Medieval Galicia beyond the Camiño

Abstract

ABSTRACT With the exception of the Camiño and the lyric production of the thirteenth century, Galicia has sometimes been marginalized in international scholarship on medieval Iberia. Our aim in this special issue has therefore been to recenter it, while in the process decentering the pilgrimage route to Santiago as a singular prism for approaching the region’s medieval history, prioritizing alternative angles on the history and culture of northwestern Iberia. The articles presented here offer an antidote to the perception of Galicia as a quintessentially traditional, almost mythically “history-free” land, suggesting instead a society that, beyond the Camiño, was often characterized in the medieval period by cultural change and exchange, by invention and innovation, and by richly varied human landscapes.