Pilgrims and Pilgrimage in the Medieval West

Pilgrimage was an integral part of both medieval religion and medieval life. From its origins in the 4th century Mediterranean world it spread rapidly to Northern Europe as a pan-European devotional phenomenon. Concentrating on the medieval Latin West, Pilgrims and Pilgrimage covers the period spanning the beginning of the growth in pilgrimage during the 7th century to the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, when pilgrimage ceased to be a vital part of European Christian culture. The author draws extensively on original sources--accounts of pilgrimages, guidebooks, chronicles, wills, covert memos, and state documents--to uncover the motives of the pilgrims and their attitudes toward their preparations, journeys, and destinations.