Mozarab is the name given to Christians who lived in Muslim territory, and it comes from the word musta´arabib (Arabised). There were large Mozarabic communities in the south of the peninsula, the most important being those of Mérida, Seville, Granada and Córdoba. Naturally, pilgrims made use of the main communication routes of the time, namely the road that ran from Córdoba to Medellín, Mérida, Cáceres, Alcántara and later Coimbra and Porto. Our pilgrim used it only as far as Magacela, then continued through the Vegas del Guadiana between Villanueva de la Serena and Logrosán, before joining the present-day Camino Natural de las Villuercas to reach our destination, Guadalupe.
As mentioned above, the first stage of our way follows the old Roman road that linked Baetica with Lusitania, coinciding with the route of the pilgrims to Santiago, who used this ancient artery to reach Mérida and take the Vía de la Plata. The Romans paved the road and equipped it with bridges, milestones (large granite blocks marking the miles) and mansiones (resting places for travellers, the origin of some of today’s towns). Arabs and Christians used it extensively during the struggles for the lands of the plateau, and it was also important as a pilgrimage route to Santiago and Guadalupe, under the name of Camino Mozárabe. This was confirmed by the bull of Benedict XII in the 14th century, which resulted from the concerns of King Alfonso XI, who wished to establish in Guadalupe the great Marian shrine of Castile to counterbalance the excessive predominance of Santiago de Compostela as a place of constant pilgrimage, control the western frontiers, attract people to this area and encourage the movement of livestock along the royal drove roads to the lands of Extremadura and Andalusia.
The fruitful cultural encounter between Christians and Muslims, between Mozarabs and Mudéjars, produced magnificent architectural and artistic fusions throughout the Late Middle Ages. The greatest example is found in Guadalupe, with its monastery in a clearly Mudéjar style, the fruit of the initially peaceful coexistence of Jews, Mudéjars and Christians. Other examples can be found in Magacela, Logrosán and Cañamero, with important fortifications built after the Arab settlements and later converted and adapted into Christian castles. From the 14th century, with the discovery of the Virgin of Guadalupe, the Roman road linking the south-west of the peninsula with the north-west also began to be travelled by Mozarabic pilgrims, who obtained in Córdoba the safe-conduct that allowed them to cross the border between Al-Andalus and the Christian kingdoms.
