MONFORTE DE LEMOS
ROZAVALES - EL RONCESVALLES GALLEGO
SANTA MARÍA DE ROZAVALES
(ROZABALES)
(Última actualización: 05-10-2024)
ÍNDICE
- Nombre Oficial.
- Ubicación.
- Rozavales en una ruta medieval del vino.
- Relación entre Rozavales y Roncesvalles.
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Breves apuntes sobre Roncesvalles.
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Cesión a Compostela de una iglesia francesa.
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La iglesia parroquial de Rozavales perteneció a la Orden de Roncesvalles.
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Toponimia de Rozavales y Roncesvalles.
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Intercambio entre el Arzobispo de Compostela y el Prior de Roncesvalles de la iglesia de Rozavales con una iglesia francesa.
- Relación de Santa María de Rozavales con el monasterio de San Zoilo de Carrión de los Condes.
- Santa María de Rozavales a la luz del Catastro de Ensenada.
- Rozavales la montaña amable de Monforte de Lemos desde donde la niebla se ve pero no se siente.
- Peñas de Santa Lucía (La montaña sagrada de Monforte de Lemos).
- Castro "O Castrelado".
- La Iglesia Parroquial.
Eje Rozavales-Barxa-Froxende (El Paraíso olvidado de Monforte de Lemos).
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Cañón del Sil.
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Meandros de Barxa-A Cubela.
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Aldea de la Cubela (A Covela).
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El ecosistema de Barxa y Froxende, un lugar único en el Cañón del Sil.
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Aldea abandonada de Barxa.
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Aldea abandonada de Froxende.
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Existencia de dos barcas entre Barxa y A Cubela en el siglo XVIII.
- Salvadur.
- Rubín.
- A Fonte.
- Salgueiros.
- Rutas de senderismo.
- Límites de la parroquia de Rozavales.
- Como llegar a Rozavales (Rozabales).
NOMBRE OFICIAL
Empiezo con una aclaración sobre el nombre del topónimo.
El nombre oficial actual y también el más antiguo es ROZAVALES,
pero ha habido épocas y hay muchas referencias en Internet que escriben Rozabales.
La Iglesia y la parroquia eclesiástica tienen el nombre de Santa María de Rozavales.
UBICACIÓN
La parroquia civil de Rozavales (Rozabales) pertenece al municipio de Monforte de Lemos. A 1 de Enero de 2019 tenía una población de 29 habitantes distribuidos en nueve lugares (A Fonte, A Infesta, Cacabelos, Costaneiro, Penedo, Rozavales, Rubín, Salgueiros y Salvadur). Es la típica feligresía del interior de la provincia de Lugo constituida por un reducido vecindario y un típico modelo bajomedieval de distribución de la población, que
parece haber surgido de la mano de la fundación de su iglesia parroquial
como centro aglutinador de una comunidad de fieles cristianos (feligresía) dirigidos por un “cura de almas” o párroco (parroquia)
bajo patrocinio real y eclesiástico
con la finalidad de cristianizar el lugar al mismo tiempo que se impulsaba el asentamiento de población en el territorio y su explotación.
Ubicación: 42°29′15″N / 7°24′47″O
Código Postal: 27413
La documentación consultada, sugiere que se originó en la Edad Media a partir de una población autóctona muy anterior. Topónimos como "Gangueira” o “Rubín” parecen indicar una posible “urbanización” del lugar en época romana a partir de un asentamiento humano mucho más antiguo. Otros lugares como "Castro”, “Subcastro”, “Outeiro” o “Seara”, parecen sugerir un posible pasado minero de la feligresía y hacer referencia a la época prehistórica de la Edad de los Metales con la llegada de pueblos megalíticos y celtas a la búsqueda de metales y tierras en las que asentarse.
Está documentada, la existencia en la parroquia de un castro dominante "O Castrelado" en la Sierra de Salvadur"
y las Peñas de Santa Lucía parecen haber sido un lugar de culto pagano y también un pequeño castro,
existiendo en sus proximidades una posible mámoa.
