Swanley History Group – November 2016
Members of Swanley History Group took a journey into the world of pilgrims during the Middle Ages guided by lecturer Imogen Corrigan at our November meeting.
Travel at that time was much more common than many of us appreciated. As well as monarchs and their retinues making their constant progresses, there were merchants, traders, armies, diplomats, jobseekers, prospective marriage suitors and others making frequent long distance journeys.
In those times when the pre-reformation church was all powerful, pilgrimage was not always a choice. Your priest or bishop might demand that you make a pilgrimage to atone for your sins. Whether you were a prince or a peasant you might also do so in order to shorten your time in purgatory, give thanks for something, seek a cure or ask for protection from a saint. We in Kent are familiar with Canterbury Cathedral where pilgrims visited to venerate the murdered Thomas a Becket. Other sites involved a greater commitment – at least a year of your life if you were going to The Holy Land and the dangers were such that you might never return!
Travel was not for the faint-hearted. Pilgrimage sites were often in remote areas and frequently on top of a mountain. The roads were rough, rivers had to be crossed and travel by sea was far from a cruise experience - hence the ship being one of the most common images found in medieval churches. Poor weather, attack by muggers or wild beasts, being captured for slavery, being refused entry at borders all added to the excitement. Pilgrim badges given on reaching the end of a spiritual quest were sewn onto clothing and proudly displayed on return. Today we collect stickers or fridge magnets.
Pub quiz aficionados might know the answer to this question – Which major town of pilgrimage in France gave us the word for ‘tourist’?
Christina Tyler, Programme Organiser
Members of Swanley History Group took a journey into the world of pilgrims during the Middle Ages guided by lecturer Imogen Corrigan at our November meeting.
Travel at that time was much more common than many of us appreciated. As well as monarchs and their retinues making their constant progresses, there were merchants, traders, armies, diplomats, jobseekers, prospective marriage suitors and others making frequent long distance journeys.
In those times when the pre-reformation church was all powerful, pilgrimage was not always a choice. Your priest or bishop might demand that you make a pilgrimage to atone for your sins. Whether you were a prince or a peasant you might also do so in order to shorten your time in purgatory, give thanks for something, seek a cure or ask for protection from a saint. We in Kent are familiar with Canterbury Cathedral where pilgrims visited to venerate the murdered Thomas a Becket. Other sites involved a greater commitment – at least a year of your life if you were going to The Holy Land and the dangers were such that you might never return!
Travel was not for the faint-hearted. Pilgrimage sites were often in remote areas and frequently on top of a mountain. The roads were rough, rivers had to be crossed and travel by sea was far from a cruise experience - hence the ship being one of the most common images found in medieval churches. Poor weather, attack by muggers or wild beasts, being captured for slavery, being refused entry at borders all added to the excitement. Pilgrim badges given on reaching the end of a spiritual quest were sewn onto clothing and proudly displayed on return. Today we collect stickers or fridge magnets.
Pub quiz aficionados might know the answer to this question – Which major town of pilgrimage in France gave us the word for ‘tourist’?
Christina Tyler, Programme Organiser