The Idea of Pilgrimage

[Margaret Butterworth]

I first came across the idea of pilgrimage when I studied English Literature at school. One of our set books was the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales by Chaucer. A merry band of pilgrims set off from London to travel to Canterbury. Their destination was the tomb of Thomas a Becket, who was murdered in 1170. “Who will rid me of this turbulent priest” is an unsubstantiated quote of Henry II. Four knights did just that, right there in Canterbury Cathedral. The interesting thing to me, as a modern day pilgrim, is that these medieval pilgrims rode on horseback. Nowadays, purists believe that you should walk every step of the way to Santiago de Compostela. In the Middle Ages, the mode of transport was not important. You just had to get there!

 

[Kirkie]

I first came across the idea of pilgrimage when I studied English Literature at school. One of our set books was the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales by Chaucer. A merry band of pilgrims set off from London to travel to Canterbury. Their destination was the tomb of Thomas a Becket, who was murdered in 1170. “Who will rid me of this turbulent priest” is an unsubstantiated quote of Henry II. Four knights did just that, right there in Canterbury Cathedral. The interesting thing to me, as a modern day pilgrim, is that these medieval pilgrims rode on horseback. Nowadays, purists believe that you should walk every step of the way to Santiago de Compostela. In the Middle Ages, the mode of transport was not important. You just had to get there!

View attachment 178441

What a lovely image! And who will rid me of these turbulent other people? I am actually joking. I love the notion of pilgrimage. It may or may not be a Camino. When the two are in harmony, it is the alignment of forces that can lead to change, healing, discovery. I am just trying to take up your invitation, OP, to explore a little bit the idea of Pilgrimage. Thanks, it will help me to remember that my pilgrimage is never over, until it is!

 

[dougfitz]

Nowadays, purists believe that you should walk every step of the way to Santiago de Compostela.

I think we do ourselves and others a disservice by suggesting those who believe this are purists. It might be my personal goal, I expect many others will share that, and even perhaps encourage it. But while I am not sure what best describes those who want to mandate such notions, I know it certainly wouldn't be 'purist'.

 

[David]

Canterbury Tales is a truly funny book - the first in English too - but it isn't really about the pilgrimage to Canterbury, nor 'true' of pilgrimage to Canterbury. The pilgrimage is merely a vehicle to write a funny and caustic satire on society of that time.
The same with Trimalchio's Feast (by Petronius). It is not actually about a Roman dinner party, nor are the courses relevant or real - what it is is a hilarious and biting satire on wealthy Roman society of that time using a fictional feast as the vehicle for it.

As for the actual real pilgrimage, sure, most pilgrims walked - to own a horse meant wealth, a rare thing in those times (and these).

As an aside, leaving Pons (a few days north of Bordeaux) and passing through the old pilgrim hospital, the road through it has stone benches along either side for weary pilgrims and a long sealed up hatch to give out food .. there is plenty of medieval carved graffiti and about halfway down on the right hand side high up someone has carved their heraldic shield, using their dagger I should think. It could only have been carved by someone on horseback, an aristo, a knight - but plenty are at pedestrian pilgrim level.

 

[williamlittig]

I first came across the idea of pilgrimage when I studied English Literature at school. One of our set books was the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales by Chaucer. A merry band of pilgrims set off from London to travel to Canterbury. Their destination was the tomb of Thomas a Becket, who was murdered in 1170. “Who will rid me of this turbulent priest” is an unsubstantiated quote of Henry II. Four knights did just that, right there in Canterbury Cathedral. The interesting thing to me, as a modern day pilgrim, is that these medieval pilgrims rode on horseback. Nowadays, purists believe that you should walk every step of the way to Santiago de Compostela. In the Middle Ages, the mode of transport was not important. You just had to get there!

View attachment 178441

Yes, Pilgrims have intent, purpose and destination. They rely on their wits to find food and shelter. Schedules change as do routes and weather, yet they persist. It isn't a vacation, Pilgrims support themselves, reliance on transportation, booking reservations and baggage transport would have been laughable, some still laugh today.

 

[Robo]

Nowadays, purists believe that you should walk every step of the way to Santiago de Compostela. In the Middle Ages, the mode of transport was not important. You just had to get there!

Fair points.

And that opens up the question of whether it is the journey or the destination that is of importance.

In the Middle Ages, it was likely about the destination. After all the journey was somewhat perilous! And the only modes of transport were horses / wagons for the rich, and walking for the poor.

Whereas now, whilst the destination is certainly important, perhaps we also cherish the journey? The freedom from day to day duties, the community, the chance to get out in the fresh air, be active, to live a simple life...... These may not have been objectives in the Middle Ages

Have we, in modern times, raised the importance of the actual 'journey'? And Why?

 

[Margaret Butterworth]

The point I was trying to make is this: there is no prescriptive requirement to walk every step on the Camino (apart from the last 100k). In the Middle Ages, you could ride a horse if you wished. On my last couple of Caminos, I often travelled some parts by bus. At my age, I needed to take a break from walking. Regarding the destination issue: in medieval times people would be more interested in the need to secure a place in heaven, which is why they were on pilgrimage.

 

[Sirage]

Who knows? History tends to be written by, or for, the rich. (In other circumstances by the winners.)

We choose our own way.

 

[Walkalong]

Purists? Sounds exclusionary. There is no requirement to walk the last 100K, or collect stamps, or participate in clever mid-evil or modern marketing schemes.

But there is a lot to be said for a journey, preferably a long journey, undertaken by the simple means, carrying minimal kit, with minimal planning, sharing kindness with others. It can be a very humbling, freeing experience.

