USC Camino Course - Módulo I: La Historia Del Camino

[jungleboy]

Hi all,

This is the thread to discuss the first module - La Historia del Camino - of the online course titled El Camino de Santiago, Patrimonio de la Humanidad para un mundo global being offered by the University of Santiago de Compostela and MiríadaX.

The course is now live. Feel free to discuss the course content, any dudas (doubts) you have may have with language or anything else relevant to the first module in this thread.

If you have not yet signed up at MiríadaX and registered for the course, see this general thread - Free online course about the camino (in Spanish) - that includes details and tips about how to join.

Happy studying!

 

[Former member 49149]

Hi all,

This is the thread to discuss the first module - La Historia del Camino - of the online course titled El Camino de Santiago, Patrimonio de la Humanidad para un mundo global being offered by the University of Santiago de Compostela and MiríadaX.

The course is now live. Feel free to discuss the course content, any dudas you have may have with language or anything else relevant to the first module in this thread.

If you have not yet signed up at MiríadaX and registered for the course, see this general thread - Free online course about the camino (in Spanish) - that includes details and tips about how to join.

Happy studying!

Many thanks, @jungleboy for your work in getting to this point. All the best to each one beginning today.

 

[Kathor1]

The modules I-III of the course are now accessible. How and where to start wasn’t immediately obvious to me when I signed into the MiríadaX website today. I had to scroll and click around a bit at first to find the Enter/Aceder button.

 

[Kathor1]

So ... 77 pages of Spanish to read and 4 videos in Spanish with English subtitles to watch. You don‘t have to do it in sequence, you can just click on „next activity“ to get from one task to the next. I plan to read the texts first but that will take time as my Spanish isn’t great.

 

[muddy-mama]

I am going to put the texts into translate & hope it makes sense

 

[jungleboy]

I am going to put the texts into translate & hope it makes sense

Unfortunately the texts are PDFs of photocopies so they are not conducive to pasting into a machine translation. I read pretty well in Spanish so my plan is to read the texts and take notes in English for my own learning and to share here. I'm hoping to start with the first one tonight so we'll see!

 

[Former member 83265]

Anyone else here have trouble reading PDFs sideways?

 

[Bala]

Unfortunately the texts are PDFs of photocopies so they are not conducive to pasting into a machine translation. I read pretty well in Spanish so my plan is to read the texts and take notes in English for my own learning and to share here. I'm hoping to start with the first one tonight so we'll see!

Thank you! Greatly appreciated. I've been trying to figure out a way to translate online, but as you say, not happening. If anyone has any ideas, please pass them along!

 

[Bala]

I've watched the first four videos, very interesting, especially the history and importance of Padron. I've never delved much into the Portugese caminos, so other than knowing that's where St. James (or his remains) arrived, I was unaware of the historic significance of the area, or that there are still so many sites of pilgrimage importance still standing. Day 1 and I've already learned a lot.

 

[Kathor1]

I laboured through the first text, including the introduction, which, as I then realised, had nothing to do with the article that followed and that was the actual reading task.

 

[Albertagirl]

I was surprised to see that my list of readings on the title page begins with 150 pages of German, and a little disappointed to see that the actual text to be read at this point is one article in Spanish, about 20 pages long. It looks like I shall be able to print the text, for later reference and scribbling in the margins. As it is many years since I did any academic reading in German, the Spanish is more than enough challenge at this point. I found the second article difficult to photocopy and in places impossible to read, so carelessly had the original copy been made.
Now, I am going on to watch the videos.

 

[C clearly]

Anyone else here have trouble reading PDFs sideways?

Yes! I have downloaded the PDF, used Adobe Acrobat Pro to switch to landscape, and saved that version. Anyone who wants this version can send me a PM and I'll send it. (I don't want to post here, since it's not really my document to share publicly.)

 

[jungleboy]

I've just read the first text - ¿Normalidad o excepción? La devoción al Apóstol Santiago en la Europe de la Contrarreforma y la Ilustración - and it's quite academic and not exactly light reading! The purpose of the paper is to show that the accepted tradition of a continual decline in the popularity of the pilgrimage from the early 16th century is not entirely accurate, and that after this time there were rising and falling periods of prosperity based on various factors.

The conclusion:

Las peregrinaciones a Santiago durante la Edad Moderna, lejos de iniciar su etapa de decadencia definitiva, atravesarán un momento positivo, con años en los que sin duda se igualaron - sino los superaron - los períodos de prosperidad de la etapa medieval.
--
My translation: Pilgrimages to Santiago in the Modern Age, far from being the start of a state of definitive decline, went through positive periods, with years which without a doubt equalled - if not surpassed - the prosperity of the medieval era.

This is a very basic summary of what I thought were the main points of the text without detailing the various sources, figures etc that are used to make the argument.

• The phenomenon of the pilgrimage is traditionally separated into two periods, with the dividing line being the first decades of the 16th century at the beginning of the Modern Age, from which point the pilgrimage declined, in a linear manner, from its medieval levels.
• Causes of this decline: religious (criticism of medieval spirituality, the Reformation, rejection of the pilgrim tradition by Cardinal Baronio in the 16th century, concealment of relics from 1589, the rise of enlightened rationalism), political (nationalism and tighter borders, wars, Spanish monarchs falling out of favour with the cathedral of Santiago, legal measures against pilgrims in the 17th and 18th centuries) and social (discrediting of the camino due to the increase in vagabonds and tricksters).
• Within this hypothesis, there are contradictions, e.g. that while there were wars in this period, there were also wars in the preceding period; that the presence of people trying to take advantage of pilgrims rose and fell in a cyclical manner and that the general respect for the pilgrimage remained as it had always been in the 18th century; and several others.
• In the 15th century the pilgrimage experienced an important renovation, probably after the Holy Year of 1428, demonstrated by such things as new or restored pilgrim complexes and the presence of famous pilgrims.
• In the first decades of the 16th century, it has been accepted that a crisis period began and there are several indicators of a lack of pilgrims (e.g. that the 44 beds at the ‘Royal Hospital’ were empty in 1546, a French text referring to no more pilgrims etc). However, the paper argues that this was not definitive and formed part of the cyclical nature of the popularity of the camino in those times and that pilgrims returned in following decades, new pilgrim fraternities were established, etc.