Ciertos toponímicos como “Camino público”, “Camino da Costa”, ”Carreiroa”, “Carril”, “Encrucillada”, “Entre caminos”, “Porto”, “Rotea” o “Travesa” que en relación con la feligresía figuran en el Catastro de Ensenada, indican que
la feligresía contaba con una red de caminos que debieron desempeñar un papel importante en épocas anteriores,
además está próxima al lugar en que se encontraba la barca para cruzar el río Sil.
Como veremos a lo largo de esta página WEB, está documentada:
la existencia de un hospital en la feligresía,
la presencia en la feligresía de los monjes del Hospital de Roncesvalles (Orden de Roncesvalles)
y de la Orden de Santiago (Encomienda de la Barra),
una de cuyas misiones era vigilar las vías de comunicación y a los que transitaban por ellas.
Todos estos documentos confirman que ROZAVALES se encontraba en una de las rutas utilizada por los peregrinos a Compostela.
"A aldea que eu vexo"
Se tí vas á miña aldea,
podes vela moi fermosa
ou atopála moi fea;
e non te podo xulgar,
porque eu vexo outra aldea.
Estás a ver a paisaxe
e todo o que a rodea.
Vexo a mesma paisaxe,
pero estou vendo outra aldea.
A aldea dunha infancia
que, un día, deixei nela.
Non quixo irse conmigo,
quixo quedarse na aldea.
Naquela miña aldeiña!
Miña aldeiña pequena!
A aldea dunha infancia
que foi morrendo con ela.
Infancia que eu recordo,
recordando ó meu lugar,
recordando aquela aldea.
No te podo eu xulgar,
porque estou vendo outra aldea!
A aldea dunha infancia
que foi morrendo con ela!
Antonio Lois Pérez
ROZAVALES EN UNA RUTA MEDIEVAL DEL VINO
En varios documentos medievales procedentes de los archivos de los monasterios de San Vicente del Pino (en Monforte) y de Montederramo se comprueba que, las riberas de Val do Frade y O Ibedo pertenecían al monasterio de Montederramo y viñas de la Ribeira de Os Lagares pertenecían a San Vicente. Los vinos elaborados se transportaron a los citados monasterios, a Montederramo pasando por la parroquia de Torbeo después de cruzar el Sil en barcas desde Barxa a la Cubela y a San Vicente pasando por la parroquia de Rozavales.
FROM RONCESVALLES TO ROZAVALES
BRIEF NOTES ON RONCESVALLES
It is confirmed that pilgrims from beyond the Pyrenees have arrived in Compostela since the 10th century.
The foundation and development of Roncesvalles are directly linked to the Camino de Santiago.
Santa María de Roncesvalles was the most emblematic hospital and care center on the entire Camino de Santiago and together with Rome, Jerusalem and Compostela it has been one of the most significant places for Christian pilgrims.
The Codex Calixtinus was written in the middle of the twelfth century and in Book V the main routes that crossed France are described: the Turonense originating in Tours, the Lemovicense beginning in Limoges, the Podense beginning in Le Puy and the Toulouse one that linked in Tolosa with the road to Rome. The first three converged in Ostabat before crossing the Pyrenees through the Ibañeta pass (1066m.); the fourth was done by Somport (1632m.).
From Ostabat, past San Jean Pied de Port, the pilgrims divided into two groups, some of them ascended little by little to the Lepoeder pass and others went through the Valcarlos valley before tackling the steep slopes that lead to Ibañeta. In the vicinity of San Salvador de Ibañeta the two roads met.
Following the maxim "I was a guest and you received me" (Gospel of San Mateo 25, 35), hospitals and monasteries began to be founded to attend spiritually and physically to the pilgrims who passed through the Ibañeta pass.