 

[Kirkie]

Yes, Pilgrims have intent, purpose and destination. They rely on their wits to find food and shelter. Schedules change as do routes and weather, yet they persist. It isn't a vacation, Pilgrims support themselves, reliance on transportation, booking reservations and baggage transport would have been laughable, some still laugh today.

You bring to mind a hardy pilgrim i know who lives in Warsaw. She does what it says on the tin. I could not do justice to describing her approach, it is based on some planning, but a lot of counting on being recognised in her pilgrim status. It works for her. I do not mean recognised in terms of fame, rather as being welcomed in a climate where pilgrimage is respected. On a camino path in Poland.

 

[Turga]

high up someone has carved their heraldic shield, using their dagger I should think. It could only have been carved by someone on horseback, an aristo, a knight

Pilgrim on stilts? Pilgrim carrying a ladder?

 

[JabbaPapa]

The interesting thing to me, as a modern day pilgrim, is that these medieval pilgrims rode on horseback. Nowadays, purists believe that you should walk every step of the way to Santiago de Compostela. In the Middle Ages, the mode of transport was not important. You just had to get there!

Most modern pilgrimages are agnostic as to the means of transportation, and when I say "most", that's actually the vast majority of them.

Without even considering the many non-Christian pilgrimage destinations in the world, most Christian pilgrims travel by coach or by train in groups with their parish or diocese, or in smaller self-organised groups, family and/or friends. Our local 1st May Marian Pilgrimage to Notre Dame de Laghet gathers hundreds of pilgrims, some going up by coach, most by private car, some on foot.

I'm no longer sure of the stats at Compostela itself, as the numbers of foot/bike/horse pilgrims going there via the Camino has grown massively over the past ten years, but a decade ago and longer the non-Camino pilgrims to Santiago were clearly the majority of pilgrims ; and even in the 2020s, foot pilgrims are a minority of people in the Pilgrim Masses at the Cathedral.

Even just in Spain, I believe that more make a pilgrimage to Montserrat in any year year than to Santiago, and Nuestra Señora del Pilar in Zaragoza, the other major Jacobean pilgrimage destination, has pilgrim numbers comparable to those at Santiago.

What's peculiar about Santiago is its strong tradition of foot pilgrimages as a major proportion of travels to it, something it shares with the other major Christian pilgrimages only in the pilgrimages to Jerusalem and Fátima. Of course all of the pilgrimage destinations both East and West have some degree of foot pilgrimage, from the smaller and most local ones to the most major of them. But as to the pilgrimage to Rome for instance, whilst there is a huge network of Via Romea foot pilgrimage routes throughout Europe, exactly comparable to the Camino, as to the Roman pilgrimage itself the means of travel there is completely irrelevant, except for one's own personal reasons.

The Way of Saint James to Santiago de Compostela is greatly exceptional in this regard in comparison to Christian Pilgrimages in general.

 

[Corned Beef]

As travelling by horse / coach in the Middle Ages would be for the well-heeled (pun), pilgrimage by foot would be the default choice. Of course you could also use Shank's Pony or 'sur la mule de cordeliers'

 

[David Tallan]

Canterbury Tales is a truly funny book - the first in English too - but it isn't really about the pilgrimage to Canterbury, nor 'true' of pilgrimage to Canterbury. The pilgrimage is merely a vehicle to write a funny and caustic satire on society of that time.
The same with Trimalchio's Feast (by Petronius). It is not actually about a Roman dinner party, nor are the courses relevant or real - what it is is a hilarious and biting satire on wealthy Roman society of that time using a fictional feast as the vehicle for it.

As for the actual real pilgrimage, sure, most pilgrims walked - to own a horse meant wealth, a rare thing in those times (and these).

As an aside, leaving Pons (a few days north of Bordeaux) and passing through the old pilgrim hospital, the road through it has stone benches along either side for weary pilgrims and a long sealed up hatch to give out food .. there is plenty of medieval carved graffiti and about halfway down on the right hand side high up someone has carved their heraldic shield, using their dagger I should think. It could only have been carved by someone on horseback, an aristo, a knight - but plenty are at pedestrian pilgrim level.

To be sure, the pilgrimage is a vehicle to tell the tales that Chaucer wished to tell, some of which were very satirical, some of which were not. But I am not so sure as you that it is completely false to pilgrimage at the time. Personally, I think that would make it a less effective vehicle.

We do know from the Codex Calixtinus that some pilgrims rode. He talks of the dangers to pilgrims' horses, and some of the stages are of a distance that only makes sense for a rider.

I suspect that pilgrims in the middle ages traveled according to their means. The lower classes walked, and the middle and upper classes rode. There were certainly a lot more peasants than middle class or nobility, but I'm not sure whether the demographics of the Camino matched those of society as a whole.

In terms of the present day, we've heard the story of one of our members who had just walked to Santiago and was told by a pilgrim purist, arriving in a bus from Germany with a number of other pilgrims and some priests, that he wasn't really a pilgrim because he hadn't travelled as she had, with priests. Purists come in different flavours.

Here on the forum, especially in a thread like this one, let's all be cognizant of Rule #3. While it is okay to talk about the nature of pilgrimage, it isn't okay to say to someone, as the German bus lady told our Forum member, that they are not a real pilgrim.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

[...] that he wasn't really a pilgrim because he hadn't travelled as she had, with priests. Purists come in different flavours.

Such as those who say suffering on the journey is required. Anyway, I'm wondering how to draw the Venn diagram here.