 

[C clearly]

Thanks a lot for this summary. It is generally consistent with the content of the videos, right? (at least the first 2 that I've watched). Now it will be easier to scan the PDFs, and hopefully understand them somewhat.

I 'll spend some more time this evening on it.

 

[jungleboy]

Thanks a lot for this summary. It is generally consistent with the content of the videos, right?

You're welcome. I haven't looked at the videos yet as I figured they'd be the 'reward' for wading through the texts!

 

[Kathor1]

You're welcome. I haven't looked at the videos yet as I figured they'd be the 'reward' for wading through the texts!

Made me giggle as I share your approach. I’ve now struggled through the second text, the one written by Antón Pombo (he writes articles for the Gronze website, btw). I‘m looking forward to another of your summaries! The summary you posted about the text on the decline of the pilgrimage after the Middle Ages and before developments in the 19th century and beyond is excellent!

 

[C clearly]

I haven't looked at the videos yet as I figured they'd be the 'reward' for wading through the texts!

I sometimes take that approach too. However, sometimes it makes no more sense than wearing too-tight shoes for 25 km so that you will be rewarded with crocs at the end of the day.

 

[jungleboy]

I sometimes take that approach too. However, sometimes it makes no more sense than wearing too-tight shoes for 25 km so that you will be rewarded with crocs at the end of the day.

Haha! My comment was a bit tongue-in-cheek as I generally enjoy reading in Spanish, although these texts are a bit more challenging than what I usually read.

Anyway, tonight I read the second text. Here is a basic summary.

La peregrinación jacobea en la época contemporánea. Decadencia y reactivación
(The Jacobean pilgrimage in contemporary times - decline and reactivation)

• The camino had always experienced fluctuations in its popularity due to various factors.
• Most scholarly study of the camino deals with its medieval incarnation and not that of the Modern Age, in which the camino is only ‘accidentally’ present.
• Along with the medieval era, the 18th century was a high point for the camino with the Baroque renovation of the cathedral. Later in the same century, however, various factors contributed to a situation that wasn’t conducive to the pilgrimage, including the loss of economic power of the Spanish church, the influence of the Enlightenment, the War of Independence, etc. The pilgrimage came to be seen as a ‘waste of time’.
• This decline in the pilgrimage was coupled with that of Santiago de Compostela, which became industrialised and commercialised towards the end of the 18th century and began to lose political power in the 19th. It lost its status as the largest city in Galicia to A Coruña, and was also surpassed by Ferrol and Vigo.
• On a practical level the pilgrimage was never completely extinguished, but for something to be resuscitated, it has to be dead first and figuratively, that was the case with the camino. For example, in 1867 there were 30 or 40 pilgrims in Santiago for the feast day of the apostle, and fewer than 800 made the pilgrimage in the Holy Year of 1869.
• (A lot of further detail about the decline in the 19th and pre-revival 20th century followed, and to be honest I skipped most of it.)
• The revitalisation of the camino can be attributed to Elías Valiña Sampedra, the parish priest of O Cebreiro (the article started with a discussion on the role of the individual in historical events with regard to Elías Valiña).
• Elías Valiña understood that promoting the camino meant not just the revitalisation and sign-posting of the old routes (as opposed to the use of modern highways), but also offering a different welcome/experience for pilgrims than what was offered to tourists (even religious tourists).
• After restoring O Cebreiro, Elías Valiña started his plan to revitalise the camino, including marking the way with yellow arrows. He used the 1971 Holy Year to present his doctoral thesis and publish a small pocket guide to the camino, a predecessor to his more widespread 1985 guide.
• His task was arduous and his efforts didn’t really take off until the Holy Year of 1982 when Spanish King Juan Carlos I and Pope John Paul II publicly recognised the camino. Several other factors, such as the support of a group of 12 bishops and promotion by the Galician government from 1981, helped make the 1980s a prodigious decade for the movement.
• (The article then goes on to talk about the continued rise in popularity up to our own times.)

 

[linkster]

I was able to translate the following Dialnet-ElAlbergueDeLosViajeros-554280.pdf to English from the first module. I will attempt to print, scan (OCR), and translate the other 3. I will post the translations if I am successful.

 

[C clearly]

I have now watched the 4 videos once through, and was pleased with myself that I understood them quite well. Now I feel ready to dabble in the texts and listen to the videos a second time, taking some notes for the big test. I like to get an overview first, so I know where I'm going, and whether I need to examine every detail presented. Certainly, I've already learned something: my new word for today was "albergar" as a verb.

 

[Former member 49149]

@jungleboy , you are a star. Wait till you are an old grandpa and regaling your grandchildren with tales of helping a band of willing camino addicts! Don’t underestimate the gift of your generous sharing. Your summaries are A1. I can recognise that, although my strength is not in active representing of information, either in my own first language or any other!

 

[Kathor1]

I agree with @kirkie: You are a star, @jungleboy. Thank you so much for your summaries. I guess it's a win-win situation: you benefit from writing the summaries and we benefit from reading them . I can manage to tackle the texts somewhat but my Spanish vocabulary is just sufficient to get the gist of things, I skip many words that I don't know or where I only guess the meaning. So your summaries are a great help.

I've skipped ahead, done the texts in my fashion, watched the videos and did the test for Module I. Now I am going to watch the four videos a second time and will have a look at the passages that I had highlighted in the four texts.

I will only say this: The way things are set up, anyone can pass the test for Module I. Twenty simple questions with a yes/no option for answering. I could have answered numerous questions right away, without any work. When you come to it in the text, pay intention to what they say about 250,000/500,000 pilgrims.

 

[Former member 49149]

I am going to pass on a tip. If you do the first run of the test, and note your responses, then check the results, you can get 100% on the second run. That might be the way to proceed to the next module of these MOOC courses, I cannot actually remember.
Be warned: they change the order of the questions on the second attempt!
I actually don't care about the test results - I do not need the certificates, I want to expand my knowledge. If the way to advance to the next module is to pass the test, and you do not need the certificate, go ahead and copy my bad example!

