
Pavia with Tuscany and Rome developed. Moreover, when choosing a
route, the Lombards had to take account of the remains of the Roman
road network. When the Empire had fallen, the upkeep of the consular
roads, organised on the basis of the system of "municipia", had
virtually stopped. Most of the roads had been abandoned. Bridges
were not repaired, flooded areas turned into swamps, and population
centres in the valleys were abandoned and re-established on hillsides
in sheltered places that were easier to defend. The result was that
huge stretches of the main Roman roads became inpracticable. The
possibility of using the few remaining sections was also to affect the
choice of route.
So the Lombards, both in order to avoid the areas controlled by
the Byzantines and in order to use parts of the old Roman roads,
chose, for crossing the Appennines, a pass far to the north, which the
Romans had already used between Parma and Lucca. In doing so, they
were able to re-use part of the Roman road network and to avoid the
Byzantines in Liguria and Romagna. The second natural barrier to the
route was the Arno. They found a passage across it near the mouth of
the Valdelsa, which provided a q uick route to Siena. From there it
was easy to reach the Lombard castle of Radicofani, through the Arbia
and Orcia valleys, and then go down the Paglia valley and, near the
lake of Bolsena, rejoin the old Via Cassia, which was fairly well
preserved, and follow it via Viterbo and Sutri to Rome.
A Lombard military route thus developed, far from the coast and
protected from possible Byzantine attack. Its function was eminently
strategic, with the result that the first settlements served to
maintain and defend the road. Fortifications were built, and defence
systems were set up around the bridges and villages. The place names,
in particular, bear witness to the presence of the Lombards in ancient
times, a prime example being the main pass, Monte Bardone, undoubtedly
derived from the "Mons longobardorum" we read about in documents,
which refers to a Lombard settlement and check-point on the pass. In
the earliest documents, in fact, the route is referred to as "Via de
monte Bardonis".
As the Lombards strengthened their hold on Italy, the defence of
the road network became part of a specific policy of expansion and
consolidation based on a system of royal abbeys founded by Lombard
princes and nobles on royal property. They were beyond the
jurisdiction of the bishopric, to which, moreover, they were opposed,
and sprang up at strategic points along the road and controlled the
traffic along it, constituting, at the same time, the first hospices
providing succour for travellers and the early pilgrims on their way
to Rome. It was not yet a road with heavy traffic, but a dirt track
with many byways. What little upkeep there was, was the
responsibility, locally, of the abbeys, the fortified centres and the
villages along the road.
- 61 -
The route became more important when the Lombards were defeated
in 774 by the Franks, who needed, for the purposes of their imperial
strategy and ever-closer links with the papacy, to improve
communications with Rome.
The "Via francigena" thus became the road which the Franks used
to get to Rome - a road which, as its name indicates, originated in
the Franks' territory. From Pavia it was extended northwards. This
made it easier to cross the Alps, either via the Great St. Bernard
Pass or via the Susa valley and the Moncenisio Pass, depending on the
direction. By the 10th century it was already a main road, and there
were many references to it in documents. The first pilgrims to
Santiago de Compostela were to use it to go up the peninsula in the
opposite direction to the pilgrims going to Rome.
The Franks continued to take steps to defend and organise the
route, and they too provided assistance to travellers by means of a
network of fortified monasteries along the road, which added to the
hospice facilities.
The emergence of an Order of St. James in Altopascio bears
witness to the fact that the route was used, not least by pilgrims.
The Order originated as a hospice for pilgrims who had to cross one of
the most dangerous areas along the whole route - a marshy, wooded area
around the bed of the Arno. The earliest records of its existence
date back to the second half of the llth century. In 1087 a certain
Bono made a donation to the hospice, specifying that it should be used
"ad susceptationem peregrinorum et pauperorum". The hospital then
decided to organise itself as a hospice order and expanded to cover
all the main pilgrim routes, as far as London and Paris. In Spain
monasteries and hospices were opened in Tortosa, along the "Camino de
Santiago", in Pamplona and in Astorga.
The first record of a link between the route now known as the
"Via francigena" and pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela is to be
found in the story of the travels of the Icelandic Abbot Nikulas from
Munkathvera, which he wrote in old norse between 1151 and 1154
on the occasion of his pilgrimage to Rome and the Holy Land. Having
landed in Bergen, Norway, after seven days at sea, Nikulas first
went to Aalborg in Denmark, and then to Mainz, up the Rhine Valley and
over the Great St. Bernard Pass to join the "Via francigena", which he
followed as far as Rome. Reporting on the various stopping places,
Munkathvera provides brief descriptions of the villages he goes
through. Having reached Luni, near Lucca, he refers a few times to
the Nordic saga of Gunnar, whom the king of the Huns had put to death
in a snake pit; he talks of the area round Luni, with its wealth of
settlements, and adds that it was there that it was possible to join
the road to Santiago de Compostela. There are two possible
interpretations: either the port of ancient Luni was still, somehow in
operation, and he went by sea along the Ligurian coast and joined the
road to Santiago de Compostela once he had crossed the Bracco
mountains, or it was already possible, as it was in the 13th century,
to cross this mountain chain, which was a virtually unsurmountable
barrier in the High Middle Ages, near the Ligurian coast. The first
hypothesis is more likely, since the old "Aurelia" road, which
followed the Ligurian coastline disappeared at various points, and
crossing the coastal mountain chain was a real problem. Because of
this natural barrier, it was convenient, at the time, for those who
wanted to go northwards and for those who were going to Santiago de
Compostela to use the Monte Bardone pass. The Abbots testimony is,
in any case, valuable in that it identifies a place through which
pilgrims going to Santiago undoubtedly passed.
- 62 -
The "Via francigena" flourished in the 12th century. It was
still the main route for communications between Rome, and the North,
and was used in both directions by pilgrims, merchants and armies.
Towards the mid-thirteenth century, however, as Florence emerged as a
commercial and political power, an alternative route developed. It
was to be much used, and virtually replace the Monte Bardone pass. The
route left the older "Via francigena" at Poggibonsi, in the direction
of Florence; it crossed the Appenines at the Osteria Bruciata pass and
joined the Via Emilia at Bologna. At Fidenza it joined the .original
route again. In the "Annales stadenses", written between 1240 and
1256, a record of the routes which the Germans used to get to Rome
still refers to their crossing the" Appenines at Monte Bardone, .but
immediately afterwards there ,is a reference to the easier, more direct
and by then better serviced Osteria Bruciata pass between Bologna and ,
Florence.
From the 14th century onwards, the stretches of the "Via
francigena" .that were most used were those' between Rome and Siena,
between Siena and Lucca and between Parma and the Alpine passes. The
Monte Bardone pass was increasingly neglected in favour of the pass
between Florence and Bologna and, later, further south, the Scheggia
and Bocca Trabaria passes, which joined up with the old Flaminian Way,
which communicated, via the Furlo pass, with the Franciscan parts,,of
Umbria and continued along the banks of the Tiber to Rpme. the
earliest records of pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostela show that
pilgrims were also choosing the route along the Ligurian coast, which
was open to traffic again along what remained of the old "Aurelia
Romana". .
The "Via francigena" remained in use, however, especially for
pilgrimages. The main alternative, the "Strada regia romana", was
undoubtedly used by pilgrims, especially those going Rome in holy
years, but it originated and developed mainly as a trading and
political route.
The "Via francigena" served as a pilgrim route for longer, as is
apparent from the firmly established signs of the pilgrim civilisation
and culture. First and foremost, a dense network of hospices, a
characteristic sign of pilgrimage. Hospices mushroomed in Piacenza,
San Donnino, Sarzana, Lucca, Siena and Viterbo. In the relatively
short stretch between Monteriggioni and San Quirico d'orcia Venerosi
Pesciolini, there are 48 hospices, not counting those in Siena, where,
according to Bartolomeo Fontana, a pilgrim who passed through it in
1538 on his way to Santiago de Compostela, there was "a very
beautiful, rich and highly reputed hospital".
After the first facilities provided by the Lombard abbeys and the
Prankish monasteries, there developed those offered by the hospice
Orders. The first, as we have seen, was the Order of St. James of
Altopascio. There followed the Orders originating in the Holy Land,
from the Order of the Temple to the Order of St. John and the Order of
the Holy Sepulchre. Lastly, there were brotherhoods that set up
hospices dedicated to their own guardian saint, almost always in
towns. Near these buildings there are also numerous landmarks along
the route in the form of "mansio leprosarum et domus infectorum",
which specifically provided health care and were generally dedicated
to St. Lazarus. When the fear of the Great Plague spread, new houses
for the sick, dedicated to St. Rocco and St. Sebastian, sprang up
along the route. There were others dedicated to St. Anthony of
Vienne, reserved specially for patients suffering from what was known
as St. Anthony's fire.
- 63 -
There are so many landmarks along the route in the form of
hospices and similar facilities that the Arab geographer Al Idrisi
says in his "Book of King Ruggero": "On the road we came across
Christian churches serving as infirmeries for sick people of the
faith; we were astonished at the care they received in such
institutions" (page 80). In the middle of the 18th century these
buildings were still standing along the "Via francigena", according to
the testimony of Nicola Albani, who took that route on his way back
from Santiago. In Lucca, on showing the "Compostela", he received
assistance as a pilgrim from "Santiago de Compostela" and was put up
in a hospital known as the Holy Trinity, where, he said, there were
"good beds and better food, better than any hospital in Italy; it was
kept very clean, and help wasrprovided by the brothers". (11,214).
With the passage of time, the route became increasingly closely
linked with the pilgrim culture, and not only pilgrimages to Santiago
de Compostelaibut pilgrimage as such, since it was a route used by
pilgrims generally. In Sutri, on the wall of an old Roman Mithraeum
converted into a church, we find the entire story of San Michele. in
Gargano against a background of throngs of pilgrims on their way. In
Viterbo, the mediaeval q uarters centre.round the. church of San
Pellegrino. In a church in Acq uapendente there is a reproduction of
the Holy Sepulchre; in Cuno, shortly before Siena, there is a-series
of effigies of the pilgrim with the pitchfork and cock. In
Castelfiorentino, one could see, and can still see, the corpse of St.
Verdiana and an "azabache" which the Saint brought back from a .
pilgrimage to Santiago. Few people other than pilgrims entered the
area, protected and served by the order of St. James of Altopascio,
whence they could continue northwards or turn off at Pistoia to visit
the important relic of the Apostle who was worshipped there. One
could continue at length in this vein.
Eventually the "Via francigena" became a proper main road, joined
by pilgrims from other regions: in Rome there were those from the main.
"Via Appia" road; in Bologna and Parma, those from the Adriatic coast;
in Piacenza, pilgrims from Veneto and the Slav country; in, Pavia, the.
Germans who, travelling via the Brenner Pass and Milan, found the
route more convenient than the Oberstrasse of Hermann Kiinig von Vach.
The Susa valley took them, all together at this point, along what
Bartolomeo Fontana called "the direct road to St. James" to the Alpine
passes of Monginevro and Moncenisio and from there, in one large band,
they went via Avignon, Aries and the Via Tolosona, to Santiago de
Compostela, to the apostolic tomb of St. James,, located at the edge of
the world. Down .there, as Dante said, . one visits Galicia.
- 64 -
PILGRIMS TO SANTIAGO AND THEIR ROUTES IN SCANDINAVIA
by Christian KROTZL (Finland)
Scandinavia in the Middle Ages was by no means a forgotten,
semi-barbarian corner of Europe, and Christendom did not end, as many
historical maps would have it, in the southern reaches of Denmark and
Sweden. The late evangelisation of these lands, beginning in the 10th
century, does not mean that Christianity there was "weaker" than in
parts of Europe converted long before. On the contrary, many new or
revived forms of the Christian religion which were growing in
popularity at the time, among them pilgrimage as a mass phenomenon,
were readily adopted in Scandinavia. The transition from heathenism
to Christianity was smoother in Scandinavia than in many parts of
Europe evangalised earlier. Christianity gained ground mainly through
a long conversion process carried out among the people by missionaries
whose names have mostly been forgotten, rather than under pressure
from above. The Church's attitude towards heathen customs in
Scandinavia was tolerant, and for centuries pagan and Christian
elements existed side by side in popular religion.
BEGINNINGS
Scandinavians were among the first foreigners to sojourn in
Galicia after the cult of St James had emerged, but they did so not as
peaceful pilgrims but as warlike pillagers, in other words Vikings.
According to Spanish and' Arab sources, Viking incursions into Galicia
began shortly after the discovery of the grave of St James - the first
Viking attack attested was in 844 - and they continued for some two
centuries in several waves at irregular intervals. The Vikings who
settled in the British Isles in the 9th century had already been
Christianised at an early stage and were probably the first
Scandinavians to visit Galicia for religious reasons. However, the
sources contain no conclusive evidence of such motives in the
transitional period of the 10th and llth centuries. The increasingly
intensive and prestigious pilgrimages were doubtless an important
attraction. A typical figure in this transitional period was King
Olaf of Norway, canonised after his death, who, as a Viking prince,
probably harried the coast of Galicia with his fleet in the years 1012
to 1013.
The Viking attacks may be regarded as at least part of the reason
for the transfer of the bishopric of the old Roman town of Iria Flavia
to Santiago de Compostela in the middle of the 9th century and the
fortification of Santiago de Compostela and the coastline. They
probably also had something to do with the shift of the pilgrim road
further inland.
The first pilgrims to Santiago definitely identifiable as
Scandinavians were crusaders on their way to the Holy Land, who broke
their journey in Galicia. In the year 1108, a crusade of 60 (Viking)
ships under the leadership of the Norwegian King Sigurd wintered in
Galicia, referred to in the descriptions of the journey as "the land
of St James". There is no proof that they visited Santiago de
Compostela, but it seems likely that they did. Sigurd and his men
also took part in some of the battles of the Reconq uista, before
continuing their journey to Jerusalem. Records also tell of visits to
Galicia by Scandinavian crusader fleets in 1151, 1189, 1197 and 1217.
It is of note that the Danish-Frisian crusade of 1189 was refused
entry to the city of Santiago for fear that the crusaders might take
possession of the relics of St James.
- 65 -
THE SPREAD OF THE CULT AND THE PILGRIMAGE
One result of the Christianisation movement in Scandinavia
throughout and beyond the Middle Ages" vas a constant expansion of the
cult of St James. The Hanseatic League, which governed Scandinavian
foreign trade from the 13th century onwards, doubtless played a vital
role in the expansion of the cult; churches dedicated to St James were
built in all major Hanseatic ports around the Baltic. Together with
St Nicholas, St James was revered in the Hanseatic region as the major
patron saint of travellers and traders. A concentration of churches
dedicated to St James and iconographic representations of the saint is
clearly visible in those areas of Norway, Sweden and Finland which
were most active in foreign trade: the Bergen region of Norway,
Uppland and Gotland islands in Sweden and, in Finland, the coastal
area around Turku and along the main traffic artery leading inland
towards Hameenlinna.
Worthy of note is the extent to which Finland, which became part
of the Swedish Empire in the 12th century and was not thoroughly
evangelised in the south until the 13th century, features here: it
boasts at least 8 churches and chapels dedicated to St James and some
30 preserved paintings and sculptures, largely products of indigenous
workshops. The figures for Scandinavia naturally seem small in
comparison with the several hundred churches of St James in Germany,
but they should also be seen in relation to the populations of the
various parts of Europe at that time. A considerable proportion of
ecclesiastical works of art in all Scandinavian countries originated
in the areas along the roads to Santiago, for instance the Limoges
route. Art historians also see the influence of the Santiago
pilgrimage in the ornamentation and architectural style of several
major churches in Denmark and Sweden. The cult and pilgrimage of St
James have also left their traces in Scandinavian toponymy and
personal names, literature and heraldic design.
Evidence for the pilgrimage itself appears from the 12th century
onwards in Scandinavian records, which suffered greatly in the
destruction which followed the Reformation. Account should also be
taken of the comparative scarcity of documentary records in
Scandinavia. Up to the 14th century, the sources almost exclusively
describe pilgrimages to Santiago by members of the nobility and high
ranking ecclesiastics: Absalon (1181), St Anders of Slagelse, Hrafn
Sveinbjarnarson (1213) from Iceland, St Ingrid of Skanninge, St
Birgitta with her husband, and others. All strata of the population
begin to appear in the records from the 14th and 15th centuries and
the first decades of the 16th. For instance, Santiago became the most
important destination for penitential pilgrimages outside Scandinavia,
a sentence imposed by temporal courts, too, in punishment for serious
crimes, as attested by the Stockholm court records from the period
1480-1520. Even sick pilgrims set out on the long journey to the other
end of what was then the known world, as attested by both documentary
and archaeological evidence: skeletons in some graves of pilgrims of
St James in Scandinavia show traces of sometimes severe illnesses.
The fact that scallop shells from Santiago de Compostela are the
most freq uently found Scandinavian pilgrim badges is an indication of
the relative importance of Santiago as a destination for Scandinavian
pilgrims travelling abroad. It is little short of astonishing,
however, that the number of mediaeval pilgrim scallops found in
Scandinavia also represents the largest q uantity found to date in any
part of Europe: according to a recently published survey, of the 180
- 66 -
mediaeval pilgrim scallops found so far at 58 sites in Europe, 66 come
from Scandinavia; the 24 Scandinavian sites where they were found also
form the majority. The southern Swedish town of Lund boasts the second
largest number of mediaeval pilgrim scallops found in. one place: 23
single finds, which can now be viewed in a permanent exhibition. These,
finds obviously cannot tally completely with the real origins of the
mediaeval pilgrims of St James, but doubtless provide an indication of
the significance of the Santiago .pilgrimage in Scandinavia.
' ' - !
In. Denmark and Sweden, fraternities dedicated to St James
sometimes arose as early as the 13th century, although .these are not
necessarily to be regarded as communities of former pilgrims to
Santiago, as was -the case in centraL Europe - the pilgrimage to
Santiago is not mentioned in either the statutes or surviving
documentation of 'the St James's guilds. It is interesting, however,
that five of these fraternities in Denmark were shoemakers' guilds- -
an indication of the high shoe consumption of Santiago pilgrims?
Evidence of the assistance provided by such guilds:in the> planning of
a pilgrimage to Santiago can-be found in the statutes of other Danish
guilds. ; . .
' , . '
l
'
Letters of safe-conduct for Santiago pilgrims have also been
found in Scandinavia, but not statutory protective provisions such as
those .enacted- by the Norwegian kings as early as the 12th century for
pilgrims of St Olaf going to Trondheim - perhaps under the influence
of the. pilgrimage to Santiago. Pilgrims from Denmark, Norway and
Sweden are, however, expressly listed in the letters of safe-conduct
issued by the Castilian inonarchs in 1434.and 1479.
In Finland at least, there is also documentary evidence for
secondary pilgrimages to churches of St James. ' An interesting case is
that of a German with the Christian name Jakob (James), who set out in
1512 for the church of St James in Renko - did he perhaps visit all
the churches in Finland or Scandinavia dedicated to the saint whose
name he bore?
After the Reformation, imposed by the state authorities for
largely economic and political reasons, Scandinavian pilgrimages to
Santiago de Compostela ceased, but in Sweden and Finland at least,
there are references dating from as late as the last century to votive
offerings at churches of St James and "St James's markets", which,
together with surviving folk songs and tales testify to the people's
deep attachment to the cult of St James.
SPECIAL DIFFICULTIES FOR THE SCANDINAVIANS
Settlement patterns, remoteness and the Scandinavian climate
posed particular problems for the Nordic pilgrim to Santiago.
Particularly in Sweden and Finland, the winter is very long and
severe; temperatures between 10 and 12 degrees below freezing point
mean that all rivers and lakes and the northern part of the Baltic are
frozen over from December until April or May. Finland is separated
from Sweden by the Gulf of Bothnia, which freezes over every winter,
constituting an impassable obstacle to ships in the Middle Ages. In a
document from the month of February 1393, it is recorded that a young
Dane, sentenced for murder to protracted penitential pilgrimages was
exempted by the Archbishop of Uppsala from a visit to the Finnish
cathedral in Abo, as ice made the crossing impossible. On the other
hand, the winter conditions could also make things easier, at least in
central and northern Scandinavia: large lakes could be crossed
directly, and sledges and skis allowed faster travel.
- 67 -
Even when they chose to travel by land, Finnish pilgrims of St
James had first of all to cross the Baltic, either towards Sweden,
which meant a further sea passage to Denmark,;or directly to. a port on
the southern shore of the Baltic.. Icelandic pilgrims too, if they
chose the most popular route via Norway, had to cross the sea at, least
twice. Nevertheless, the long and laborious journey did not prevent
even sick pilgrims from undertaking a pilgrimage to Santiago.
The greater distance also meant higher costs, as demonstrated for
instance by the sale of, a piece of land by a blade grinder from
Finland setting out for Santiago in, 1488.; On the other hand, the
costs .also depended upon social status: . whereas a rich .man was
expected to .pay for his own food and accommodation, a poor,man could
rely on the p.ilgrim's right to board and lodging as proclaimed by the
church. . ," . - . - . . , . . . . . . .",' -.
It is scarcely; possible to determine from ;the sources how.'
Scandinavians overcame the language and cultural problems they
encountered on their long .journey. , Perhaps ther.e were interpreters
for Scandinavian pilgrims in Santiago, as records tell us that there
were at the hospice of Saint Bridget in Rome.
;
,.,,
ROUTES . ': . . . ' . , ; . ' . , '
;
In Scandinavia .there were of course special pilgrim routes with
pilgrim hostels .at regular-intervals - for instance the roads to St
Olaf in Trondheim (Norway), ,St
v
Birgitta and St Katharina in Vadstena
(Sweden) and St Henrik in Nousiainen (Finland) - but, in contrast to
the southern areas of Europe, there were, no actual, routes to .Santiago,
on which pilgrims of St James were in the,majority. The pilgrims were,.,
only one of the groups to be found on the roads, alongside merchants,,
travellers performing official or private errands, students ,and
pilgrims heading for ,other places of pilgrimage .visited by,
Scandinavians in Germany,., France, Italy, England and elsewhere. For
this reason too, it is impossible to draw a precise map of the routes
used by Scandinavian pilgrims to Santiago, just as it is impossible to
do so for Scandinavian pilgrims to Rome and Jerusalem. Only in
Denmark, where all land routes to the south came together, must
pilgrims to Santiago have made up a significant proportion of.,
travellers. ;
A map of the routes within Scandinavia most popular with pilgrims
to Santiago can only be drawn up on the basis of a comparison of the
mediaeval road network in Scandinavia with the places and churches
associated with the mediaeval cult of St James (church dedications,
iconographic representations), finds pf pilgrims', scallops , and
documentary evidence of .pilgrimages to Santiago. Only the points in
Scandinavia where pilgrims of St James gathered and converged .can be
established with a degree of certitude: Turku/Abo ,. in Finland,
Stockholm,, Skara, Lund, Bergen, Copenhagen, Roskilde, Ribe,, etc.
