Verkehrswege und ihre Bedeutung für die Kulturlandschaft

Pilgerwege und Siedlungsentwicklung 99
The first two routes serve as examples for permanent pilgrimage from the 11"'
to the 14th century, the third as an example for periodical pilgrimage in a 7-yearcycle
during the 14th to the 16 th century . It has been assumed that the strength of
the settlement creating, extending, and stabilizing functions of pilgrim routes was
depending both upon the importance of the place of pilgrimage and the constancy
of its attraction . The larger the stream of pilgrims was over a longer period of
time and the more regularly it was distributed over the years and the course of a
single year, the more important it turned out to be improve the infrastructure of
the pilgrim routes, so that the function of the roads as pilgrim routes gradually
superseded all their other functions .
The development of settlements around the camino was at first and above all
stimulated by military and political needs (e .g . Reconquista) . It was not until the
end of the 11`h century that the function of the roads as pilgrim routes definitely
surpassed their military and economic ones, the latter being considerably intensified
by the pilgrimages . In comparison with the camino the function of the
four main routes through France as pilgrim routes was limited . This was just a
result of the geographical distribution of the pilgrims' streams ; moreover, it must
be taken into consideration that the great French centers of pilgrimage displaid
themselves a remarkable force of attraction besides far away Santiago . Apart
from routes running through sparsely populated regions a balance of strategic,
commercial, and pilgrimage functions has to be assumed . Only in south-western
France and in the area of the Massif Central many settlement stimuli and infrastructural
facilities are the result of the pilgrims' traffic . As expected, the weakest
settlement stimuli are to be found in the area of periodical pilgrimages to the
centers of pilgrimage in the Rhineland .
Most important as nuclei of settlement along the camino, in south-western
France, and in Auvergne were hospitals, especially those at passes and bridges .
The origins of new forms of settlements of the » Minderstadt«-type (salvitates,
bastides) can also rather clearly be attributed to the Santiago pilgrims' security
needs, even if the further development of the settlements was determined by political
an economic functions .
Literatur
F . Baby, Toponomastique du pelerinage en Languedoc . In : Le pelerinage (Cahiers
de Fanjeaux 15), Paris 1980, S. 57-78 .
Bibliographie Bedevaart - Pelerinage - Wallfahrt . Maas-Riin, Rhin-Meuse,
Rhein-Maas, hg . v. Amt für rheinische Landeskunde u .a ., Köln 1982 .
A . Bonet Correa, Santiago de Compostela . Die Wege der Pilger, Freiburg/Basel/Wien
1981 .
Y. Bottineau, Der Weg der Jakobspilger . Die Wallfahrtstraßen nach Santiago de
Compostela in Deutschland, Frankreich und Spanien, Bergisch-Gladbach
1987 .
M.N . Boyer, The Bridgebuilding Brotherhoods . In : Speculum 39, 1964,
S . 635-650 .