I am not a pilgrim.

My next book: I have just begun reading it.
A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages by Anthony Bale (published April 2024)
It’s full of interesting tales, descriptions of early maps, and many amazing details.

Why go on a pilgrimage? Where to go?

“Reasons and motives for pilgrimage were various – sometimes pilgrimage was voluntary, sometimes it was medical, sometimes it was imposed as a punishment, sometimes one undertook a pilgrimage on behalf of one’s community – but a pilgrimage was always a journey to a special destination. Such destinations included Walsingham, Canterbury, Aachen, Wilsnack, Cologne, Santiago de Compostela, Rome, Bari, Jerusalem. These locations, and many more, were all imbued with a charismatic holiness and were key shrines for Christian pilgrims.” (Bale, p. 11)

Why I want to read about Medieval travel…

While sitting in the airport waiting for our unexpectedly early flight from Paris back home, I overheard an unexpected conversation. A security agent with a clipboard was interviewing the waiting passengers. He asked if they had packed all their own bags, had been approached to carry something by a stranger, and those usual questions — no longer part of the universal security, presumably because it slows things down too much. 

A couple sitting across from us were of course asked the same questions — what is the purpose of your trip? The man answered: “We were on a pilgrimage.” At that point I noticed that he was wearing a clerical collar, though I don’t think his clothes were all black, I think they were brown. The agent seemed disconcerted, and he asked what that meant. 

“We went to all your holy sites,” answered the pilgrim. I think this ended the interview, and the agent ticked them off and headed for us with his list of passengers on the flight. I wonder if they visited any places connected with Joan of Arc, whose statue stood quite near to the hotel where our brief trip took place. I wonder if they saw the holy relics or remains of saints that Medieval pilgrims reverently viewed. 

Our departure was painful, so I didn’t take any photos during our ride to the airport, our transport through the airport, or our time in the boarding area. But I did notice this startling interchange that made me think about past trips and experiences with the once-holy travel sites in France — in a way, modern tourism has some of its roots in this type of tourism from the past. Just thinking about it is interesting.

Visiting Notre Dame de Paris during a service in 2018 (before it burned).
Of course I know it’s a holy site… but it doesn’t occupy that niche in my mind.

I have never thought of France as a country of holy sites, though of course I’m aware that there are many cathedrals and churches, as well as the famous grotto of Lourdes (where I’ve never visited). I know about the pilgrimages of the Middle Ages — for example how Rue Saint Jacques in Paris, leading from Notre Dame Cathedral, was the start of the most famous route, which led to the Santiago de Compostela site in Spain. I know about the major cathedrals of Chartres, Rouen, Rheims, Amiens, and also of Mont Saint Michel — in fact, over the years, I’ve visited them all. I’ve been to Vézelay, where there is a basilica and a Benedictine and Cluniac monastery — a key site where pilgrims started for Santiago as well as where Saint Bernard called on French people to join the Second Crusade.

I’m sure these churches all have reliquaries with holy objects — in fact, these boxes are often on display, made of precious metals, stones, and enamel work. Stained glass images of Bible stories, mosaics or paintings of holy scenes, and similar images are often part of the appeal, along with the impressive architecture. So I wonder why the words of the pilgrim about to board our plane were so startling to me. I guess I think of all that as being in the distant past. Because my specific example was a Christian pilgrim in France, my thoughts only turned to Christian sites and motives, though of course people of other religions and in other places have also made pilgrimages to holy sites connected to their own faith.

This devil on the ruins of the church at St. Gilles in Provence is waiting to tempt Adam and Eve.
In the Middle Ages this church was also a starting points for the Santiago pilgrimage.
I wonder if our fellow passengers went there, or if they only went to currently active holy sites. 

Medieval Travel

Reading Anthony Bale’s book about long-ago travelers and pilgrims is an interesting contrast to my own experiences throughout my life. Medieval travelers had to think ahead and purchase supplies of food, wine, and clean water for their voyages. They were sure to be in danger from a variety of criminals — their possessions could be stolen during the night in an inn or hostel if their rooms were not securely locked. (Well, this may not be completely changed). Often, they were robbed by the officials of a country or by gate keepers along the way. Even in the best of situations, they could be required to pay extortionate amounts of money or goods for safe passage.

Accommodations were substandard at best. Hostels were proud of themselves if they made a practice of washing the bedding once a month — and it would be nice if they even offered a bed rather than just a space on the floor. Don’t even ask about privacy or sanitation! Fleas, ticks, maggots, gnats, lice, worms, mice, rats, and other vermin were inevitable in even the best hostels or onboard ships, and bathing to get rid of pests wasn’t always an option. The accommodations on ships were even worse than the travelers’ inns along the routes where pilgrims and tourists walked. Moreover, storms and rough seas could cause terrible seasickness, or extreme calm could prolong voyages to the point where the passengers and crew might starve or die of thirst.

“The Florentine Simone Sigoli, reflecting on his journey to Jerusalem in 1384, seemed to summarize the medieval attitude to sea travel: ‘No one should travel who does not desire hardship, trouble, tribulation and the risk of death.’” (p. 85)

What a luxurious life we live in today’s world! 

Imaginary Places

A particular feature of many Medieval travel accounts, especially those of the Silk Roads into the unknown areas of Asia, were accounts of various mythical lands and peoples, such as The Old Man of the Mountain; the Land of Gog and Magog; or the fountain of youth. I have always enjoyed the stories of the land of plenty called Cocayne, which author Anthony Bale describes in some detail:

“From the thirteenth century, the land of Cockayne (Cockaigne, Cuccagna) was the false paradise most widely represented. Cockayne was on a distant shore, somewhere. Work was forbidden, free sex with willing partners was available to all and sinuous brooks ran with youth-giving liquors. The sun never set and one’s clothes were even free from lice. Pigs voluntarily roasted themselves as tasty pies flew through the air. The shingles on Cockayne’s pretty church were made of wheaten cakes, and one could tug away the sweet masonry and eat and eat and eat. It was a dreamland of plenty.” (p. 212)

Some of the real cities and royal courts in China and India were described just as fancifully as the imaginary places, as the returning adventurers told the remarkable stories of the places they visited. The great wealth of the Indian princes, for example, must have seemed mythical to the Europeans who stayed home and only read the travelers’ tales. Bale summarizes these tales for the modern reader — to me some still seem more imagined than real. 

Tales of Food

Of course the travelers brought back news about exotic and unfamiliar foods — sometimes accurate, sometimes exaggerated. Marco Polo’s supposed introduction of pasta from China is a twentieth century fairy tale — pasta had long been eaten in Italy. I wrote about Marco Polo and food a few years ago (in this post). Here is Bale’s summary of his contribution:

“Marco Polo is often credited with bringing a range of foods from China to Italy, but there is no evidence he brought recipes back with him. He did note many peculiarities of diet and rituals around food: for example, he described excellent spiced date wine in Hormuz, the exclusive diet of meat and rice in Kashmir, the Tatar habit of eating horse, dog and mongoose, the central Asian offerings of fat and broth to the gods, the rice and millet noodles of China and the wonderful pears and peaches at the Hangzhou market.” (p. 266)

I’ve read other books about Medieval travel, such as Gary Paul Nabhan’s Cumin, Camels and Caravans Mary Taylor Simeti’s Travels with a Medieval Queen, and Giles Milton’s Nathaniel’s Nutmeg. I’ve also enjoyed the Travels of Benjamin of Tudela, who wrote about his twelfth-century voyages. Travel stories are always an intriguing bit of history! 

Post and photos © 2016, 2018, 2024 mae sander