History of the Camino Portugues
The origin of the Camino Portugues, like other routes of the Camino de Santiago, goes back to the discovery of the remains of the Apostle James the Greater, in the year 813. While during the Middle Ages other routes, such as the Camino Frances, lived their moment of splendour, the Camino Portugues had a more hesitant start.
After the discovery of the remains by Bishop Teodomiro, from the Diocese of Iria Flavia, King Alfonso II ordered the construction of a church on the site where the discovery was made, where the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela is erected today.
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From that moment, many Christians from Europe and Portugal began their pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. Although the Camino Portugues was not the busiest road at that time since the 10th century some of the most devout parishioners began their journey along the Portuguese paths to reach Galician lands.
As in other routes of the Camino to Santiago, the route of the Camino Portugues was formed from ancient routes and paths that had been inherited from the Romanesque period. An example is the Via XIX, created in the 1st century A.D. to unite Braga and Astorga, and known as the itinerary of Antonio.
Origin of the Camino Portugues
This route began to be important in the 12th century. As we always remember, the different routes of the Camino de Santiago are not just pilgrimage routes. They were also important commercial routes that connected points of special vitality for trade and medieval production.
In this way, they also served to establish cultural exchanges between Portugal and Galicia after independence.
King Don Manuel I of Portugal was one of those who completed the Camino Portugues from Lisbon. In particular, he did it at the beginning of the 16th century.
Other historical figures were also added later and contributed to making this route one of the most important to understand the history of Europe. A route that, because of its charm, its gastronomy and the points of interest that it possesses you cannot afford to miss.
Consolidation of the Camino Portugues
The importance of the Camino Portugues becomes latent from the 12th century, after the independence of Portugal led by King Alfonso I. From that moment, a dense flow of people to the city of Compostela was established, without it being affected by the reforms and counter-reforms that crossed the country.
During the 12th and 13th centuries, the pilgrims who crossed the Portuguese lands to the north of the Iberian Peninsula did so for various reasons, beyond the religious ones. The geographical proximity between two neighbouring territories that belonged to different countries, one of them recently independent, generated economic and cultural links that increased the route’s importance.
It was in the 13th century that Afonso II (1186-1223), King of Portugal, completed this historic journey to Santiago de Compostela. The monarch was known as “The Fat One” because of a disease he suffered.
The Pilgrimage of Queen Elisabeth of Portugal in the 14th century is the milestone that just consolidated the Jacobean tradition in the Portuguese country. This visit and the pilgrimages of numerous other personages of the nobility, kings and clerics are those that allow us, at present, to have many documented reports of the history of the Camino Portugues.
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The Pilgrimage of Saint Elisabeth of Portugal
In the year 1325, Saint Isabel of Portugal, wife of King Don Dinis, began her first journey to Santiago. The story tells that she stayed in Rua a Raina, in Lisbon, in a simple and popular hospital for pilgrims. Upon arrival in Compostela, the Queen offered before the altar of the Apostle James the Elder, her crown of Empress of the Holy Roman Empire.
A decade later, Queen Isabel of Portugal repeated the experience and began a second pilgrimage to Galician lands. On this occasion, when she arrived in Santiago de Compostela she stayed in modest accommodation in the old town. At present, the street where this lodging was located, bears her name.
Queen Elizabeth passed into history being known as the “Holy Queen”. His remains are to be found in Coimbra next to a pilgrim’s refrain, just as she had written before her death.
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Other illustrious characters of the Camino Portugues
Another illustrious character who toured Portuguese lands to reach the heart of Galicia and which shows the country’s strong commitment to the Camino de Santiago was King Don Manuel I of Portugal, known as “The Lucky One”.
The monarch began his pilgrimage from Lisbon in the year 1502. It was this lucky king who ordered the installation of a lamp in the Cathedral of Santiago to light up both day and night.
Throughout the 16th century, other relevant personalities were also motivated to undertake the route to the tomb of the Apostle. Among them, the Jesuit Fathers, in the year 1543, who departed from Coimbra, or the painter and Portuguese architect Francisco de Holanda, in 1549.
In this century, the Camino Portugues welcomed one of the visits that would contribute most to the documentation of the route of the Camino de Santiago by Portuguese lands, the pilgrimage of Juan Bautista Confalonieri.
This Italian priest toured the route from Lisbon to Santiago on horseback, in the year 1594. His stories about the tour have been one of the most outstanding when it comes to documenting and elaborating guides on the Camino Portugues. Today, his text is preserved in the Vatican Library.
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The 17th century saw other relevant clerics crossing the Portuguese causeway, such as the Bishop of Tui in 1604. The visit of Ponte de Lima in the year 1610, constitutes the testimony of the presence of the nobility on the Camino Portugues during this century.
The stories collected through the pilgrimages of monarchs, clergymen, nobles, as well as other relevant society figures of the time, constitute the proof of the long tradition that the Camino Portugues has. As living proof of its importance, the numerous chapels in the north of Portugal are conserved which honour the Apostle James the Elder.
Likewise, the numerous carvings, coats of arms and symbols that dot the Portuguese territory on their way to Galician lands are preserved, Coimbra being their most significant point.
The apparition of the Virgin of Fatima and its impact on the Camino de Santiago
The appearance of the Virgin of Fatima to three pastors in the 20th century had an important impact on the importance that was given in Portugal to the Camino de Santiago.
After the apparition of the Virgin, the Sanctuary is built in its homage. The prominence that the sanctuary of the Virgin of Fatima acquired in the nation was to the detriment of the tradition of walking to Santiago de Compostela. However, the flow to Santiago of Portuguese parishioners never ceased.
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At present, and after the boom experienced by the Camino de Santiago from the 20th century, and with the declaration of the Camino Frances as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, the Camino Portugues has experienced its second moment of splendour. It is currently the second most travelled route of the Camino de Santiago.
The route has gained in international recognition. Today, it is frequented by both Portuguese and other pilgrims who travel from different parts of the world to visit it.
The legend of the Barcelos Rooster
The tradition of the Camino Portugues as a route to Santiago de Compostela is not only collected through stories of illustrious and architectural expressions or ornamentation. The legends and traditions associated with this route also attest to its importance in the development of the Jacobean culture.
An episode popularly is known as the case of the miracle of the Barcelos Rooster The legend takes place in Barcelos, a locality of the north of Portugal. Although on the Camino Frances, Santo Domingo de la Calzada, is the scene of the same legend.
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According to popular testimonies, a Galician pilgrim embarked on the Camino de Santiago from Barcelos, a locality belonging to the Braga district. There he was accused of stealing money from a landowner and condemned to the gallows.
Before he was hanged, the Pilgrim asked as his last wish, to be brought before the judge. Upon the arrival of the pilgrim in front of the judge, he was eating a roast chicken (or rooster). The Galician pilgrim told the judge that he was innocent and that as proof of it, the rooster which he was eating would arise and sing.
The judge ignored the Pilgrim’s words and threw the dish aside. However, at the very moment, the defendant of the robbery was being hanged, the judge saw the rooster on his plate, stand up and sing.
Astonished and aware of his mistake, the judge ran to the gallows to try to make amends. When he got to the gallows, he discovered that the pilgrim was still alive thanks to a poorly made knot.
Legend has it that years after being saved from the gallows, the Galician pilgrim returned to Barcelos to spit on the cross of the Lord of the Rooster, which is currently preserved in the Archaeological Museum.
This legend has endowed the country with one of its most popular symbols, the Barcelos Rooster. This symbol is depicted in brightly coloured ceramic pieces in the very form of a rooster.
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