The land route from Scandinavia to Santiago led in most cases ,
through Germany, and Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle) was probably often the
major stop along the way. Aachen is also mentioned in Nordic sources
together with other sites in the German-speaking world as a place of
pilgrimage in its own right. From Aachen, it was easy for
Scandinavian pilgrims to join the hordes of other pilgrims to .Santiago
who were heading for the two northernmost Santiago, routes in France.
Paris, an important gathering point on the way to Santiago, was also
one of the most popular places... of study among, Scandinavians,
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particularly for the high ranking ecclesiastics. Detailed descriptive
itineraries, for the pilgrimage to Rome from Scandinavia have
survived, but no such descriptions have been handed down for the
pilgrimage to Santiago, although the possibility of turning off for
Santiago is mentioned in the mid-12th century Rome itinerary of the
Icelandic Abbot Nicholas.
For Finnish pilgrims to Santiago, there was a further possible
route through the Baltic countries: Reval (Tallin) lies only 80
kilometres from the Finnish coast and was the northernmost Hanseatic
port, site of an important church of St James. The Baltic countries
- the area which today constitutes the Soviet Republics of Estonia,
Latvia and Lithuania - were, in the'middle ages, just as evidently a
part of Europe as was Scandinavia, a fact that often tends to be
forgotten in Western Europe. The Baltic lands, too, took an active
part in the pilgrimage of St James, as attested by numerous churches
of St James, findings of scallops and documentary sources.
Land links over great distances were, however, highly laborious
in the middle ages and the sea route to Santiago therefore had
particular appeal for the Scandinavians. In the early phase of the
transition from Viking expeditions and during the first true
pilgrimages, the sea route predominated. Of great interest here is a
Danish itinerary, drawn up in the 13th century but probably older,
that counts only eight days at sea from the western Danish port of
Ribe to La Coruna, plus stops in three Flemish, English and French
ports. The brevity of this journey can only be explained by the use
of swift Viking ships. ' How long the Viking ships remained in use on
these lengthy voyages cannot be determined from the sources. Their
replacement was a result of the monopolisation of Scandinavian foreign
trade by the Hanseatic League. The heavy Hanseatic merchant ships
req uired much longer for the same crossing - nine weeks were recorded
as the duration of the passage from Stralsund to La Coruna in 1518 -,
but they could carry considerably more passengers and eq uipment.
More surprising is the scarcity of information on actual pilgrim
ships leaving Scandinavian ports. Only once is reference made to a
pilgrim ship in Stockholm, which the German Diderik Pasche, who had
settled in Stockholm, was commissioned to eq uip in 1501 by Stockholm's
Mayor and corporation; the sources make no mention of its successful
return. Apart from a few items of information from Denmark dating from
the late middle ages, these are the only records. Leaving faulty
preservation out of account, one possible explanation for the paucity
of records is that the Scandinavian pilgrims to Santiago may have
travelled in smaller craft to the Hanseatic ports in the southern
Baltic, from which in the late middle ages, vessels sailed regularly,
usually annually, with pilgrims to Santiago on board. This
alternative route is indicated in the records. The sea passage from
Scandinavia was probably used mostly by wealthier pilgrims ; above a
certain level of wealth, pilgrims had to pay their own way and could
not rely on the Christian duty to provide pilgrims with board and
lodging.
SUMMARY
Although it is only possible to sketch an approximate picture of
the routes most used by Scandinavian pilgrims to Santiago, the
deep-lying traces of the cult and pilgrimage of St James in
Scandinavia are unmistakable. Though remote, Scandinavia therefore
also took an active part in the Europe-wide phenomenon of the Santiago
- 69 -
pilgrimage. Western Scandinavians came into contact with the
pilgrimage of St James at an early stage as Vikings, and the cult of
St James was readily adopted after their conversion to Christianity.
The cult and the pilgrimage also gained considerable popularity - a
popularity which persisted in places long after the Reformation - in
areas not christianised until the high and late middle ages, for
instance Finland and they formed an important element of Scandinavian
culture with an influence far outlasting the middle ages. The
Santiago pilgrimage with all its repercussions was a significant
factor in Scandinavia's integration into the mediaeval culture which
encompassed Europe in its entirety.
Bibliography
- Almazan, Vicente: Gallaecia Scandinavica. Vigo 1986.
- Gad, Tue and Bodil: Rejsen til Jakobsland. Kobenhavn 1975.
- Krotzl, Christian: "Om nordbornas vallfarder till Santiago de
Compostela", Historisk Tidskrift for Finland 72:2 (1987), S. 189-200
- KQster, Kurt: "Pilgerzeichen und Pilgermuscheln von mittelalterlichen
Santiagostrassen" (Ausgrabungen in Schleswig 2). Neumunster 1983
- Nikula, Oscar: Sankt Jakob. Acta Academiae Aboensis, ser.,A-
Humaniora, vol. 37, Mr. 2
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- 71 -
SANTIAGO PILGRIM ROUTES IN BELGIUM
RESULTS AND OBSERVATIONS
by Dirk AERTS (Belgium)
The pilgrimage ,to Santiago de Compostela has recently begun to
enjoy renewed popularity. The sources' of this interest are very
varied. For some people Santiago is pre-eminently a religious
phenomenon, while others emphasise the cultural aspect or its European
dimension. In Belgium there are three associations whose activities
are based on the Santiago pilgrimage: the Association, de St-Jacques de
Compostelle, the Vlaams Genootschap van Santiago de Compostela and the
Groupe beige de travail pour les chemins de St-Jacq ues, founded with
the encouragement, of Professor A. d'Haenens on the occasion of the
proclamation of the Santiago pilgrim routes as a European cultural
route.. . .
Some time before the Compostela Declaration of 27. October last
year the Vlaams Genootschap had already put forward its ideas on this
project for the first time in a document entitled "Compostelle dans
une perspective europeenne", which expressed many hopes but also, if I
may say so, some hesitations. Be that as it may, its greatest merit
resided in the fact that it sparked off a discussion both within our
own associations and in others.
That in itself is very positive, since through discussion
progress is made and .things are seen more clearly. To date the
working party has met four times, always in a great spirit of
co-operation, under the chairmanship of Professor d'Haenens. In this
work we have made a certain amount of progress, which I shall describe
in further detail below. I will begin by listing the Santiago
pilgrim routes, and then tackle the q uestion of the actual launch of
our project, before ending with a few observations concerning Europe
and Compostela.
1. The cult of St. James and the practice of making the pilgrimage
to Compostela were always highly popular in the former Low Countries -
both north and south - right from the beginning of the movement. A
few examples will suffice to illustrate this. In 1056 the monks of
Liege received in Compostela a relic of St. James; at about 1120
Adalard, the Viscount of Flanders and Lord of Eine and Oudenburg,
founded one of the most famous hospices, that of Aubrac on the Le Puy
route. Finally, mention must be made of the expiatory pilgrimage,
which seems to have been a creation of our ancestors. This practice
has been carefully examined by J. van Herwaarden. Although this
interest in St. James was enormous, it formed part .of a broader
tradition of veneration of the saints, and pilgrimages. This is
clearly shown firstly by the tariffs for expiatory pilgrimages
published by van Herwaarden and secondly by the study of pilgrims'
badges as in the recent work by Van Heeringen, Koldewey and Gaalman,
"Heiligen uit de modder".
Although the cult of St. James had a wide following in the Low
Countries, their geographical situation and topography led to
differences between the pilgrim routes there and those of France
and Spain. Pilgrim routes as such, do not in fact exist. .The road
- 72 -
network was very dense, towns were spread out through the territory at
even, regular intervals and natural obstacles were almost
non-existent, so that pilgrims set off for Compostela along the
ordinary channels of communication. In addition, our countries have
always stood at the intersection of many through routes and, as
happened in the field of trade, our routes also channelled most of the
pilgrims from northern Europe, Great Britain and Germany. The result
of this was that the pilgrim had many possible ways in which to travel
south, in the direction of Compostela.
This is shown by the map drawn up by Andre Georges at the end of
his invaluable and much admired work "Le pelerinage a Compostelle en
Belgiq ue et dans le Nord de la France". This book is undeniably a
pioneering work. Nevertheless, a careful reading clearly shows that
the author was not always able to consult the most recent and most
accurate sources. The book therefore needs to be updated.
Thus, although a more or less complete inventory of the Santiago
pilgrim heritage in Belgium has already been made, identification of
the pilgrim routes is no easy task. The optimal geographical
conditions which the pilgrims of old once found to their advantage
also led to high population density and encouraged a concentration of
economic and industrial activity. The organisers of the long distance
footpath network are aware of these difficulties: it took them more
than 10 years to plan the route of Long Distance Footpath 5A, which
does not even go beyond the limits of Flanders.
More important still is the fact that, in view of the distance
between Belgium and Santiago, it is almost impossible to link the two
objectives of the Santiago Pilgrim Route, ie firstly to waymark a
route for those who actually wish to make the pilgrimage to Compostela
and, secondly, to develop a tourist route of local interest. Be that
as it may, a choice was unavoidable.
In discussing all these problems when choosing a route, our
working party concentrated its attention not only on the historic
value of the route and the landscape but also to links with
neighbouring coutries, a very important factor in the establishment of
a European network. The routes chosen are as follows:
a. The Bruges-Torhout-Roeselare-Menin Route. This route has
been part of the trading network linking Flanders and Paris since the
Middle Ages. It is known to us from a compendium known as the
"Itinerarium Brugense", written in the 15th century on the orders of
Dom Mercatello, the Abbot of St. Bavon in Ghent. This route links up
with the Netherlands at Aardenburg and with France at Menin.
b. The Antwerp-Ghent-Oudenaarde-Tournai-Valenciennes Route, with
transfrentier links at Antwerp and Valenciennes.This route is found
on the map of Charles Estiennes (1550) and the accounts of Peter
Rindfleisch and Jacq ues le Seige, pilgrims on the way to Santiago.
c. The Aachen-Maastricht-Tpngeren-Leuven-Brussels-Mons-Valenciennes
R o u t e , f o r m i n g p a r t o T t h e tradingnetworkbetweenFlanders,
Brabant and the Rhineland, and also linking with the famous German
Niederstrasse. Between routes b and c there is a very interesting
short cut via Jodoigne and Nivelles. This was taken by Albert de
Stade on the way to Rome in 1240.
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d. The Aachen-Liege-Namur-Givet Route, with transfrontier links
at Aaachen for the Federal Republic of Germany and Givet for France.
To conclude this section, I can- report on the progress of our
working party.
Route d has already been waymarked between Andenne and Givet,
but the signs date from before the Compostela Declaration and
consequently the official signs have not been used.
Routes a, b and c are being waymarked at present.
In all this work we have the co-operation of the long-distance
footpath association which has, moreover, a representative on our
working party. To promote these routes we have the help of our two
Belgian general commissions for tourism. Moreover, the General
Commissioner for the Flanders region, Professor U Claeys, was the
Vice-Chairman of the Vlaams Genootschap.
2. But how should we publicise this action of identification and
conservation? Admittedly, the patronage of an organisation like the
Council of Europe gives invaluable support, but without well
co-ordinated national action we will never reach our objective. In
the first place, we need a programme, but to launch it we also need
working methods appropriate to our age and our society. From this
point of view a media event is necessary, both to propagate our ideas
among the public at large and to stimulate the authorities to take
measures to preserve and enhance the Santiago pilgrim heritage.
Our working party is preparing two projects for the beginning of
next year, one in Flanders and one in Wallonia. In Vallonia we have
chosen the Church of St. Jacques in Namur and the neighbouring
buildings. We would like to give this complex - once a hospital - a
new function as a local history museum for the Namur region, which has
many associations with the Santiago pilgrimage. In Flanders we are
concentrating on the magnificent Church of St. Jacques in Louvain,
a Gothic building with a Romanesque tower which dates back to the
beginning of the 13th century. Through a combination of circumstances
this church has been so neglected that it is in danger of falling into
ruins.
Such, briefly, are the aims of the projects to be launched
simultaneously in Flanders and Wallonia and through which we expect to
capture the imagination of the public.
3. I propose to conclude with several observations. Unfortunately,
as I have no intention of exceeding my brief, these will no doubt lack
coherence and subtlety, but I believe them to be of some importance to
the subject under discussion.
3.1 The origin and history of the Santiago pilgrimage show us how
Christianity determined the identity of Europe. We find the most
convincing proof of this in Fernand Braudel's masterly book "La
Mediterranee", in which he develops the thesis that civilisations are
constants which triumph over time. They endure through time,
surviving all catastrophes, since a civilisation is a continuity
which, when it undergoes change, even such radical change as that
.associated with a new religion, retains ancient values which survive
within it and remain its substance.
- 74 -
Braudel demonstrates, for example, that Islamic civilisation did
not begin with Mohammed, nor did the civilisation of the Roman world
(which he calls "Romanite") begin with Christ. Moreover, according to
Braudel, every civilisation clings to its eternal territory: no force
in history can change this. The Roman occupation of North Africa, the
Hellenisation of Asia Minor and the Turkish occupation of Greece are
all examples of conq uests which seemed to be definitive but turned out
not to be ' in the end, since they were attempts to redraw the
boundaries between civilisations. ,
If we apply this to Spain, it becomes clear that the Reconq uista
and the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela date from a period in
which Roman civilisation - the essence of Europe as expressed in the
structures which"have come down to us - was redefining its territory
in relation to Islam. Hence the Santiago pilgrimage shows, us how the
history of Christianity goes hand in hand with the history of Europe.
The same theory can 'be applied in reverse. .At the beginning of
modern times interest in pilgrimages of the Santiago type diminished
not only because of certain developments within Christianity but also
because of changes in the political framework. Gradually the
"internationalism" of the Middle Ages, which can be regarded as an
early version of the European ideal, disappeared, while everwhere
absolute monarchs were creating a new type of state, ie the nation
state. Given a particular territory and population, these states
began to prohibit vagrancy, as it came to be called, so that pilgrims
felt threatened. We have only to think of the measures taken by
Louis XIV. '
3.2 The pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela is essentially a
dynamic event. In the final analysis it is this feature which makes
I tsuch a powerful factor in the development of the European ideal.
The pilgrim routes are by no means merely ways of reaching somewhere
as q uickly as possible. Here, walking has become an activity which
forms an end in itself, in the sense that, as the walker, sets out to
meet the world, each step represents a personal commitment.
Walking seen from this point of view finds its archetypal
expression in the pilgrimage. Christianity has always strongly
emphasised this process of change, which involves a deliberate
detachment from one's previous values, followed by the adoption of new
values, but on a different, deeper, level - a process which
Graf van Durckheim expressed in the following formula: "Weg von mir,
hin zu Dir, ganz in Dir, neu aus Dir". The Santiago pilgrim does not
fear dialogue; on the contrary, he thrives on it. It is on this
dialogue that the new Europe must be built. Everywhere where this
tradition of pilgrimage is threatened we must defend it, because, as
the poet said, the fruits of dialogue are precious, but the tree is
weak.
3.3 Any attempt to restore the Santiago pilgrim routes to their
former prominence is doomed to failure unless one realises that it
depends for its success on those who are considered to be ordinary
people. What does this mean?
Eminent theologians may hold high level debates on the importance
and meaning of pilgrimages, art historians may speak with enthusiasm
about the art and culture born on the Santiago pilgrim routes,
- 75 -
politicians may make proposals to encourage exchanges and contacts
between the various European nations, but the act of pilgrimage itself
and the invaluable experiences it leaves in the pilgrim's heart are
not the work of the theologian, the scholar or the politician: they
are the business of the men or women who one fine day picked up their
staff and scrip and took to the road. All the theories laboriously
constructed by the theologian, the scholar or the politician are
actually experienced, though never formally studied, by the pilgrim.
Let us be q uite clear about this. There is absolutely no
q uestion of sabotaging the work of the theologian, the scholar or the
politician, just as it would be foolish to shrug one's shoulders at
a report of someone setting off on foot for Santiago. On the
contrary, the rediscovery of the tradition of pilgrimage makes, it
possible to produce an unprecedented synthesis between the faithful
and theologians, between art lovers and 'scholars and between
individuals and their political representatives. But is it not at
these levels that the q uestion of the identity 'of Europe is raised
the levels of religion, art, history and politics? The act of
pilgrimage in theory and practice has an invaluable role -to play in
the rediscovery of this identity and active participation in it.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
van HERWAARDEN J, Opgelegde bedevaarten. Een studie over
de praktijk van opleggen van bedevaarten (met name in de
stedelijke rechtspraak) in de Nederlanden gedurende de late
middeleeuwen (ca. 1300-ca.l500). Amsterdam, 1978.
GEORGES A, Le pelerinage a Compostelle en Belgique et dans le Nord
de la France. Brussels, 1971.
Van HEERINGEN R M, KOLDEWEY A M, GAALMAN A A G, Heiligen uit de
modder. Zutphen, 1987.
BRAUDEL F, La Mediterranee. L'espace et 1'histoire. Paris, 1985.
- 76 -
\
Val eric isr.r.es
Santiago pil grim routes in Bel gium
- 77 -
PILGRIMAGE SONGS
by Eusebio GOICOECHEA ARRONDO (Spain)
INTRODUCTION
Ladies and gentlemen, may I offer you my warmest greetings
personally as head of the Audio-Visual Department of the Santiago de
Compostela Association and on the Association's behalf.
For over 20 years our association has organised annual Mediaeval
Studies Weeks and Early Music Weeks with international academic
attendance. We originated the first video film on the Santiago route
and the first map of it. Since the production of our video film, and
even before then, I have been working on research into pilgrims'
songs, and would like to give you a brief account of my research
findings.
It is q uite impossible to understand the European Middle Ages and
its religious, social and artistic phenomenology without considering
the Santiago pilgrimage route, which is why the Council of Europe has
designated it as the "first European cultural route". The Santiago
route, St James' Way, is the vital artery of the Western world,
carrying its military, cultural and commercial lifeblood. It is at
once a magical road, a mystical path, a channel of art and a tourist
itinerary.
There are now numerous studies in print concerning its art, its
various problems, its architecture and churches, sculpture, painting
and minor arts, including vernacular imagery and even graffiti.
However, research in the musical field has been very sparse.
Before continuing my statement, I have a news item for you: there
is a major monument which is about to collapse and vanish. If I told
you that it was Saint Isidore at Leon, Frondsta, the Moissac abbey
doorway or Saint Cernin at Toulouse, there would be a general outcry
and likewise an overriding need to discover a speedy and effective
remedy to such desecration.
This is not a supposition or an exaggeration, ladies and
gentlemen, it is a reality. A major aspect of the art of Santiago de
Compostela is in the process of vanishing and collapsing, and it
consists of the PILGRIMS' SONGS HANDED DOWN ORALLY in the small
villages along the Santiago route. Will nothing be done to prevent
this irreparable loss?
I could relate several incidents and sad tales which have
befallen me during my forays into the wayside villages, but just one
will suffice: 15 years ago in Lomba, a remote hamlet in Leon province,
I recorded a magnificent pilgrim song. Years passed and I lost the
musical score, but I still have the words and even the name of the 54
year-old lady (Avelina) who sang it to me. I went back last year to
transcribe the music once again; the woman was dead and nobody in the
village knew the melody of the song. This particular monument has
collapsed and cannot be salvaged, and we do not even have the
consolation of rebuilding it stone by stone as could have been done
with an architectural monument. There are many similar cases. Unless
we record the songs quickly year by year and month by month, a
number will cease to exist.
- 78 -
I shall pass over any other considerations in this respect and go
straight on to present the theme.
I. PILGRIMAGE MUSIC; METHODOLOGY AND SOURCES
For a scientific approach to this subject, a number of
preliminary points should be made. .
DEFINITION . . . . . . .
Pilgrimage music very broadly covers, all music born of and for
pilgrimage.
CLASSIFICATION , ;'.; '
This concept includes an .initial classification with two distinct
branches: serious music arid folk music. However, I should
clearly p oi nt ou t t h at as a musicologist I do not take this
distinction as "an antithesis 'implying that folk music is inferior to
what we call "serious music" in terms of culture, artistic sense and
value. The sole difference lies in the manner of its perpetuation.
Serious music embodies compositions by known or unknown
authors kept "in archives and libraries.
The term folk music is applied to anonymous songs perpetuated
by oral tradition and therefore subject to variations inherent in this
form of 'transmission.
There are other classifications to be considered, such as music
for worship (ie music performed in churches at various points of the
Way, in the great abbeys and above all at Santiago) and music for
the road created for the pilgrims' pleasure and entertainmenton
theirlong journey. Within this second classification a further
distinction must be drawn between music of pilgrims and music on
pilgrims.
1. Music of pilgrims;
This includes the songs, usually religious hymns though not
originating in liturgy, sung by the pilgrims on their journey,
together with wayfaring songs, various prayers, farewells to the
family, accounts of miracles, etc.
2. Music on pilgrims:
Compositions of which pilgrims are the more or less direct
subject: ballads with a pilgrim as the hero, love songs, rape of a
female pilgrim, etc.
3. Sources;
This brief overview points to the sources of the research under
discussion. For the sake of clarity and conciseness, I shall abide by
the distinction previously drawn between serious music and folk music.
