Pilgrimages are a method of showing religious devotion by visiting holy places, often either the burial place of a saint, the place of death of a a religious martyr or the site of a holy relic. Although several different religions used this practice, none were as popular or widespread as the religious pilgrimages of medieval Christians. Since the Church in the Middle Ages encouraged a theology of association, pilgrims believed that the relics of saints kept at pilgrimage sites assured the presence of the saint. They would undertake a pilgrimage to improve their health or that of their loved ones, promising that if they or their loved ones were healed, they would make a pilgrimage to the saint's grave as a token of thanks. People also made pilgrimages as a means of penance, to fulfill a vow, to fulfill a religious obligation, or to protect themselves from enemies (EMPP). While originally pilgrimages generally consisted of a solitary pilgrim quietly going about their business, as they grew in popularity they quickly became a means of punishment, reconciliation and scandal to name a few. a few. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essayThe costume of a pilgrim in the Middle Ages resembled the robe of a Dominican monk. It generally consisted of a long blouse, over which a hooded cape was worn. They wore wide-brimmed hats to protect against wet weather, tied under the chin with two strings long enough that the pilgrim could let the hat hang on his back when not needed. They wore a belt that crossed their chest and from which their wallets hung. Wallets were meant to contain cases for food, money, relics, and any other necessities. They also often carried bells in their hands, or “some other pilgrims will have bagpipes with them; so that every town through which they passed, with the noise of their songs, the sound of their bagpipes, and the tinkling of their Canterbury bells, and with the barking of the dogs after them, they made more noise than if the king came thither with all his buglers and many other minstrels” (Foxe, “Acts and Monuments of the Church,” 493). They also carried a walking stick, made of two sticks tied together, a "stick with a broad tie around it, in the manner of a wood rope wound all around" (Langland, 325). Due to an incident on St. Richard's Day in 1487, when pilgrims were fighting to the death with their sticks to get closer to the tomb of Saint Richard, pilgrims were forbidden to carry sticks. They could then only carry banners and crosses (Bède). Another important part of the pilgrims' costume was their signs. Pilgrims' signs were badges sewn onto their hats or clothing to allow them safe passage, even through hostile territory. The signs also served to identify where the pilgrim came from, where he was going, and where he had been. A pilgrim could purchase signs at pilgrimage sites to show that he had been there. They were color coded by country and had different designs to identify where the pilgrim was going. “He carried a bowl and a bag by his side. A hundred bottles of holy water were placed on his hat, souvenirs from Sinai and shells from Galicia, and many crosses on his mantle and his keys of Rome, and the vernicle in front so that people would know that inseeing his signs, what shrines he had visited” (Langland, p. 325, lines 519-524) Because of the physical gravity of a pilgrimage. , they were often used as a means of doing penance. Mr Phillip Barker, an archaeologist studying the remains of a 15th century pilgrim, described the condition of the skeletons: “More than 500 years after his death, the condition of the pilgrim's remains…. . . shows that a life of arduous walking left him with severe arthritis in his legs, toes, spine, ribs and pelvis. As well as causing him considerable pain, it led to a fusion of some bones in his spine, coccyx, ribs and sternum, which would have had a paralyzing effect. Pilgrimages imposed by law were called “judicial pilgrimages”. This allowed the community to avoid the cost of imprisoning criminals while still being relieved. Judicial pilgrims were required to collect signatures at sites they were ordered to visit to prove they had been there. The distance they had to travel was based on the seriousness of their crime; the more serious it was, the further they were forced to travel. They were often ordered to perform their pilgrimage barefoot, or in extreme cases, completely naked, which is described in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in the first part of the Parson's tale: contree, et thanne hooly chirche par juggementDestreyneth hym to do open penance. Community penance is that the preestes appreciate men in community in certeyn caas, such as going on adventures naked on pilgrimages, or barefoot. "Judicial pilgrims usually wore the object of their offense around their neck. For example, if their crime was murder, they wore the murder weapon around their neck, or if they were heretics, they wore two yellow crosses on chest and back Because they were easily identifiable, they did not enjoy the hospitality usually offered to pilgrims. Instead, they were subjected to public scorn and ridicule as part of their punishment (EMPP). Many people who undertook pilgrimages as penance were entirely voluntary, the purpose of their journey being between themselves and God alone. They went on pilgrimage to repent of the crimes they had committed against God in order to secure their place in the world. heaven According to a canon issued under King Edgar, “It is a deep penance for a layman to lay down his arms and travel far barefoot and spend nowhere a second night and fast and watch much and pray fervently, by day. like at night and gets tired voluntarily. and be so sordid that the iron does not touch the hair or the nails” (Thorpe, 411). The difficulties of pilgrimages are described in “Syr Isenbras,” an ancient English ballad, in which it is said: “They carried with them no means of thynge that was worth a farthynge Cattell, golde, ne fe; could it happen. For Saynct Charyt. » The Catholic Church even wrote "warrants of reconciliation", which were a legal document that guaranteed a person's readmission into the Christian community at the end of their pilgrimage (Bède). Another reason for pilgrimage. was to relieve the restlessness. In the Middle Ages, people were often tied to specific localities due to family obligations, work and also because recreational travel was not commonly accepted. Life in the Middle Ages was tightly controlled and people rarely left their village or surrounding areas. A pilgrimage was a socially acceptable way to get out of the village, get away from one's spouse, children or parents and discover the world. However, this ultimately also produced a scandal, as domestic duties were neglected in favor of the