 

[Former member 49149]

I am now on the third document. I have to say, I find it so annoying that they have chosen such poor reproductions of their documents, It is their first essay into a MOOC, if I have read correctly. I will, at an appropriate moment, comment, so they know they might have to upgrade the version of the material they propose, or at least the readability of that material. If this is a rant, take it as over!

 

[jungleboy]

Thank you @kirkie and @Kathar1na for your lovely comments. Too kind!

I guess it's a win-win situation: you benefit from writing the summaries and we benefit from reading them .

That was the hope! I haven't made as much time for the course so far as I should have, but hopefully I'll be done with the texts by tomorrow latest and can move on to the rest of the material.

 

[Former member 49149]

An aside: I paid £7.40 in 1992 for a Spanish/ English dictionary. It is very well thumbed. It served me so well! I am delighted to be using it again now, checking out vocabulary used in the documents offered in this course. When all else fails, I use duckduckgo to check out what I cannot find (the ubiquitous google needs some competition!). I am using the documents to practise my speaking aloud. This is so helpful, as passive knowledge needs the prompts of the active knowledge part of the brain. Speaking plainly: I understand more than I can say. If I read aloud I develop my other tongue (in this case, Spanish). Each language has its own muscle use. Not very academic, but it makes sense to me!
I am so thankful to you, @jungleboy, for this impulse to sharpen up my Spanish reading, comprehension, and wider knowledge.

 

[linkster]

I was able to scan (OCR), and translate La invención del sepulcro de Santiago y la difusión del culto jacobeo to English. I am sure it is not perfect. I am not sure I will have as much success with the others due to the quality of the original scans.

I do appreciate @jungleboy Jungle Notes.

 

[linkster]

I am now on the third document. I have to say, I find it so annoying that they have chosen such poor reproductions of their documents, It is their first essay into a MOOC, if I have read correctly. I will, at an appropriate moment, comment, so they know they might have to upgrade the version of the material they propose, or at least the readability of that material. If this is a rant, take it as over!

Agreed. I am sure there is a copyright law that would prohibit them from transcribing into a readable PDF, but it would have been so much easier to read and translate.

 

[jungleboy]

Some basic notes from the third text follow. The text is about the beginnings of the devotion to Santiago (the text uses the word culto but I think the English word cult is a bit problematic in translation).

La invención del sepulcro de Santiago y la difusión del culto jacobeo

• In 1957 the third phase of excavations in the substructure of the cathedral of Santiago concluded, and this included the discovery of the sarcophagus, with an epigraphy, of bishop Teodomiro of Iria, who had first discovered the remains of Santiago.
• This shed new light on the appearance of the tomb of the apostle in the early ninth century; prior to this, questions about the origins of the church of Santiago were treated cautiously, as it was barely mentioned in medieval chronicles.
• Teodomiro was buried ‘without a doubt’ in a Christian cemetery, and since these often surrounded places of worship, it can be deduced that by his death in 847 there was already a church in Santiago.
• Further, the burial of the bishop of Iria in Santiago indicates that the episcopal seat was no longer in Santa Eulalia as it had been in the sixth and seventh centuries and was now in Santiago.
• The foundation of the church in Santiago and the transfer of the Iria church’s headquarters took place in a political space clearly integrated with the Asturian kingdom (for example, the cross of the Asturian monarchy was etched into the cover of Teodomiro’s sarcophagus, and an eighth-century hymn linked the kingdom with Santiago).
• The ‘invention’ of the devotion of Santiago, the building of the church and the reorganisation of the Iria church likely took place between 819 and 842, when the rule of Alfonso II (791-842) coincided with Teodomiro’s time as bishop.
• (A very detailed analysis of primary sources and the expansion of the Jacobean devotion in the next several centuries follows but I skimmed this as it seemed to be outside the main purview of the text.)
• Conclusions: Santiago’s tomb was discovered around the year 830; Alfonso II founded the first church of Santiago over an ancient necropolis as well as transferring the episcopal seat of Iria and enabling a monastic community; Teodomiro’s successors used their position in Santiago to advance Jacobean devotion.

 

[peregrina2000]

@jungleboy, you are the Jacotrans of the MOOC course. Oh how you have lightened our burden. I started with good intentions to read the documents, but honestly soon lost interest because I found some of it so tedious. I realize that these texts are not prepared with the average online participant in mind, but are rather scholarly texts that the professors have either written or would recommend to their grad students.

So, am I a “true student” if I am using your summaries and watching the videos (which are perfectly focused to the audience, IMO)?

 

[Albertagirl]

I was able to scan (OCR), and translate La invención del sepulcro de Santiago y la difusión del culto jacobeo to English. I am sure it is not perfect. I am not sure I will have as much success with the others due to the quality of the original scans.

I do appreciate @jungleboy Jungle Notes.

@linkster
Of this text, only pages 59-68 have appeared in my copy of the the English translation. That gives me a good start. Thank you. I do not know whether others have received more complete English texts.

 

[peregrina2000]

Further, the burial of the bishop of Iria in Santiago indicates that the episcopal seat was no longer in Santa Eulalia as it had been in the sixth and seventh centuries and was now in Santiago.

Santa Eulalia — the same Santa Eulalia outside Lugo on the Primitivo where you can visit a spectacular Roman crypt? For those who haven’t heard of it, check here. Or here (good pictures).

Another good reminder of lessons I’ve learned on the forum, frequently thanks to you, @jungleboy. Medieval sites were frequently built on earlier sites, and frequently you can keep the chain going back centuries and centuries.

 

[linkster]

Here is translated copy of Peregrinaciones SS. XVI_XVIII. Again not perfect, but a start. I do not think I will attempt the last one. The photocopy quality was not good enough for the OCR to work.

 

[jungleboy]

Thank you @peregrina2000 for your kind comments! Of course you're still a true student!

Santa Eulalia — the same Santa Eulalia outside Lugo on the Primitivo where you can visit a spectacular Roman crypt? For those who haven’t heard of it, check here. Or here (good pictures).