There are opinions that defend that the Hospital and Monastery of Roncesvalles were created before the 12th century but there are only unreliable quotes. Although shelters and churches are documented in the eleventh century, none of them was a predecessor of the one in Roncesvalles. For example, in the 11th century there were a church and hospital in the
.
Ronzasvals population (current Burguete)
that after successive donations in 1219 it was donated to the canons of Roncesvalles.
There was also the "noble and royal monastery" of Ibañeta, consecrated to San Salvador, which ended up being acquired by the priory of Roncesvalles in 1271.
From the beginning of the 12th century, the Ibañeta monastery and the Ronzasvals hospital began to be insufficient to attend the growing number of pilgrims, therefore,
.
Sancho de Larrosa (he is also referred to as Sancho de Rosas)
Bishop of Pamplona from 1122 until his death in 1142, founded in 1127 (according to most authors) a "reception house for pilgrims and the needy" for which he had the collaboration of King Alfonso-I el Batallador, nobles and individuals. The Letter of Foundation and Dowry of the hospital and church of Roncesvalles affirms that thousands of pilgrims died due to snow storms and the attacks of wolves. Initially located "at the apex of the mountain called Roncesvalles", in 1132 it was moved to its current location at the foot of the hill.
Sancho de Larrosa created a brotherhood of laity and ecclesiastics (monks of the rule of San Agustín) and wrote some Ordinations (Dispositions) that would ensure its good government. The brotherhood was not enough and in 1135 a collegiate church of canons was placed at the head of the hospital, presided over by Prior Sancho.
In 1137 Pope Innocent II took Roncesvalles under his protection. The Codex Calixtino describes that in the 1140s it was fully operational and the religiosity of the time led to large donations to the hospital from all of Western Europe. Buildings were built for the hospital, the church, cloister and dependencies for the monks, a parish for the neighbors, warehouses, a funeral home with a chapel for the dead. Over the centuries, new buildings have been built that in some cases destroyed the original ones.
From the beginning, the community of canons worshiped Santa María, head of the temple. Devotion to the Pyrenean Virgin spread throughout the Navarrese kingdom and beyond the borders.
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Donations were made from all over Western Europe:
Aragon, Guipúzcoa, La Rioja, Castilla, León, Valencia, Andalusia, Portugal, Gascony, Languedoc, Burgundy, Champagne, England and Italy. As a result, Roncesvalles had houses, for example, in Zaragoza, Soria, Valencia, Seville, Toulouse, Montpellier, London, Bologna
and in the parish of Rozavales.
THE CABILDO OF COMPOSTELA INVEST IN FRENCH TERRITORY
Entre 1332 y 1335 se celebra un juicio entre el Obispado de Bayona y el Monasterio de Roncesvalles.
El obispado de Bayona presenta una demanda contra los canónigos de Roncesvalles, los cuales para defenderse presentan 13 escrituras. En la primera de ellas, se demuestra que, desde el 22 de agosto de 1189, la iglesia y el hospital de San Vicente ya no pertenecen a la abadía de Leyre pues, junto con la iglesia de San Miguel se entregan al arzobispado de Compostela. Los hermanos del hospital hicieron votos idénticos a los de la Orden de San Juan de Jerusalén, pusieron la cruz de Santiago en sus hábitos y pasaron a obedecer al representante de Compostela en Gascuña.
El pergamino de la Carta del juicio ha sido reproducido en un libro por V. Dubarat y J. B. Daranatz.
En la segunda escritura se demuestra que, el 10 de julio de 1246 se produce un intercambio de dos propiedades entre el arzobispo de Compostela y Roncesvalles. Compostela entrega la iglesia de San Vicente de Cisa, situada cerca de San Miguel el Viejo en la Baja Navarra, con su hospital y todas sus pertenencias, a cambio de Santa María de Salvador situada cerca de Monforte en la diócesis de Lugo y donada a Roncesvalles por el rey Alfonso IX de León, con todas sus posesiones y derechos.