adventure of travel. These“Recreational pilgrims” were referred to in “Piers Plowman” as “great long lubbers who don't like to work” (Langland, p. 320, line 55). In the fourth century, as we see in the "Peregrinatio Silvi", groups, mostly religious, organized organized trips for pilgrims, with a planned itinerary, meals and armed escorts (Bed). The Indulgence was also a large part of pilgrimages in the Middle Ages, and eventually became the object of disdain from many. The Indulgence was the idea that because Jesus and the saints had done so much good, the Church possessed a treasury of additional merits, or Indulgences. These merits could be attributed to people who performed pilgrimages to various shrines, thereby saving them from hell, purgatory, or at least shortening their time in Purgatory. It was believed that if one went on a pilgrimage to the tomb of Saint John in Santiago, their stay in Purgatory could be reduced by half. In the 12th century, Gerald of Wales collected a hundred years' worth of indulgences in a few weeks by traveling to Rome and visiting as many places of pilgrimage as possible (EMPP). In the 14th century, pilgrimage sites competed, offering larger indulgences to attract “customers,” much like modern stores hold sales. Some sites offered hundreds or thousands of years of indulgences. Martin Luther launched the Protestant Reformation with his "Ninety-five Theses", which were an argument against the Church's issuance of indulgences. It is not surprising that among all this duplicity, professional pilgrims began to surface, offering their services for a price that varied from twenty to one hundred marks. Those who could not travel due to age or illness could hire a professional pilgrim to search for them. These were called "vicarious pilgrimages" and were in fact very common. For safety reasons, pilgrims often traveled in groups. This allowed people to make new friends while staying safe, but also led to more scandals as groups threw loud parties and told tales of debauchery. The Canterbury Tales seem to be a perfect example of the stories that occurred during these group pilgrimages. At the sanctuaries, as the crowds grew, wine was in abundance and the crowds were noisy. The priests of Santiago de Compostela complained that “we hear all kinds of noises and languages ​​together, discordant cries, barbaric chants in German, English, Greek and all the other languages ​​of the world ". Some pilgrims even carved their family name or coat of arms into the shrine itself. At Mount Sinai, the name of Ghillebert de Lannoy is still visible. Because of all this bad behavior, some sanctuaries have hired security guards to maintain order (EMPP). It is not surprising that the public eventually grew tired of offering hospitality to pilgrims. Despite all this, the Church was prepared to go to war and fight to protect the pilgrimages to Jerusalem. As pilgrims visited the Holy Sepulchre, the tomb in which Jesus was laid before rising from the dead, they wrote accounts of their travels and the shrines they visited. These stories are called peregrinations and familiarize the Western world with the Orient. During one of these pilgrimages, the most famous on record as it contained nearly 12,000 pilgrims, the group was attacked by an army of Bedouins outside Caesarea. When the story of the attack reached Europe, it caused outrage and consequently beganEastern Crusades (Bède). Of course, many other issues were involved as well, and the timeline goes beyond just the Middle Ages. However, to put it simply, Christians wanted Jerusalem, and the motivating factor was the Christian relics that Jerusalem contained. Obviously, the importance of relics is directly linked to pilgrimages. Besides the Crusades, many developments resulted from pilgrimages in the Middle Ages. Miracle plays were originally performed by pilgrims at the shrines they visited or during their journey. Whatever shrine of saint or martyr they visited would be the subject of the play (Bed). They recreated the miracle or the heroic story of martyrdom to draw inspiration from it or to teach history to those who did not know it. Eventually, the Miracle plays made their way to the West, where they were performed on the streets of Europe. This was used to teach the holy stories to people who could not read the Bible themselves because they could not read or were unable to understand the Latin verse in which it was written. Many religious services were also held in Latin, so that ordinary people could not even learn the stories from the Bible there. When people were able to experience the stories in a way they could understand, it brought their religion closer to them, creating a faith considerably more personal than the Catholic Church had previously allowed. These are the kinds of things that gave credence to the Reformation. The rise and fall of cities was directly linked to pilgrimages. If an otherwise obscure city contained an important relic, the inevitable pilgrim traffic would expand the city. Businesses would open to accommodate them and, as a result, the city's residences would expand. Such was the case with Canterbury, which grew larger than Winchester at the height of religious pilgrimages in the Middle Ages, but which became relatively insignificant after the Reformation when pilgrimages declined (Bed). Through pilgrimages, roads were built and knowledge of geography was acquired. The wanderings written by the pilgrims were like maps because they gave a detailed account of their itineraries and the towns they passed through. Pilgrims literally created roads with their feet as their walk scraped and tumbled down the paths. In this way a route was made through the Syrian desert to Jerusalem and from the coast to Canterbury (Bed). These rugged trails laid the foundation for larger roads that could accommodate wagons and facilitate trade. As the roads became busier and pilgrims passed through different lands, relations between the countries opened up. Before the pilgrimages, the countries were quite isolated from each other. At the height of pilgrimages, people even used pilgrims as postmen, waiting at the gate with their letter until a pilgrim passed, then using the pilgrim to deliver it. Countries also allowed foreign pilgrims to pass through their lands safely, even in times of war (Bed). Religious orders were also founded, largely to protect pilgrims. The most famous of them is the Order of the Templars. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized article from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay Scandals were rife during medieval pilgrimages as people neglected their duties at home. , the crude behavior of the pilgrims does not exactly correspond to a religious mission, the relic keepers aggressively market the importance of the.