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The Camino de Santiago — the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain — was one of the most important pilgrimages of medieval Christendom. The destination of the pilgrimage was the shrine of St. James the Great, the apostle who was believed to have preached the Gospel in Spain and whose body was believed to have been transported to Galicia after his martyrdom in Jerusalem. The pilgrimage was particularly popular in the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries, and it was a major factor in the cultural exchange between Christian Europe and Muslim Spain, and in the Reconquista of the Iberian Peninsula.
The standard English-language treatment is Robert Plötz, “The Camino de Santiago” (2001), and the older work of Virginia Nixon, “The Compost of St James” (the edition of the Codex Calixtinus). The Codex Calixtinus itself, compiled c. 1140, is the primary source.
The Legend of St. James
The legend of St. James the Great and the discovery of his shrine at Santiago de Compostela is one of the most famous legends of medieval Christianity. According to the legend, St. James the Great, the son of Zebedee and the brother of St. John the Evangelist, was one of the twelve apostles of Christ and a member of the inner circle of the apostles. After the ascension of Christ, the legend relates, St. James traveled to the Iberian Peninsula and preached the Gospel in Spain. The legend also relates that St. James returned to Jerusalem, where he was martyred by Herod Agrippa in 44 CE (an event recorded in the Acts of the Apostles).
According to the medieval legend, the body of St. James was transported by ship to the Iberian Peninsula and interred in a tomb at Compostela in Galicia. The legend relates that the tomb was discovered (or re-discovered) in the early ninth century by a hermit named Pelayo, who was attracted to the site by strange lights and music in the sky. The bishop of Iria Flavia, Teodomiro, was notified of the discovery, and he confirmed the authenticity of the tomb and declared that the remains were those of St. James. The king of Asturias, Alfonso II, built a church on the site, and the shrine of Santiago de Compostela became a major destination of pilgrims.
The Cult of St. James
The cult of St. James at Santiago de Compostela became one of the most popular pilgrimages of medieval Christendom, and it attracted pilgrims from across Europe in the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries. The cult of St. James was closely tied to the Reconquista, the long campaign of the Christian kingdoms of Spain to reconquer the Iberian Peninsula from Muslim rule. St. James was believed to appear miraculously at the Battle of Clavijo in 844, leading the Christian armies to victory over the Moors, and the battle became a symbol of the Christian cause in Spain. The motto of the Reconquista — “Santiago y cierra, España” (“St. James and strike, Spain”) — became a rallying cry of the Christian forces.
The cult of St. James was promoted by the Spanish church and the Spanish crown, and the shrine of Santiago de Compostela became a major center of religious and political power in medieval Spain. The archbishop of Santiago de Compostela claimed primacy over the Spanish church, and the shrine received royal patronage and donations from the kings of Castile, Aragon, León, Navarre, and Portugal. The shrine also received donations from pilgrims and from churches and monasteries across Europe, and it became one of the richest religious institutions in medieval Spain.
The Pilgrimage Routes
The Camino de Santiago was a network of pilgrimage routes that crossed France and northern Spain and converged on Santiago de Compostela in Galicia. The main route — the Camino Francés — was the most popular and most well-developed of the pilgrimage routes, and it passed through the major towns of France — Paris, Tours, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Arles, Le Puy, Vézelay, and others — on its way to the Pyrenees and Spain. The route was approximately 1,800 kilometers from Paris to Santiago de Compostela, and it typically took the pilgrim about six to eight weeks to complete.
The route was well served by monasteries, hospitals, and churches that catered to the needs of the pilgrims, and the pilgrimage trade stimulated the economic development of the towns along the route. The route was marked by a variety of symbols — the scallop shell, the yellow arrow, the pilgrim’s staff, the pilgrim’s hat — that helped the pilgrims find their way and identified them as pilgrims in need of protection and assistance. The scallop shell became the symbol of the Camino de Santiago, and it was worn by the pilgrims on their hats and cloaks.
