Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela and papal power in the 12th to 15th centuries

Abstract

In this article we will analyse the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela during the Middle Ages from a different perspective from the traditional one, taking as our source the papal communications to Compostela throughout the 12th-15th centuries. We will set the act of the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in relation to papal power and the communication maintained by several popes with the Church of Santiago concerning various questions connected with the Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage. A pilgrimage that formed and established itself gradually with the process of development of the Middle Ages, and which was interwoven with various regulations coming from the papacy, which will enable us to go deeper into its characterization and some of its evolutionary lines.

Keywords

• santiago de compostela pilgrimage
• papal power
• church of santiago
• 12th-15th centuries