For 'rabbit-holers' such as yourself I should have specified that the contemporary name was Santa Eulalia but the text says it has been called Santa María since the 11th century and is near Padrón, so it's not the one you're thinking of.

 

[linkster]

@linkster
Of this text, only pages 59-68 have appeared in my copy of the the English translation. That gives me a good start. Thank you. I do not know whether others have received more complete English texts.

I think that was all that was in the original PDF.

 

[linkster]

Here are the translated copies of the PDFs:

Dialnet-ElAlbergueDeLosViajeros-554280
La invención del sepulcro
Peregrinaciones SS. XVI_XVIII

 

[Albertagirl]

@linkster
Your English copy of "La invencion del sepulcro" ends at the bottom of page 68 of the original Spanish text, which ends at page 83. Page 68 ends with the word "Segun", translated into English as "According". This is the beginning of a new sentence, which continues on page 69 in the Spanish. I appreciate this translation, as far as it goes, but am just advising readers with little time or skill to read the Spanish of what is, and is not, available in the English text. I don't know how much of the Spanish of this text I shall end up reading. Thanks for giving me a good start in English.

 

[linkster]

@linkster
Your English copy of "La invencion del sepulcro" ends at the bottom of page 68 of the original Spanish text, which ends at page 83. Page 68 ends with the word "Segun", translated into English as "According". This is the beginning of a new sentence, which continues on page 69 in the Spanish. I appreciate this translation, as far as it goes, but am just advising readers with little time or skill to read the Spanish of what is, and is not, available in the English text. I don't know how much of the Spanish of this text I shall end up reading. Thanks for giving me a good start in English.

Thanks for the reply. I had checked earlier against the version that I downloaded that ended on page 68. I just redownloaded and can now see the full text. IDK what happened. but it was only partially complete. Thanks for being persistent, and sorry or any confusion.

 

[Albertagirl]

Thanks for the reply. I had checked earlier against the version that I downloaded that ended on page 68. I just redownloaded and can now see the full text. IDK what happened. but it was only partially complete. Thanks for being persistent, and sorry or any confusion.

I am really sorry for being a nuisance, but I have just gone through all the versions of "La invencion del sepulcro" in this thread and somehow cannot find a text that goes further than the first two lines of page 6 in the English translation: the same as previously. Did you perhaps omit to save the full version? If a complete English translation is somewhere in this thread, could you please give me the number of the post, so that I can copy it?

 

[Former member 49149]

I am sorry I am of no use today, I have been busy and haven't even got half way through the third document. I knew this would happen! Too many things at the same time, and another item has just bounced into my diary for Monday and Thursday afternoons! The good thing about MOOCs is that the timing can be yours to control, though.

@jungle boy, re: The text is about the beginnings of the devotion to Santiago (the text uses the word culto but I think the English word cult is a bit problematic in translation). You are correct, culto becomes a false friend if you just slice off the o at the end. Your choice of devotion is very good. A dictionary definition - out of context - is worship. Devotion sounds far better.

 

[linkster]

I think I have translated La invención del sepulcro in in it's entirety. I have listed the links to both the input and output of the Google Docs translation. There are some errors and it is not perfect. But a quick review gave me a pretty good read on the document.

La invención del sepulcro de Santiago y la difusión del culto jacobeo
Translated copy of La invención del sepulcro de Santiago y la difusión del culto jacobeo

Just to clarify what I did to translate. I downloaded the PDF to my computer. I then ran the printed pages through my scanner with optical character recognition (OCR). I saved the resulting OCR version as a Word document. I then ran spell check, and cleaned up several OCR errors like "10s" - "los" etc. I did not personally try to translate the document with my my broken Spanglish.

I am not sure what happened with my original download of the document from the website, but it was incomplete. It ended on page 68. Thanks to @Albertagirl for identifying the issue. I apologize for any confusion, and welcome the feedback.

I also tried translating Camino Época Contemporánea with the same process, but had poor results. The OCR generated a bunch of stuff, but it looked like I would have to type the majority of text. I may give it another try on Monday. I will post is I am successful.

 

[peregrina2000]

I have watched the videos and read @jungleboy’s excellent summaries of the texts and now have a few questions. I am pretty sure this is the right time to ask them, but if I’m out of order, let me know.

Has anyone ever visited Santiagüiño do Monte outside of Padrón? I had known that St. James was reputed to have gone to Galicia after Jesus’ death, but I had no idea that there is an identified place, including the steps in which he was able to hide in times of danger. It was interesting to hear that there was a little saying whose gist was if you go to Santiago and not Padrón you really haven’t done the pilgrimage. For those who have walked the Salvador, that’s immediately reminiscent of “Quien va a Santiago y no al Salvador (statue in the Oviedo Cathedral), visita al criado y no al Señor.“

I have now seen pictures of Teodomiro’s tomb, discovered in 1957, but have had difficulty finding its location in the Santiago Cathedral. I would definitely like to see it the next time I am in Santiago. Can anyone orient me?

I assume that the two disciples who brought Santiago’s body to Spain, Teodoro and Athanasius, are also buried in the crypt, but I have not been able to find pictures and confess that the last time I was down there I was not looking for those tombs.

And is anyone else surprised that there has not been any discussion of the debate over whether Santiago is actually buried in the cathedral? The Priscillian theory and all of that, so repeatedly discussed/debated on the forum years ago.

Thanks again to @jungleboy.

 

[Kathor1]

I have now seen pictures of Teodomiro’s tomb, discovered in 1957, but have had difficulty finding its location in the Santiago Cathedral. I would definitely like to see it the next time I am in Santiago. Can anyone orient me?

The lid of Teodomiro's sarcophagus is currently in the small side chapel where Gambino's Matamoros statue with the concealing flower bouquet used to be, see news article here and photos below:

 

[Theatregal]

I have just started the course - was daunted by the PDF's ( beyond my rudimentary reading Spanish) and watched the first 4 videos. Then saw this thread. Your summaries and translations are so appreciated @jungleboy ! And thank you as well for your translations @linkster !

 

[Theatregal]

Has anyone ever visited Santiagüiño do Monte outside of Padrón? I had known that St. James was reputed to have gone to Galicia after Jesus’ death, but I had no idea that there is an identified place, including the steps in which he was able to hide in times of danger.

