The Pilgrim route to Santiago

Robert Brian Tate

When St James the Great was beheaded in Jerusalem in AD 61, he became the first apostle to be martyred for his faith. According to legend, his disciples brought the body in a miraculous stone boat to north-western Spain, where they buried it in a place now known as Santiago de Compostela. Following a claim in the early ninth century that the tomb had been rediscovered, people began flocking to the site to venerate the relics. Santiago became, after Rome and Jerusalem, the most important place of pilgrimage in medieval Christendom. Pilgrims from all over Europe broke away from their daily routine and set off along the 'Way of St James' through France and Spain to the remote town of Santiago. They travelled from hostel to hostel, visiting the churches and other holy places which lay on the route. Over the centuries a 'cultural highway' evolved, which has left an indelible mark on the...

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