Foncebadón is a Spanish village in the municipality of

Santa Colomba de Somoza Santa Colomba de Somoza, whose name is in Leonese language, is a municipality located in the province of León, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2004 census ( INE), the municipality has a population of 498 inhabitants. Santa Colomba de ...

, in the

province of León León (, ; ; ; ) is a province of northwestern Spain in the northern part of the Region of León and in the northwestern part of the autonomous community of Castile and León. About one quarter of its population of 463,746 (2018) lives in the c ...

. The village, situated on a popular pilgrimage route called the Way of St. James, flourished during the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

, offering shelter and hospitality to the pilgrims who passed through on their way to

Santiago de Compostela Santiago de Compostela, simply Santiago, or Compostela, in the province of Province of A Coruña, A Coruña, is the capital of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, in northwestern Spain. The city ...

. According to local tradition, the village was granted a tax exemption in return for planting 800 stakes in the ground to mark the path. In the 10th century,

Ramiro II of León Ramiro II ( 900 – 1 January 951), son of Ordoño II of León, Ordoño II and Elvira Menendez, was a Kingdom of León, King of León from 931 until his death. Initially titular king only of a lesser part of the kingdom, he gained the crown of Le ...

convened a religious council in the village, and in the 11th or 12th century, the hermit Guacelmo established a hospital and a church. Events such as the 16th-century

Protestant Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...

and the early 19th-century

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

, along with the construction of new roads and railways, led to a decline in the number of pilgrims passing through the village. In the 1960s and 70s, many of Foncebadón's residents migrated to nearby cities in search of employment; by the 1990s, only two people, a mother and son, lived among the ruins of the once-thriving settlement.Llamazares, Julio (26 March 1993)
"Las campanas de Foncebadón"
''El País''.

from the original on 12 September 2012. In recent years, however, the Way of St. James has begun to attract thousands of modern-day pilgrims, and the new influx of travellers has inspired entrepreneurs to purchase and renovate some of the most emblematic buildings, such as the church and the hostel.Lobato, Xurxo (27 November 2010)

''El País''.

from the original on 12 September 2012.

References

See also