I've been to Santiagüiño do Monte. A beautiful peaceful place, accessed turning right at Fuente del Carmen and then looking carefully for a small cobbled street on the left leading to the climb up 132 steps. I was completely alone when I visited. I missed the fountain where St. James is said to have caused water to flow when he thrust his staff into solid stone.

 

[Albertagirl]

I now have sorted out and photocopied, as possible, the Spanish texts, the English translations and @jungleboy 's notes, with the exception of anything on the albergues, which I think he may not yet have time for. I am about to do what your average student is likely to do, and read, underline, hopefully remember, jungleboy's notes, then move on to the videos, for a first time through. I am planning on beginning again with the English translations, and a third time, with what I can manage of the Spanish. I have already read half of the first article in Spanish, so given that the course material should be available online until early May, I hope to be able to do a decent job of it, in the end.
Thanks again to @jungleboy @linkster and @kirkie (how to take the tests) for all that you have done to help me make my way through the first part of this course. I have been unusually busy with other online commitments for the last couple of weeks, so I am hoping to be able to concentrate on this course for a while.

 

[jungleboy]

The fourth text on albergues is the most interesting one so far for me. It's quite long and is divided neatly into two parts: the first part going chronologically through the history of pilgrim services (who provided them etc) and the second part looking at the quality or level of these services. Here are my basic notes for the first part. I will take a break and then read and take notes from the second part later today or tomorrow.

Note that I am choosing to use the word albergue in the notes whereas the text often refers to hospitales.

El Albergue de los Viajeros: del Hospedaje Monástico a la Posada Urbana

The Travellers’ Albergue: from Monasteries to Urban Inns

• Pilgrim albergues in the Middle Ages: 32 in Burgos, 17 in León, 25 in Astorga.
• Pilgrims at that time could enjoy effective, free and sufficient services, including health care and accommodation.
• Quite a lot of information about medieval pilgrim albergues is known: the number, the denomination, approximate locations, founders’ names, capacity etc.
• There are two principal paths to ordering what we know and to furthering our understanding of the medieval pilgrim hospitality experience: one, analyse the development and nature of the assistance offered in its economic, social, religious and mental context; and two, to go inside these pilgrim albergues to determine the level of assistance offered.

11th Century: the formation of the first and planned assistance network

• It was in the late 11th century when the camino began to expand and became more widespread among those who didn’t have their own resources and protection.
• (The text goes into some detail about why this expansion took place but it seems out of the main purview of the article.)
• As the 11th century gave way to the 12th, a proper pilgrim route began to be established and the first network of assistance centres consolidated this route.
• Albergues were established in the late 11th / early 12th century in many places that are common overnight stops on the CF today, including Pamplona, Estella, Nájera, Burgos, Frómista, Carrión de los Condes, Sahagún, León, Foncebadón, Villafranca del Bierzo, Cebreiro, Portomarín and, obviously, Santiago de Compostela.
• These albergues were under the control of Benedictine monasteries linked more or less directly with Cluny; French monks and nobles were in key places and posts on the camino.
• Each monastery offered lodging, fire, bed and food in addition to medical services, all for free. There were also private albergues at this time.
• The establishment of this network enormously reduced the risks of the camino.

1100-1250: Political-Military Control and the Peak of Charity Assistance

• Wars in the early 11th century in the region of the camino affected the pilgrimage and caused upheaval, but still did not significantly alter the influx of pilgrims.
• The camino, and therefore control of it, was becoming strategically important.
• After peace was reestablished in the middle of the 12th century, the next 100 years represented the high point of the pilgrimage for various reasons, including religious values and the support of the powerful who invested in promotion of the camino and its safety (e.g. counts of Barcelona provided guides for distinguished pilgrims);
• What the pilgrimage looked like at this time: those who had the means to do so would travel by horse and with letters of recommendation; those who didn’t would gather at pilgrim complexes nearest to their homes and find other pilgrims to share mounts and provisions to reduce the cost of the trip.
• The military orders now began to assume the responsibility from the monasteries of protecting pilgrims, leading to some insecure regions such as Burgos becoming ‘systematically militarised’.
• The first military order that established itself on camino was the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem from 1126, followed by the Knights Templar. The Order of Santiago was active by the 1190s, and finally the Order of Calatrava was active in the area around Nájera - Santo Domingo de la Calzada.
• The hospitality of the monasteries continued to be a manifestation of monastic spirituality and charity but their hospital services were now more for locals than pilgrims.
• Apart from the Benedictines and the military orders, alternative hospitality was provided to a lesser extent by the Cistercians, the Premostratense Order and the Order of the Canónigos Regulares de San Agustín.

1250-1500: The Increasing Intervention of Laypeople and Local Powers

• From the end of the 12th century, the camino ceased to have a monopoly over commercial activity in the region, with the development of commercial centres in Cantábria such as Santander (from 1187) and Laredo, and close to the frontier with Islam, such as Madrid, Cáceres, Badajoz and Seville.
• The camino became less strategically important and had less attention paid to it by regional powers than in the previous century.
• Pilgrim protection became more dispersed and the responsibility fell to local authorities.
• During this time, the pilgrimage became less a spontaneous expression of faith and devotion and more an obligation.
• There was also a rise in ‘false pilgrims’ who converted the camino into a way of life and a trip without return - beggars, the lazy, the sick etc.
• In this context of increasing poverty, foundations and fraternities began operating albergues and these filled the towns, but it’s probable that pilgrim services did not improve.

 

[Rozenn]

Thank you @kirkie and @Kathar1na for your lovely comments. Too kind!



That was the hope! I haven't made as much time for the course so far as I should have, but hopefully I'll be done with the texts by tomorrow latest and can move on to the rest of the material.

Thank you so much for your summaries ! It help me to be able to go on with the book club at the same time ! Soon be ready for the first test .It s fun to be somehow a little bit back to student times with a challenge !

 

[jungleboy]

Here are my basic notes for the second part of the fourth text, a continuation of the discussion about medieval albergues with a focus on the services provided. Again, I really enjoyed this article. I'll carve out some time tomorrow to finish the first module and be ready for the next module by Monday!