THE CABILDO OF COMPOSTELA INVEST IN FRENCH TERRITORY
In the mid-12th century and to promote the pilgrimage to Compostela, the chapter of the Cathedral of Santiago settled in French Gascony, maintaining a representative there. On August 22, 1189, half of the church of San Vicente de Pied de Mont was donated to Santiago de Compostela. The brothers from the Saint Vincent de Cize hospital, attached to the church of San Miguel, became dependent on Compostela.
A bull from Pope Alexander III confirmed the aforementioned dependence
In the mid-12th century and to promote the pilgrimage to Compostela, the chapter of the Cathedral of Santiago settled in French Gascony, maintaining a representative there. On August 22, 1189, half of the church of San Vicente de Pied de Mont was donated to Santiago de Compostela. The brothers from the Saint Vincent de Cize hospital, attached to the church of San Miguel, became dependent on Compostela.
THE PARISH CHURCH OF ROZAVALES
BELONGED TO THE ORDER OF RONCESVALLES
In a document preserved in Tumbo B of the Cathedral of Santiago, of which there is an edition published by María Teresa González Balasch in 2004 and whose publication reference is:
GONZÁLEZ BALASCH, María T., Tumbo B de la Catedral de Santiago, Santiago de Compostela, Cabildo de la SAMI Catedral - Seminario de Estudios Gallegos, 2004, pp. 107-108.
And the signature of the volume and document in the Archive is: ACS, CF33, fols. 16v-17r.
it is manifested that
On April 17, 1193, King Alfonso IX (great promoter of the Camino de Santiago)
grants the Church of Santa María del Salvador to the Roncesvalles Hospital.
.
In the Latin text, it is said that the donation took place in the year 1231, but since until the 15th century in the western part of the Iberian Peninsula it was used to start counting the years in the year 38 BC, it will be necessary to subtract 38 to obtain the current accounting, therefore, the donation occurred in 1193 AD, which is already done by María Teresa González Balash at the beginning of the document.
When putting the date they refer to the place as "Pinum" that is to say "Pine" which is the name that Monforte had until Alfonso IX changed it to Monfort. Which the Benedictines of Monforte did not do, since the monastery has continued to be called "San Vicente del Pino".
On the other hand, the document, in Latin, refers to Roncesvalles as "Roscidavale" and calls the Church Santa María del Salvador.
A little further down you can see a document in which it is said that this church is located
in the episcopate of Lugo, land of Lemos, in a place near Montem fortem.
SCORE BY NICANOR RIELO CARBALLO
The ethnographer and expert in Romanesque art in the province of Lugo, Nicanor Rielo Carballo in the work "Artistic inventory of Lugo and its province" published between 1975 and 1983, carried out in collaboration with Elías Valiña Sampedro (researcher and promoter of the routes to Santiago), Santos San Cristóbal Sebastián and José Manuel González Reboredo, mentions a tradition according to which, in Rozavales there was a pilgrim hospital
EXCHANGE BETWEEN THE ARCHBISHOP OF COMPOSTELA AND THE PRIOR OF RONCESVALLES OF THE CHURCH OF ROZAVALES WITH A FRENCH CHURCH
On September 23, 2020 at 7:59 p.m., I receive an email from Bertrand Saint Macary (president of the Association of Friends of the Camino de Santiago in the Atlantic Pyrenees) in which I realize that there is a deed of 10 July 1246, by which, there is an exchange of two properties between the Archbishop of Compostela and the Prior of Santa María de Roncesvalles, by which the Archbishop of Compostela and his chapter assign or exchange with the Prior and the community de Roncesvalles, the church of San Vicente with its hospital, its rights and all its dependencies, located next to the old San Miguel (France) and property of Compostela, with the church of Santa María del Salvador, with its possessions, its inheritances, its rights and all its dependencies, located in the bishopric of Lugo in the territory of Lemos near Mont Fort Property of Roncesvalles. The question has been made public in a presentation at the University of Navarra. You send me a copy of the transcript of the writing in Latin, French and Spanish.
