Portals of St James Ways, one of them passing along the Castle of Freÿr / Meuse (Belgium)

Way of St James

One of the path from Northern Europe to St James goes along the Meuse and Freÿr. Is this the reason that within 8 kilometers, there were three Monasteries: Norbertinians at Leffe (still alive) and Benedictines in Waulsort and Hastiere.
The path was going through Reims (the cathedral of the coronation), Auxerre (St Germain), Vezelay (St Mary-Magdalena) and Le Puy (the Black Virgin), the starting point of the Via Podiensis to Santiago de Compostela.
Freyr is connected in another way to St James, Indeed, Robert de Beaufort the founder of the Spontin branch after having gone to St James added the three scallops on the diagonal of his family coat of arms (late 12 century).
It was carried on by his son William, who took part in the fifth crusade and died in Palestine (1220).

Associations