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Christian Kingdoms
Society and economy
Checklist
◌ Unique characteristics of the Christian Kingdoms’ society, in detail (5-7)

◌ Way of Saint James, in detail (8-12)

Christian Kingdoms of the peninsula were very similar to the societies
from the rest of Europe. They only had a few characteristics that were
unique:

1. Resettlement (during and after the Reconquista)

2. Religions
3. Languages

We will see each one in detail.

1. Resettlement
When the Christians conquered new lands, they resettled them. This means that
they “started over” with the territory. They could do it through:

1. Presura: the nobles or the Church took over the vacant land spontaneously.
2. Fueros: the kings gave privileges to the people who went to live in those lands.
By doing this, those people were protected by the King from the lords that
lived there before. They still exist!

Because they had privileges that were granted independently from the pyramid of
loyalty, this Kingdoms were less hierarchical than the rest of Europe.
2. Religions
Even though the population was mostly Christian, there were period of
time when Jews and Muslims (specifically Mudéjars, muslims who lived
in Christian territories) lived there in peace.

Actually, during those periods of peace they worked together very well,
especially as translators. Thanks to these cultures living peacefully, we
actually have access to a lot of scientific and philosophical works in
multiple languages.
3. Languages
The first Romance languages (that come from Latin) developed in Europe during this
period. Here, because of 1) the political division in Kingdoms and 2) the fact that
towns were isolated, there were dialects that started appearing throughout the
Peninsula:

1. Castilian (now Spanish)

2. Catalan (still Catalan)
3. Galician-Portuguese (now two separate languages: Galician and Portuguese)
4. Leonese, Aragonese and Mozarabic (now are not spoken anymore)
5. Basque (now Euskera) → this is not a Romance language, but it appeared during
this time.
The Way of Saint James (Camino de
Santiago) was the most important
cultural element that the Christian
Kingdoms had.
Origin
In the 9th century, the legend
that said that Saint James
(Apostle Santiago) died and was
buried in Galicia started spreading
around Europe. Soon after, a
cathedral was built where the
tomb was, and the city of Santiago
was built around it.
Infrastructure
Popes encouraged pilgrimages to worship the relics of Saint James.
They would grant special orders that forgave sins to all the Christians
who did that, and the kings ordered abbeys and hospitals to be built
around the routes.
Cultural consequences
Thanks to constant pilgrimages, the christian kingdoms on the Iberian
Peninsula stopped being so isolated and started getting in touch with
each other. Thanks to the Way of Saint James, Romanesque style spread
throughout all christendom, including the rest of Europe.
The ways
The European routes crossed the Pyrenees in two points: Roncesvalles
and Somport. The two routes met in Puente la Reina (Navarra) and
became known as the French way. There were other routes that
combined parts of the French way with other territories.

The Northern way was in the northernmost point of the Peninsula and
went along the Cantabrian Sea.