On September 23, 2020 at 7:59 p.m., I receive an email from Bertrand Saint Macary (president of the Association of Friends of the Camino de Santiago in the Atlantic Pyrenees) in which I realize that there is a deed of 10 July 1246, by which, there is an exchange of two properties between the Archbishop of Compostela and the Prior of Santa María de Roncesvalles, by which the Archbishop of Compostela and his chapter assign or exchange with the Prior and the community de Roncesvalles, the church of San Vicente with its hospital, its rights and all its dependencies, located next to the old San Miguel (France) and property of Compostela, with the church of Santa María del Salvador, with its possessions, its inheritances, its rights and all its dependencies, located in the bishopric of Lugo in the territory of Lemos near Mont Fort Property of Roncesvalles. The question has been made public in a presentation at the University of Navarra. You send me a copy of the transcript of the writing in Latin, French and Spanish.
The Association of Friends of
Camino de Santiago in the Atlantic Pyrenees
has been the 2019 Elías Valiña Award,
in sharing with
the Jacobean Association of Almería, Camino Mozárabe
On September 23, 2020 at 7:59 p.m., I receive an email from Bertrand Saint Macary (president of the Association of Friends of the Camino de Santiago in the Atlantic Pyrenees) in which I realize that there is a deed of 10 July 1246, by which, there is an exchange of two properties between the Archbishop of Compostela and the Prior of Santa María de Roncesvalles, by which the Archbishop of Compostela and his chapter assign or exchange with the Prior and the community de Roncesvalles, the church of San Vicente with its hospital, its rights and all its dependencies, located next to the old San Miguel (France) and property of Compostela, with the church of Santa María del Salvador, with its possessions, its inheritances, its rights and all its dependencies, located in the bishopric of Lugo in the territory of Lemos near Mont Fort Property of Roncesvalles. The question has been made public in a presentation at the University of Navarra. You send me a copy of the transcript of the writing in Latin, French and Spanish.
The Association of Friends of
Camino de Santiago in the Atlantic Pyrenees
has been the 2019 Elías Valiña Award,
in sharing with
the Jacobean Association of Almería, Camino Mozárabe
Según Juan Ramón Corpas, la parroquia de Santa María de Rozavales participará en el 900 aniversario de la fundación de la Real Colegiata de Roncesvalles que pretende reunir a representantes de lugares donde quedan huellas físicas de una relación histórica con Roncesvalles, como es el caso de Rozavales.
Destacó que Roncesvalles tuvo mucha influencia en la Edad Media y el Renacimiento y hubo muchos lugares que adoptaron el nombre pero, se ha conservado en muy pocos como es el caso de Santa María de Rozavales. Así mismo, destacó que la imagen de la virgen con niño existente en Rozavales es la que más se parece a la existente en Roncesvalles de todas las imágenes marianas que conoce. Dicho parecido ya había sido detectado por otros investigadores miembros de la Asociación de Veciños e Amigos de Rozavales.
The Association of Friends of
Camino de Santiago in the Atlantic Pyrenees
has been the 2019 Elías Valiña Award,
in sharing with
the Jacobean Association of Almería, Camino Mozárabe
Según Begoña López, Rozavales fue la primera encomienda que tuvo Roncesvalles fuera del antiguo Reino de Navarra y además fue la única que tuvo en Galicia.
Gran parte de la información que maneja Begoña, procede del antiguo Becerro de Roncesvalles (un códice medieval en el que se recopilan numerosos documentos sobre las posesiones y privilegios que tuvieron los Canónigos de Roncesvalles. Entre ellos figura Santa María de Rozavales.
Begoña ha manifestado que le gustaría llamar la atención a las diversas Administraciones sobre la necesidad de conservar mejor el patrimonio cultural y artístico de lugares como Rozavales.
