The Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela
The Camino Trimaris:

Towns marked by + are for information only and not a part of the Pilgrimage itself, just the numbered ones.

+ Port de Cize

At Port de Cize one enters Spain thru the easiest pass in the Western Pyrenees, The Via Traiana.

At the spot where one can see into Spain for the first time, Roland/Roldán traditionally once stood, and Charlemagne, on his first campaign into Spain, first erected a Cross, knelt and prayed to God and St. James. Pilgrims knelt and planted small wooden crosses next to the cross of Roldán facing West toward Santiago, and prayed for their safe journey on Pilgrimage.

1. Roncesvalles

On August 15, 778 Roland, Charlemagne's Captain, along with 40, 000 Christian and Saracen soldiers were slain in the Pass, at Valcarlos (?), when Charlemagne did not respond to Roland's Horn call for help. This was eulogized in the Song Of Roland. The epic was also the source of the Twelve Peers of France. It is said that Roland, the last to die , attempted to break his sword, Durandal, so that it could not be used for evil means. When he tried to break it on a boulder, instead Durandduarte split the boulder, the peña partida. At the foot of the summit one finds the Hospice and Monastery Church of the Rock. Whose Sancti Spiritus chapel held the burial chambers of the Twelve Peers.

Basque mountaineers say that on stormy nights the Pyrenees echo the sound of Roldán's Horn. The Oliphant, a carved Ivory trumpet, rests in the monastery whose Hospice hosts well over 25,000 Pilgrims each year.

The prior of Roncesvalles was the second ecclesiastical dignitary of the kingdom of Navarre, subject only to the bishop of Pamplona, holding a seat on the Cortés, the Spanish governing body.

At the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, in 1212, the Saracen General, Miramamolin, surrounded his pavilion within a circle of chained Christian slaves. King Sancho VII spurred his horse over the human wall to take the day. The chains,and a large Emerald of (the deceased) Miramolin were incorporated into the Arms of Navarre. The chains rest on a cushion at the food of Sancho's tomb in the Chapel of the Real Collegiata, consecrated in 1219. It houses the inevitable Relics, more than thirty, including thorns from Jesus' Crown of Thorns.

2. Pamplona

Pamplona sits on a high defensive bluff on the Arga river controlling the entry from Puerto de Ciza , the Via Traiana and the French road's intersection. In 75 a.d. the Roman general Pompaelo built a city on the ruins of a Basque settlement. It was later held by the Visigoths. Like many others in Spain, it's rulers changed back and forth between the Christians and Moslems, as well as between the various Spanish Kingdoms. Pamplona, due to its strategic location had France added to the besiegers. The French and the Basques were happily at each other's throats for centuries.

On July 7th the celebration of Sanfermines, dedicated to San Fermín, the patron Saint of Navarra , with processions, singing and dancing, plays, and the running of the bulls. He is also the patron saint of winemakers and bakers. Participants traditionally wear red bandanas The week long Fiesta probably originated prior to the 10th century. The Running of the Bulls ( the Encierro) probably dates to the 8th century.

The church of San Saturnino , Patron Saint of Pamplona, the parish church of the Cernin district, stands on a cramped adjoining site where Saint Saturninus is said to have baptized the first Christians of Pamplona…Pilgrims seem to have had a special affection for this church, and there is a statue of Saint James above the main entrance.

3. Puente La Reina

Built up around an 11th century bridge built by the Queen of Navarra at the confluence of the rivers Robbery and Arga on the flats past the Arga . In 1142 King García Ramírez gave the town to the Knights Templar who held it until their expulsion and dissolution in the early 14th century.

“Towards the East, runs a river called Río Salado, beware from drinking its waters or from watering your horse in its stream, for this river is deadly. We found two Navarrese seated on its banks and sharpening their knives. To our questions they answered with a lie saying that the water was indeed healthy and drinkable. We watered our horses in the stream, and had no sooner done so, than two of them died; these the Navarrese skinned on the spot.” Codex Calixtinus, XII century.

+ Estella

It Lies astride a craggy bend of the Ega river, near the ancient Basque town of Lizarra (Old Church), or Erizarra (Old Town). In 1090 King Sancho Ramirez made many concessions to merchants, successfully bringing many to Estella, turning it into a thriving commercial center. He did the same for Pilgrims with like results. Farmers favoured olives, grapes, orchards, and wheat as well as grazing land.

“The waters of all rivers one encounters between Estella and Logroño has been recognized as deadly for the men and the horses that drink from it, and their fish is no less dangerous to eat.”

