Santo Domingo de la Calzada

Camino Francés

La Rioja

Hagiotoponym dedicated to Domingo García (1019⁠—⁠1109), a Riojan hermit who devoted his life to building bridges, causeways and hospitals for Camino pilgrims. La Calzada refers to the public road he restored over the old Roman highway.

It is among the few Camino toponyms commemorating a builder of the Camino itself. Domingo García, born in Viloria de Rioja in 1019, was rejected from the local Cluniac monasteries and devoted himself as a hermit to the material improvement of the Jacobean route: he raised a bridge over the river Oja, opened a paved causeway parallel to the old Roman road, and founded a pilgrim hospital. He died in 1109 and was canonised; the town that grew alongside his works took his name with the qualifier de la Calzada, in memory of his engineering.

Evolution of the name

  1. Sancti Dominici Calciatae medieval Latin 11th — 12th century
  2. Santo Domingo de la Calzada Castilian from the 12th century

Reflections, to the letter

When you walk into Santo Domingo de la Calzada, look down at the road. A calzada is, literally, a road paved with lime: from the Latin via calciata, derived from calx, calcis, “lime” —⁠the stone the Romans ground and cured to cement their roads, also the root of calcium, calcareous and the Spanish encalar (to whitewash)⁠—⁠. Santo Domingo García, an 11th-century Riojan hermit, built a lime-paved road between Logroño and Burgos, with a bridge over the Oja, a hospital and a church. The city grew around them and took his name. The legend of the rooster and the hen —⁠an unjustly hanged pilgrim resurrected by the saint, and a roast rooster that crowed from the disbelieving judge's plate⁠— is commemorated with a live henhouse inside the cathedral. The rhyme every pilgrim used to repeat: “Santo Domingo de la Calzada, donde cantó la gallina después de asada”.

Languages of origin

Themes

Origin status

confirmed

Glossary

Hagiotoponym
A place name derived from the name of a saint (from Gr. ἅγιος, hágios, “holy”).
Roman road
A stone-paved Roman highway, part of the imperial communications network (Via Aquitana, Via Augusta, Iter ab Asturica); many such roads became medieval routes and, later, stretches of the Camino de Santiago.

Sources

  • Cantera Montenegro, M. — Santo Domingo de la Calzada y su tiempo (Logroño: Instituto de Estudios Riojanos, 1998)
  • García Turza, F.J. — Documentación medieval del Monasterio de San Millán de la Cogolla (Logroño: IER, 1992)
  • Corominas, J. & Pascual, J.A. — Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico (Madrid: Gredos, 1980–1991, s.v. cal, calzada)

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Camino Francés

  1. ··· toward Santiago
  2. Belorado
  3. Villamayor del Río
  4. Viloria de Rioja
  5. Castildelgado
  6. Redecilla del Camino
  7. Grañón
  8. Santo Domingo de la Calzada
  9. Cirueña
  10. Azofra
  11. Nájera
  12. Ventosa
  13. Navarrete
  14. Logroño
  15. ··· toward the start