ROZAVALES TOPONYMY
Nicandro Ares Vázquez, eminent philologist and member of the Royal Galician Academy, among his many works has published in the journal Lucensia of the Libraries of the Diocesan Seminary of Lugo in 2006, a work entitled "Toponimia do Concello de Monforte de Lemos" in which deals with the toponymy of all the towns and places of the municipality of Monforte de Lemos and relates the toponymy of Rozavales with that of Roncesvalles.
In the Rozavales toponymy, he writes the following, among other things:
<< In 1220 Alfonso IX sentenced in a cause that had the monastery of Santo Estevo de Ribas de Sil:
"Cum fratribus de Runciavalle , super quodam casale in Sauto"
In 1227 Marina Petri wrote in her text
"Ad cofrariam de Rozavales I solidum"
In 1257 the priest Petrus Iuliani wrote in his will:
"Ad confratriam sancte Marie de Rozavalles I solidum"
In another 13th century testament, Iohannes Lupi says:
" Ronciavallibus III solid command"
In 1413, Lourenzo Dominguez commanded the:
"Confrería de Santa María de Guadalupe and de Roçavales , senllos moravedis".
Ronca Vallis is cited in the index.
Some of these forms resemble Roncesvalles, a gorge in the Pyrenees >>.
And continues:
de Roncesvalles writes Machado [DOELP] << the previous form was therefore Ronçavales --- perhaps by Ronça [slvales. This is a hypothesis, but for Carolina Michaêlis it is the same as Roncavalis. In Roland's Song it is Roncesvals ... and hence the Spanish Roncesvalles and the Portuguese Roncesvales, which is the modern form. The origin of the Spanish Roncesvalles and the old French Roncesvals, modern Roncevaux, is in the Latin rumicis vallis, "valley of thorns" or "valley of azeda (s)". Note that in northern Portugal there was a town called Rozavales or Rozovalibus or Rozovallis in 1258 >>
.
DOELP = JP Machado, Portuguese Etymological Onomastic Dictionary, Lisbon
1992.
aceda: it is a "rumex" in Spanish "vinaigrette".
(I am grateful to Francisco García Gondar for the location of the various works on toponymy)
PHILOLOGICAL STUDY OF GONZALO NAVAZA
The philologist and university professor Gonzalo Navaza, who has been a member of the Galician Government's Toponymy Commission, carried out a study on the toponymy of various Galician localities: "A intervenção régia na medieval galega toponímia. Os nomes de Afonso IX (1188 1230) " .
According to Gonzalo Navaza's thesis, the names of several Galician cities are not inherited from ancient toponymy, but medieval creations imposed by King Alfonso IX at the time of granting his forum or population charter. For Navaza, in the case of Rozavales there is no administrative act that imposes the change of name, but in fact the donation of the church of Santa María de Salvador to the Hospital de Roncesvalles caused the old parishioners of "Santa María de Salvadur" to become be known as "Roçavales".
The name of the place name of the Navarrese Pyrenees (in Portuguese Roncesvales, in Spanish Roncesvalles, Aragonese Ronzesbals, French Roncevaux, Basque Orreaga) in medieval Galician always presents the form Roçavales, interpreted as a compound of "roçar" and the plural of "vale" and so it is read in all medieval literature and notarial prose.
.
Navaza continues to argue that the spelling "Salvador" with which the toponym appears in the Latin text of the donation of the church to the Roncesvalles Hospital actually corresponds to "Salvadur" which is still today the name of one of the localities of the Rozavales parishioners.
.
It has been an important population in the very remote past as it is mentioned in the 6th century territorial divisions of the Lugo Cathedral and in the Liber Fidei of Braga (ad Cairocam [= Quiroga] in directum et alia parte levat se in Salvatur, CODOLGA ).
We can also consider an indication of the importance of the old place name the fact that the neighboring parish of Vilachá continues to be called Vilachá de Salvadur today in the oral (unofficial) language.