4. Logroño

Built near the site of the Celtiberian town of Varea, below the Logrono bridge, on the right bank of the Ebro - furthest inland navigable port. It is also on triple frontier of Aragon, Navarra, Castilla/Leon. Of course it was passed around amongst the various kingdoms, as well as the Moors. It was even subjected to attack from El Cid in 1073. Note: that the ruling family at the time (Ordóñez) was a longstanding enemy of the Vivar family (El Cid's). Few Spanish cities have been fought over as much as Logroño explaining the lack of early Medieval structures.

Logroño was a regional tribunal for the Holy Inquisition. Later, some 40 (12?) Navarrese women, coming from Zugarramurdi, were convicted of witchcraft, after being exposed by a servant. In the end, 12 (6) of them were condemned to the bonfire.

5. Santo Domingo del Calzada

Miracles that the Codex Calixtinus narrates , happened in 1108 And in the cathedral of santo a hen house worked in stone can see itself in which there is always an alive rooster and a hen.

"Miracle of the Hanged Innocent." The well known story of the hanged innocent….It tells how in Toulouse a greedy innkeeper framed some German pilgrims by concealing a silver cup in one of their bags. The father and son were convicted, and the judge hung the son and let the father continue to Compostela. When he returned thirty-six days later he found his son still alive, held up by St. James. In the latter Middle Ages the miracle is often associated with the town of Santo Domngo de la Calzada. In many later versions of this story a village girl, often an inn-keeper's daughter, tries to seduce the handsome son of a passing German pilgrim family. Angry that he rebuffs her, she places some stolen silver in his scrip, and when the family leaves she denounces him to the authorities. The boy is condemned and hanged. His parents continue to Compostela, and when they return find their son still alive on the gibbet, where he had been sustained by St. James himself. They relate the miracle to the incredulous judge, who looks up from his chicken dinner to say that their son must be as alive as the roast chicken, whereupon the chicken reincorporates itself and flies away.”

Before 11th c. Camino led thru tangled, bandit-infested forests & swamps, transformed into one of the safest by Santo Domingo de Calzada who felled much of the forest of Oca.

+ Forest of Oca

Yielded to the sickle of San Domingo del Calzada who cleared out the bandidos and made the Camino for the Pilgrims more passable and safe.

6. Burgos

Built on Roman fortified hill overlooking the Arlanzón river and its confluence with streams Tip and Vein, Burgos essentially, in 922 became start of Castilla, & its most. important city. It owes its foundation to count Diego de Porcelos circa 884.

El Cid, Ruy (Rodrigo) Díaz de Vivar. born near here (Vivar) ca. 1043 died at Valencia, 1099 given the title of seid or cid (lord, chief) by the moors and that of campeador (champion) by his admiring countrymen. El Cantar del Mio Cid - is a 12th C. ballad dealing with his exploits under various Spanish Kings and betimes the Moors.
No Spanish town had more pilgrim hospices than Burgos, some 32 in the 15th century.

+ Carrion de los Condes

Built near an ancient Roman city (Lacobriga) and near the Visigothic tombs in the surrounding cliff banks on the river Carrión. On the site of a Muslim castle (ca. 713) now stands the Iglesia de Belen (Church of Bethlehem). It was a force in 11th Castilian history, and one of the wealthiest and most important towns in north central Spain during the Middle Ages. In the 13th C. it housed some 10,000 people. “A well managed and industrious town sbundant in bread, wine, meat, and all kinds of produce.” According to the Cantar del Mio Cid, the Counts who ruled here married and mistreated the Cid's daughters, and in whose (dis)honour the city is called “de los Condes.”

7. Sahagún

Located on the Cea river founded around the IX century .This is where two Hispanic Christians, Facundo (derivation of Sahagun) and Primitivo, were martyred in the 4th century.

Most construction in Sahagún was made in mud, in its different modalities: brick (cooked clay), marinates (mud pieces mixed with straw and dried to the sun) and tapial (clay walls sandwiched between wooden boards). It is a rich agricultural region, and was the focal point of many muslim/Christian battles. The Battle between Charlemagne & Aigolando, in which Charlemagne took the day is commemorated by the legend that the lances of the slain Christian knights, who obtained the palm branch of martyrdom, took root on the field and burst into flower, ergo, the Battle of the Flowering Lances.

Charlemagne built a basilica dedicated to Saints Facundo and Primitivo, the which became intimately related to the Cluniac Order, who were the main driving force behind the Pilgrimage Road to Santiago. In a legendary battle Charlemagne triumphed over the Moslem giant Aigolando.

8. León

The Seventh Legion, Gémina, founded León in 68 A.D. in the triangle that forms the rivers Bernesga and Torio to protect the Galician goldfields against the indigenous Astures & Cantabros. It was the center of the Suevi campaign in northwestern Spain, which took 350 years to subdue them.

