AlexKramer
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- Time of past OR future Camino
- Camino Frances
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Putting Campo dos Romeiros into Google Search throws up a number of sources that give the impression that there is an exact point or small area where medieval pilgrims gathered. My hunch is that this is misleading.After the Palas de Rei there is a field called "Campo de Romeiros". This is a field where pilgrims gathered in groups in the Middle Ages to go to Santiago together. Does anyone know the exact coordinates of this field? I found many sources where it (the field) is mentioned, but there is no exact location anywhere.
The most interesting thing is that in all the guidebooks that I have read it is written about this place. Both Elias Valiña and John Brierley and other authors, but no one indicates either the exact location or the source from where this information was taken. Very interesting. They probably just copied everything from each other. I am writing a guidebook myself at the moment and I want to get to the truth. In 10 days I'm going the French way from Astorga, I'll try to get information from the locals.Putting Campo dos Romeiros into Google Search throws up a number of sources that give the impression that there is an exact point or small area where medieval pilgrims gathered. My hunch is that this is misleading.
I put toponomia campo romeiros palas rei into Google Search and had a look at the first research result, a study or survey of location names in Galicia related to pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago. The author writes about Romeiro (Galician word) and Romero (castellanized form) that it could also perfectly be the surname of the owner of the land and could have nothing to do with the Camino path. As an example he refers to O Campo dos Romeiros, the name for "some fields in Palas de Rei on the C. Francés".
I understand this to mean that it is just a toponym, a local name for some agricultural area, and not a specific location with a proven historic connection to medieval pilgrims.
I did not look at the other sources in the search result list.
David Gitlitz/Linda Davidson write in their book that the fields just west of Palas, called the Campo dos Romeiros, mark the beginning of the last segment of the 12th-c CC Guide. There is no further information. I guess that later guidebook authors got inspired and imagined this as a place "where pilgrims gathered in groups to go to Santiago together". I severely doubt this as there does not seem to be any evidence for it. I am happy to be corrected of course.
Alas, yes, that's the way it is.[...] in all the guidebooks that I have read it is written about this place. Both Elias Valiña and John Brierley and other authors, but no one indicates either the exact location or the source from where this information was taken. Very interesting. They probably just copied everything from each other.
That's the spirit! Please let us know what you can find. My bet is that the area is either still fields / meadows or it has become a built-up area of Palas de Rei.I am writing a guidebook myself at the moment and I want to get to the truth. In 10 days I'm going the French way from Astorga, I'll try to get information from the locals.
Wow, this is already interesting information and really close to the truth. Great job, thanks! Now I will complete this research with another survey of local residents and we will know for sure whether this place existed in the Middle Ages as a gathering place or is it just a name? Well, does its location correspond to what you managed to find in this source?Meanwhile I can offer this: An extract from a publication from 1962 with an article about the waymarking of the Camino Francés in Galicia at the time (!!!) and an old map:
View attachment 175524
This tells us that Palas de Rei starts at km 546,1 and that the Campo dos Romeiros is 350 m further along the same road (i.e. between km 546,4 and km 546,5 ) and that the bridge over the Ruxián river is at km 547,4.
This is a little confusing at first because the road through Palas de Rei is the N-547 and the relevant kilometer markers are km 34 and km 35. However, I found an older map where the road had a different name and the distances are labelled differently:
View attachment 175525
Combine all this information and transfer it to a modern map and one can see that the Campo dos Romeiros is where all the guidebooks say: at the western end of Palas de Rei. It is not clear how large the campo area is supposed to be and where exactly it is supposed to start or end. But perhaps these exact data are simply not known to us and we will never know.
View attachment 175523
I'd like to clarify that the article uses the word señalización, and I translated it as waymarking, but it is more about identifying, and recreating and fixing, a possible trail of the Camino Francés in 1962 where this work was already ongoing apparently. There is some information about the actors who were involved in this endeavour at the time.a publication from 1962 with an article about the waymarking of the Camino Francés in Galicia at the time (!!!)
I think your research and survey of the local residents is for sure a worthy endeavor, and it can give a lot of information about current beliefs and what has been passed down as fact over the past few generations. But I don't think it can possibly provide certainty as to what was happening where in the Middle Ages.Wow, this is already interesting information and really close to the truth. Great job, thanks! Now I will complete this research with another survey of local residents and we will know for sure whether this place existed in the Middle Ages as a gathering place or is it just a name? Well, does its location correspond to what you managed to find in this source?
How do you know it is close to the truth? As @David Tallan points out, how will a survey of locals help you "know for sure" what happened in the Middle Ages?really close to the truth. Great job, thanks! Now I will complete this research with another survey of local residents and we will know for sure whether this place existed in the Middle Ages as a gathering place or is it just a name?
Exactly. This is my question too. Folk memory? Frankly, local whimsy and imagination would be my last choice of information about something that happened 700 years ago.As @David Tallan points out, how will a survey of locals help you "know for sure" what happened in the Middle Ages?
I think your research and survey of the local residents is for sure a worthy endeavor, and it can give a lot of information about current beliefs and what has been passed down as fact over the past few generations. But I don't think it can possibly provide certainty as to what was happening where in the Middle Ages.
How do you know it is close to the truth? As @David Tallan points out, how will a survey of locals help you "know for sure" what happened in the Middle Ages?
I think this illustrates how guidebooks (and 'local knowledge") develop from maybe a tiny fact, enhanced by a bit of "research", coloured by a lot of speculation, and then given the aura of authority by being set on a page in a book. Then, the author moves swiftly on to the next location and everyone quotes the new truth.
And I like traditions, legends and folk beliefs - it's all part of the way and I will definitely write about it all in the guidebook. Regarding our particular case - Campo dos Romeiros - here I will apply the wording "according to legend (according to tradition, according to local residents)". I will not write about this as a scientific fact, but I think it is worth mentioning this information. The locals won't help me check if it really happened, they will help me understand where this place, shrouded in legends, is located.Exactly. This is my question too. Folk memory? Frankly, local whimsy and imagination would be my last choice of information about something that happened 700 years ago.
Are you going to mention that the tradition according to which pilgrims gathered in the Campo dos Romeiros is only about 20-30 years old?Regarding our particular case - Campo dos Romeiros - here I will apply the wording "according to legend (according to tradition, according to local residents)". I will not write about this as a scientific fact, but I think it is worth mentioning this information.
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