Spaces of Exclusion in Twelfth-Century Santiago De Compostela

As the settlement and pilgrimage of Santiago de Compostela grew, the city’s central spaces gradually became sources of rupture between local residents and pilgrims. The important places of Compostela, such as religious community buildings, the palace and the cathedral, were intended to accommodate the city’s religious visitors. The interplay of significances embodied in the city’s spatial networks translated into sources of tension in Compostela, which cast native Compostelans as outsiders, and welcomed foreign pilgrims. Compostelans endured in these spaces which became increasingly exclusionary as the pilgrimage expanded. In the twelfth century, the pro-pilgrimage policies of Bishop Diego Gelmírez increased the exclusionary effect of the city’s spaces to such an extent that Compostelans finally rebelled. The activities of rebels were directed at precisely the structures and spaces that, as epicenters of pilgrimage and episcopal activity, generated the strongest antipathy among urban inhabitants.