In an interview in the Voice of Galicia, Gonzalo Navaza states:
Rozavales is undoubtedly a 100% Jacobean place-name as it has a direct relationship with the pilgrimage to Santiago. And in Rozavales there was a pilgrim hospital governed by the Order of Roncesvalles.
OTRAS INVESTIGACIONES QUE CONFIRMAN QUE
ROZAVALES ESTÁ EN UNA RUTA DE PEREGRINACIÓN A SANTIAGO
STA. MARÍA DE ROZAVALES IN THE LIGHT OF THE ENSENADA CATASTRE
Various toponymics such as “Encrucillada” reveal that the parishioners had a network of roads that must have played an important role. La Encrucillada was and is, the place where the road from Vilachá and the carriage road from "Las Penelas" from "Barja" (Coto de Frojende-Villamarín) where the boat that allowed to cross the Sil river from Torbeo was located or Castro Caldelas towards Monforte or vice versa.
El Madoz, collects, in the mid-nineteenth century, the existence of this road, specifying that it is bad but that it leads to a boat that allows you to cross the river Sil.
Various toponymics such as “Encrucillada” reveal that the parishioners had a network of roads that must have played an important role. La Encrucillada was and is, the place where the road from Vilachá and the carriage road from "Las Penelas" from "Barja" (Coto de Frojende-Villamarín) where the boat that allowed to cross the Sil river from Torbeo was located or Castro Caldelas towards Monforte or vice versa.
El Madoz, collects, in the mid-nineteenth century, the existence of this road, specifying that it is bad but that it leads to a boat that allows you to cross the river Sil.
STA. MARÍA DE ROZAVALES IN THE LIGHT OF THE ENSENADA CATASTRE
Rosa María Guntiñas Rodríguez , in her research in the Ensenada Cadastre on the congregation of Santa María de Rozavales, reaches the following conclusions , among others:
The data provided by the Ensenada Cadastre reveal that it was the repopulating monks of the Middle Ages (Cluniacs / rule of S. Benito) and Hispano-Gothic families who had to repopulate the term of the parishion after the Muslim invasion (711) and they would join Later, the Military Order of Santiago (Encomienda de la Barra / monks-caballeros / ruler of S. Agustín) that would occupy from the 12th-13th centuries the most extreme and mountainous royal areas accompanied by some families of peasant-cattlemen -warriors from Christian areas (migrants who came and went in search of refuge, means of subsistence and, likewise, willing to defend themselves from any possible threat).
Hence the presence of the Military Order of Santiago to which, in the twelfth century, the kings of León and ecclesiastical magnates (Alfonso VII and the Bishop of Ourense, D. Adán) with the consent of the Benedictine abbots (Cluniac / Cistercian ), they cede Santa María with their possessions, both to protect it from the "robbery" and looting of the nobility, as well as to carry out work of help and assistance on the roads or roads used by pilgrims to Santiago and travelers in general.
Various toponymics such as “Encrucillada” reveal that the parishioners had a network of roads that must have played an important role. La Encrucillada was and is, the place where the road from Vilachá and the carriage road from "Las Penelas" from "Barja" (Coto de Frojende-Villamarín) where the boat that allowed to cross the Sil river from Torbeo was located or Castro Caldelas towards Monforte or vice versa.
El Madoz, collects, in the mid-nineteenth century, the existence of this road, specifying that it is bad but that it leads to a boat that allows you to cross the river Sil.
Close to the crossroads are the places of "Salvadur" (in which the Chapel of the Virgen de la O (parish church of S. Julián de Tor) had two houses) and "Rubín" (in which the Encomienda de la Barra (Military Order of Santiago) had two other houses).
The toponymic "Salvadur" seems to indicate that it was a small hostel-hospital or assistance to the needy and the pilgrim.