- 79 -
Sources of serious music; basically there are three:
a. The . first source-of documentation consists of the archives and
libraries where a few serious compositions on pilgrimage are
discovered, albeit less freq uently than one would like. Cathedral
records along the Way are an essential source, but so are other
archives and libraries.
b. The major collections of polyphonic music from.the 14th to 17th
centuries in which polyphonic compositions on St James and his
pilgrimage are..found.- . , . . - , . .
c. I
;
shall give separate commentaries on the Cantigas de Santa .Maria
of Alfonso X .the Wise (,13th century), and the Livre Vermeil of
Montserrat (14th century)., . : ;
Sources of folk .music; Apart from the sources of serious, music, we
have no other avenue for research into pilgrims' music than the oral
tradition or tranmission body word of mouth. , . , . ... -
Although this is a difficult, expensive and awkward inq uiry to
make, it sometimes ' yields outstanding results.: In addition, to
geographical knowledge about of the Santiago route, the scholar must
possess thorough and extensive musical and literary knowledge and be
completely .conversant with folk music and above all with its typical
scales. He must of course by able to transcribe songs accurately and
faithfully as heard. He must be familiar with the anomalies of oral
transmission ,
r
the initial version sung by a villager is not always
1
valid in musical terms, and it may be necessary to wait, have it
repeated, make an informed selection, and so on. - . . - -
I shall not enlarge on these details, despite their great
importance, but the difficulty of collecting these documents must be
appreciated. Careful preparation, a scientific method and experience
are essential for valid .research. -
:
The music of St James occurs in all settlements along the Way and
also in its neighbourhood over a distance of 20 or 30 km on either
side. It is of course difficult to determine where there is a
possibility of locating people who may have certain pilgrim songs
locked in their memory. It is then necessary to win the confidence.of
these people, who are generally wary of strangers. It is usually
pointless to inq uire whether they know a pilgrim song; the answer will
be no. In my experience, however, the same person who claims not to
know any songs of this kind will have sung me one or more (sometimes
unwittingly) at my insistence and .prompting with words and other
melodies already collected in the same area. It must also be borne in
mind that these people often confuse different ballads or songs, words
or tunes. One req uires not only profound general musical knowledge,
but also complete familiarity with the folk music of each region.
. This shows what a difficult and arduous task it is to locate -and
record folk songs, just as their transcription and critical study are
not always easy.
- 80 -
Leaving aside the scientific niceties of methodology and sources,
I shall give you a brief outline of my research findings according to
the aforementioned distinction between serious music and folk music.
II. RESEARCH FINDINGS
A. SERIOUS MUSIC
1. Codex Calixtinus
The town of Santiago de Compostela understandably possesses the
oldest, largest, most precious and most venerable compendium of
pilgrimage music: the 12th century Codex Calixtinus. Peter Vagner
asserts that there is no mediaeval liturgical monument to the
veneration of a single saint which can compare with the liturgy of St
James found in the Codex Calixtinus. It forms an altogether
harmonious blend of all literary and musical elements known in the
12th century. For the purposes of this statement, I am plainly not
concerned with the historical, literary and geographical aspects of
the Codex, but solely with the musical aspect.
Polyphony in Santiago
The value of polyphony in the universal history of music is best
understood if its 12th century context is known. In this connection,
I need simply remark that in the 9th century - when the relics of St
James were discovered - there began in Europe a musical development
which was to have unforeseen repercussions on the evolution of music
worldwide. For the first time, after long ages of monodic or one-part
singing, Europe began to sing in more than one part, initially in two
parts; the Western world had invented polyphony.
And so we find in the llth and 12th centuries at Santiago and
also at Saint Martial in Limoges (all in the same family as it were,
the family of St James' Way) an influential and original school of
music which was to become the most advanced in world music. Santiago
was the place of invention - following the parallel "organa" of the
9th and 10th centuries and the "discantus" of the llth century - of
the melodic "organa" which represent the finest artistic advance of
the period. The great musical schools of Santiago de Compostela and
Saint Martial in Limoges are the immediate forebears of another major
12th century school, that of Notre Dame in Paris (still running in the
family, that of the Santiago route) with the great masters of the Ars
Antiq ua, Leonin and Perotin. The examples of use of polyphonic
language in the Codex Calixtinus were to culminate in Renaissance
polyphony with the mastery of Orlando di Lasso, Palestrina and T.L. de
Victoria.
Three-part polyphony:
However, it must be added that mankind, as already mentioned, was
not to sing in two parts until the 9th century, and the very first
singing of a genuine three-part composition was to take place at
Santiago de Compostela. The relevant piece is entitled "Congaudeant
Catholici", in the which the "duplum" is a descant and the triplum a
florid "organum". The triplum was written after the other two parts,
- 81 -
but still in the 12th century. Even if this was the only musical
piece in our Compostela codex, it would still thoroughly deserve the
highest honours in world musical history. This aspect of Santiago de
Compostela in the history of music is not adequately highlighted.
First pilgrim song
As if the foregoing was not enough, here is a further
particularly pleasant surprise for lovers of St James' Way: on the
front side of folio 193, appended, our Codex bequeathes us a veritable
musical jewel of St James: the "Dum Peterfamilias", the first pilgrim
song.
Paleographically speaking, this is a composition pre-dating the
Codex Calixtinus. The music is copied in Aq uitanian "neumatic"
notation consisting of superimposed dots, "in campo aperto", with no
stave. This sheet was added and stitched in at the end of the Codex
because even then it must have represented a venerable relic of a
former period. The notation both of the words and of the tune is
completely different from that of the Codex.
From the textual angle, it is a hymn to ,St James in six verses
each beginning with the name of the saint in one of the six cases of
the Latin declension: lacobus, lacobi, etc (1). After each verse the
same refrain "Primus ex Apostolis" is repeated. In musical terms it
is a free-rhythm monodic song with a gentle flowing melody.
This song is not only the first pilgrim song but also one of the
first to be sung partly in the vernacular, in German or Flemish. Here
then is the song, which in its music and own words is the symbol of
European union, the union of the Anglo-Saxon North with the Latin
South ...
It is a great pity and a historical anomaly that 20th century
pilgrims do not sing along the Way or at the end of it in Santiago.
This route, which caused so many songs to blossom over hill and vale
in Europe, has become silent and voiceless. A horde of pilgrims
gather in Santiago; its cathedral overflows with people who have come
from all over Europe, but what the Codex Calixtinus relates does, not
happen today:
"Gratulemur et letemur;
Cuncte gentes, lingue, tribus
illuc vunt clamantes:
Sursum perge, gaude ante;
ultreia, esus eia."
"All peoples and languages come to Santiago singing: Ultreia,
esus eia, forward, take heart ..."
Yet this is an official anthem older than Europe's national
anthems, an international, European anthem. Here we have the world's
first Internationale, the "Pilgrim Internationale".
(1) This question and the abbreviations appear at the beginning of
each verse. The problems of their interpretation were examined
in my book, Rutas Jacobeas, Estella (Navarra), 1971, p. 105.
- 82 -
Incredible as it.may seem, this anthem, a true r.elic of Santiago
de,Compostela, was not transcribed until the end of the 19th century.
I'.have made a painstaking study, of it, .obtaining all its
transcriptions from the one by Flores Laguna in 1882 to the one by
H Angles and Lopez Calo. I also retain an unpublished transcription
by Dom Gajard, a worthy monk of Solesmes, with annotations giving his
opinion and reasons.for the transcription of each note. .1 have made a
comparative study of over- a dozen transcriptions .with a , note-by-note,
check .against the original. . The, result is a transcription which, like
any transcription of music "in campo aperto",, is subjective and,
approximate but in my opinion the most plausible and in keeping with
the original.
Let me not conclude this digression without suggesting .to the.
present Congress and to the Council of Europe the expediency of
proclaiming this anthem The European Hymn of Pilgrimage. All
pilgrims should .learn it by heart and sing it with heart, and soul.
Where pilgrims of whatever nation, region or language gather, whether
two or 200,000, they could .join together in singing . this Pilgrim
Internationale. This llth century hymn sung by 20th century Europe
should resound most powerfully
f
under the vaults of Compostela,
penetrating through the stones and the centuries.
To achieve this, a standard transcription is imperative: For
practical reasons, we cannot have differing versions which would
reduce us to disorder and inability to sing it in unison. The St
James' Way Association has the honour to offer this Bamberg Congress
and the Council of Europe our own musical version along with this
suggestion, in the hope that the suggestion will be acknowledged in
the Congress conclusions. Our Association proposes to supply the
musical score and the recording, which we shall endeavour to produce
with the utmost care and to a high standard of q uality. .The
publication of the score, its recording and broadcasting by the
associations via radio programmes, magazines and other publicity media
would easily accomplish a task which we would formerly have considered
virtually impossible. The hymn should of course invariably be sung at
the commencement and close of all congresses and meetings relating to
the Santiago route. How wonderful it would be if this congress in
Bamberg, 2,500 km from Compostela, could be the first milestone, the
first opportunity, the first initiative for all Compostela pilgrims to
join voices in: "Dum Paterfamilias, Rex universorum ... etc. Herru
Sanctiagu, got Santiago, e ultreia, e sus eia, Deus adjuva nos ...",
uniting in its vibrant and age-old chords the past, present and future
of Europe.
Later, but only later, after this hymn of the European pilgrim
has been sung in unison, should each people, region and language sing
its own songs, as was the 12th century practice .according -to
Chapter 17, book 1 of the Codex:
"It is a cause of joy and wonderment to behold the choirs of, pilgrims
keeping vigil before the worshipful altar of St James: . Teutons,
Franks, Italians ... each in their own place ...; some playing on the
cittern, others on the harp ... Here one can savour a great diversity
of languages, of different voices in outlandish tongues; cantilenas in
- 83 -
Teutonic, English, Greek-and languages of other different-tribes and
races from every corner of the earth. Their voices carry every
conceivable word and idiom."
Other musical and literary aspects of this jewel of St James and
other songs in our codex can be omitted, but not this, intriguing fact:
our Codex contains a "Prose" in Latin, Greek and Hebrew words:
"Gratulemur , et letemur". This is the origin of the words previously
q uoted: - . ' ' - . . . - . - - ; . - . . . . . . :
- -' - '
"Cuncte gentes, lingue, tribus ..."
"People of all languages and nations come
;
here-singing their "sus
eia, ultreaa, arise, take heart, forward";
This 12th century sequence recurs in a 14th century "vitela" of
Pamplona with the same melody but in measured rhythm. Again at
Pamplona but in the 18th century-it is found in the "Rhymes " of the
Pilgrim", still with the same tune, apart'from a few minor variations,
:
but in the vernacular, ie Spanish. This is a shining example of a
song's survival 'through the 12th, 14th and
:
18th centuries.
1
2. Planctus
Another noteworthy aspect in"my opinion concerns the Planctus or
laments over the death of the great kings of emperors who
distinguished themselves by the impetus given to the pilgrimage.
Charlemagne (never mind whether factually or by distortion of the
legend) was among the benefactors of the route. It would be
worthwhile to have a song directly referring to this great champion of
St James' Way and of European unity.
This song does in fact exist. It is the Planctus (or funeral
ode) at his death, of which I possess the early 12th century music and
transcription. It is a highly evocative document. We also have the
Planctus for Charles III of Navarre, Alfonso VIII and Sancho IV of
Castile and Ferdinand II of Leon, encompassing all the Spanish
kingdoms traversed by the Way in Spain at a period of major upsurge in
pilgrimages as was the case in the 12th century.
3. Cantigas of Alfonso X the Wise (13th century)
After the 12th century Codex Calixtinus we have another
invaluable codex from the 13th century; the Cantigas de Santa
Maria. The importance of:this codex is well-known thanks to the
studies by Mons H Angles. I need only say that 'it contains about 100
songs describing miraculous occurrences befalling pilgrims or others
along St James' Way, not only in Spain (at Huesca, Leyre, Burgos,
Castrojeriz, Villasirga, Leon, Lugo and Montserfat) but also at other
points of Europe such as Le Puy, Paris, Rocamadour, Cluny-,
;
and
Chartres,
England.
where "a troubadour of Gascony" was the protagonist, and
- 84 -
I have collected and studied all these songs relating to
St James' Way. They are admirable miniatures in which we rediscover
pictures of pilgrims clad in their typical garb and recognise a wide
variety of musical instruments of the period.
4. The Llivre .Vermeil
The 14th century Llivre Vermeil of Montserrat comes next to the
12th century Codex and 13th century Cantigas as a source of pilgrimage
songs. According to Mons H Angles, Europe has preserved two compendia
of mediaeval music written for pleasure and spiritual diversion during
the vigils and days spent in sanctuaries, and these two collections
are part of the Spanish heritage. The first, dating from the 12th
century, is the one embodied in the miscalled Codex Calixtinus of
Compostela; the second, of a more secular nature, consists of the
songs preserved at Montserrat. This second collection includes a
series of religious dances "for the pilgrims' pleasure". Inter alia,
we have one of the first dances of death (which others hold to be one
of penitence) and also a vernacular song, one of the first known songs
in Catalan. This Montserrat codex is the only one in the world to
have handed down to us the folk music of these religious dances for
pilgrims.
The Santiago pilgrims were wont to visit a number of far-famed
sanctuaries close to the Way. We are told of pilgrims visiting
Monserrat and we also learn that the abbot of this sanctuary, Cesareo,
made a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in the 10th century.
5. Classical polyphony
The 15th and 16th centuries, when Polyphony was at its peak, have
left us various catalogues of serious music in which it is possible to
follow the trail of a number of compositions on pilgrims and Santiago.
Many polyphonic compositions are not yet published; they originate
from various cathedrals along the Way and indicate a further research
source.
I have in my possession a 14th century Italian ballad on pilgrims
"lo son un pellegrin". In a codex of Bologna, we find another
polyphonic treasure of Santiago: the "Missa St Jacobi" composed by the
great Franco-Flemish polyphonist Guillaume Dufay during the first
third of the 15th century, the period of the major schools of Liege
and Cambrai. The "Missa St. Jacobi" is the first full mass, ie
comprising the entire Ordinarium and the Propium. In the Post-
Communion he uses - probably for the first time on the continent - the
name and techniq ue of faux-bourdon in a polyphonic composition. The
Gloria is composed throughout in canon (caccia) in unison, with a
sackbut and trumpet "ostinato" accompanying the two bass parts and
forming yet another canon. This Gloria "ad modum tubae" is
comparable, notwithstanding the difference in style and techniq ue, to
the renowned Gloria with trumpets in J S Bach's B Minor Mass.
In Spain we have 15th century polyphonic composition entitled, as
it happens, "St James' Way" and in the 16th century the great
polyphonist Tomas L de Victoria composed a motet in honour of St James
"0 lux et decus Hispaniae", a polyphonic masterpiece in truly
admirable imitative style. The finest musical art, like the finest
architectural and sculptural art, went to serve and honour St James.
- 85 -
To sum up, this first part divided into five sections has briefly
discussed serious music relating to pilgrimage. It shows that we
possess precious musical documents spanning the ages from the
9th century, when the relics of St James were discovered, to the 16th
century inclusive.
B. RESEARCH INTO FOLK MUSIC
As already pointed out, folk music refers to the anonymous songs
handed down by oral tradition and subject to the literary and musical
variants inherent in this form of transmission.
France
France provides the largest legacy of pilgrims' songs, of songs
sung by the pilgrims. These are generally religious, and often
expiatory, hymns.
I have studied a total of about 30 songs. Some were published in
1616, the first known printed publication. Others appeared in a
collection from Troyes in 1718 or were collected at the end of the
last century by persons who deserve to be revered by those interested
in the Santiago Way; eg Adrien Laverge, Father Hospital and Camille
Daux.
Among these songs, one is outstanding: the great song of the
Santiago pilgrims or Spiritual Canticle.
This is a travelling song, a kind of "Vademecum" or tourist guide
whose verses relate the various stages along St James' Way (a map set
to music), the perils and difficult stretches, the customs, the
sanctuaries, the relics, etc. It is the prototype for other wayfaring
songs to be found in Europe.
I have researched the entire process of recovery of this "Great
Song" with all the related episodes, and I even know the name of the
80-year-old pilgrim, Mr Moura of the parish of Asson (Lower Pyrenees)
who has preserved and transmitted it. Shortage of time prevents me
from telling you about the song or about my musical study of it.
However, I shall at least give you two particulars which I
consider interesting. The text of the song was published for the
first time in Troyes in 1718, but we come across it at a far earlier
date at Roncevaux in the 13th century. It was presumably brought by a
troubadour giving Christian de Boisvert as his name and Troyes as his
birthplace. He died and was buried at the Chapel of the Holy Spirit
in the European cemetery for pilgrims in the Pyrenees of Navarre. The
Prior of Roncevaux recovered the text from the pouch of this pilgrim
troubadour.
This great pilgrim song, .the oldest, most popular and most
venerable next to the "Dura Paterfamilias" of the Codex Calixtinus, I
discovered written in Basque at Valcarlos where I recorded it. I even
have two musical versions of the Great Song written in this age-old
language.
- 86 -
In addition to this superb pilgrim song, there are numerous
French songs attached to various regions from which people proceeded
to join the pilgrimage: the song of the Parisians; that of
Valenciennes; that of the Toulouse pathway; that of the Aurillac
pilgrims and so on. The eternal theme of love forms the subject of
certain songs, as for example in the Permette (the "Romeo and
Juliet" of the pilgrimage). . . ., '
Time is tq o short: for me to tell you about my .tribulations this
summer in connection with the song of the Moissac pilgrims which. I
heard from a former laundress. I^nevertheless wish to tell.you about
an occurrence which is very odd, musically speaking. There is a
pilgrim song written in langue d'Oc which greatly surprised me when , .1
heard it sung for the first time some 20 years ago. On that occasion
I remarked to a professor, "This is not a French .tunej' I think it is
Spanish in style, and my impression is confirmed by . its , melismatic
form and melody." The only argument on which I could rely was my ear,,
well-practiced with 30 years of recording folk songs from all parts of
Europe. Fifteen or 20 years later during one of: my expeditions' into
the Leon area, I had the pleasant surprise of recording the very same
song but this time in Spanish, sung by an old woman of 75. . There was
the glaring proof which I had. been unable to give the French professor
15 years earlier. Furthermore, I have come across this'admirable tune
in other Spanish regions.
. I am sorry not to be able to, linger longer over the pilgrim songs
offered to us by the noble French nation.
Like France, Spain has a good repertoire of pilgrimage songs. At
present I have pilgrimage songs from all regions crossed by the Way:
from Huesca, Navarre, La Rioja, Castile and Leon, Galicia .and
Catalonia. They are written in all the languages of Spain: Latin,
Basq ue, Castilian, Galician and Catalan.
In view of the time remaining, I shall only comment on a few
songs which I collected in Leon. After long years of research and
investigation I succeeded in recovering in L6on a series of highly
interesting pilgrim songs. This is the region where I have done the
most research work and which, of all the regions crossed by St James'
Way in Europe, is presently found to be the richest in pilgrimage
songs, a dozen in all. Here is the "initium" of some of them:
"Mayo largo, mayo pardo
tardes son de mucho calor ..."
"La peregrina: Iba la peregrina
con su esclavina, con su cartera y
su bordon ..."
"Por las sendas q ue conducen
al Sepulcro del Patr6n ..."
"Caminito de Santiago,
camino de gran valor ..."
Donde vas peregrino con lo que
llueve?
etc.
Long May, gloomy May
Evenings are warm
The pilgrim: the pilgrim
journeyed with her cloak,
her scrip and staff ?.
Along the paths which lead
to the Patron's sepulchre
Little path of St James
Path of great value ...
Pilgrim, where do you wend
in the falling rain?
etc.
-67 -
The ballad of Count Miguel del Campo introduces the subject
of the voman raped on her pilgrimage:
"Esta noche'van a ahorcar
al Conde Miguel del Campo
por "esforciar" a une nina
q ue camina "pa" Santiago".
Tonight they will hang
'Count'Migue
1
! del Campo
for ravishing a girl
jouneying to Santiago.
This subject was presented in the 17th century by the great
Spanish dramatist Tirso de Molina in his play "La Romera de Santiago",
based on popular ballads.
I have also recovered a ballad on "the pilgrim lass resisting
rape". This composition describes the girl travelling along the Way
singing the "pilgrim tune". A knight overtakes her and attempts to rape
her. In the ensuing struggle the girl notices the knight's dagger,
takes it and plunges it into his heart:
"Entre hervores de la sangre
el caballero moria; "'
su alma a Dios confiaba;
su cuerpo a la romerita".
She buries him by the Way
Los romeros que pasaban
rezaban Ave Marias"
Another pilgrim song:
In torrents of blood
the 'knight was dying;
;
commended his spirit to God,
his body to the pilgrim lass.
The pilgrims passing by
would say Hail Mary.
The peasants of Bierzo working on a slope of the mountain, when they
saw a pilgrim pass on the other side of the valley, sang this song.
The final note is 'greatly amplified, and the echo carried the song to
the years of the pilgrim and the pilgrim answered in the same way.
"The Pilgrim" is yet another interesting song, a pastourelle. A
pilgrim asks a sherpherdess if he is on the right road to Santiago.
She confirms this and invites him to eat bread and honey and brings
him water to bathe his feet. The pilgrim is torn between the
stirrings of love and the vow he has made to go to Santiago. He finds
the solution:
"Aguardame pas tourina
que en llegando tornare ..."
Wait for me, shepherdess,
for once I arrive at
Compostela I shall return ...
Also in Leon, I found a curious ballad entitled
"Por Caminos de anda lianda" "By the onward paths"
This is about Christ becoming a pilgrim:
"Vistiose de peregrine,
1
calzose fuertes sandalias,
cogio bordon y escarcela
y echose al hombro una capa".
He clad himself as a pilgrim
Put on stout sandals,
took up staff and scrip
and put a cloak on his back.
- 88 -
He begs alms from a rich man (who scorns him) and from some
muleteers who take him with them to an inn; the hostess takes in the
muleteers and sends the poor man - Jesus Christ - to the cowshed and
even denies him- a glass of water. The hostess - the ballad goes on -
rises into the air condemned, crying out in the final verse:
"Que condenada me veo
por negar un jarro de agua
a Cristo, q ue por la tierra
como peregrino andaba
I am condemned
for denying a jar of water
to Christ, who here on earth
was journeying as a pilgrim.
The tunes of all these ballads are rich and varied; some have a
special Spanish scale and all are of outstanding interest, even from a
strictly musical angle.
Other European countries
I shall simply tell you that I have in my possession:
1. A pilgrim song from Norway, the words of which run:
"Beautiful is the earth, wide is the sky
Charming the song of the pilgrim,
To paradise we shall go singing:
Glory to St James the Great Patron".
The oldest printed version dates from 1842.
2. I also have three pilgrim songs from Germany, one dating from
the late 15th century and derived from a Munich manuscript.
3. Yugoslavia
I have the words, and am in the process of rediscovering the
melody, of two or three Yugoslavian songs related to the pilgrimage.
One of them describes the pilgrim's eq uipment:
"Kdor hoce roman biti
romar svete a Jakoba ..."
"He who wishes to be a pilgrim,
Pilgrim of St James
Needs shoes ... etc"
There is another ballad telling of the hanged man taken down in
Santo Domingo de la Calzada.
"Father Steward, Father Martin
Is going on a pilgrimage
A pilgrimage to Galicia ..."