The condition of those needing assistance

• Pilgrims or locals, sick or healthy, were all to be welcomed in the albergues - healthy pilgrims were typically accommodated for one night and those who were sick stayed until they had recovered or died.
• However, there were exceptions. The earlier-founded albergues didn’t admit poor locals if there were pilgrims needing assistance. On the other hand, the brotherhood albergues preferred to welcome the poor and sick who were connected with the brotherhood in some way. Others specialised in certain sicknesses such as contagious diseases. The ‘false pilgrims’, vagabonds and ‘women of doubtful moral conduct’ (presumably sex workers) were excluded in all cases.

The quality of the hospitality

• The quality of the assistance given varied widely, depending above all on the means available to each albergue.
• Within this criteria we can speak of three types of albergues: small, medium and large.
• The medium-sized albergues were the oldest and most traditional. They were located inside noble buildings, built or readapted for the purpose. They had dormitories and infirmaries that were separated for men and women and also contained a kitchen, chapel and pharmacy. Adjacent there was a granary, wine cellar, stable, crematory/furnace/oven? (the word is horno which most commonly means oven in modern Spanish but it has other meanings too, though Catholics were not traditionally cremated) and a cemetery.
• The small albergues were located in a more modest family residence with two or three rooms, a kitchen and a combined stable-warehouse.
• The large albergues were very few in number - across the entire CF, there was the Hospital del Rey de Burgos, that of Roncesvalles and, later, the Hospital Real de Santiago. The Burgos one was written about in chronicles for its beauty and size.
• In all cases the albergues were dependent on the patronage they received from their founders and benefactors, and occasionally on charity from the faithful and, less often, donations from pilgrims.
• In principle, the most well-endowed were the oldest albergues of the 11th and 12th centuries.
• All albergues were under religious administration: monasteries and episcopal seats, then military orders, and later the parishes and brotherhoods.
• All albergues guaranteed their employees sustenance and salaries. As an example, in the late 15th century, the albergues of San Lucas and La Real in Burgos spent 75% of their revenue on salaries and support expenditure.
• All albergues offered a roof and fire for pilgrims, the latter of which was especially important in the earlier period when inns (unclear if these are separate from the albergues) didn’t offer food that hadn’t been ordered in advance.
• There were usually beds offered for pilgrims but not always. The Hospital del Rey, for example, had 87 beds in two infirmaries and two dormitories for men and women (this could be four or eight total rooms depending on the interpretation of the wording).
• Albergues also offered more than this, especially from the 13th century onwards when there was an increase in poor and sick pilgrims.
• For food, a ration system was established and this was quite exact, at least in the case of the Hospital del Rey, which details the amount of bread (575 grams), wine (one litre) and meat (307 grams) for each pilgrim, with the meat substituted for an equal amount of fish on abstinence days. Combined with the vegetable soups, this amounted to about 2800 calories per person per day and was reasonably well-balanced. Yearly reports show they gave out 190 rations of this amount per day.
• In some cases, however, rations were reduced to subsistence level when necessary - one example is that the entire ration at Valdefuentes in the late 15th century was 115 grams of bread.

Health services

• Because the apostle had extraordinary curative powers, that meant many pilgrims began their pilgrimages already sick. Others became sick en route.
• As time went on and there were medical advances, it became easier to diagnose and treat sick pilgrims.
• The Hospital del Rey had a pharmacy ‘splendidly’ equipped with oils, ointments, drugs, spices etc. As an example of their capacity, in April of 1500, 13 of their 37 infirmary beds were occupied.

Spiritual assistance

• As soon as pilgrims entered albergues, they participated in the religious ceremonies of that albergue. Before and after eating, pilgrims prayed for the soul of the founder and benefactors of the albergue. In the morning before leaving, they attended mass.
• In the Hospital del Rey, the beds for healthy pilgrims occupied the naves of the church so that pilgrims could attend religious functions while still being able to rest!
• The wealthier albergues had priests who could speak foreign languages.
• If a pilgrim died, the religious service intensified and the pilgrim was buried in the presence of the entire albergue community.

Conclusion

The infrastructure responded to the religious, economic, political and cultural needs of the camino and of pilgrims. The albergues, despite limitations, succeeded in the double mission of welcoming pilgrims and controlling the expanding numbers of pilgrims, goods and ideas that flowed throughout the camino for centuries and satisfied the material, spiritual and ideological necessities of a great number of assistants, benefactors, established powers and the very feudal system in which it was integrated.

 

[jungleboy]

Here are all my notes from the four texts of the first module in one PDF if that's helpful for anyone.

 

[muddy-mama]

Here are all my notes from the four texts of the first module in one PDF if that's helpful for anyone.

Thank you Jungleboy that is so useful.

 

[peregrina2000]

The infrastructure responded to the religious, economic, political and cultural needs of the camino and of pilgrims.

@jungleboy, did you get any sense about whether pilgrims with means also stayed in the albergues, or whether they went to private accommodations? I’m imagining that the tourist trade wasn’t very developed back then, unless there was one associated exclusively/predominantly with the camino as there is now.

 

[Rozenn]

Thank you Jungleboy that is so useful.

Thanks a lot !

 

[jungleboy]

@jungleboy, did you get any sense about whether pilgrims with means also stayed in the albergues, or whether they went to private accommodations? I’m imagining that the tourist trade wasn’t very developed back then, unless there was one associated exclusively/predominantly with the camino as there is now.

Great question! Going back over the text, the answer is that the pilgrims with means did stay at the albergues, at least in their first iteration as monastic albergues in the 11th century. At the top of page 75, the article says that pilgrims in this era were still 'socially distinguished' people who arrived at the monasteries with money ('recursos económicos') and letters of recommendation from other monasteries. It mentions two pilgrim 'caravans' in particular from the second half of the 11th century, one that was led by a monk and another by the archbishop of Lyon, that stayed at albergues.

