Jerusalem fell to the armies of Islam in 636 A.D., and less than a century later, in 711, Spain was also invaded and conquered. The Moors rapidly reached northern Spain, and sent raiding parties into France. In northwest Spain, however, a small Christian kingdom, including Asturias and present-day Galicia, emerged in the 8th century, and it was in the reign of Alfonso II (r 792-842) that the Apostle's tomb was discovered near Finisterre.
Relics of the saints were believed to possess great power, and those of the Apostles were especially venerated: Peter and Paul were known to be buried in Rome, and John at Ephesus.
In ca 800, James was the most senior member of the intercessory hierarchy whose relics remained undiscovered. He was already believed to have been the evangelist of Spain. Though a few pilgrims to Santiago are recorded in the 10th century, and many more in the 11th, it was in the early 12th century - and particularly under the energetic promotion of Archbishop Diego Gelmírez (1100-1140) - that Santiago came to rank with Rome and Jerusalem as one of the great destinations of medieval pilgrimage. The first cathedral was built over the site of the tomb, and Benedictine houses were established, for instance by monks from Cluny in Burgundy and from Aurillac in Cantal, along the developing pilgrimage route. Simultaneously with the growth of crusading fervour - Jerusalem fell to the armies of the first crusade in 1099 - the idea of a Reconquest of Spain by Christians took root.
Numbers have been growing steadily - and in Holy Years, there are more pilgrims than ever.
Some start from their own homes, or from other places nearby which have special significance for them; many head for one of the traditional asssembly points in France: Paris, Vézelay, le Puy-en-Velay, or Arles, and then follow one of the old routes to the Pyrenees and the beginning of the Camino francés in Spain. Those with less time either start from a point on the route nearer to Santiago, such as St Jean Pied-de-Port or Roncesvalles (this is the most popular starting point for Spanish pilgrims); or make the pilgrimage in stages, as holidays allow, picking up each year where they stopped the year before.
The growing popularity of the pilgrimage has meant that the routes where the infrastructure of waymarks, published guides, and pilgrim accommodation was first to develop - the Camino francés in Spain and the le Puy route in France - have become pretty crowded. Other routes, especially the Via de la Plata in Spain and the Vézelay route in France (though this does feed into the Camino francés) have developed very rapidly in recent years, and provide entirely feasible, very attractive, and much quieter alternatives to the more traditional routes.
The cathedral authorities in Santiago require that pilgrims must 1) carry the pilgrim passport (which entitles you to a place in the Spanish refugios) and produce it, stamped and dated at each stage of the journey; 2) have walked or ridden on horseback the last 100 km to Santiago, or cycled the last 200 km, and 3) declare a spiritual or religious motivation, to qualify for the Compostela, the traditional Latin certificate of pilgrimage. There is a certificado, also in Latin, for those making the journey for other reasons, or not meeting the Cathedral's criteria.
There are no other "rules" about how you should make your pilgrimage: but you will find among pilgrims to Santiago and those who support them a clearly defined ethos - a strong sense that certain attitudes and ways of comporting oneself are appropriate to the pilgrimage.
taken from: The Confraternity of St James
web site: csj.org.uk/route-camino-frances