This ballad is still sung as a folk song in small Slovenian
villages. It is moreover a "audio-visual" piece in that there are
15th century murals relating in pictures the subject of this Slovenian
ballad. I went to that country this summer and found many traces of
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St James (Seven Jakoba) in Korcula (the island of Marco Polo), at
Sibenik and at Opatija (the name meaning "Obadia" = abbey, because of
a 12th century abbey of St James whose rebuilt church still exists and
contains 16th century paintings.... and inscriptions on St James).
Rome and Jerusalem
In conclusion, I would remind you that some pilgrims also made
the two other major Christian pilgrimages, those to Jerusalem and
Rome.
A collection of pilgrim songs - albeit relating to Compostela
pilgrims - would in my opinion be incomplete without a musical
reference to these two other major pilgrimages, and in fact I possess
a song of the pilgrims to Rome with an llth century melody together
with several folk songs on these pilgrims or rather "romeros". I also
have a song on the Jerusalem pilgrims from the early 13th century.
"Now at last life begins for me, for my eyes can see the Holy
Land ..."
Our survey is now complete and we realise that we possess pilgrim
songs from various countries and language groups, popular and more
scholarly songs on sacred and secular subjects.
Conclusion
I must conclude, and I shall do so with a plea and a suggestion.
My plea is that anyone present or anyone hearing of this Congress who
knows of any detail, even a minor one, concerning a pilgrim song, or
the name of a person who knows one, is urgently req uested to inform
me.
It is a difficult but also a sacred duty of all lovers of the Way
to ensure that these musical monuments do not perish.
And if anyone decides to devote his time and efforts to this
arduous but interesting work, whether here in Germany or in Norway,
the Netherlands or any other part of Europe, he can count on my
assistance and my support.
I now come to my suggestion. As I said at the beginning, we have
an international hymn of pilgrimage in the "Dum Paterfamilias" song of
the Codex Calixtinus. This Bamberg Congress might, if deemed
expedient, have it declared a European hymn of pilgramage so that all
peoples, races and languages will at least have a resounding symbol of
the unity desired by all, especially the Council of Europe.
There should not be a Congress without singing or a pilgrimage
without song. It would be very fine to hear this hymn sung together
by all pilgrims along all the paths to Santiago and finally to sing it
altogether in the cathedral of Compostela, on the European Plaza Mayor
and in the Obradairo whose towers are a skyward extension of the Way,
the luminous path which pierces the velvet of the night in Compostela
and joins its counterpart, the Milky Way, that shining galaxy and
enormous pentagram of notes set in stars, a heavenly rendering in
light of the great European epic on the earthly path to Santiago de
Compostela.
My friends, let us hear the worshipful hymn of all pilgrims of
all ages from the llth century onwards as handed down to us by the
Codex Calixtinus: "HERRU SANCTIAGU! GOT SANCTIAGU! E ULTREIA, E SUS
EIA DEUS ADJUVA NOS!".
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PILGRIMS AND PILGRIMAGES YESTERDAY AND TODAY, AROUND THE EXAMPLE
. OF SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA
by-Robert PLOTZ (Federal Republic of Germany)
;
'
Exposition
' . ^ '
1
The foreword to the guidebook of an exhibition held in Munich'
under the title "Pilgrimage knows no frontiers", after stating that
the theme was limited to "Christian pilgrimage", contained the
following sentence: We are naturally aware of the objection that
there is no great difference between researching the mentality of
Western pilgrims of the 10th and llth century and researching that of
the Samnyazins, the Indian ascetics who renounce all, absolute
pilgrims who abandon the "world" in order to receive a new life, being
ritually dead and going into the void as pilgrims detatched from time'
and space.
From the phenomenological point of view, this may well hold true
in general for the peregrinatio religiosa but it does not hold
true for the most European of all pilgrimages, the peregrinatio ad
limina Beati Jacobi. This can be demonstrated by -analysingtwo
conceptstakenfrom the above q uotation: the West and pilgrim.
The Christian West/the Occident
In the German language use of the word Abendland (land of the
evening) to . mean the West arose by analogy with Luther's use of
Morgenland (land of the morning) in Matthew II, 1 to mean the East.
Sincethe 16th century the term the West has developed, first to
designate a geographical entity and since the romantic era a cultural
and religious entity. Originally, and once again in the 20th century,
the West was and is a mythical, religious/political concept, which
according to F Heer fits into a metaphysical "geography". The idea of
Europe as the West arose when the Roman Empire was split into a
Western Roman Empire and an Eastern Roman Empire. It covers a claim
to political power. A specific, Occidental concept of the West was
the result of the Roman popes' struggle to assert themselves in the
face of the Holy Emperors in Constantinople, who were eq ual to the
apostles (isoapostolos). During this struggle, the popesattempted
Torally the Franks to their cause as warriors in and for their
Western Europe.
Such a constellation did not happen overnight. Under the Emperor
Constantino's first successors Christianity was split asunder into
East and West, and the fundamental East-West conflict in Europe was
born. A Latin hemisphere, centred around the first Rome, developed in
opposition to a Greek hemisphere, centred around Constantinople, the
second Rome, whose heritage was to be Moscow, the third Rome. This
opposition was finally enshrined in the split between the Roman popes
and the patriarchs of Constantinople in 1054.
The first major decision in the history of the West was in
340 AD when Athanasius of Alexandria (295-373), the leader of the
Orthodox Christians in the Arian schism, fled to Rome from the terror
imposed by Constantine. The bishops and theologians of the West (the
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Occident), Pope Liberius, Lucifer of Cagliari, Eusebius of Vercelli,
Hilarius of Poitiers and later Ambrosius of Milan, took a stand
against the Arian Emperor of the East. The West was born of this
resistance by the Western Bishops. Despite the struggles of the popes
of Rome to form a counterweight to Byzantium's Roman Empire,
Byzantium as a legal and cultural power still fascinated even the
Franks of the 12th and 13th centuries. Seen from Byzantium, from the
East, what for the West was willed by God, ie the "rise of the West",
was a usurpatory act and a rebellion by "barbarians" (although this is
not the place to discuss the term -barbarian and its many layers of
meaning), which lasted into the 13th century and led to the plundering
of the Holy City by barbarians during the 4th Crusade (1202-1204).
Gregory the Great (590-604) is seen as an early pope and the
founder of the West. His societas rei publicae christianae under
the leadership of the Roman church was a prophetic vision of mediaeval
Europe, and one in which the Franks played a leading role. The rise
of the Prankish Empire and of the Roman Papacy, which became universal
powers, reinforced the West's consciousness of itself. As this
consciousness developed, in protracted conflict, Constantinople
conceded that Charlemagne could bear the title of emperor. The
Carolingian Court liturgy- called Charlemagne "king and father of
Europe", "venerable peak of Europe" and "beacon of Europe" on the
occasion of his meeting with Pope Leo III at Paderboirn in 799.
Although it did not cover the whole of Europe in the geographical
sense, the empire of Charlemagne - who legend says was the first
pilgrim to visit the tomb of the apostle James in the far West of
Europe - was a single, Christian empire in the eyes of the spiritual
elite of the age. It was the successor to Rome and the Roman Empire,
yet stood under Prankish, ie Franco-German rule. A new,
Germano-European Europe, which Alcuin, Charlemagne's Anglo-Saxon court
theologian, called the "continent of belief", seemed to have come into
existence. It measured itself against the fatherland of Christian
belief and its culture with self-assurance. Europe was born as a new
society and culture.
Nor could this first germ of a European idea be demolished by the
fact that after Charlemagne, what had apparently been spiritually and
temporally united, disintegrated into a loose association of dukedoms,
under the Roman Emperor of the German nation whose spiritual
counterpart was the Papacy.
It might well be assumed that the European West at the time of
Charlemagne possessed a unified culture and view of the world, one in
which the Graeco-Roman culture, Christian belief and a sense of
mission had coalesced into what we understand by the Christian West.
My feeling is that this anticipates a synthesis and contamination
which happened only much later. Christianity, Graeco-Roman culture
and Germanic culture had not yet fused into a single, Western culture,
although the concept of a Redeemer which arose in the first half of
the 9th century bore the first signs of a rapprochement between a
peaceful, world-renouncing belief in the hereafter and the Germanic
people's joy in the life of this world and their lusty nature.
Charlemagne's attempt to unite the West under a monarchy with
theocratic overtones, in which the interests of empire and church were
one, was an anticipatory attempt which was intimately linked to his
personality. It was not the normal development of tribal states into
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a higher form of state. The 9th and 10th centuries which followed saw
one significant reverse after the other. The disappearance of the
old orders, the emergence of new systems of government, the erosion of
traditional powers and attacks by alien peoples (Normans, Saracens,
Hungarians) all led to a vacuum in which the people of the time saw
only one way out of their oppression: turning to the church as a
stable element and to God as eternal. The need for norms, for
recognisable daily security and for belief in an approachable, just
authority was only satisfied in metaphysical terms, by religion and
the church. The cult of saints and relics took on unheard of
dimensions and the masses turned to God in an unprecedented way. The
Christian West began to take shape in the Middle Ages, especially with
the turning of the masses to the cult of the saints and the adoption
of common forms of life.
And yet the sad panorama of the 10th century contained the
foundations of the later development of the Christian West. Two
events shed light on this:
The battle of Lechfeld in 955 will never be as famous as the
battle of Marathon: it left no traces in people's memory and was
recorded in chronicles only in the span of a man's lifetime, finally
disappearing from the people's consciousness. Yet this ba-ttle was no
less significant for the territorial security of the European nations
than was Marathon for the formation of Greece. Both battles were
merely stations on a long, hard way. That one is celebrated
1
in* the
Olympics and the other goes almost uncommemorated results partly from
the fact that the society which was slowly developing in the 10th
century was greater, more subtle and more complicated than could be
imagined at the time.
Secondly: it was probably in 972 that talented young scholar
named Gerbert felt himself called to study logic, after studying all
that Italy and Spanish gold could teach him, and went from Rome to
Reims to become head of the cathedral school there. The activity of
the man who was to become Pope Sylvester II (999-1003) and the teacher
of Otto III, his writings, teaching methods and pupils, became a
driving force for knowledge in Europe over the next two generations.
Gerbert extended the field of logical studies and passed on his
scientific knowledge, which he had gleaned in part from Arab sources.
We should not however be under the illusion that the West already
possessed a homogeneous character or had been entirely converted to
Christianity. It is true that people were Christians, or converts to
Christianity save in the most Northern or Eastern regions, but the
abiding impression is that in Carolingian times society as a whole had
a thin veneer of Christianity, a meagre cover for heathen ways and
magical thought. The gullibility of the people, which went hand in
hand with superstition, is easier to understand when we realise thai;
priests' spiritual level and religious training was q uite inadeq uate.
Many priests did not even know the Lord's Prayer.
It was not under Charlemagne but in the llth century that the
Christian West left infancy behind and stood on its own two feet. Only
then could the pilgrimage to the land of St James' tomb achieve a
European dimension. Like any other advanced civilisation dependent on
previous cultures, Western culture is primarily a symbiosis of two
elements, which still co-exist: the ancient world and Germanic-Celtic
culture, ie on the one hand an advanced civilisation and on the other
a primitive culture. If we take a closer look we can even see that
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Western culture is riot a product of the fusion of a primitive culture
and an advanced one but the fusion of two primitive cultures (Germans
and Celts) and of two advanced civilisations (the ancient world and
early Christianity). The spirit of the Christian- West grew from: the
ability to say "I", which prepared the ground for Western
individualism; the mild Christian influence on customs; the stubborn
emphasis on the self contributed by the Nordic tradition, bent to meet
the needs of social life; and - above all - the view of the soul as
the fount of all personality development (according to Borkenau). In
the cultural morphology of the West the idea of total personal
responsibility has played an essential role in the course of history
as the history of salvation. God's immutable plan determined the
history of salvation and of the world. In mediaeval times the coming
of the Last Judgement was in the foreground of people's minds in
Latin-Christian Europe, ie the West. The era of homogenisation of
Christian culture in the West co-incided with pilgrimages from all
over Europe to the grave of the Apostle James in Compostela.
Christian holy happenings were given a concrete European dimension.
Peregrinatio religiosa
Since Graeco-Roman times, the Christian world has seen people
journey to holy places or to the places where "holy" persons lived.
The expectation was that God would hear their prayers, which mainly
concerned earthly and material matters, and that powers not of this
world would miraculously intervene. There are essential differences
between pilgrimages, veneration of the saints, veneration of relics,
local cults, etc. and they should not be confused, although their
boundaries often overlap and their development can be linked together.
Various clear types of external form and inner motivation can be
distinguished:
1. Pilgrimage, or the condition of being a pilgrim (status
viae or viatoris), which finds its place in Christian
anthropology in the expression life is a pilgrimage (vita est
peregrinatio). Life on earth for homo viator is merely a
transient situation on the way to his objective beyond the earth, on
the way to God. The Irish-Scottish monks who set out to evangelise
Central Europe lived according to this ideal. They learned to have no
home from the early monks of the East. Ceasarius of Heisterbach
(circa 1180-1240) ascribed a kind of spiritual condition to pilgrims
on the way to Santiago de Compostela and for example described
pilgrims to Santiago from Cologne as fratres. Even in the High
Middle Ages, being a pilgrim expressed a concrete form of religious
conduct, referring neither to a route nor to a geographically
localised objective.
2. Pilgrimage to holy places (peregrinatio ad loca sancta). At
the outset this meant only a devout visit to the holy places of
Christ's life and suffering in Palestine, chiefly Jerusalem.
Such pilgrimages first took place under Constantine and by the
6th century they were fully developed. In the early Middle Ages a
pilgrimage to the Holy Land was a sign of holiness, and was
undertaken almost exclusively by people of spiritual or higher origin.
The view of the crusades as a warrior pilgrimage can be ascribed to
this.
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3. The mediaeval pilgrimages of penitence to distant places where
lay the tombs of the apostles and saints were the successors to, the
peregrinatio ad loca sancta and .competed with them. The condition
olbeing a pilgrim as we know it today found its full expression in
the llth till 13th centuri.es as a mass phenomenon on a European scale.
It was only then that the hierarchy of Jerusalem, Rome and Santiago de
Compostela as .chief places of pilgrimage (peregrinationes maior.es)
was established. If we look at the number of pilgrims and the
popularity of this pilgrimage in all social classes, the tomb of Saint
James in Compostela was the main place of pilgrimage and the journey
there can be seen as a substitute for the many failed crusades. For
Dante in Florence, writing in 1293, the true peregrini were those
who left .their homeland to visit Saint James at the end of the old
world. Dante called pilgrims to Rome romei. and pilgrims to
Jerusalem palmieri.
In mediaeval times pilgrimages were a mass phenomenon, which
inspire /admiration and even astonishment in today's observers,
considering the low population figures of the time. Chroniclers
reported a stream of many thousands of pilgrims in one day, often many
times more than the total population of the largest places of
pilgrimage themselves.
The resultant problems of traffic, food and lodging have been
recorded for us in documents and accounts, in the form of hundreds of
sober facts. For example, many treaties concerning the transport of
pilgrims from Aix-la-Chapelle, concluded between the guilds of Rhine
boatmen, between the Lake of Constance and the Lower Rhine, have been
preserved. As an old French proverb tersely says Point de marine
sans pelerinage (no navy without pilgrimages).
When the holy coat of Treves was first displayed in 1512 on the
orders of the emperor Maximilian I, the authorities of the city sought
the help of bakers, butchers and fishmongers in a wide swathe around
the city. They had so many people to feed that they did not know how
to do so. In 1475 the town of Erfurt was faced with such
insurmountable problems in housing and feeding the mass of pilgrims
streaming from central and southern Germany towards Wilsnack that the
town council saw no way out other than barring them from the town.
Caesarius of Heisterbach (circa 1180-1240) reported with astonishment
that he had never seen so many people in his life as he did in
Marburg in 1233 on his pilgrimage to the tomb of Saint Elizabeth.
4. Concursus pppuli. This refers to mass devotion and covers
visits to tombs, miraculous images or places of miraculous happenings,
gatherings to req uest healing or indulgences, feast days of
intercession and obligatory processions. All these were normal
occurrences in the day-to-day religious life of the Middle Ages and
were not thought of as pilgrimages.
There was no difference between the popular cult of a holy relic
at the place where it was venerated and later events organised for the
masses. Praise, offerings, votive gifts, blessings with relics,
touching holy tombs, etc were not forms of expression which req uired a
special pilgrimage. Even today a confluxus can be found in any
ordinary Catholic church in southern countries. The form which became
established from the end of the 13th century onwards is today called a
devotional visit (from the wording used for indulgences at the
time-devotionis causa). It grew from visits to saints, which
were unexceptionalbecause possible everywhere, and the brief
indulgences granted in all places; these had few links with
pilgrimages as such or were totally separated from them.
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5. Devotional processions (local pilgrimages) are extra-liturgical,
communal forms of plea or penitence held at regular intervals (usually
every year at a , given time) and usually taking ,the form of a
procession to a place of pilgrimage. Such local pilgrimages are not
the same as a pilgrimage, which is the expression of private piety
although this does not mean that an individual cannot take part in a
local pilgrimage and bring to it the mentality of a pilgrim.
Devotional processions are a popular custom, .inspired in eq ual measure
by private piety, popular belief and the authority of the church.
, Special mention must be made of devotional processions to
miraculous images, a form which emerged at the end of the Middle
Ages with the tendency to seek material evidence of God's grace. The
natural feeling was that miraculous Images represented something which
could be visualised, and which united proximity and touching with the
saints' powers to intercede and make miracles happen. - , ,
The pilgrims' motives
What prompted pilgrims to set off on the hard way, as Petrach
called it in the 14th century?
Although the strict teaching of the church and learned
theologians saw pilgrimages chiefly as a matter of penitence and
sanctification, laymen - and the great ones of the earth were hardly
any different from the common people - sought direct, physical contact
with relics at the place of pilgrimage. Popular belief sought the
assurance of salvation in a tangible, material form which could be
taken home along with devotional articles, to be absorbed into and
taken over by daily life.
Among the devout there was a great number of people driven to
make the journey because of illness, infirmity, physical or spiritual
suffering and need. This is shown by the reports found in the many
books of miracles, which give a detailed description of healings and
which shed light on medical history. It is shown particularly in the
substantial increase in the number of pilgrims in times of hunger,
epidemics and natural or man-made catastrophies. Some came to pray for
help for themselves or a family member, to find healing or at least
relief; others came to give thanks for being healed or saved, usually
in fulfilment of a vow.
Then there were those who were sent to do penance by the
authorities of the church or state - by a judgment of the court, under
treaties of atonement or peace. In addition, .there were the
professional pilgrim brothers and pilgrim sisters, who made use of
their in-born yen to see the world to gain a meagre living, and who
undertook for payment a pilgrimage to save the souls.of the dead or in
place of the prosperous living.
Lastly, it was not uncommon for a pilgrimage to be combined with
business or private matters; beyond the pure joy ,of travelling and
adventure, it sometimes provided the desired justification, being
sanctioned by the church.
The pilgrims who flocked to the mediaeval places of pilgrimage
ranged from kings and dukes down to beggars and vagabonds. They all
wanted to take home a visible sign of their completed pilgrimage.
Thus arose the mediaeval pilgrims' signs.
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The first pilgrims' signs we know of made their appearance in the
second half of the 12th century. Kurt Roster has published many
papers on such signs. In his "Schleswig" paper he drew up a catalogue
of pilgrims' signs and pilgrims' shells found along the mediaeval
routes to Santiago across Europe, the inter signa Beati Jacobi
being a prime example. This scallop shell first appeared in
architecture and sculpture towards the end of the llth century and in
the 12th century the pilgrims' guidebook, the Liber Santi Jacobi
stated that in the paradise behind the fountain, ie in front oft h e
North portalof Coinpostela cathedral,cursille piscium idem ^"ter
signa beati Jacobi were sold to pilgrims along with, othernecessities
for travelling.
Peregrinatio ad limina Beati Jacobi
At the beginning of my speech I called the pilgrimage to the
presumed tomb of the Apostle James in Galicia the most European
of all peregrinationes and described it later as a peregrinatio
maior along with Jerusalem and Rome.
When did^ Santiago de Compostela and the tomb of the Apostle
James, the first of the martyrs, appear in religious history?
What we now know as the sacred geography of the Middle Ages in
the West was formed gradually between the 5th and the llth centuries.
The structures of the church became more firmly established, cults of
the saints blossomed, a first wave of heretical conflicts was settled
and the various national liturgies were harmonised along Roman lines.
The Christian West won its own character. This was also the time when
the traditiones hispanicae were developed, which were to lay the
foundation for the cult of Saint James and for the greatest pilgrimage
of the Middle Ages.
It was in the 8th century that people began to believe that the
Apostle James had entered into a "personal" relationship with the
Iberian Peninsula and thus with Europe. The battles against the Moors
of the small Christian kingdom of the Asturias which held itself to be
the successor to the Western Goths, the efforts of the Primate of
Toledo to achieve independence and the resulting apostolic claim of
the Asturian church, Adoptianism and a reserved attitude towards the
influence of Carolingian tendencies all combined to bring about a
spiritual and psychological climate which resulted in the
discovery/rediscovery of the apostle's tomb. Covered by apostolic
authority and encouraged by the Christian reconq uista (reconq uest)
of lost Spanish territories a cult took root whoseconseq uences are
felt even today.
Following the discovery of the apostle's tomb under Bishop
Theodemiro of Iria Flavia and King Alphonse II (789-842) a cult
rapidly developed, encouraged by the Asturian kings. Privileges,
donations, the building of churches and the founding of a monastic
community to serve the cult meant that by 900 the cult of Saint James
was already known beyond the region. Local pilgrimages in the 9ch
century and the founding of a village at the site of the tomb were the
first steps leading to Compostela becoming a bustling, much visited
trading city and bishopric in the 12th century.
The new sacred movement attracted so much attention even in the
Muslim south that the great General Almanzor (997) was prompted to
lead one of his infamous expeditions against the town which contained
the sole apostle's tomb known in the West, laying waste to all except
the grave.
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Yet shortly afterwards all was restored. After the turn of the
millenium, development around the apostle's tomb became part of the
general development of the Christian West. It is only since the turn
of the millenium. that we can-talk of the pilgrimages becoming a true
mass movement. After the disheartening, stagnant conditions of the
10th century, religious needs led to many translations and new
reliquaries. In 1010 the head of Saint John the Baptist was found at
St. Jean d'Angely, in 1037 the monks of Vezelay found the relics of
Saint Mary Magdalen. The churches of Conq ues, Autun, Limoges, St.
