Pilgrim numbers (was: Michener)

[Gene Silva]

Maryjane:

I assume you are trying to be helpful and do not want to prolong a
discussion you apparently find useless and perhaps offensive. But I for one
am surprised by the tone of your response to an ongoing exchange of views on
a subject that interests a number of people. The question was whether or not
it is likely there could have been as many as one million pilgrims on the
camino when Saint Francis is believed by many to have walked to Santiago in
the 13th century. Some think there were, or could have been, and others
doubt the possibility. Regardless of who is right or wrong, the issue has
meaning and is relevant to some of us if perhaps not to you. That said, let
me respectfully respond to the points you made in your last missive:

You say:

> Okay, I don't have an exact figure, but it seems time to weigh in with
some
> "real" numbers (I love Michener, but wouldn't consider him an expert on
> pilgrimage). Here's the problem: When we talk about "medieval" pilgrims we
> are talking about a span of approximately 500 years (900 to 1400). When we
> talk about medieval "pilgrims" we're talking about persons from all social
> strata (royalty to lowlifes on judicial pilgrimage sentences), and persons
> from all over Europe.

I say:

First, what are the "real" numbers of pilgrims that you want to "weigh in"
with? You don't say. Second, I think most people accept the term "medieval"
as refering to that period in western civilization that stretched from the
fall of the Roman Empire in Europe to the Italian Renaissance in the late
fifteenth century; in other words, about 1000 years, not 500. So the the
period of "medieval" pilgrimages to Santiago is closer to 700 years (from
shortly after 813 to around 1490). Again, however, the question being
discussed was not the stream of pilgrims for the entire middle ages, but
whether there could reasonably have been as many as one million a year in
the early 13th century when Saint Francis is alleged to have walked to
Santiago.


You go on to cite a source I am not familiar with (Antonio Vin~ayo
Gonza'lez,_Caminos y peregrinos: Huellas de la peregrinacion jacobea_
Coleccion Isidoriana Popular, Leon, 1991, pp. 108-110) but I can't tell what
we are to make of it other than there were varying numbers of pilgrims in
different centuries. Then,

You say:

> I know this doesn't satisfy the burning question of 1 million or 1/2
> million, but it should show the magnitude of the problem in determining
> numbers based on *real, *factual, *physical evidence which would have to
be
> found in documents in thousands of churches, monasteries, convents, etc.
in
> dozens of countries, over hundreds of years and all cross checked and
> correlated before we had any hard numbers.

To which I say:

It is not a "burning question" for me. I was only interested in what others
believed and the basis for their belief about the number of pilgrims who
walked to Santiago in the early 13th century. It was simple curiosity, not
some great issue in my life. With all due respect, lighten up. And by the
way, it is common practice for historians to rely upon contemporary
documents to support or disprove statements found in writings of a given
period in history. You don't need thousands of them over hundreds of years
for a sense of what is truth and what is probably exageration.

Finally, you say:

Food, shelter, clothing and medical needs were no less in  the middle ages
than they are today, even if most people then did know how to kill and skin
a rabbit.

To which I respond:

The "need" for food, shelter, clothing and medical attention may be no less
today than what it was in the year 1215, but, in my opinion, the ability of
northern Spain to accommodate these basic human requirements was much less
in the early 13th century compared to what it is now. This is one reason why
I find it hard to believe Saint Francis found himself among a million other
people walking to Santiago back then. A scattered and thinly populated
Christian region, devastated by 500 years of destructive warfare against the
"moors" to the south and racked by internecine conflict at home, would have
been a fragile host for that number of people. Most of the facilities
constructed along the camino to aid pilgrims post date the year 1200. I
wonder if there were even enough rabbits around to sustain an exodus of this
proportion.

Of course, I could be wrong about all this which is why I was interested in
and respect the views of others. However, since you and Howard have decreed
we should "move on", I will say no more.