gs' and Muslim raids came to an end. This led to the establishment of new cultures via Way of St James hailing from north of the Pyrenees, starting in 1083.
Three boroughs and one city
From the 11th century, reviving economic development allowed Pamplona to recover its urban life. The bishops of Pamplona recovered their ecclesiastical leading role; during the previous centuries isolated monasteries, especially Leyre, had actually held the religious authority. The pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostela contributed a lot to revive the commercial and cultural exchanges with Christian Europe beyond the Pyrenees. In the 12th century, the city enlarged with two new separate burgos (independent boroughs): San Cernín (Saint Saturnin) and San Nicolás, in which the population of local Navarrese was swelled by Occitan merchants and artisans. The boroughs showed very distinct features both socially and culturally, and were almost always engaged in quarrels among themselves. The most dramatic episode was the destruction of the Navarrería by the other two boroughs and the massacre of its population in 1276. Its site was abandoned for nearly fifty years. King Charles III decreed the unification of the boroughs in a single city in 1423.
A fortress-city
After the annexation of Navarre to Spain (1512), Pamplona remained as capital of the autonomous kingdom of Navarre, which preserved its own institutions and laws. Pamplona acquired a key role in the military defence of the Pyrenees. The southern side of the city was the weaker and the Navarrese king Louis I built a castle in the early 14th century in the site that is known today as Plaza del Castillo (Castle Square). After the Castilian conquest, king Ferdinand V ordered in 1513 the demolition of the medieval castle and the building of a new one in a very close place. But the progress of artillery demanded a complete renewal
