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Pilgrimage in the Middle Ages: Why People Went
Why medieval people left home for distant shrines, what rules and customs shaped the trip, and what the journey was actually like for ordinary travelers.
Faith and Health
Pilgrimage, Relics and Shrines
Holy journeys, saints bones and the shrines that drew travelers.
Canterbury and the Shrine of Thomas Becket
How Thomas Becket's tomb at Canterbury Cathedral became England's greatest shrine, what visitors saw and bought there, and how it ended under Henry VIII.
Fraudulent Relics and Medieval Critics
How medieval writers, church councils and satirists attacked false relics and pardoners, from Guibert of Nogent to Chaucer and the Lollards.
Pilgrim Badges and Souvenirs
How small lead-alloy badges and flasks served as proof of a pilgrimage in medieval Europe, who made them, what they showed, and why so many survive.
Relics: Bones, Cloth and Holy Objects
What medieval relics were, how churches acquired and authenticated them, and how bones, cloth and holy objects were housed, displayed and venerated.
Rome as a Pilgrimage Destination
Why medieval pilgrims traveled to Rome, which churches and relics they visited, and how the first Jubilee of 1300 brought huge crowds to the city.
The Camino de Santiago
How the tomb of Saint James at Compostela became a great medieval pilgrimage, which routes led there, and how hospices and a guidebook supported travelers.
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Monasteries and Orders Monks, monasteries and the military religious orders. Medicine and Healing Doctors, herbs, theories and beliefs about illness and magic. Philosophy and Theology How medieval thinkers joined faith and reason. The Black Death The plague of the 1300s and its effects on society. Inquisition and Heresy How medieval church courts pursued heresy, and what the records really show. Saints and Mystics Holy men and women, visionaries and a martyr. Theologians and Reformers Thinkers who shaped and challenged Church teaching. The Church and Its Power How the medieval church was organized and how it used its influence. Afterlife and Purgatory What people believed about death, heaven, hell and purgatory. Sin, Salvation and Virtue Medieval ideas about sin, salvation, providence and the virtues. Jews in Medieval Europe Jewish communities, scholarship, restrictions and expulsions.