León was the first Bishopric in Spain some 200 years before Christianity became the legal religion of the Roman Empire. Between 585 when the Visigothic king, Leogivildo, took León from the last of the Suevi and the ascension of King Alfonso V in 999, as usual, León's rule switched back and forth between the Christians and the Moors several times.

León Cathedral is called the “Glass Cathedral” or the “Cathedral without walls” because of the multitude of stained glass windows. Glassmaking has been known since antiquity but stained glass windows as we conceive them had to wait for Gothic architecture with its supporting buttressed pillars to free the walls from their Romanesque role of supporting the vaults, allowing them walls ot be replaced by Gothic walls of glass.

The Panteón de los Reyes was the west narthex of Fernando I's church and served as a royal pantheon even before 1063. . One of the world's most impressive ensembles of Romanesque Art and architecture, it contains the tombs of 23 kings, 12 princes, and 9 counts.

In its monuments, architecture, and relics, León equals Burgos in being second only to Compostela. León is the repository of the illuminated Codex Legionensis Bible, finished in 960 with marginal notes in Arabic script. The invading Arabs were not all Moslems. Keep in mind that there was a great deal of commerce between the Moors and the various Spanish kingdoms, military, secular, and even religious.

In the Middle Ages León was the apogee of the Pilgrim's Road, with some 17 hospitals.
About 1160, Fernando II of León organized the Brothers of Cáceres (freiles de Cácere) which was renamed the Order of Santiago in 1171

9. Hospital de Orbigo

Founded by the Romans at the strategic ford over the Orbigo river. It was fought over by the Suevi, Visigoths and Moors. Alfonso III defeated the Moors here in 878. Named for its famous Hospital, once staffed by the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. The town was given to the Templars in the 13th C.

Pilgrims pick up largest stone they can carry & deposit them on the summit of Foncebadon Pass 3 days to the West. The rocks are thought to represent ones sins and encumbrances the Pilgrimage will help them leave behind. Leaving them at Foncebadon symbolizes getting rid of ones sins and encumbrances.

+The Paso Honroso.

In 1434 the Leonese knight Suero de Quiñones, spurned by his chosen lady, wore an iron collar symbolizing his being bound to her. She didn't relent. He resolved to break 300 lances in challenge at the Orbigo bridge, to earn his freedom from the recalcitrant lady, and go on pilgrimage to Compostela. King Juan II approved and had his herald ride through the kingdom announcing the challenge. A list field was set up complete with a mannequin dressed as a herald with a sign pointing the way to the lists. By August 9 he had fulfilled his vow. He broke the iron collar. He went on Pilgrimage to Compostela leaving a gold and bejeweled bracelet at the cathedral as a token of his release from the prison of love. It can be seen as a necklace on the statue of Santiago Alfeo in the Cathedral.
Here was a story come to life from the immensely popular tales of Chivalry and Valour - the exploits of Knights and their ladies. It was unbelievably popular in Europe as well as Spain.

10. Palas do Rey

Legend has it that the Visigoth King, Witiza (701-9) the last of the militant Arian heretics, constructed the palace that gave the town it's name. In the Middle Ages it was surrounded by small agricultural hamlets, and is yet. There are some 43 parish churches in the district of Palas. In the 12th century the powerful Ulloa family built a massive, rectangular, fortified palazzo, following the Visigothic lead . It is one day's journey from Palas del Rey to Compostela making it the last stop on the Camino de Santiago.

Santiago de Compostela

Compostela (the field of Stars) sits on a gentle hill between the Sar and Sarela rivers. This has apparently been a sacred site for thousands of years, and according to recent discoveries, perhaps millions of years.
Evidence of habitation by the CeltIberians, Suevi, and Romans abounds. In 813 the city became the focus of Pilgrims to Santiago's Tomb in Compostela. It rapidly became an important commercial, religious, and political center. Of course this made a tempting target and it was assaulted by Normans (968), Moors (998), various Castilian Kings (1100's) through the Castilian dynastic wars of the 13th and 14th centuries, including, oddly enough, the Duke of Lancaster from Britain. This all too common Spanish scenario continued here as in the rest of Spain until unified by Ferdinand and Isabela in the late 15th century.

++ Finisterre ++

The westernmost end of the Galician coast, Finisterre means Land's End, its steep coast was one of the ports chosen by all those Pilgrims that arrived in Spain by sea from the British Islands, or of the French embarking from the coast. Actually it is not part of the Pilgrim's Road, although many Pilgrims do continue on to “visit the sanctuary of the Virgin Mary, and contemplate the symbolic death of the Sun as it sets in the immense and deep Ocean.” Probably because of the latter this has been a sacred site since prehistoric times.