Bercianos del Real Camino .

BERCIANOS DEL REAL CAMINO

The name of Bercianos del Real Camino Francés indicates the origin of the first settlers: a colony of Leon Bierzo.

The oldest documents that mention the existence of Bercianos del Real Camino, dating from 950 or earlier. It turns out that around 950 Alvaro Velaz, afraid of the devil and the final judgment ( “diaboli timens et diem iudicii tremens terriblem”) donates to the monastery of Sahagún, search for the remission of sins ( “ut merear peccatorum meorum remissio”) the “Villa Mayor” located in Valdejuara ( “Val de Iuvara”) makes boundary with Mount Cañizal and the “Valley of Berzianos”. In another document of 963 referring to a grant provided by the priest Sisebut, Abderrahen, Gaquí and others, on behalf of Don Fáfila and his wife Dona Palla, of the town of Bercianos it is made. Later, Dona Palla offers in remission of their sins and for the salvation of her late husband and father Fáfila, Villa de Bercianos the Monastery of Sahagún. In its origins, history is inseparable from Bercianos de Sahagún. The ancient Roman city of Camata was destroyed by Muslims in 833 and Alfonso III had built the old sanctuary, which was called “Sanç Facund”, a name that was drifting to Sahagún and S.Primitivo. Pilgrimages were giving importance and enriching place until their time of flowering, and with the name of S. Benito de Sahagún. Alfonso VI, who is buried in that monastery, with their wives, allowed the Cluniac reform, and thereafter a swarm of clerics and prelates French occupied the abbey. Its importance grew, until in 1085 the clergy petitioned Alfonso VI’s famous “Law of the village,” in which he confirmed the absolute power of the abbot of the region. The granting of the Charter led to an impressive development of the abbey, which was enriched by many monks and monasteries dependent on it.