In addition, since the parishioners are close to the place where the boat that allowed to cross the Sil river was located, the presence of the Order of Santiago (Encomienda de la Barra) in the parishion is understood because, the Military Orders used to monitor the most dangerous places , such as the crossings of rivers and ports and, in general, the extensive royal domains of difficult occupation and control, in line with the popular religiosity that emerged in the Middle Ages, whose most visible form was the pilgrimage, according to the work of S. Augustine who developed the idea that life was just a path, a pilgrimage to the afterlife. In this work, the Cluniac monks in black clothing from the monastery of San Vicente del Pino also collaborated, who owned part of the fertile lands of the parishioners.
On the other hand, certain sections of expenses in 1809 suggest that the contingent of French troops led by the French general Soult, went from Monforte de Lemos towards Torbeo passing through Rozavales and the carriage road of the "Penelas" to access the boat that allowed them to cross the river Sil, a boat that they destroyed.
For all these reasons, it can be said that Rozavales, like Vilachá, was one of those “sensitive” points of entry and exit from Galicia since ancient times, and one of the routes followed by soldiers, merchants and pilgrims, hence the presence of the Cluniac, Santiago and foreign repopulators.
Thus, it seems clear that one of the so-called secondary routes of the Camino de Santiago would pass through the parishioners since, at least until the middle of the 19th century, that communication route that linked Torbeo (Castilla) and Castro Caldelas (Ourense) passed through it. / Portugal) with Monforte de Lemos (Lugo / Castilla) through a boat that allowed to cross the river Sil and connected with the “Encrucillada” of Rozavales where the road from Vilachá converged, (possibly an old Roman road, in whose margins would have arisen the places of "Cacabelos" and "Salvadur"), and the carriage road of the "Penelas", which skirted the place of "Rubín", coming from "Barja" (Villamarín).
PEÑAS DE SANTA LUCÍA
JOSÉ ZORRILLA
Por cima de la montaña
que nos sirve de frontera,
te envía un alma sincera
un beso y una canción;
tómalos; que desde España
han de ir a dar, vida mía,
en tu alma mi poesía,
mi beso en tu corazón.
Tu padre, tras la montaña
que para ambos no es frontera,
lleva la amistad sincera
del autor de esta canción.
Recibe, pues, desde España
beso y cantar, vida mía,
en tu alma la poesía
y el beso en el corazón.
Si un día de esa montaña
paso o pasas la frontera,
verás el alma sincera
de quien te hace esta canción,
que la hidalguía de España
es quien sabe, vida mía,
dar al alma poesía
y besos al corazón.
Adjacent to the Church of Rozavales, is the communal mountain of “Sta. Lucía ”or“ Peñas de Sta. Lucía ”from which, the entire environment of the parishioners is dominated for several kilometers around and there is also a direct view of the monastery of San Vicente del Pino and the Castle of the Condes de Lemos in Monforte. Las Peñas appear to be an ancient pagan temple and a place of pilgrimage and visit “renamed and Christianized”, possibly by monks from Cluny. It must be taken into account that the feast of St. Lucia is celebrated on December 13, and in the Middle Ages, due to the accumulated delay by the Julian calendar, it coincided with the winter solstice, which was a period of renewal and of rebirth (to renew and reborn the sun after its gradual death that began in the summer solstice) which entailed celebrations and rituals in various peoples and cultures.
Adjacent to the Church of Rozavales, is the communal mountain of “Sta. Lucía ”or“ Peñas de Sta. Lucía ”from which, the entire environment of the parishioners is dominated for several kilometers around and there is also a direct view of the monastery of San Vicente del Pino and the Castle of the Condes de Lemos in Monforte. Las Peñas appear to be an ancient pagan temple and a place of pilgrimage and visit “renamed and Christianized”, possibly by monks from Cluny. It must be taken into account that the feast of St. Lucia is celebrated on December 13, and in the Middle Ages, due to the accumulated delay by the Julian calendar, it coincided with the winter solstice, which was a period of renewal and of rebirth (to renew and reborn the sun after its gradual death that began in the summer solstice) which entailed celebrations and rituals in various peoples and cultures.