Gilles, Toulouse and Tours were thronged with worshippers. An
interesting theory in this connection is that proposed recently by
Mr Diaz y Diaz, namely that the information given in the pilgrims'
guidebook in the Liber Sancti Jacobus about other places of pilgrimage
on the route was an inspired way of subordinating them to the
apostle's tomb.
From the outset, the cult of Saint James had two dimensions: a
French-European one and a Spanish one which gradually grew along with
the reconquista. Both facets of the Galician sacred movement were
most clearly visible at the time of the first crusade (end of the llth
century). The peregrinatio inspired by the cult of Saint James
lasted as both a European and national movement until the end of the
18th century. The first pilgrims from outside were-said to be Bishop
Gotescalc of Aq uitaine in 950 and Abbot Caesarius of Montserrat who
spent the year 959 in Compostela.
The increased mobility of the society of the High Middle Ages,
allied to technical and economic progress, social and legal changes,
church initiatives, religious renewal and better hospital care for
pilgrims all conspired to turn the pilgrimage into a mass movement.
Major factors in developing the peregrinatio ad limina Beati
Jacobi were Cluny's efforts to aid the reconq uista and the
repoblacion (repopulation), the marking of a safe route under
Alphonse VI of Castile-Leon and Sancho Ramirez of Navarre and Aragon
towards the end of the llth century, together with the rapprochement
with Rome fostered by Bishop Gelmirez.
By the 13th century the journey to Compostela had become a mass
movement which also embraced the poorer classes. Its pilgrims
dominated the roads of the Christian West, their patron saint James
being both a patron of the route and of the pilgrims.
Pilgrim guidebooks came out and reports of miracles were amassed
(eg in the Codex Calixtinus). The epic poetry of the courts and
the Carolingian tradition became bound up with the cult of Saint
James, confraternities looked after the pilgrims, entire trades such
as azabacheros (jet-cutters), silversmiths and inn-keepers lived off
the pilgrims in Compostela. Architecture and art relayed each other
along the sacred tracks of Europe leading to and from Compostela.
Pilgrim songs and romances were composed. Saint James was omnipresent
in the religious life of Europe until far into the modern age.
For the Occident the High Middle Ages were a time of great
mobility. The West had always had its q uota of agitators and
travellers, although they had generally represented a privileged
minority: warriors, monks, nobles or loners. After the first half of
the llth century, this mobility changed in both q uantitative
and q ualitative terms. Social and religious changes and ideas, a new
kind of popular piety, legal innovations, technical and economic
progress and many other elements which we have already described all
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combined to make such wandering a generalised and diverse phenomenon
as never before.. What was new was, that in.almost all social classes
wandering and searching became a necessity, an everyday occurrence and
an ideal. Knights rq de off to ' adventures- and sought the
grail. Hermits visited one wilderness after another. Travelling
priests taught and bore witness.to.the true apostolic life in one
place after another. Even school children and students found
themselves on the. road to exile and wandering. In an. age when trade
with distant parts blossomed merchants were constantly on the move.
However, the phenomenon which best reflected the mobility of
society at the time, which set people of all ranks on the roads and
filled them with a longing for distant parts and religious desire was
the pilgrimage. The people of the llth and.12th centuries found the
deepest meaning of their belief in the hard, dirty reality of life on
the roads; a pilgrim's life seemed to them q uite simply to be a
Christian life. For what
;
had Christ been other than an eternal
wanderer who was never at .home, a temporary sojourner on the way to a
new Jerusalem.
The peregrinatio ad limina Beati Jacob! represents a turning
point 'in the history, of Christian pilgrimage. Not Christ, not the
cross and not the church, but Saint James stood at the centre of the
cult. Saint James was both the patron of pilgrims and a pilgrim
himself as is clearly shown in the images of the time. Here again,
the strands lead back to the view of Christ as a pilgrim; around 1100
Christ was depicted as a pilgrim in images of the Emmaus scene. It
was also no coincidence that Scottish monks settled on the mainland
under the banner of the Apostle James, ending their peregrinatio pro
Christo and their vita peregrinationis.
Another important factor in the subseq uent development of the
pilgrimage to Compostela was the fact that Santiago de Compostela was
both a place of pilgrimage and place of miracles, and primarily a
place of miracles. The remains of the apostle were discovered under
miraculous circumstances. The Liber miraculorum in the Codex
Calixtinus gives particulars of many miraculous happenings. In many
respects, the places of pilgrimage provided exactly what popular,
"subversive" piety or piety "from below" expected from a place of
miraculous happenings. Far more so than the pilgrimages to Rome
and Jerusalem, legend and cult must have made the Apostle James a
modern, attractive saint, a "messenger of spring" of popular piety,
such as Rome could not offer. In comparison, Rome's traditions of
Peter and Paul must have seemed in some ways too "old" and too
suffocated by liturgical forms to be seen as "miraculous". For the
turning of the masses to God and the saints, in the spirit of
awakening which prevailed in the llth and 12th centuries in the newly
self-aware Christian West, the apostle and pilgrim James was a figure
with whom popular belief could identify, a partner which it needed and
accepted. The apostle's tomb in the far West also occupied a great
place in the consciousness of population of the late Middle Ages.
Sebald Ilsung from Augsburg noted in his account of his pilgrimage to
Compostela (1446-48) that, apart from the Holy Land, most pilgrims
journeyed there. Little can be said about the echo of the
peregrinatio ad Sanctum Jacobum in the late Middle Ages since only
sporadic research papers are available. What is certain is that there
are many more documents pertaining to 15th century pilgrimages to
Compostela than there are for any century before or after (I Mieck).
There are many indications that the numbers of French pilgrims
following the traditional route to Compostela were substantially
boosted in the 15th century. After the councils of Constance
(1414-1418) and Basle (after 1431) pilgrims from central and upper
Germany swelled the movement.
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At the beginning of.,the 16th century there .were pilgrims from
as far away as Danzig and Tallin. Ships with hundreds of pilgrims on
board sailed to Galicia from Hamburg (1506,and 1510) and Stralsund
(1508 and 1518). Pilgrims came to Compostela to do reverence to their
patron saint .from .practically all regions and linguistic areas of
Europe. According.to the latest research (C Krotzl),pilgrims came to
Compostela even from Scandinavian lands. There are still "gaps on the
map" for Hungary and Poland, at least I have no .reports concerning
them. . , .,.. . ' . . . .
i
. . ...
The greater consideration in which pilgrims were held in the 15th,
and early 16th centuries, , particularly in Germany, brought about a
high point for the journey to Jerusalem and for the peregrinatip
ad limina Beati Jacobi and this not only in the minds of
ordinary pilgrims. In 1478 Pope Sixtus IV decreed that the Holy See
expressly reserved the right to dispense people, from a vow to
accomplish a peregrinationis ultramarinae, et visitationis liminum
Apostolorum Petri et Pauli, in Compostela. In one bound we find
ourselves back in the constellation of the High Middle Ages, with the
three peregrinationes maiores. .Continuity in the. midst . ...of
change! (I Mieck).
The fresh impetus given to the pilgrimage to Compostela on the
threshold of modern times went hand in hand with structural changes.
The definition given in the Siete Partidas in the late 13th
century, Peregrinatio fit tripliciter; voluntarie, ex voto, et ex
poenitentia, was only true .in part and failed to cover the structural
changes of the 15th and early 16th centuries. In far greater numbers
than .before pilgrims per condemnationem et per delegationem were
s
on
the road. A new type of peregrino caballeres"co(noble pilgrim),
for whom pilgrimage was an agreeable way of passing the time and a
last courtly adventure now made its appearance. The Saxon Duke. Henry,
later called Henry the Devout, was certainly not attending to his
religious needs on his journey to Santiago, for two of his companions
reported that, gourmandising was our best prayer and indulgence on
such a journey. And how are we to judge or condemn the pilgrim who
artlessly tells us how to say pretty maid, come sleep with me in the
Basque language (A von Harff). Another new type of pilgrim was the
prosperous patricians of the upper German cities, for whom a
pilgrimage to Compostela took its place in a journey of information
and instruction, a journey on which it was not uncommon to look after
business interests too, as did Nicolas Rummel of Nuremberg in 1408/09.
The punishments inflicted by the temporal courts, following the
fashion of the time, sent thousands of wrong-doers great and small
onto the pilgrim routes of Europe. The scale of criminality ranged
from murder, manslaughter, robbery or theft down to insults and abuse.
In the city of Mechelen, for example, nocturnal disturbances in the
street were sufficient to send the offender to Compostela. Such
peregrinatio poenaliter causa .did as little to enhance the dignity of
pilgrims as did the peregrinatio delegata, which led to beggars
making a living out of accomplishing pilgrimages of penitence in
others' stead. (Haebler). What was even worse was the deplorable
state of affairs encountered on the pilgrim routes themselves.
Pilgrims by choice or by constraint met up with swarms of unemployed
or seasonally employed vagabonds and a veritable horde of beggars. It
became ever more difficult to distinguish between the motives of
pilgrims on the road. In 1523 the city council of Bern, which lay on
the pilgrim route from Einsiedeln to France decided, to direct away
all beggars, be they from the country, returning from the wars or on
the road to St. James, pedlars, heathens... and such like and not to
house them or give them shelter. Local by-laws throughout Europe, eg
in Douai, in Compostela itself (1503) or in Tyrol province in 1532
reflected the same tendency.
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The oft q uoted decline and decadence of the pilgrimage to
Compostela started here, although not in q uantitative terms. It was
the extreme forms of far-reaching q ualitative changes which perverted
ideas and practice. It is undeniable that the peregrinatio
religiosa lost ground and that a tendency to depersonalise and
externalise pilgrim practices emerged. The circumstances of the age
also contributed to this: too few jobs for a rising population,
unemployment, robber bands preying on the French routes, criminal acts
by pilgrims and, from the 15th century onwards increasing criticism of
the peregrinatio itself. Without exception these symptoms were all
visiblebeforethe Reformation. It is true that in a religiously
divided Europe there were regions which sent no pilgrims, it is true
that pilgrims whose way led through Protestant territory had to
overcome greater difficulties, but this affected only the q uantitative
aspect of the Santiago peregrinatio. Neither increasing
secularisation, nor criticism of the pilgrimage, nor yet loss of the
Protestant areas were able to shake the Santiago peregrinatio as
an institution. There was no rapid decline, but creeping erosion of
ideas and material support. In the course of the 16th century new
factors emerged and the development accelerated: the true crisis of
the peregrinatio ad limina Beati Jacobi was still to come.
I will list these factors briefly, since extensive basic research
remains to be done:
1. The Spanish Inq uisition, whose frightening influence and
insistent spying deterred many foreigners from visiting holy places.
2. Tense relations between France and the House of Habsburg, leading
to several armed conflicts in the first half of the 16th century,
which in turn meant that Burgundy and Pyrenees, astride the main
pilgrim routes, were theatres of war.
3. The 40-year civil war in France in the second half of the
century.
A. A serious blow to pilgrim traffic was the fact that the Southern
part of the country was more or less in Protestant hands: Languedoc,
Gascony, Beam, the Kingdom of Navarre and the county of Foix. Access
to the main passes over the Pyrenees led through Hugenot territory.
5. Until the mid 17th-century, the wars in the Netherlands, the 80
years war and renewed direct confrontation between Spain and France
did nothing to ease the external conditions of each pilgrimage to
Compostela.
6. Over the same period of time a great part of the European
population was descending to the level of paupers. The problem of the
millions of poor people in the cities and on the roads, countless
offences against property, acts of violence by vagabonds and beggars,
and bands of robbers or banditism as Fernand Braudel called it,
inevitably led the authorities to intervene. In the long run
bureaucracy engulfed the pilgrims. What was worse, all parts of: the
population began to mistrust and despise pilgrims, to the detriment of
the custom of pilgrimage. Pilgrimages fell more or less into the
domain of the poor. The charitable establishments along the earning
de Santiago held an almost magical fascination for the massoT
native or foreign beggars, vagabonds and jobless people offering them
at least a chance of survival.
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7. In the first half of the 17th century, the specifically Spanish
variant of the St James tradition underwent a crisis: the internal
Spanish struggle to decide which saint should be patron de las
Espanas, from- which the Santiago party emerged victorious, did not
exactly help the pilgrimage.
Despite many signs of a material and moral crisis, this was not
yet the swan song of the pilgrimage ad sanctum Jacobum. It was
the confraternities of St James in Flanders, France and the Catholic
areas of Germany and Switzerland which kept the cult of St James alive
and which continued to promote a pilgrimage to Compostela. For
example, in the period between 1628 and 1632 over 280 pilgrims
received a "passade", ie a sum of money to cover the evening meal and
overnight lodgings, from the confraternity of St James at Maubeuge in
France. The considerable number of refugees who sought shelter in
Compostela from Cromwell's reign of terror in Ireland were proof of
the place which the Apostle's tomb still held in European Catholicism.
Moreover the church's new view of itself following the Council of
Trent was a major factor in overcoming the crisis. The decree
concerning the veneration of saints and relics, although it did not
expressly refer to pilgrimages, offered sufficient foundation for
defending them. It led to the well-known treatises-byRicheome (Paris
1605) and Gretser (Ingolstadt, 1606). Around the mid-17th century a
marked revival was reported, as the wars receded and the roads became
safe. In its return to a peregrinatio religiosa the pilgrimage to
Santiago gained a more modest but also a more honest character. In
1717 there were once again so many pilgrims in Compostela that there
were ' not enough confessors for them. The pilgrimage to Santiago
reached a new highpoint in a century preceding the revolution! It
remained at a fairly high level until the early mid-18th century, as
can be seen from the chronological list of financial support given to
the pilgrims by the city of Compostela between 1603 and 1777.
There was a striking decline in the number of pilgrims in the
mid-18th century and once again political conditions in Europe played
a role. The wars of succession in Poland (1733-35) and Austria
(1740-48) frightened off potential pilgrims to Compostela. The same
can be said for the first years of the seven years' war (1756-63).
Information about pilgrims from the other side of the Spanish
border in the second half of the 18th century is found in "Actas
Capitulares" in Compostela cathedral's archives, covering the period
1671-1777. For the period from 1761 to 1777, ie after the wars listed
above, this special register lists pilgrims from Italy, Portugal,
England, Poland, Lithuania, Hungary and Lebanon. Some well-known
names underline the esteem in which the city of the Apostle James was
held prior to the French Revolution: Maria Anna von Pfalz-Neuburg
(1690), the promised wife of Charles II, James Stuart III, the
pretender to the throne of England (1790) and the Duke of Chartres who
was later to be known as Philippe-Egalite (1775). Those who did not
come to Compostela included Stanislas Leszcinski, Madame de Pompadour
and Marchioness Wilhelmine of Bayreuth, who had themselves painted in
an erotic, courtly fashion as "pelerins de 1'amour" (pilgrims of love)
or "pelerins de Cythere" (pilgrims of Cythera), wearing the scallop
shell of St James.
Once again "falsos peregrines" (false pilgrims) made their
appearance on the road to Compostela; the unemployed, vagabonds,
beggars and those who owed taxes made use of the charitable
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establishments along the way, which were flourishing anew. Once again
the state reacted by bringing out strict laws to prevent its subjects
from migrating. A sharp eye was kept on pilgrimages by young people
ie those who were fit to work or bear arms. Yet all decrees failed,
the last being issued in 1778; this can be seen from a edict dated
1783, which stated that diferentes clases de gentes were drifting
through the country "con pretexto de estudiante o con el de romeros o
peregrines (vario.us classes of people were drifting through the
country on the pretext of being a student or a' pilgrim).
On the eve of the French Revolution the Santiago peregrinatio
was no longer a spectacular event but still a popular one, enjoying a
considerable echo in Europe. Pilgrims journeyed to Compostela,
untroubled by learned disputes concerning the historical background to
the cult of St James or by ,the philosophy of enlightenment which was
spreading to Spain. The city and cathedral were more- imposing than
ever since the cathedral's considerable income from the Voto de
Santiago (votive offering) allowed much new construction, thehigh
point of which was the re-designing of the cathedral. Between 1738
and 1750 Christendom's largest Romanesq ue church received an imposing
new West facade, with two towers each soaring 70 metres high, .making
it one of the mightiest creations of the Baroq ue Age in Europe.
Unlike some well-known researchers, who see the demise of the
peregrinatio ad sanctum Jacobum in the French Revolution, I share
the opinion of Ilja Mieck, who came to the following conclusions after
a differentiated review covering time and space:
1. The Revolution and the coalition wars damaged the European echo
of the Santiago pilgrimage and made substantial inroads into the areas
from which it recruited its pilgrims. There was no revival of the
pilgrimage on a European scale after 1815, since the confraternities,
which had been the major guardians and promoters of the tradition, had
vanished silently in the turbulence of revolution and war.
The dissolution of the monasteries and the abolition or
transformation of refuges and hospitals reduced the pilgrim routes of
the Christian West from a functioning, charitable institution to a
geographical concept. Reciprocally there were then fewer pilgrims to
St James who were then able to stimulate their confraternity or home
parish thanks to their personal pilgrimage. Compostela vanished from
the mind of non-Spanish Catholicism. France was probably the only
country besides Spain in which the Compostelan tradition survived on a
small scale into the 19th century, as is shown by isolated reports of
pilgrims and confraternities. It is not irrelevant to say that
Santiago de Compostela lost its importance as a European centre of!
pilgrimage in the 19th century as a result of the spiritual and
material changes triggered by the Revolution.
2. In contrast the specifically Spanish element remained unaltered.
The numbers of Spanish and Portuguese pilgrims remained almost
constant at first. There were undoubtedly reversals due to the
Napoleonic war and the resultant internal unrest. Yet in the long run
the numbers remained firm.
The expression "Abwanderung ins Territoriale" (emigration without
leaving home territory) used in German-speaking parts of Europe to
describe local processional pilgrimages in the Baroq ue style (as
opposed to pilgrimages) applied to Spain at this time. In 1851 a
French traveller noted that pilgrims in the usual costume came de
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tous les coins de 1'Espagne (from all corners of Spain) and anpther
mentioned an armee de pelerins (army of pilgrims). All reports
concur that Spanish pilgrimages to the Apostle's tomb in Galicia
continued in the nineteenth century. This is underlined by the visits
of Isabella II in 1858 and Alphonse XII in 1877.
3. The loss of St James' foreign function as Matamoros
(Moorslaughterer) which had become unnecessary once the reconq uista
and conq uista were completed. '
Although in the seventeenth century people had still been ready
to believe that St James had helped the Spanish to win over 30 battles
in Europe, Africa, Mexico and South America and had even helped the
Portuguese to conquer "Golden Goa" the image of the miles Christi
or the warrior apostle faded as Spain gradually renounced its ambition
to possess a world empire.
Even the popular understanding of the saints was changing.
Greater veneration of the Mother of God meant that St James was
absorbed into the cult of the Virgin of Pilar at Saragossa, which had
existed since the end of the 13th century. What is interesting
is that the Mother of God took over the apostle's warrior role and
appeared to the troops of Aragon to lead them in their battle against
the French in 1808.
4. Over the centuries the pilgrimage to Compostela lived off the
charitable infrastructure. This continued to look after pilgrims in
Spain right up to the early nineteenth century, even though it had
vanished from the European scene in the storms of revolution. This
can be seen from the list of "peregrinos socorridos" (assisted
pilgrims) kept by St John's Hospital at Oviedo. However, the
existence of efficient stations of support for pilgrims soon came
under attack. The raw wind of the new century blew over the Spanish
church in the reign of Joseph Bonaparte, who dismantled the
Inq uisition, reduced the number of monasteries by one-third and
abolished the special tax called the Voto de Santiago.
French rule soon collapsed but astonishingly enough in its wake
revolutionary trends prevailed. A law dated 1 October 1820 abolished
almost all monasteries, orders and similar establishments. One
consequence of this was that in 1821, 280 monasterios, colegios y
hospitales (280 monasteries, schools and hospitals) were closed
including 27 in Burgos alone which was one of the major stations on
the road to Compostela. Such a drastic reduction in the number of
charitable establishments along the route influenced the pilgrimage in
several ways:
They reduced the attractiveness of the pilgrim route, eliminated
false pilgrims although it did not of course eliminate "stationary
begging". Underhand dealing by the liberal revolution meant .that for
the first time in centuries the feast day of St James in 1822 had to
be celebrated sin la augusta y conmovedora ceremonia de la
presentacion de la tradicional ofrenda (without the majestic and
moving ceremony of the traditional offering).
5. A balance had to be struck on the unyielding front between church
and state and therefore between the authorites and the people. This
was achieved under the constitution of the Restoration of 1876, a
constitution from which the apostle's tomb benefited directly. More
importantly, the long-lost remains of the Apostle James, which had
been hidden in 1589 for fear of Francis Drake, were rediscovered. In
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a Papal Bull of 1 November 1884, Leo XII confirmed the result of the
1879 excavations. It was a happy coincidence that the Ano Santo
1885 (Holy Year) began two months after this recognition by the Pope.
Although pilgrims once again came from many parts of Europe in the
Holy Year, we cannot say that the pilgrimage had its antigua
fisonomia (former features) even though the number of pilgrims had
risen slightly and even though Alphonse XIII came twice to Compostela
in 1904 and 1909. In 1927 the Spanish Encyclopaedia stated, for the
last two centuries or so, pilgrims have invaded the town only at
certain timesTIt was only on St James'day itselfthatCompostela
showed la extraordinaria animacion de sus mejores tiempos (the
extraordinary liveliness of its best times).
The subseq uent development of the medieval pilgrimage to the tomb
of the Apostle James was influenced by political developments. It
needs no explanation that the political authorities of whatever age
repeatedly made use of Santiago to promote their own interests.
However at no time since the Middle Ages was the Apostle James (under
his Spanish name of Santiago) so determinedly used to provide an
ideological anchor for political realities and intentions as in the
four decades of Franco's rule. From Decree No. 325 of 21 July 1937,
which restored Saint James to his full rights as the patron of Spain,
down to the pfrendas de la nacion (offerings of the nation)
delivered by the head of State in person on the occasion of the Afios
Santos Compostelanos (Holy Years of Compostela), everything was done
to show the international public that Spain's political leadership was
rooted in pan-European traditions. Yet, with a few exceptions, what
had once been a European pilgrimage was now a Spanish one. In the
Ano Santo 1971 the press, reporting the visit of the Spanish head
of* State,commented on the thousands of pilgrims who cheered him
procedentes de diversas provincias insulares, peninsulares y
africana's (from various island, peninsular and African provinces).
No mention was made of swarms of pilgrims from east and north of the
Pyrenees.