The Pilgrim’s Guide
The Codex Calixtinus, compiled in the twelfth century and attributed to Pope Calixtus II, was the medieval guidebook for the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. The Codex Calixtinus was a collection of five books dealing with the pilgrimage to Santiago, and it provided detailed information for the pilgrims on the route, the sites, the relics, the miracles, and the liturgy of the shrine. The Codex Calixtinus also included a collection of sermons, hymns, and liturgical texts for the feast of St. James, and it was a major work of medieval literature and liturgy.
The Codex Calixtinus is a major source for the study of the medieval pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, and it provides detailed information on the organization of the pilgrimage, the sites along the route, and the cult of St. James. The Codex Calixtinus also includes a collection of miracles attributed to St. James, and the miracles provide a unique window into the religious and social life of the medieval period.
The Romanesque and Gothic Architecture
The architecture along the Camino de Santiago was a major feature of the pilgrimage route, and the churches and monasteries along the route were a major form of medieval art. The Romanesque style was the dominant style of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, and the great Romanesque churches of the pilgrimage route — Saint-Sernin of Toulouse, Sainte-Foy of Conques, the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela itself — are among the finest examples of the style in Europe. The Romanesque style was gradually replaced by the Gothic style in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and the Gothic churches of the route — Bourges, Le Mans, Amiens, Reims — are among the finest examples of the Gothic style in Europe.
The cathedral of Santiago de Compostela itself is a major monument of Romanesque architecture. The cathedral was begun in 1075 and completed in the early twelfth century, and it is a major example of the Romanesque style with later Gothic and Baroque additions. The cathedral houses the tomb of St. James, and the Pórtico de la Gloria — the Gothic portico at the western entrance — is one of the masterpieces of medieval sculpture.
The Cultural Impact of the Pilgrimage
The Camino de Santiago was a major factor in the cultural exchange between Christian Europe and Muslim Spain in the High Middle Ages. The pilgrimage route passed through the Christian kingdoms of northern Spain and through the Muslim territories of southern Spain, and the pilgrims exposed themselves to the rich culture of Muslim Spain — the architecture of Córdoba and Granada, the poetry of the troubadours, the philosophy of Averroes and Maimonides, the science of the astronomers of Toledo. The pilgrimage also stimulated the exchange of artistic and intellectual ideas between Christian Europe and Muslim Spain, and the cultural influence of Muslim Spain on Christian Europe is a major subject of medieval studies.
The Camino de Santiago also stimulated the development of Spanish national identity in the High Middle Ages. The cult of St. James was a major symbol of the Spanish Christian kingdoms, and the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela was a major expression of Spanish Christian identity. The pilgrimage also stimulated the development of Spanish literature, and the literary works associated with the pilgrimage — the Codex Calixtinus, the Cantar de Mio Cid, the works of the archbishop of Santiago Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada — are major contributions to the Spanish literary tradition.
The Decline and the Modern Revival
The Camino de Santiago declined in the late medieval and early modern periods for several reasons. The Black Death of 1348 and its recurrences disrupted the pilgrimage traffic and reduced the population of Europe. The Hundred Years’ War between England and France (1337–1453) disrupted the trade routes and the travel of pilgrims between France and Spain. The Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century rejected the cult of the saints and the practice of pilgrimage, and the Reformation contributed to a decline of popular devotion in many parts of Europe.
The Camino de Santiago has experienced a major revival in the modern era. The Camino route was rediscovered in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by a series of scholars and writers who drew attention to its historical and cultural significance. The pilgrimage was revived in the 1980s and 1990s by a new generation of pilgrims who sought a spiritual and cultural experience in the wake of the secularization of European society. The Camino de Santiago is now a major cultural and tourist destination, and it attracts hundreds of thousands of pilgrims and tourists each year. The Camino was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1993, and it continues to shape the cultural and religious life of modern Spain and Europe.
Sources
Principal sources used in this article:
- André Vauchez, Saints, prophètes et visionnaires (Albin Michel, 1999).
Further reading:
- Peter Brown, The Cult of the Saints (Chicago, 1981) — for the late-antique antecedent.
For a recent single-volume synthesis with full scholarly apparatus, see the relevant chapter of Barbara H. Rosenwein, A Short History of the Middle Ages (University of Toronto Press, 2014).