The history of the Le Puy Route

[FrancesK]

Can anyone recommend a book for the Le Puy route that outlines some of the history of the route and the villages along the way? For instance, i really enjoyed learning more about Napoleon and Roland when planning my Camino Frances.

Preferably in english

 

[Deleted member 3000]

I thought the Alison Raju guidebook had lots of good history, and doubled as a pretty good guidebook (though Miam Miam Dodo is better for that).

 

[Kitsambler]

The best non-guidebook I found for my orientation to the Le Puy route was Early Medieval Architecture from the Oxford History of Art series, available in paperback (http://www.amazon.com/dp/0192842234/?tag=casaivar02-20).

A terrific history of the culture of the time is The Age of Pilgrimage: The Medieval Search for God, available in paperback (http://www.amazon.com/dp/1587680254/?tag=casaivar02-20).

Since you will be walking across several lands that were previously independent and were later incorporated into France, you might find interesting The Cambridge Illustrated History of France, available in paperback (http://www.amazon.com/dp/0521669928/?tag=casaivar02-20).

Since a great deal of the infrastructure along both the Le Puy route and the Camino Frances route were built by the great abbey at Cluny, you will enjoy Cluny: In Search of God's Lost Empire, available in paperback (http://www.amazon.com/dp/0521669928/?tag=casaivar02-20).

All of these are good for winter (aka "training season") reading, not intended to be taken along on the walk itself.

 

[FrancesK]

Brilliant thankyou!

I have the Alison Raju guidebook (and miam miam on order - tho i might struggle reading this one ) but was looking for soemthing with a bit more depth that i could read prior to hiking. I will definately check out thos suggestions Kitsambler, the book on Cluny sounds particularly interesting.

 

[robertt]

Thank you for that very thoughtful list, Kitsambler. Much appreciated.

Rob

 

[sillydoll]

Unfortunately, there is no real historical basis for the route from Le Puy that one follows today. It is a designer route that was 'reinvented' at the start of the 1970s on a decidedly fragile historical base. Read more here: http://saintjacquesinfo.eu/lepuy.htm

It must be stressed that this pilgrimage of Godescalc had been forgotten about for a thousand years and was only exhumed from the archives in the XIXth century. What's more it was only known to a small circle of local specialists in Le Puy.
This mention stated nothing more than what the monk Gomez had written, in particular, nothing on the route that the bishop had taken in the winter of 951, therefore nothing further is known.

If 'the path is made by walking' then the history of the Le Puy Route starts in the early 1970's.

 

[FrancesK]

Unfortunately, there is no real historical basis for the route from Le Puy that one follows today. It is a designer route that was 'reinvented' at the start of the 1970s on a decidedly fragile historical base. Read more here: http://saintjacquesinfo.eu/lepuy.htm

It must be stressed that this pilgrimage of Godescalc had been forgotten about for a thousand years and was only exhumed from the archives in the XIXth century. What's more it was only known to a small circle of local specialists in Le Puy.
This mention stated nothing more than what the monk Gomez had written, in particular, nothing on the route that the bishop had taken in the winter of 951, therefore nothing further is known.

If 'the path is made by walking' then the history of the Le Puy Route starts in the early 1970's.

I'm in two minds at the moment after reading that article. On one hand I wish I had not read this, because i'm now confused as to why I felt called to do this particular walk. On the other hand, whilst i found parts of the article hard to follow, it appeared as though pilgrims did pass through Le Puy but the exact route to Spain has been altered to that we see today (in part due to the passing of time, tourism, practicalities)...in which case, does this matter? Parts of the Camino Frances have been altered also to align with new roads (N120!) etc.

Curious to hear others take on this.

 

[scruffy1]

Frances
Kitsrambler has offered a wonderful list of books I especially enjoy The Age of Pilgrimnage by Jonathon Sumption an ex-Oxford don and now a respected London judge. I am a teacher not a book dealer so take this recommendation freely - the book prices at Amazon are far to high, they also make a tidy profit on shipping costs. Try here for used books in very good condition or brand new with significant savings as compared to Amazon the booksellers listed are rated by buyers concerning reliability. The shipping costs are very reasonable.
http://www.abebooks.com
S

 

[scruffy1]

PS Try also "Monastery and Cathedral in France" by Whitney Stoddard a classic still entirely relevant. Again not relating directly to the Le Puy Camino but certainly informative and beautifully illustrated.
S

 

[sillydoll]

Although there is no evidence of a specific route for Saint James' pilgrims from Le Puy there are many places of historical interest on the Le Puy route as well as pilgrim hospices dedicated to Santiago. So you will still be following in the footsteps of pilgrims on the Via Podiensis.
Some places were popular pilgrimage destinations in their own right and Le Puy itself attracted hundreds of thousands of pilgrims through the middle ages.

The few words about Bishop Godescalc's pilgrimage to Santiago in 951 in the document found in the 19th C doesn't mention the route he took. He passed through Navarra halting at Albelda, near Logroño. This document was 'lost' for over a thousand years so there was no tradition or known history of the Bishop's pilgrimage to Santiago.

I don't think this will make your pilgrimage any less meaningful.

 

[Peter Robins]

it appeared as though pilgrims did pass through Le Puy

As Sil says, many thousands of pilgrims went to Notre Dame du Puy, which was far more popular amongst the French than Santiago - at least 11 kings of France made a pilgrimage to Le Puy, only one to Santiago. Similarly, many thousands of pilgrims went to St Faith in Conques.

The only record of a Santiago pilgrim going through Le Puy that I'm aware of is the Italian Bartolomeo Fontana in 1539, and it's obvious that this lengthy detour was a pilgrimage to Notre Dame du Puy as part of his return journey. He used the well-documented route from Toulouse, based on a Roman road, which includes the road over the Aubrac now used by the GR65. And AFAIA there is no record of any pilgrim to Santiago going via Conques; that doesn't mean there weren't any, but it's unlikely that there were all that many. Whilst the Conques cartulary does mention several pilgrimages to other shrines, including Rome, it does not mention Santiago (or Le Puy), which seems odd if it was on some kind of main road there, as is often claimed today.

The sole basis for a route to Santiago via Le Puy is the vague claim in the Codex Calixtinus that 'Burgundians and Germans' went that way. Researchers at the university in Kiel have assembled an impressive collection of medieval pilgrim itineraries http://www.digiberichte.de/ including those from Germany to Santiago. Not one of these goes via Le Puy, and only one (Sebald Oertel in 1521) goes via the Massif Central - via St Flour to Toulouse. The low-level route down the Rhone valley and through the Carcassonne gap to Toulouse was a much simpler and safer all-weather route.

 

[FrancesK]

Frances
Kitsrambler has offered a wonderful list of books I especially enjoy The Age of Pilgrimnage by Jonathon Sumption an ex-Oxford don and now a respected London judge. I am a teacher not a book dealer so take this recommendation freely - the book prices at Amazon are far to high, they also make a tidy profit on shipping costs. Try here for used books in very good condition or brand new with significant savings as compared to Amazon the booksellers listed are rated by buyers concerning reliability. The shipping costs are very reasonable.
http://www.abebooks.com
S

Thanks Scruffy, I hadn't heard of abebooks before, I will check it out. I tend to buy from The Book Depository because shipping costs are always exobitant to Australia (and they ship for free!).

 

[scruffy1]

Book Depository are among the dealers that Abebooks represents and I too often order from them for the same reason. Their prices are a bit higher than others but as you say the free shipping makes up the difference.
S