Over the last few decades and until after the Second World War
the road to the Apostle's tomb was barred to most pilgrims in the
medieval, Christian meaning of the term. National attitudes, world
wars and world crises, a Europe drifting apart into ideological
blocks, an increasingly secular society and Europe's isolation of
Spain under Franco, to name but a few factors, did nothing to
encourage pilgrimages to Compostela.
Since the '40s, renewed interest on the part of international
historians, congresses and almost 20 exhibitions in museums and
archives once again brought the subject of Santiago to the attention
of a wider public. In 1950 the first circle for promoting the
pilgrimage was formed in Paris under the name of "Les Amis cle
Saint Jacq ues de Compostelle" (the friends of Saint James o
Compostela).
Subseq uent history was first written by tourism. The booklet
published in 1971 by the Ministerio de Informacion y Turismo
(Ministry of Information and Tourism) on the occasion of ETTe Mo
Santo Compostelano, entitled "Santiago en Espafia, Europa y
America" (Santiago in Spain, Europe and America), contains two clear
statements:
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Firstly the booklet sees itself como una afirmacion del ser
historico de Espana (as an affirmation of the historical essence of
Spain) and also as an invitation a los peregrinos de nuestra epoca
q ue son los turistas ... porq ue el turismo es una forma moderna
de peregrinar (to tourists, who are the pilgrims of our age ...
because tourism is a modern form of pilgrimage). Was this the
alternative? Was the end result of a thousand years of European
pilgrimage to be found in a million-strong army of tourists?
At first it appeared so. The rudiments of tourism had already
been apparent in the previous century. For example on 29 August 1887
the first Bavarian pilgrim train set off for Compostela via France,
Spain and Portugal. In the stone age of tourism, 15 ladies and
gentlemen, listed by name together with their full titles, and having
a spiritual guide, allowed themselves to be shown the curiosities of
almost the whole of Western Europe, including two days spent in
Compostela, in the course of a 36-day journey by train, then by ship
from Barcelona to Gibraltar, organised by the "Bayerischen
Pilgervereine vom Heiligen Lande" (Bavarian Pilgrim Associations of
the Holy Land).
Despite its absurdity, the q uestionable attempt to - unite the
pilgrim tradition and modern mass tourism brought Compostela again to.
mind as a holy place. In the Ano Santo 1965, two million visitors
were said to have come and in 1982 the official figure was around six
million. These numbers certainly included many pilgrims.
Recent development is known. Compostela did not merely gain
tourists but pilgrims, who came in ever greater numbers and
increasingly in the spirit of pilgrims in the medieval meaning of the
term. After France, associations were formed in Italy, Belgium,
Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Portugal and
Switzerland. Since 1982 the Flemish organisation OIKOTEN has sent
juvenile delinq uents on pilgrimages to resocialise them, obeying the
old tradition of a peregrinatio poenaliter causa. Ten such groups
have made the journey so far. In France several regional exhibitions
have been held and in Italy two major congresses have been held in
Perugia and Pistoia. In Germany the Dusseldorf Confraternity of Saint
James held a meeting of pilgrims in Cologne in 1987, whose
participants came from many lands. In the same year the first
congress of the "German Society of Saint James" was held in
Aix-La-Chapelle. Regional projects are under way in Germany and
France whilst in Switzerland there is a project on "historical routes"
(IVS), with the intention of re-opening the former upper road
(oberstrasse) to foot pilgrims.
After this list of recent activities in the European countries in
the zone of direct influence of the perigrinatio ad Sanctum
Jacobum, the q uestion may be asked whether Spain's neighbours are
reviving the old idea of a pilgrimage or endowing it with fresh
spirituality.
Are the Franci, Normanni, Scoti, Theutonici, Saxones et cetere
gentes innumerabiles cuncte lingue et naci onesgi vi ngthe
peregrinatio moderna ad Sanctum Jacobum the spiritual and material
impetus for its rebirth on a European scale? Is history repeating
itself or is this the oft q uoted continuity in the midst of change?
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From the scientific point of view, the indispensable collective
work by the historians Vazq uez de Parga, Lacarra and Uria, which was
published in 1950, laid the foundation for future generations'
research. The magazine' Compostellanum was founded in 1956 as an
organ for scientific contributions; a study centre, the Centre de
Estudios Jacobeos, was added' to it. Several exhibitions were held
in Madrid, in 1950, 1954 and 1963, and in Santiago, in 1950 and.1965.
In 1985, in the Flemish town of Ghent, Spain presented an exhibition
entitled "Santiago de Comppstela, one thousand years of pilgrimage
in Europe"!this massive show of material covered a surfaceareaof
over 3,000 m
2
. Over 100,000 visitors came and over 10,000 copies of
the voluminous catalogue were sold.
However the Spanish public had previously been informed. On the
occasion of the Ano Santo Compostelano 1982 a congress on pilgrims
and art along the pilgrim waywasheld, attracting much public
attention; national television (second channel: La Clave)
broadcast a four-hour television marathon with the participation of
foreign specialists.
Old structures took on a new life. The old priory of
Roncesvalles became a stopping place for pilgrims on foot, who had
once again made their appearance. So did San Juan de Ortega or the
feared Cebreiro. It was from here that the route for pilgrims on foot
was defined and marked, even at the beginning. The priest of
Cebreiro, E. Valifia Sampedro, wrote a guidebook in Spanish to the
route, being a modern and more extensive version of the pilgrim's
guidebook contained in the Liber Sancti Jacobi. F. Beruete in
Estella took in pilgrims and organised severalcultural weeks in
Estella. Gradually the chapter of Compostela cathedral remembered its
past and its obligations to the pilgrims. The Compostela was
revived as a sign confirming that the peregrinatio ad llmina Beati
Jacobi had been duly completed and since 1986thecathedralhas
housed a permanent welcome station for pilgrims, which receives an
incredible number of people. On 27 April 1988 the Comision
interdiocesana del Camino de Santiago (Interdiocesan Committee
ontheS antiagoRoute) was formed under the chairmanship of the
Archbishop. In 1989 the Pope will make a second visit to Compostela
to meet the youth of the world.
In October 1987 the first international meeting of pilgrims on
Spanish soil was held at Jaca in Aragon. Once again Europe met at a
place of pilgrimage. Shortly afterwards the Council of Europe
presented its project on European pilgrim routes as European cultural
routes at a ceremony following the abovecongress,shortlybefore
its official closure. Under the motto "revitalizaci6n del camino de
Santiago como primer itinerario cultural europeo" (revitalisation of:
the Santiago route as the first European cultural route), many
governments of the autonomous regions astride the old way are
attempting to reconq uer the former prestige of this European route.
Since 1987 many "Asociaciones de amigos del Camino de Santiago"
(associations of friends of the Saint James route) have been formed,
which co-ordinate joint objectives and projects within a loose
organisational structure. Footpaths have been improved, refuges built
and the care provided for pilgrims is growing. A new infrastructure
is emerging, similar to that of the Middle Ages in the care it
provides, and surely just as necessary for it would be meaningless if
pilgrims were dependent on the tourist structure alone.
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This brings us to the last question: what is the inner meaning
of completing a mediaeval pilgrimage with a tangible objective in
modern, some say post-Christian Europe.
A 65-year-old museum warden walks alongside ,the 65-year-old'
director of the European Communities' Agricultural Commission; a
computer specialist alongside a factory girl; a member of the Catholic
movement alongside a supporter of the Greens; a navy lieutenant
alongside a conscientious objector. All professions and all groups of
society from the kaiser's grandson to the juvenile delinq uent, rich
and poor, men and women, often with children, feel the fascination of
the route and - as in the 12th century Liber Sancti Jacobi - their
motives; are as diverse as the origin, profession and nationality of
the new,. post-Christian (?) pilgrims. .
A sporting approach, a search for healing, psychological
cleansing, social hygiene, indefinable longing, academic snobbery,
mass tourism, fashion, etc: there are many keys to a phenomenon which,
being the relic of a cult and un-modern in the midst of modernity,
blows apart all the usual criteria of judgement and condemnation.
For example religious healing and commerce are once again united
in the mass tourism business. A Belgian organisation in Tournai runs
a flourishing business under the banner "tourisme et chretiente"
(tourism and Christianity). Pope Paul VI. himself, who on
31 August 1963 received the participants attending a UN symposium on
tourism, expressed a positive view of this mass phenomenon and spoke
of educational, cultural, moral and social values. Can it not be
said that the mediaeval description "pauperi et peregrin!" is being
changed to "Beati paupere spiritu", religious convictions being
exploited in the bus tourism of our age?
There are also voices which tackle the issues arising from the
Council of Europe's project on the routes of the Saint James
pilgrims as European cultural routes. One of these is the short
paper published by the Vlaams Genootschap van Santiago de
Compostela (Flemish Association for Santiago de Compostela),
entitled "Compostela from a European point of view". It expresses
some reserve and distrust because politicians are associated with the
project and politicians are said always to have ... unspoken, hidden
intentions. The central statement of this short text reads as
follows, omitting the Christian background to the Saint James route
as a European cultural route would impoverish, may even mutilate the
project. This applies all the more to a project which seeks to
determine the factors holding European culture together, whereas it is
q uite clear that European culture is partly based on the Christian
background.
I repeat, motives are diverse and cannot be sounded. For the
true pilgrims of our time this is of no account. For them, arrival at
the holy place, Compostela, is the accomplishment of their (perhaps)
devout journey and represents the consummation of their devotion -
springing (perhaps) from Christian motives or from any other motives.
For the pilgrims of today the pilgrimage is found on the way.
This is what all of us who were on the route dreamt of and
accomplished. The "Carta Pastoral de los Obispos del Camino de
Santiago en Espana" (pastoral map of the bishops of the Santiago route
in Spain), published in July 1988, subscribes to this view. This sees
the route as a Camino para la peregrinacion cristiana (route for
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Christian pilgrimage) and gives a sympathetic portrait of the
Christian meaning of the pilgrimage. Others, like the Benedictine
monk Anselm Griin of Munsterschwarzach have developed a theology of the
route and of journeying. For myself, the most convincing view in the
Christian context, a synthesis of impassioned research and vide
practical experience, is presented by Edmond-Rene Labande. After a
long, fulfilled life of research and with pilgrimages totalling more
than A,000 kilometres under his belt, Edmond-Rene Labande summed it up
as follows: Prier avec les pieds or praying with one's feet.
Conclusion
In conclusion yet another q uestion: why do all of us, whether or
not committed Christians, need this most European of all pilgrimages,
which, as I hope I have shown, is different from the pilgrimages of
other cultures including that of the samnyazins.
The way of the stars of German mythology, the way of the stars
which, legend has it', showed Charlemagne the way to the Apostle's
tomb, the European circle of stars which flies over the Council of
Europe's project, the medieval holy way which led from the Baltic to
Cape Finisterre at the extremity of Europe could all help us to- find
and defend our identity, help us to understand our Western heritage
and our European consciousness and also guard us fromi losing our
culture in the face of an average, international-style culture.
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A D D I T I O N A L C O N T R I B U T I O N S
1
(*) Several participants at the Bamberg Congress asked that their
contributions be included in the Congress report
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STATEMENT BY THE MAYOR OF PAMPLONA (Spain)
"Pamplona, the first town" was a project initiated by the City of
Pamplona, in which 150 people walked the Santiago de Compostela route
referred to as the French route, from Roncesvalles to Compostela, in
38 stages of about 25 km a day.
Each stage comprised the walk itself, visits to places of
interest in the vicinity of the route and lectures on art, geography,
economics, human geography, espterism and all other aspects connected
with the route in the area we were passing through. The lectures were
mostly given by experts in the fields concerned.
Some of the cultural activities accompanied the walk along its
route, while others were provided at the relevant places. These
activities were as follows: five concerts by the Pamplona Chamber
Choir; ten performances of the Mystery of Saint Felicia, a puppet show
based on a legend about the Santiago de Compostela route in Navarre;
four concerts of mediaeval and Renaissance music, by the Pamplona
Madrigal Quartet; five audiovisual screenings relating to the Santiago
de Compostela route and, finally, four fellowship dinners to which
local people were invited, followed by informal talks and conversation
or round-table discussions during which the assembled groups shared
their experiences.
On the day of arrival and during the stay in Santiago de
Compostela, various cultural activities were organised and a special
train brought more than 1,000 pilgrims from Pamplona to Compostela.
The project's objectives were of two kinds: those of the walk
itself, of the journey as a whole, that we called "external
objectives" and each walker/pilgrim's individual objectives, referred
to as "internal objectives".
Among the external objectives were:
The promotion of the Santiago de Compostela route as a European
cultural route, as a source of spiritual nourishment able to
generate a movement of persons and give rise to tourism of an
intellectual kind.
The promotion of Pamplona as the first town on the route, as
Aimeri Picaud called it in the Liber Sancti Jacobi of the
Codex Calixtinus. Pamplona is situated at the Pyrenean gateway
to Roncesvalles, one stage away from the site of the Battle .of
Roncesvalles, recounted in the Chanson de Roland. The
slogan chosen was "Pamplona, summer rendez-vous".
The presentation of Pamplona as a tourist site for the tourist
seeking enrichment of the mind through local art, history,
folklore, wildlife, the sports characteristic of a privileged
region and fine cuisine.
The project's internal objectives were realised through its
cultural action and its impact on the walker/pilgrims and the
villagers in the stopping places. With this in mind, a number of
cultural and artistic activities were organised locally.
- 112 -
The walk began at Roncesvalles on 21 July 1988. The group of
pilgrims comprised 60 men and 50 women ranging in age from 67 down to
12, with an average age of 37 for the men and 32 for the women. 65%
of the group were academics or university students; 11 were secondary
school-leavers, 14 had received a primary education and 5 had followed
vocational training courses.
The project was presented to the pilgrims as an undertaking in
which the two parties concerned were working towards complementary
goals, with one party offering the will and desire to make the journey
to Compostela, and the other, the City of Pamplona, providing the
basic facilities necessary to the project's success.
A team of professionals was responsible for the organisation,
which was divided into three sectors:
material organisation and basic facilities;
organisation of cultural and artistic activities;
organisation of concurrent events, and relations with relevant
institutions and the media,
the whole being overseen by a general co-ordinator.
Organisation and basic facilities
The walkers were accommodated overnight in tents, owing to the
difficulty of lodging 150 people in villages with fewer than 100
inhabitants.
The camps were set up where indicated by the mayors of the
localities we would be passing through, which necessitated a prior
approach and facilitated our knowledge of the places concerned before
we left Roncevalles. The basic facilities and supplies team looked
after catering.
Two vehicles transported the logistical eq uipment, with certain
people assigned to the task of assembling and dismantling the camp
every day. A medical team and another team responsible for relations
during the walk with villages, institutions and the media accompanied
the walkers. A mobile office gave information about the walk and
audiovisual screenings relating to the route and to Pamplona.
The cultural activities were open to the inhabitants of the towns
and villages in which they took place; in all, some 10,000 people took
part in events along the route.
Where the media were concerned, it was estimated that 300
articles appeared in the press, and radio broadcasts as the walkers
passed through the various capitals totalled more than 30 hours.
Special mention should be made of the 5 hours of Radio Nacional de
Espafla broadcasts, which were relayed to Radio Nacional's transmitters
in the various autonomous regions.
Furthermore, Spanish TV's Channel 1 offered 36 minutes of
broadcasting time, while the regional TV channels devoted 143 minutes
to the walk and the TV channels of Galicia and Navarre broadcast more
than 2 hours of programmes.
- 113 -
The City of Pamplona had chartered a special train from the
Spanish Railways to transport the pilgrim travellers (about 1,000
people), the Pamplona Choral Society (150 people), the Pamplona Brass
Band (50 people) and the Troop of Giants who, along with their
entourage, totalled more than 100 people.
On behalf of the Council of Europe, its Secretary General,
Mr Marcelino Oreja, gave the cultural project concerning the Santiago
de Compostela pilgrim route his support, declaring it worthy of
interest and consequently joining the walk for three of its stages.
While in Pamplona, the Secretary General unveiled the signposting
the city had installed in accordance with the Council of Europe's
instructions and took part, as a simple pilgrim like the others, in
the events organised on the walkers' arrival at Compostela.
The experience of organising such a walk/pilgrimage was fruitful
from all points of view, and dispelled the numerous fears expressed by
the associations connected with the route.
We believe that in this method, we have found an alternative to
the traditional pilgrimage that enables the pilgrims to enrich their
minds with a store of knowledge. Very fruitful links are forged
between the walker/pilgrims, who enjoy easy access to numerous sites
which would not otherwise be accessible, at least at present, to
anonymous pilgrims or small groups.
With this in mind, we encourage similar undertakings, in order to
restore to the route the role it played in its most glorious period,
that of a source of spirituality, a living museum imparting an
understanding of the art and culture of different peoples, and an
ideal way of making the most of all the possibilities offered by the
most wonderful of journeys.
We are ready to share the benefit of our experience with all
those who may find it helpful as an introduction to the Santiago de
Compostela route.
Pamplona 17 September 1988
- 114 -
THE SANTIAGO PILGRIM ROUTE IN ASTURIAS
Reflections on the Asturian route in relation to the pilgrimage to
San Salvador de, Oviedo
by Florencio COBO ARIAS and Luis FERNANDEZ GARCIA (Spain)
The pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostela are one of the events
which had the most profound influence on the shaping of the
socio-economic structures, cultural life and mental attitudes of broad
sections of the population of the countries of Western Europe from the
llth century onwards.
With the pilgrims, and often as pilgrims themselves, there came
to Spain French stonemasons, German artisans, Tuscan merchants,
Flemish noblemen, English and Burgundian crusaders, and with them
Provencal lyric poetry, Carolingian philosophy, Slav legends, new
building techniq ues etc. All these ideas and influences intermingled
and returned to their lands of origin, spreading to the most remote
points. The pilgrims' road to Santiago can thus be seen to be a
sociological phenomenon which was the conseq uence of some historical
facts and the cause of many others. The intensity with which it was
used fluctuated according to the mentality of each age; its primacy
was disputed, but the route as such never died.
Although the pilgrimages to Santiago were in principle a
religious phenomenon, this original aspect very soon took second place
to other factors which accompanied the emergence and spread of the
cult of St. James. As has been said, the pilgrimage became a vehicle
for demographic and cultural influences which would eventually shift
the purely religious q uestion into the background. One partial aspect
of these phenomena, which is of direct relevence to the "French
route", is the repopulation by foreigners of the small towns which
sprouted along the road to Santiago, prompted by the desire to
consolidate a communication route created by the pilgrimages, giving
rise to a middle class of merchants and artisans which had previously
been non-existent in Spain. The middle-class development of
north-west Spain in the Middle Ages was very closely connected with
the pilgrimage phenomenon, which, as well as being a decisive factor
in the repopulation of certain areas, gave an impetus to the
development of trade and the evolution of institutions.
Where trade is concerned, the pilgrimages generated intense
activity involving the new settlers and the pilgrims, who were
consumers par excellence. It became necessary to have lodgings,
hospitals, provisions, banking establishments etc, and markets were
set up in the towns along the route. Within the Iberian peninsula,
this trade produced a degree of specialisation in terms of what each
town offered the pilgrims to satisfy their basic needs.
The repopulation of certain areas by foreigners and the founding
of their respective settlements were always accompanied by the
granting of charters laying down various legal rules for their
inhabitants. We know of a French settlement in the city of Oviedo at
the beginning of the 12th century which was large enough to have its
own judge, as was provided for in the legal system given to the city
by King Alfonso VI in around the year 1100.
- 115 -
Unamuno summed up the obvious importance which the road had for
the development for European literature in the following passage: "The
pious pilgrims who came from the centre of Europe to this part of
Galicia brought with them legends, stories, tales and songs, and their
pilgrimages were one of the vehicles of the European culture of the
time. Devout pilgrims from Provence on their way to Santiago sparked
the development of Galician-Portugese troubador poetry, the first
learned manifestation of lyricism in a Romance language in the Iberian
peninsula".
From the artistic point of view, the pilgrimages influenced the
creation of a unified style. The road to Santiago acted as a channel
for the spread of the Romanesq ue style. Through it, our region was
pervaded by influences still perceptible today in many civil and
religious buildings which, as we shall see, mark out the Asturian
stretches of the route.
One of the most outstanding features of the culture and
spirituality associated with the pilgrim route is to be found in the
"pilgrimage churches" which were built in around the llth and 12th
centuries along the various itineraries and exhibit such similar
features that one can speak of a "school of great Romanesq ue
pilgrimage churches". They are churches built to accommodate large
crowds and their basic features are: the ambulatory around the
sanctuary, with a number of radial chapels opening on to it (these are
also to be found in the transept arms); a generally very high, vaulted
nave flanked by aisles with galleries continuing over the transept
arms and looking out on to the nave and transept. Everything is
designed to facilitate the movements of the pilgrims, who kept to
clearly defined routes, and enabled them to visit and worship the
relics displayed in the various chapels.
It is clear that the main route to Santiago had numerous branches
linking up sanctuaries in various parts of the peninsula, which were
slowly introduced as places of pilgrimage. This ties in with the
opinion of the historian Juan Uria. Although in his zeal to see
pilgrim routes to Santiago in all the countless ones that can be
imagined from any corner of the globe, he tries in vain to lend
importance to those which have none, finding arbitrary detours even
from routes of secondary importance, we have to mention the work of
which he is joint author with L V de Parga and J M Lacarra, "Las
peregrinaciones a Santiago de Compostela", of which selected chapters
from Volume II are attached. This key study brings out the
relationship between the pilgrimage to San Salvador de Oviedo and that
to Santiago de Compostela. It documents the fact that the cult of the
relics kept in the Camara Santa of the cathedral in Oviedo, which is
local in origin, is as old as that which began to appear in the 9th
century around the tomb of St. James the Apostle. It was not until the
end of the llth century that the pilgrimages to San Salvador de Oviedo
acquired an international character, becoming fully integrated with
the pilgrim routes to Santiago, whose traditional itinerary was
established in that century.
So it was that in 1075 Alfonso VI and his court went on a
pilgrimage to Oviedo to discover the contents of the "Holy Ark". This
same king decreed a few years later that the former royal palace of
Alfonso III should be used as a pilgrim hospice, giving it the
significant name of "Palatio Frantisco".
A codex of Valenciennes containing a list of the relics of Oviedo
provides evidence of the international character of the pilgrimage to
that city in the llth century.
- 116 -
Hospices are known to have been established as early as the 12th
century along the road which the pilgrims took from Leon to Oviedo
before continuing to Santiago. Examples include those of Arbas and
Mount Copian dating back to the year 1103.