That said, it also mentions in the next paragraph that the private inns made up for any insufficiencies in the albergues 'according to the affluence of the pilgrims'. I didn't see any mention of how widespread these private inns were but I think the most fun conclusion is to see these affluent medieval pilgrims as having a similar accommodation strategy to some of us today: stay in albergues most of the time, private inns occasionally and paradores every once in a while!

 

[Bala]

Here are all my notes from the four texts of the first module in one PDF if that's helpful for anyone.

Fantastic. Thank you so much.

 

[Former member 49149]

Here are all my notes from the four texts of the first module in one PDF if that's helpful for anyone.

Thank you so much, @jungleboy. I have not read another word since I last posted, so I have to catch up, then will read your notes. Some clocks moved on during the night, and I just changed the hands on two that are dinosaurs, so i think that means I am an hour short of time today. Never mind, it is raining so instead of walking I will read this morning, and catch up a little! ( I did walk twice yesterday )
Have a good day, take a day off!

 

[Kathor1]

I assume that the two disciples who brought Santiago’s body to Spain, Teodoro and Athanasius, are also buried in the crypt, but I have not been able to find pictures and confess that the last time I was down there I was not looking for those tombs

Since nobody has replied to this yet: The remains of the three skeletons, found during the excavation in the 19th century and believed to be those of Saint James and Theodore and Athanasius, are all kept together in the same silver reliquary box that is on display above the white marble altar in the crypt.

 

[Kathor1]

And is anyone else surprised that there has not been any discussion of the debate over whether Santiago is actually buried in the cathedral? The Priscillian theory and all of that, so repeatedly discussed/debated on the forum years ago.

It didn’t surprise me. The authenticity of the remains had been questioned and even ridiculed at least since the Reformation, ie since 500 years ago, but I don’t think that the Priscillian theory played a great role then and in subsequent centuries. In essence, the question of the authenticity of the relics didn’t play a great role throughout history for the phenomenon of the pilgrimage to Santiago as such.

I’ve already forgotten most of what I’ve managed to read in the four papers. I was thrilled to learn more about the links and mutual influences by political, economic and societal developments. I hadn’t been aware of how the monks of the nearby monastery had been pushed out of their roles (at least that’s what I understood from what I tried to decipher in one of the papers).

 

[Kathor1]

There’s a glaring mistake in the subtitles of one of the videos where it says that Aymery Picaud compiled his guide about the four ways to Santiago in 1545. It was around 1145. I was surprised that nobody had spotted this and had it corrected. I find the videos excellent on the whole.

 

[Kathor1]

I remember something interesting about the so-called "Holy Grail" connection of O Cebreiro. I can't find the spot where I read it. It refers to the use of the term "Holy Grail" in connection with O Cebreriro and not to the Eucharistic miracle itself. Did anyone notice this or remember this?

 

[Kathor1]

One thing I noticed - always with the proviso that my Spanish vocabulary has tremendous holes and I guess more text than I can actually read - in the text about the albergues is the absence of any mention of non-Christians being cared for in the albergues or that they even stayed there. I know about convivencia but since the major medieval pilgrimage routes were not in Al-Andalus, there cannot have been much convivencia to speak of anyway. There must have been Jewish travellers in particular in the Middle Ages. Is there anything about Camino albergues in this respect in any of the texts?

I've now posted five comments in a row . Let's have a bit of an exchange. Nobody is expecting a scholarly discussion ...

 

[jungleboy]

In light of the first video detailing the most common camino routes, and saying that the Camino del Norte was the second one to develop after the Primitivo, I thought it would be interesting to highlight a part of the fourth text that I briefly mentioned in the notes but probably should have expanded on.

The article talks about how before the establishment of the albergue network in the 11th century, pilgrims were those with means (e.g. bishops and abbots, kings and nobles) who travelled in an entourage, on horseback, with resources and their own security. But the next line is very interesting: Van haciendo su camino sin ruta fija (they did their camino without a fixed route). This is a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation but the article's position seems to be that the establishment of the albergue network was what created a fixed route (and that became the Francés), rather than that route being the way everyone was going anyway and therefore that's why the albergues were placed there.

 

[jungleboy]

One thing I noticed - always with the proviso that my Spanish vocabulary has tremendous holes and I guess more text than I can actually read - in the text about the albergues is the absence of any mention of non-Christians being cared for in the albergues or that they even stayed there.

I don't remember any specific mention of that either. As I put in the notes, at certain times the albergues housed (and sometimes even preferred) local people who needed assistance, so even though people of other faiths would have been very unlikely to undertake the pilgrimage, it's possible that they could have stayed in albergues under this form. But as also noted, the albergues were always under religious (Christian) administration, so this may have impacted who was able to stay there. And while not directly related to albergues, the text also mentions that Muslim merchants were regularly seen on the camino with letters of safe passage from the king of Castile and León.

 

[Kathor1]

I picked up another tiny nugget of information. It concerns the Compostelas whose monthly and annual numbers merece ser analizado con precaución por lo qui atañe a la presencia de ciertas peregrinaciones colectivas católicas a las que no se les han aplicado las normas estipuladas (realizar a pie los 100 ultimós kilómetros, o en bicicleta o a caballo los 200 ultimos).

Correct me if I am wrong but I take this to mean that the Cathedral authorities reserve the right to grant Compostelas to certain collective Catholic groups of pilgrims even when they had not strictly complied with the common rules (having to cover the last 100 km on foot or the last 200 km on bike or horseback). For future reference perhaps when a debate is in danger of heating up again.

 

[muddy-mama]

I have just taken the first test & passed.

 

[jungleboy]

I picked up another tiny nugget of information. It concerns the Compostelas whose monthly and annual numbers merece ser analizado con precaución por lo qui atañe a la presencia de ciertas peregrinaciones colectivas católicas a las que no se les han aplicado las normas estipuladas (realizar a pie los 100 ultimós kilómetros, o en bicicleta o a caballo los 200 ultimos).

Correct me if I am wrong but I take this to mean that the Cathedral authorities reserve the right to grant Compostelas to certain collective Catholic groups of pilgrims even when they had not strictly complied with the common rules (having to cover the last 100 km on foot or the last 200 km on bike or horseback). For future reference perhaps when a debate is in danger of heating up again.