At the end of the century, Oviedo was mentioned as a holy place
in relation to the Santiago pilgrim route: "Civitas ipsa vocatur
Ovetum ... Distat autem a civitate regia q uae Leonis vocatur itinere
duorum dierum, et sita est ad dextram manum euntibus ad Sanctum
Jacobum et q uinq ue dietis a Sancto Jacobo" (anonymous, q uoted by
Kohler, Rev. de 1'Orient Latin, 1898).
In the following century, in the year 1214, we find references to
the "Camino Francisco", situated within the boundaries of the council
of Tineo.
The course of routes and detours often depended on the interests
of the ruling monarch. For example, in 1222, Alfonso IX made it
obligatory for the road to Santiago to pass through Tineo and the
monastery of Obona. In 1228, in the National Council of Salamanca,
the same king enacted a constitution on behalf of the pilgrims to
Santiago and San Salvador de Oviedo, and in the Laws of King Alfonso X
(the Wise) pilgrims are defined as those who "... go on a pilgrimage
to Santiago or to San Salvador de Oviedo or to other remote and
foreign places".
From the 15th century to the beginning of the 19th century,
Oviedo endeavoured to enhance the status of the cult of its relics out
of a sense of competition with Santiago, as is apparent from the
following refrain:
"Quien va a Santiago
Y no a San Salvador
Sirve al criado
Y deja al Senor".
(He who goes to Santiago
And not to San Salvador
Serves the servant
And forsakes the Lord.)
Among the roads crossing the region, particular attention should
be drawn to two key routes leading to Santiago: the one from Leon to
Oviedo, which continued to Compostela via the interior, and the
so-called coastal route, which appeared later and was perhaps less
freq uented. These and other secondary routes are shown in the map
submitted to the Secretariat of this Congress, which was sent to the
various Santiago pilgrimage associations. There are also brief
descriptions of a number of items of architechtural and artistic
interest situated on the main route or nearby, some of which have been
designated by UNESCO as Heritage of Mankind, and a list of hospices
along the route.
CONCLUSION: It is the wish of the Principality of Asturias that
the road from Leon to Oviedo and from Oviedo to Santiago de Compostela
should be recognised and included in the conclusions of this Congress,
together with the Asturian variants within the European Cultural
Itinerary, and we have made this req uest to the Council of Europe and
the Spanish Interministerial Commission.
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A COMMON GOAL FOR THE ASSOCIATIONS OF FRIENDS OF
THE SANTIAGO ROUTE
by Angel Luis BARREDA FERRER (Spain)
Time compels me to be short, and I hope that language
difficulties will not obstruct or adversely affect the communication
that is essential between those of us who work on the common project
for the "Santiago Route". Allow me to address this congress as the
national co-ordinator of the Spanish associations.
The Spanish associations came into being in order to take up
existing official initiatives and to channel whatever future action we
might take in favour of pilgrimages, to assist those men and women
travelling the routes and who need our help and co-operation in order
to achieve their common goal: Santiago de Compostela.
In Spain, as in other European countries, a different kind of
association activity is emerging, and the objectives of our
associations are q uite different. We have set ourselves the goal of
restoring old sections of the route, signposting them properly, and
promoting publications, studies, conferences and meetings. Above all,
however, our sights are on the human figure of the pilgrim. There can
be no road to St James if there are no pilgrims. It is they, with
their daily journey full of effort and enthusiasm, who are the best
protagonists of this old but vital road of religious feeling and
experience, of cultures and encounters based on the Santiago Road.
The associations in Spain, as some of the presidents here can
attest, lay dormant and forgotten for centuries. For a number of
years, there was only the hopeful light of the Estella Association
that continued to shine eagerly and enthusiastically in the gloom.
However, in the space of the last two years, 16 associations of
"Friends of the Santiago Route" have brought renewed strength to the
association movement in Spain.
Since just one year ago we have been able to offer the prospect
of the largest number of associations united in one Spanish
Federation. We have achieved this at the cost of considerable effort,
sometimes sacrificing our own individual freedom in order to face the
future together, united, in the interests of an exciting project: the
Road to Santiago.
It is the earnest wish of the Spanish associations that Europe
should pursue a unified, associated project, and that together we can
establish channels for dialogue and common projects with other
associations in other European countries, with other groups whether
official or private who may take it up themselves as a revitalised and
updated pilgrim route between now and the close of the 20th century.
From the standpoint of the practical activities of the Spanish
Associations united in one federation, we offer ourselves as
interlocutors in order to make such a project possible - a framework
for common dialogue with all the associations throughout Europe. If
we Spanish have managed to get together and pursue a joint project,
should it be so difficult for other European countries and nations to
do the same thing? It is a challenge, and we invite you to take it
up.
~ 118 -
Over and above understandable sentimentality, and beyond the
justification for those historical claims which prompt us to assert
that the Santiago Road is a miracle, we have to take our actions and
our decisions with our feet firmly on the ground, that same ground
that is trodden every year by thousands of pilgrims walking through
the lands of Navarre, Aragon, Rioja, Castille, Leon and Galicia.
We are faced with an exciting project which we hope will become
reality, though we know how limited are the resources available to the
public administrations; we could speak of generosity vis-a-vis the
Road to Santiago, but we prefer to speak of responsibilities.
For a long time, unnecessarily, the villages on the road as it
passes through Spain have been castigated for the deterioration of
their art treasures which, when all is said and done, are ultimately
of litle importance when set against the other more immediate
disadvantages from which they suffer - poor harvests, enforced
emigration, isolation. These villages in many of our Spanish regions,
right alongside one of the most interesting routes in the whole world,
can see today that the revitalisation of the Santiago Road is a
life-giving possibility and a practical venture.
We are ready and willing to co-operate to the maximum with those
people who have rallied of their own free will to the idea underlying
the "Associations of Friends of the Santiago Road". This is an
official offer which I make, as the national co-ordinator of the
Spanish Associations, to those public organisations and our sister
associations in Europe who are represented here.
All the time our gaze is fixed on Compostela, the tomb of the
apostle, our own apostle, and the reality which inspires us
thousands of pilgrims, genuine pilgrims, who year after year need the
support and hospitality of those villages through which passes the old
and poetic Santiago Road, our own road.
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THE SONG OF RONCESVALLES
THE SANTIAGO PILGRIMS' WAY AND MEANS QF SOCIAL COMMUNICATION
Hortensia VINES (Spain)
El Rey q uando esto djxo cayo esmortecido
(Roncesvalles v. 82)
THE SONG OF RONCESVALLES
One hundred verses written in Navarrese Romance, and dating
perhaps from the twelfth century, are to be found on two leaves of
parchment held at the Navarre General Archives in Pamplona,
Pompeiopolis, Iruna, a city on the Way.
The document was exhibited in 1986 at Europalia, in Brussels,
together with other important specimens of the history and art of
Spain. The leaves of the document are in a somewhat worn state,
having served as book-covers for some years. They contain a text
which refers to a dramatic moment in the life of Emperor Charlemagne.
The text refers directly to a specific place On the Pilgrims' Way,
Roncesvalles (Roncevaux), and mentions the protection afforded by
Charlemagne to the Santiago pilgrims.
This is probably a fragment of a long epic poem, which has now
been lost but which was probably longer than the Mio Cid. It is
the Spanish epic account of the defeat of Charlemagne's army at
Roncesvalles on 15 August 778. Mr Marichalar discovered the
manuscript at Pamplona and sent it to D Ramon Menendez Pidal through a
Navarrese from Lerin, Amado Alonso, who was then a student at the
Centre of Historical Studies in Madrid, and later became an
outstanding philologist. D Ramon Menendez Pidal published the
manuscript for the first time in 1917 (1).
He "castilianised" the graphs of the fragment in his edition,
thus altering the geographical and historical context of the text.
That context is the Santiago pilgrim route in Navarre, the natural
enclave of Roncesvalles. The graphs, the language of the manuscript,
the knowledge of the Carolingian theme displayed in the text, and the
fact that it takes as its setting Pamplona, the capital of the then
kingdom of Navarre, all point to this fact (2).
The Spanish researchers who came after R Menendez Pidal respected
the latter's authority and continued to use his transcription without
seeking to criticise the manuscript. In 1951 (3), J Horrent took up
the subject and offered a faithful transcription of the graphs of the
song, as they appear in the parchments in q uestion. It bears
repeating that these are the graphs traditionally used in the
Navarrese manuscripts of the period (4).
The preserved fragment of the Song of Roncesvalles may be
considered to be the lament of the Emperor as he contemplates the
bodies of Roland, Archbishop Turpin, Oliver and all his best knights
strewn over the battle field at Roncesvalles, the scene of their
defeat.
The syntagmatic-narrative structure of the text comprises three
sub-themes.
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EPIC POEMS AS A MEANS OF SOCIAL COMMUNICATION IN THE MIDDLE AGES
We know that epic poems were used as a means of disseminating
news in the Middle Ages, and thus constituted an ancient form of
reporting (5). This idea is supported by various scholars, including
R Menendez Pidal (6) and H Hauser (7). At the Semana Medieval de
Estella, organised in 1976 by the Friends of the Santiago Way from
Estella, Martin de Riq uer confirmed this theory: "The epic poem was a
form of reporting in the Middle Ages. It was closely associated with
the need to provide information about recent events (it is thus that
the Mio Cid epic came into being and, as derivations therefrom,
the laments). The minstrel, the jongleur in the case of epic songs,
earned his living from his audience, and this enhanced the interest of
his art. In course of time, the report was transformed into folk
history, which differs from the academic history written by clerks to
be read. History and legend moved apart in different directions, but
on certain occasions they came together again. Chronological distance
made it possible to augment the imaginative component and to adapt
similar themes. Geographical distance authorised - where appropriate
the imaginative treatment of landscape, environment and customs.
There was room for the marvellous and for exaggeration. Historical
fact became legend" (8).
Inasmuch as the complete poem (untraceable, unfortunately), to
which the fragment doubtless belonged, may have been one of those
ancient forms of what is today known as a press report, the text of
the preserved manuscript would correspond to the journalistic style
known as news reporting. This can be verified on the basis of the
"news" theory put forward by J Ortego Costales (9), according to whom
there are four categories of "news" content: EVENT, TOPICALITY,
INTEREST and COMMUNICATION.
The Roncesvalles poem comes under the EVENT category, for the
following reasons: the text refers to the battle of Roncesvalles where
the rear guard of Charlemagne's army suffered a painful and
spectacular defeat on 15 August 778. The fact that it is recorded in
chronicles and literary works is incontrovertible evidence of its
nature as an event.
The fragment which interests us speaks of the swooning of the man
who was destined to become Emperor of the Germanic Holy Roman Empire.
Any incident connected with him takes on importance in popular
opinion. The preserved fragment is a constituent part of this
particular event: the overwhelming anguish of Charlemagne.
TOPICALITY, in journalistic terms, is that which converts an
event into news. According to the DRAE (10), the primary meaning of
"actualidad" is the present time, or a thing or an event which
captures and occupies the attention of people at a given moment in
time. The jongleur, like the journalist, is a creator of topical
news, ("actualidades").
The theme of the poem, in terms of its historical origin and on
the basis of the chronology given by R Menendez Pidal, gave rise to an
epic song which was written four centuries after the event that it
recounts. However, once raised to the level of poetic myth, this
theme, as if invested with perpetual topicality, appears once again in
a socio-historical context in which it seems to be throbbing with
life. Two factors make the theme topical: first, the subject,
Charlemagne, model of Christianity; secondly, Charlemagne the pilgrim,
herald of the Pilgrims' Way to Santiago.
- 121 -
The historical reference derives from the exploits of a hero,
Charlemagne, champion of Christianity: he fights against the Moors in
Spain, is a Crusader in Jersalem, combats the Turks and conquers Rome.
This narrative was to be presented to a public which was in the midst
of an armed struggle against the Moors for the reconquest of Spain,
the mediaeval Spain of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. In the
Navarre region, which at that time had joined in the Crusades,
together with the monarchs of the House of Champagne, Charlemagne was
acclaimed not for his Prankish origins which set him apart from Spain,
but for his relations with Spain. He had lived at the court of King
Galafre where he had married Galiana. At that time he had gained
possession of his prized sword Baymante, later to become famous as
Durandel, which he was subsequently to offer to his nephew Roland.
The Carolingian theme was recounted inasmuch as it exalted that
which was to serve as ideological training for the reconquest of
Spain.
One has to bear in mind the prevailing beliefs and the
significance of the conduct of Charlemagne and his heroes for the
mentality of the times: faith, respect for the Church and courage
were regarded as essential virtues, by the public to which the epic
message was addressed.
Other virtues, constituting the code of values of the time, were
to be highlighted, such as Charlemagne's paternalistic attitude
towards his vassals, especially towards Roland. This feeling was to
be expressed more strongly by means of a parallel: the anguish of
Duke Aymon when confronted with the dead body of his own son.
The INTEREST component arises in part from the line of reasoning
used above in respect of TOPICALITY.
An established medium already exists for the transmission of the
theme, namely the popular epic poem, with its own techniq ue and its
own public, which guarantees COMMUNICATION, since the means of
communication already exists.
The Roncesvalles poem follows the traditional pattern of the
poetic narrative of Aristotle and Horace: a sublime event, in the
context of which the adventures of a hero are recounted. The
verisimilitude of the action moderates the exaggeration permitted in
the narrative. Attention may also be drawn to certain stock phrases
peculiar to the Middle Ages, which were used to address the public and
hold its attention.
Thus, the passages which recount the childhood of the Emperor are
designed to stir the emotions of the public, as is the reference to a
text with which that same public was familiar, "El Mainete".
The irregular structure of the verses is in keeping with the
conventions of Spanish epic poetry. It is thus a means of
guaranteeing COMMUNICATION. The Pilgrims' Way to Santiago, which
provides the setting, will serve to magnify the communication effect.
- 122 -
THE RONCESVALLES "NEWS STORY"
The basic story is the swooning of the Emperor. The phrase "El
Rey q uando esto djxo cayo esmortecido" is incorporated in an
introduction which prepares the audience psychologically for the shock
of hearing this news, thus ensuring the personal participation of the
public. Interludes in the action are introduced by means of parallel
events, and then the story is taken up again with the introduction of
modifications.
If the Song of Roncesvalles is considered as a news story, it has
the following structure:
Introduction of the story
Story
Digressions from the story
Modification of the story
verses
v.
v. 83
v. 95
1 - 81
82
94
100
It can be seen from the above that the Song of Roncesvalles is
also an example of mediaeval reporting and of information about the
Pilgrims' Way to Santiago de Compostela. The manuscript, which is
kept in the Palacio de la Diputacion de Navarra, is an historic relic
which even today keeps unresolved mysteries shrouded in the mists of
time. Its two folios provide an incentive to search for other similar
documents, which remain hidden or have perhaps disappeared forever.
Like many monuments to the Pilgrims' Way, the Song of
Roncesvalles offers spiritual nourishment to anyone who studies it
today: monuments, legends, stone surfaces or the colours of stained
glassed windows which appear to be touched by the philosopher's stone,
all welcome and give strength to those who set out on the Santiago
pilgrim routes.
1. MENENDEZ PIDAL, R.: Roncesvalles. Un nuevo Can tar de gesta
espaFiol del s. XII, RFE, Madrid 1917.
2. VINES, H.: Textos de Espafia. Literatura navarra / Literatura
francesa, Pamplona 1980.
3. HORRENT, J.: Roncesvalles. Etude sue le fragment de can tar
de gesta conserve a 1'Archivo de Navarra (Pampelune),Paris 1951,
4. VINES, H.: Hablar navarro en el Fuero General, Pamplona 1977.
5. VlfiES, H.: Modos de noticiar, Facultad de Ciencias de la
Informacion, Universidad Complutense, Madrid 1970.
6. MENENDEZ PIDAL, R.: Poesia juglaresca y juglares, Madrid 1957
"el juglar, agente de publicldad, callaba o alababa a su sefior",
p. 56.
7. MAUSER, H.: Historia social de la literatura y el arte, I,
Madrid 1970.
8. Curso Monografico, Estella 1976.
9. ORTEGO Y COSTALES, J.: Noticia, actualidad e informaci6n,
Pamplona 1976.
10. Diccionario Real Academla Espafiola, Madrid 1984.
- 123 -
COMMUNICATION BY MRS LIVIA RICCI,
Co-ordinator for Europe
International Federation of Business and Professional Women
Initiatives like this one "The Santiago de Compostela Pilgrim
Routes", organised by the Council of Europe in collaboration with the
Deiitsches Komi tee fur Denkmalschutz and the Deutsche St. Jakobus
Gesellschaft are really like a pebble thrown in a pond. The ripples
spread and reach unexpected q uarters and their effects are felt in
time.
The European Federation of Business and Professional Women
wishes this initiative the best of success. Our organization has
members who work in many fields : music, cultural establishments,
education, architecture, business, insurance, journalism, politics,
etc.
I think that the protection of the common historic heritage is
a stimulating subject for everyone.
In fact everyone should be able to find in this projet not
only a spiritual involvement - which will depend of course on his/her
religious belief - but also a reason to introduce into his/her
profession the respect for the preservation of those values which make
up the wealth of our European tradition.
I come from Verona, a city rich in culture and one with a long
religious tradition. Near Verona, in a small moutain village, there is
a sanctuary dedicated to the "Virgin of the Crown". This sanctuary is
visited by hundreds of pilgrims throughout the year. The sanctuary is
built into the rock above the Adige Valley at about 1 000 meters above
sea level.
It was recently visited by Pope John Paul the II. The Mayoress
of the village to which the sanctuary belongs, Mrs Rosanna ZANOLLI
FRUCCO, gave me these two volumes before I left, to give to you on
behalf of herself and her village. I hope they'll be of some interest
to you.
I wish you all success in you work.
NB. : Incidentally, it has recently been suggested that the waters in
the village have some life-restoring properties. Villagers have
declared that this water has an aphrodisiac effect ! So we find
a mixture of the sacred with the profane.
- 125 -
A P P E N D I C E S
- 127 -
"THE SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA PILGRIM ROUTES"
Schney Castle near Bamberg (FRG)
Opening Thursday 29 September, 8".00 pm
Closing Saturday 1 October, 10.00 pm
P R O C R A M M E
Thursday 29 September 1988
15.00 Press Conference -
Library of the Town Hall in Bamberg , ,
17.00 Delegates assemble - registration
18.30 Dinner
20.00 Opening of the Congress By the Secretary General
of the Council of Europe or by his representative
Welcoming address by Dr Wolfgang WILD, Minister
for Sciences and Arts of the Land Bayern
Address : "Via Peregrinalis ad Sanctum Jacobum"
by Dr. K. BERBERS (FRG)
Friday 30 September 1988
8.30 Breakfast
9.30 First session - Chairman : Dr. K. BERBERS (FRG)
President of the Scientific Committee .9f the Deutsche
St. Jakobus-Gesellschaft
"Ancient routes : military, merchant, official
and pilgrim ways"
by Prof. Dr.H. KELLENBENZ (FRG)
Statement :
Mr. B. P. SCHNEIDER (CB) ' -
"Pilgrim routes to Santiago in the Upper-Rhine region"
by Dr. B. ROCKLELEIN (FRG) and Mr. G. WENDLING (FRG)
12.30 Lunch
14.00 Departure to Bamberg
Visit of the town
European ceremony. Unveiling of the route-marker :
"Santiago pilgrim routes - European cultural
itinerary" at the St. James's Church
- 128 -
17.00 Reception at the Geyersworth Castle
18.00 Dinner
20.00 Concert by the "Capella Antiq ua Bambergensis"
conducted by Prof. Dr. W. SPINDLER : "Vaganten,
Juglares und Pilger auf den Wege" (vagabonds,
minstrels and pilgrims on the routes) XVIth and
XVIIth centuries (with musical instruments of
that period).
Optional programme
22.30 Film : "The Milky Way" by Luis BUNUEL
Saturday 1 October 1988
8.30 Breakfast
9.30 Second session - Chairman : Prof. Alfred A. SCHMID (CH),
President of the Steering Committee for the
Integrated Conservation of the Historic Heritage
Aspects of the Santiago pilgrim routes throughout the
European territory
Address : "News about the Santiago Pilgrim guide"
by Prof. Dr. Andre VON MANDACH (CH)
Statements :
Prof. Dr. F. LOPEZ ALSINA (E)
Mr. Rene DE LA COTE-MESSELIERE (F)
Prof. Dr. P. CAUCCI VON SAUCKEN (I)
12.30 Lunch
14.00 Statements :
Mr. Chr. KROTZL M.A. (SF)
Mr. D. AERTS (B)
Mr. Eusebio GOICOECHEA (E)
15.00 Address : "Pilgrims routes and the mediums of "artes
memoriae" in the Middle Ages - Words,
scripture and pictures"
by Dr. F. HAUSSAUER (FRG)
followed by the film "To Santiago"
(F. HASSAUER/H. BRUHL 1981)
17.00 The practice of pilgrimage
Mr. BAHNEN (FRG)
18.30 Dinner
- 129 -
20.00 Pilgrimage past and present : the Santiago pilgrim
routes today - what future for this pilgrimage ?
~ Dr. Robert PnOTZ(FRG)
Plenary discussion
Conclusions of the Congress
Closing of the Congress
Sunday 2 October 1988
8.30 Breakfast
9.30 Meeting of the members of the Deutsche St. Jakobus-
Gesellschaft
Optional programme
11.30 Mass at the Vierzehnheiligen Pilgrim church
13.00 Lunch
Departure
- 130 -
CONCLUSIONS OF THE CONGRESS
:
Among the great mediaeval pilgrimages,, the pilgrimage to
Compostela marked a more distinctively European approach to the notion
of travel as a means to holiness
t
The St. James pilgrim routes, whose
importance has long been neglected, bear witness to this. Grasping
this fact is essential to the understanding of a unity which, far from
being a recent invention, has its roots deep in our shared past.
The Congress on "the Santiago de Compostela Pilgrim Routes",,
organised by the Council of Europe in co-operation with the Deutsche
St. Jakobus-Gesellschaft at Schney Castle near Bamberg from 29
September to 1 October 1988, wishes to thank the Bamberg city
authorities and the ^Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Federal
Republic of Germany for their support.
The congress notes with satisfaction the growing interest shown
by wide sections of the public in the European pilgrim tradition and
particularly the routes to Santiago de Compostela. It accordingly
welcomes the unveiling of the plaque outside the church of St. James
in Bamberg and hopes that similar "signposts" will soon be set up in
other European cities to mark the historic routes to Santiago de
Compostela.
It stresses once again the importance of the routes to Santiago
in the spiritual and cultural history of Europe and the role which
they played in forging a European civilisation.
It insists on the need to identify the historic routes to
Santiago north of the Pyrenees, using strictly scientific methods and
relying on written sources, iconography and on-site research, as a
necessary first step towards breathing fresh life into those routes.
It asks the Council of Europe to encourage the political
authorities responsible for the cultural heritage in the member states
to take appropriate measures, particularly in the field of scientific
research, to conribute effectively to the restoration of the
historical Santiago de Compostela pilgrim routes and the many historic
monuments along the way.
Such measures will contribute to a better knowledge and a deeper
understanding of the cultural values which all the countries of Europe
share.
-131 -
LISTE DBS PARTICIPANTS / LIST OF PARTICIPANTS
AUTRICHE / AUSTRIA
Dr. Franz-Heinz HYE, Stadtarchivdirektor, Stadtarchiv, Badgasse 2,
A-6010 INNSBRUCK, AUTRICHE
Herrn Hofrat Dr. Werner KITLITSCHKA, Bundesdenkmalamt - Hofburg,
Schweizerhof, A-1010 WIEN I, AUTRICHE
BELGIQUE / BELGIUM
M. Philippe BRAGARD, Rue Ernotte 5, B-5000 NAMUR, BELGIQUE
M. Roland DELBAERE, Centre de Recherches en Loisirs, Recreation,
Tourisme (LORETO), Ministere Communaute fran?aise de la Culture,
Galerie Ravenstein 28, B-1000 BRUXELLES, BELGIQUE
Mme Yvette DEMORY-THYSSENS, Avenue des Campanules 30, B-1170
BRUXELLES, BELGIQUE
Dr. Jacques FRAIPONT; Qua! Churchill 19/1, B-4020 LIEGE, BELGIQUE.,
M. et Mme Alain GILLIS, Rive de Meuse 34, B-5170 PROFONDEVILLE,
BELGIQUE . .
: i
. . . :
M. et Mme LUC, Rue F. Chaumont 43, B-4822 PETIT RECHAIM, BELGIQUE
M. Werner MERTENS, Plaatweg 15, B-4721 NEU-MORESNET, BELGIQUE
Dora Willibrord J.M. MONDELAERS, Sibt-Andriesabdij Zevenkerken, B-8200
BRUGGE 2, BELGIQUE
M. Hugo RAENEN et Mme Mieke VERSCHURE, Herrystr. 26, B-2100 DEURNE,
BELGIQUE
Dr. Jos REINARDS, Heuveneindeweg 7, B-3520 ZONHOVEN, BELGIQUE .
M. Jean-Pierre RENARD, Ru.e de Goddiarch n 3, B-6320 VILLERS LA VILLE,
BELGIQUE
M. et Mme Wolfgang RENNER, 2 Clos du Cinquantenaire, B-1040 BRUXELLES,
BELGIQUE
Mme Helly TERLIKEK, Eikohstraat 2, B-8030 BEERHEM, BELGIQUE
M. Jean WEICKER, Association europeenne des Enseignants (AEDE),
Section beige, Enseignement libre, 8 rue aux gades, B-7800 ATH,
BELGIQUE
M. Etienne von WONTERGHEM, Eikohstraat 2, B-8030 BEERHEM, BELGIQUE
- 132 -
FRANCE
Mme DUKERS, "La Heghaia", ILASSAC, F-33390 BLAYE
Mme Eliane HATTE, 3 rue du Montparnasse, F-75006 PARIS
M. et Mme Jacques HOULET, Federation Internationale pour 1'Habitat,
1'Urbanisme et 1'Amenagement du Territoire, 2 rue Parrot,
F-75012 PARIS
M. Gerard JUGNOT, 55 Boulevard de Charonne, F-75011 PARIS
M. Edmond LUCAS, 280 Boulevard Raspail, F-75014 PARIS
Mile Paule MALOUBIER TOURNIER, 4 Square Pont de Sevres,
F-92100 BOULOGNE SUR SEINE
M. Jacques et Mme Moniq ue PACOU, Federation nationale des associations
de sauvegarde des sites et ensembles monumentaux (FNASSEM),
122 rue Paul Deroulede, F-92270 BOIS COLOMBES
M. Yves et Mme Edith SAINT-LEGER, 1 rue de Vincourt,
F-95000 JOUY-LE-MOUTIER
Mile Jeannine WARCOLLIER, 4 Square Pont de Sevres, F-92100 BOULOGNE
SUR SEINE
Mme Charlotte WEBER, 28 rue de St. Louis, F-68330 HUNINGUE
REPUBLIQUE FEDERALS D'ALLEMAGNE / FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY
Herrn Alfons ACKERMAN, Im Schmittenhof 9, D-5630 REMSCHEID, RFA
Herrn Gottfried AMENDT, Pleicherkirchplatz 1 A, D-8700 WURZBURG, RFA
Herrn Pfarrer Giuseppe AUDISIO, Stengasse 18, D-6500 MAINZ, RFA
Eheleute BAHNEN, Deutsche St. Jakobus-Gesellschaft e.V., Wilhelmstr.
50-52, D-5100 AACHEN, RFA
Eheleute Christian u. Use BALTZER, Wiltinger Str. 13,
D-1000 BERLIN 28, RFA
Herrn Helmut BAUCKNER, Talstr. 28, D-7889 GRENZACH-WYHLEN, RFA
Prof. Dr. Karl Josef BENZ, Machthildstr. 46, D-8400 REGENSBURG, RFA
Frau Friederike BERGER, Speckertsweg 4, D-8707 VEITSHOCHHEIM, RFA
Herrn Konrad BREITRAINER MDL, Angermiihlstrasse 6, D-8201 ROHRDORF, RFA
Herrn Dr. Bernd BREUNIG, Reuterstr. 6, D-8700 WURZBURG, RFA
.Herrn Dr. Jur. Otto C. CARLSSON, Europa Nostra, Katrepeler Landstrasse
24, D-2800 BREMEN 33, RFA
Frau Kay de CASSAN, Landeshauptstadt Hannover, GroBe Barlinge 21,
D-3000 HANNOVER, RFA
- 133 -
Eheleute Gunter u. Brunhilde DIETRICH, Am Muhlenbach 20, D-4403
SENDEN, RFA
Frau Elisabeth DRESSLER, Liebherrstr. 4, D-8000 MUNCHEN 22, RFA
Eheleute Friedhelm u. Irmgard DUBOIS, Schreberstr. 8, D-5100 AACHEN,
RFA
Frau Anna EBBERT, Rormonder Str. 188 A, D-5120 HERZOGENRATH, RFA
Eheleute H.P. ERLING, Gut Hohekamp, D-2820 BREMEN-BURG, RFA
Frau Amelie ESCHLER, Schlossparkstr. 68, D-5100 AACHEN, RFA
Herrn Dieter GEISS, Klosterhof 9, D-7900 ULM, RFA
Frau Irmgard GEYER, Harthauserstr. 34, D-7900 ULM, RFA
Herrn Josef Gregor GIEBEL, Ardeystrasse 14, D-4300 ESSEN 1, RFA
Eheleute Dr. Anselmo GONZALEZ, Niederalm Str. 1, D-8000 MUNCHEN 83, RFA
Prof. Dr. Klaus GUTH, Greiffenbergstr. 35, D-8600 BAMBERG, RFA
Frau Dr. Johanna Von HERZOGENBERG, Schumannstr.10, D-8000 MUNCHEN, RFA
Herrn Ulrich HEPPEL, Kranzhornstrasse 7, D-8019 GRAFING, RFA
Herrn Ralf HIPPELEIN, Asternstrasse 4, D-8508 WENDELSTEIN, RFA
Herrn Michael HUBER, Postfach 102324, D-7000 STUTTART 10, RFA
Herrn Heinz JANSEN, Am Burgfeld 3, D-5100 ESCHWEILER, RFA
Eheleute Gxinther u. Agnes KAMMER, Konigsberger Str. 15,
D-5272 WIPPERFURTH, RFA
Frau Kathe KAEVER, Quellstr. 30, D-5180 ESCHWEILER, RFA
Frau Magdalene KERRES, Schleckheimer Str. 197, D-5100 AACHEN, RFA
Herrn Karl KORFER, Ahornweg 17, D-5100 AACHEN, RFA
Frau Elisabeth KOPPER, Roermonder Str. 289, D-5100 AACHEN, RFA
Herrn Pfarrer Elmar KORNER, Jakobussteige 4, D-7868
TODTNAU-TODTNAUBERG, RFA
Eheleute Werner u. Gisela KRAMER, Pfalzgraf-Otto-Str. 4,
D-6950 MOSBACH, RFA
Herrn Josef KREIES, Luisenstr. 71, D-5180 ESCHWEILER, RFA
Herrn Christoph KUHN und Eheleute KUHN, Dabringhauser Strasse 75,
D-5000 KOLN 80, RFA
Herrn Dieter KUHNEL, Friedenstr. 17, D-8700 WURZBURG, RFA
Herrn Herbert KUNZ, Steinbruchstr. 16, D-6676 MANDELBACHTAL 3, RFA
Frau Rosemarie LANG, Nesstfellplatz 11, D-8714 WEISENTHEID, RFA
- 134 -
Frau Gabriele LATZEL, Griiner Weg 1, D-4400 MUNSTER, RFA
Herrn Karl LINDNER, Donaustauferstr. 29, D-8400 REGENSBURG, RFA
Frau Monika LIPPS, Eisenlohrstrasse 7, D-6900 HEIDELBERG, RFA
Herrn Pfr. Dieter LUCAS, Schulstrasse 1, D-6411 KUNZELL, RFA
Eheleute Karl-Heinz u. Christina .LUTTGEN, Ronsdorfer Str. 63,
D-5630 REMSCHEID, RFA
Herrn Dr. Karl MAHLERT, Kapitan-K6nig-Weg 14, D-2800 BREMEN 33, RFA
Eheleute Jochem u. Christel NOVER, Fvirberger Str. 61,
D-5630 REMSCHEID, RFA .
Frau Dr. Margret NUSSBAUM, Markt 21, D-5040 BRUHL, RFA
Herrn Hans-Peter OFFERGELD, Erfstr. 1, D-5180 ESCHWEILER, RFA
Eheleute Karl-Josef u. Susanna-Maria ORTMANNS, Knaudtstr. 5,
D-4300 ESSEN, RFA
Eheleute Dr. W. Johannes OTTO, Im oschle 19, D-7400 TUBINGEN-HIRSCHAU,
RFA
Frau Elisabet PETERSEN, Winterleitungweg 65 B, D-8700 WURZBURG, RFA
Herrn Dr. Alfred PFEIL, Amt fur Volksbildung, Volkshochschule
Frankfurt am Main, HochstraBe 49, D-6000 FRANKFURT A.M. 1, RFA
Herrn Pfr. Erich PROKOSCH, Guttknechstrasse 5, D-8504 STEIN, RFA
Frau Margot PUMPLUN, Wardstrasse 9, D-4242 REES, RFA
Herrn Manuel SANTOS, Eschenweg 42, D-7400 TUBINGEN, RFA
Frau Erna SCHEFERS, Josef-Hehlstr. 5, D-4232 XANTEN, RFA
Herrn Gvinther SCHMIEDING, Danziger Strasse 28, D-8525 UTTENREUTH, RFA
Herrn Albert SCHRODER, Cherusherring 88, D-4400 MUNSTER, RFA
Eheleute Hermann u. Maria SCHULZ, In den FOllen 24, D-5112 BAESWEILER,
RFA
Herrn Bernard SCHWEERS, Carl-Friedrich-Gauss-Stf. 41 B,
D-2800 BREMEN 33, RFA
Eheleute Herbert u. Liliana SIMON, Melanchthonstr. 24,
D-5000 KOLN 80, RFA
Frau Maria Magdalena SOUREN, Roermonder Str. 344, D-5100 AACHEN, RFA
Eheleute Dr. Horstmar STAUBER, Im Rothkopf 9, D-6370 OBERURSEL, RFA
Frau Anna Maria STEGMAIER, Auguste-Supper-Str. 18,
D-7140 LUDWIGSBURG, RFA
Herrn Wifried TASCHNER, D-8000 MtJNCHEN, RFA
Eheleute Otto u. Elisabeth THONE, An der Engelsfuhr 46,
D-5060 BERGISCH-GLADBACH 2, RFA
- 135 -
Eheleute Josef u. Erika THOENISSEN, Haupstr. 29, D-4178 KEVELAER, RFA
Frau Edda TIEDEMANN, Hutschstr. 20, D-8580 BAYREUTH, RFA
Eheleute Helmut u. Cacilia VESPER, Heideweg 53,
D-4000 DUSSELDORF 30, RFA
Frau Prof. Dr. Margit WAGNER, Montsalvat 8, D-8000 MUNCHEN 40, RFA
Herrn Franz WARMUTH, Liebigstrasse 16, D-8730 BAD KISSINGEN, RFA
Frau Ursula WULFING-KOCH, Molzahner Weg 6, D-2418 RATZEBURG, RFA
Eheleute Giinter u. Erika ZENKER, Pankower Str. 8, D-4352 HERTEN, RFA
Herrn Pfarrer Manfred ZENTGRAF, Haulerstr. 15, D-7564 BERMERSBACH, RFA
Herrn Prof. Dr. Kurt ZWINGENBERGER, Bonhoefferstrasse 20,
D-4400 MUNSTER, RFA ,
ITALIE / ITALY
Sigra Livia RICCI, International Federation of Business and
Professional Women, Via 4 Novembre n 28, 1-37126 VERONA, ITALIE
PAYS-BAS / NETHERLANDS
Mr Koen M.J. DIRCKSENS, President, Nederlands Genootschap van
Sint-Jacob, Dopperstraat 60, NL-3752 JH BUNSCHOTEN, PAYS-BAS
Frau STOKMANS-BERTELING, Jachtlaan 259F, NL-7312 GP APELDOORN,
PAYS-BAS
ESPAGNE / SPAIN
Dona Belen ALVAREZ, Principado de Asturias, Consejera de Educacion,
Cultura y Desportes, Sol 8, E-33009 OVIEDO, ESPAGNE
Don Angel Luis BARREDA FERRER, Marq ues de Santillana 10,
E-34120 CARRION DE LOS CONDES, ESPAGNE
Don Jose Luis BARRIO BASTIDA, C/ tres casas s/n, E-BANOS DE RIO TOBIA
(LA RIOJA), ESPAGNE
Don Jose Luis BERMEJO FERNANDEZ, Excmo. Ayuntamiento de Logrono, Gral.
Franco n 11, E-26071 LOGRONO, ESPAGNE
Don Isidro CARO RODRIGUEZ, Excmo. Ayuntamiento de Logrono, Gral.
Franco n 11, E-26071 LOGRONO, ESPAGNE
Don Javier CHOURRAUT, Alcalde de Pamplona, E-31000 PAMPLONA, ESPAGNE
Don Jose CIMADEVILA COVELO y Esposa, Asociacion de Amigos del Camino
de Santiago de Madrid, Plaza de San Amaro, 1, E-28020 MADRID,
ESPAGNE
Don Florencio COBO ARIAS, Principado de Asturias, Consejera de
Educacion, Cultura y Desportes, Sol 8, E-33009 OVIEDO, ESPAGNE
- 136 -
Don Jose DENIS, Ayuntamiento de Santiago de Compostela, Plaza del
Obradoira, E-SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA, ESPAGNE
Don Xerardo ESTEVEZ FERNANDEZ, Alcalde, Ayuntamiento Santiago de
Compostela, Plaza del Obradoiro, E-SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA,
ESPAGNE
Canonigo Srio. Capitular Don Jaime GARCIA RODRIGUEZ, Cabildo
Metropolitano, E-SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA, ESPAGNE
Don Fernando IMAZ, Doctor Camino 5, E-2000A SAN SEBASTIAN, ESPAGNE
Dona Natividad JIMENEZ, Chef de service au Cabinet du Ministre de la
Culture, Ministerio de Cultura, Plaza del Rey 1, E-2800A MADRID,
ESPAGNE
M. Pablo MARTINEZ, Conseiller du Ministre de la Culture, Secretaire de
la Commission interministerielle espagnole pour le Chemin de
Saint-Jacq ues, Ministerio de Cultura, Plaza del Rey 1, E-28004
MADRID, ESPAGNE
Don Valentin REDIN, Ayuntamiento de Pamplona, E-31000 PAMPLONA,
ESPAGNE
Dona Isabel RONCAL, E-CIZUR MENOR, ESPAGNE
Don Jesus TOBIO FERNANDEZ, c/o Plaza San Amaro 1, E-28020 MADRID,
ESPAGNE
Don Alejandro ULI, E-ZARAGOZA, ESPAGNE
Dofia Hortensia VINES RUEDA, Avenida de la Baja Navarra 10, 4,
E-31003 PAMPLONA, ESPAGNE
SUISSE / SWITZERLAND
Frau Ursula GANZ-BLATTLER, Kornhausstrasse 53, CH-8037 ZURICH, SUISSE
Eheleute Werner u. Resi GOTTLER, WOrzenbachmatte 23, CH-6006 LUZERN,
SUISSE
M. et Mme HERZOG, Obere Banhofstrasse 49, CH-9500 WIL, SUISSE
Herrn Dr. Peter KLEMENSBERGER, Schaufelbergerstr. 44, CH-8055 ZURICH,
SUISSE
Herrn Heinrich OBERLI, Tuetlisberg, CH-9630 UATTWILL, SUISSE
Frau Ida RITLER und Frau THURTHALER, Innere Mairgarethenstr. 22,
CH-4051 BASEL, SUISSE
Frau Barbara UHL, bei Fam. RITLER, Innere Margarethenstr. 22,
CH-4051 BASEL, SUISSE
- 137 -
ROYAUME UNI / UNITED KINGDOM
Miss Gosia BRYKCZYNSKA, Confraternity of St. James, 48 Stanley Ave,
UK-Greenford, Middlesex, ROYAUME UNI -
Miss Laurie DENNETT, Confraternity of St. James, 24 Andrews House,
The Barbican, UK-LONDON EC2Y, ROYAUME UNI
Mr. Derrick HANCOCK, 119 Mansfield Rd Hasland, UK-CHESTERFIELD,
Derbyshire S41 OJG, ROYAUME UNI
Dr. Myrna HARRIS, Institute of Cornish Studies, University of Exeter,
Trevithick building, Trevenson Road, Pool, UK-REDRUTH, Cornwall,
ROYAUME UNI
Miss Patricia QUAIFE, Confraternity of St. James, 57 Leopold Road,
UK-LONDON N2 8BG, ROYAUME UNI
Mrs Ida Hilary SHAW, Bredereth Sen Jago, The Old Kiln, Port Navas,
Falmouth, Cornwall TR11 5RJ, ROYAUME UNI
Mrs Anna STREET, Confraternity of S. James, 4 Woodside East, Thurlby,
Bourne, Lincolnshire PE10 OHT, ROYAUME UNI
Mrs Rosemary WELLS, 154 Rithermead Court, Ranelagh Garden, UK-LONDON
SW 63SF, ROYAUME UNI
POLOGNE / POLAND
Herrn Prof. Dr. Jerzy PAWLIK, Skwer Kard. Wyszynskiego 6, PL WARSCHAU,
POLOGNE
Frau Prof. Dr. Aleksandra WITKOWSKA, Ul. Narutowieza 10,
PL 20958 LUBLIN, POLOGNE
LISTE DBS EXPERTS / LIST OF EXPERTS
Prof. Paolo CAUCCI VON SAUCKEN et fils, Cattedra di Spagnola, Facolta di
Magistero, Via del Verzaro, 49, 1-06100 PERUGIA, ITALIE
M. Rene de la COSTE MESSELIERE, Directeur du Centre europeen d'etudes
compostellanes, 119 rue de Lille, F-75007 PARIS
Prof. Manuel DIAZ Y DIAZ, Rua Nueva, 24, E-SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA,
ESPAGNE
Prof. Albert d'HAENENS, College Erasme, Place Blaise Pascal, 1,
B-1348 LOUVAIN LA NEUVE, BELGIQUE
Prof. Derek W. LOMAX, Department of Hispanic Studies, University of
Birmingham, GB BIRMINGHAM B15 277, ROYAUME UNI
Prof. Robert PLOTZ et Madame, Niederrheinisches Museum Uhland Strasse,
10, D-4178 KEVELAER, RFA
Prof. Alfred SCHMID, President de la Commission federale des Monuments
Historiq ues, 1 rue du Simplon, CH-1700 FRIBOURG, SUISSE
- 138 -
LISTE DBS RAPPORTEURS / LIST OF RAPPORTEURS
M. Dirk AERTS, Urselwej 104 a, B-9990 MALDEGEM, BELGIQUE '
Sr. Eusebio GOICOECHEA ARRONDO, Plaza de Cartaya 1, Primero D,
E-28004 MADRID, ESPAGNE ' '
Dr. Klaus HERBERS, Achalmstrasse 12, D-7^50 HECHINGEN-SICKINGEN, RFA
Prof. Dr. Herman KELLENBENZ et Madame,' D-8151 WARNGAU, RFA
Monsieur Christian KRQTZL, Tampere Yliopisto, Historiatieteen Laitos,
Hammareninkatu 8-10, PO BOX 60?, SF-33101 TAMPERE, FINLANDE
Sr. F. LOPEZ ALSINA, Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, E-SANTIAGO
DE COMPOSTELA, ESPAGNE
M. Andre de MANDACH, CH-3065 HABSTETTEN (Bern), SUISSE
Dr. Hedwig ROCKELEIN, Haaggasse 10, D-7^00 TUBINGEN, RFA
M. H.P. SCHNEIDER, Directeur du projet, .Inventaire des voies de>.
communication historiques de la Suisse, Geographisches
Institut, Finkenhubelweg 11, CH-3012 BERN SUISSE
Mr. Gottfried WENDLING, BUggenreuters Strasse n 7, D-7800 FREIBURG, RFA
SECRETARIAT DU CONSEIL DE L'EUROPE / SECRETARIAT OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE
Direction de 1'Environnement et des Pouvoirs Locaux / Direction of
Environment and Local Authorities
M. Jose Maria BALLESTER, Chef de la Division de la Conservation
integree du Patrimoine Historique / Head of Division for
intregrated Conservation of the Historic Heritage
Mme OlOf THORHILDUR OLAFSDOTTIR, Administrateur, Division de la
Conservation integree du Patrimoine Historique /
Administrator, Division for integrated Conservation of
Historic Heritage
Mile Claudine NONNENMACHER, Secretariat / Secretariat
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ISBN 92-871-1746-2