That's how I read it too.

 

[jungleboy]

For those still going with the first module or those joining us late or those who want to continue the various discussions that have been started, feel free to continue to post in this thread.

For discussion of the second module, there is a new thread.

 

[David Tallan]

I have watched the videos and read @jungleboy’s excellent summaries of the texts and now have a few questions. I am pretty sure this is the right time to ask them, but if I’m out of order, let me know.

Has anyone ever visited Santiagüiño do Monte outside of Padrón? I had known that St. James was reputed to have gone to Galicia after Jesus’ death, but I had no idea that there is an identified place, including the steps in which he was able to hide in times of danger. It was interesting to hear that there was a little saying whose gist was if you go to Santiago and not Padrón you really haven’t done the pilgrimage. For those who have walked the Salvador, that’s immediately reminiscent of “Quien va a Santiago y no al Salvador (statue in the Oviedo Cathedral), visita al criado y no al Señor.“

I have now seen pictures of Teodomiro’s tomb, discovered in 1957, but have had difficulty finding its location in the Santiago Cathedral. I would definitely like to see it the next time I am in Santiago. Can anyone orient me?

I assume that the two disciples who brought Santiago’s body to Spain, Teodoro and Athanasius, are also buried in the crypt, but I have not been able to find pictures and confess that the last time I was down there I was not looking for those tombs.

And is anyone else surprised that there has not been any discussion of the debate over whether Santiago is actually buried in the cathedral? The Priscillian theory and all of that, so repeatedly discussed/debated on the forum years ago.

Thanks again to @jungleboy.

I've been to Santiagüiño do Monte outside of Padrón. I made the climb on my last Camino.
Here's a photo. There is also a small chapel at the site (of course, closed when I was there).

 

[jungleboy]

Has anyone ever visited Santiagüiño do Monte outside of Padrón? I had known that St. James was reputed to have gone to Galicia after Jesus’ death, but I had no idea that there is an identified place, including the steps in which he was able to hide in times of danger.

Wendy went on our CP last year. It was raining the day we were in Padrón so I skipped it but she said it was cool and it looked interesting on the video, so ... next time!

 

[longwayhome]

Anyone else here have trouble reading PDFs sideways?

I opened in Preview(Mac) and could then turn it around , print , download and probably translate separate pages elsewhere ? google. Will try that next

 

[linkster]

For anyone who has not completed module 1, here is a link to my Google Drive that contains the translation of La peregrinación jacobea en la época contemporánea. The translation is NOT perfect, but has allowed me to get a more detailed understanding than I could have with my Spanglish.

Translation Process
I performed the following operations on the original PDF.
1) I scanned the original PDF using OCR at https://www.onlineocr.net/.
2) I ran spell check. I did not attempt to translate words that were not in the dictionary.
3) I translated the output of the OCR to English with https://www.onlinedoctranslator.com/en/.

Google Drive

El Camino de Santiago: Patrimonio de la Humanidad ... - Google Drive

drive.google.com

1) OCRES - La peregrinación jacobea en la época contemporánea.docx - Microsoft Word Spanish
2) OCRES - La peregrinación jacobea en la época contemporánea.pdf - Portable Document Format Spanish
3) OCREN - La peregrinación jacobea en la época contemporánea.docx - Microsoft Word English
4) OCREN - La peregrinación jacobea en la época contemporánea.pdf - Portable Document Format English

 

[David Tallan]

One thing I noticed - always with the proviso that my Spanish vocabulary has tremendous holes and I guess more text than I can actually read - in the text about the albergues is the absence of any mention of non-Christians being cared for in the albergues or that they even stayed there. I know about convivencia but since the major medieval pilgrimage routes were not in Al-Andalus, there cannot have been much convivencia to speak of anyway. There must have been Jewish travellers in particular in the Middle Ages. Is there anything about Camino albergues in this respect in any of the texts?

I've now posted five comments in a row . Let's have a bit of an exchange. Nobody is expecting a scholarly discussion ...

I remember coming across a text (not in this course) about how the hospital in Roncesvalles cared for all, not just Christians but Jews and heretics and others as well. But aside from that, I'm not sure if there was much evidence of non-Christians being pilgrims, and the course texts (at least as reported in Jungleboy's notes) seemed to suggest that the albergues/hospitals limited themselves to pilgrims and locals (presumably ill locals or those affiliated with the brotherhood) and excluded "false pilgrims". I'm not sure if, in the Middle Ages, non-Christians would have been accepted as "true pilgrims".

 

[Kathor1]

I remember coming across a text (not in this course) about how the hospital in Roncesvalles cared for all, not just Christians but Jews and heretics and others as well. But aside from that, I'm not sure if there was much evidence of non-Christians being pilgrims

I am aware of the Roncesvalles poem ... some have described it as PR that paints a rosy picture . Muslim and Jewish inhabitants of Hispanic and elsewhere didn't go on pilgrimage to Santiago but they did travel for commercial and diplomatic reasons and must have stayed somewhere?

As to the medieval pilgrims, I read in other sources that there were three kinds of hospitality: monasteries; hospital/hostels funded by other institutions or by individuals, both ecclesiastical and secular; and individuals who provided accommodation in their homes, with or without payment from their guests. We seem to know next to nothing about the last group, apart from occasional references to dishonest inn keepers.

 

[Former member 49149]

I am aware of the Roncesvalles poem ... some have described it as PR that paints a rosy picture . Muslim and Jewish inhabitants of Hispanic and elsewhere didn't go on pilgrimage to Santiago but they did travel for commercial and diplomatic reasons and must have stayed somewhere?

As to the medieval pilgrims, I read in other sources that there were three kinds of hospitality: monasteries; hospital/hostels funded by other institutions or by individuals, both ecclesiastical and secular; and individuals who provided accommodation in their homes, with or without payment from their guests. We seem to know next to nothing about the last group, apart from occasional references to dishonest inn keepers.

A young woman I knew, recently departed from this life, set off from home in Zaragoza and relied on the welcome of locals along the Camino Frances. She offered whatever she could do for them in return. I refer to about 20 years ago. RIP, dear Pili.