Reconsidering the medieval experience at the shrine in high medieval England

This article reassesses pilgrimage practices in eleventh- and twelfth-century England and questions the assumption that pilgrims had relatively unrestricted access to saints’ shrines and relics in this period. Drawing on hagiographical evidence, and focusing on six case studies, the article finds that remarkably few pilgrims are depicted in close proximity to a saint's shrine in these narrative sources; they are instead shown venerating at alternative places of devotion such as holy wells, empty graves and extra-mural chapels. It proposes that policies of restricted access were operated by many English cult centres earlier than is often imagined, and in discussing why ecclesiastical institutions may have distanced the laity from their principal shrines the article sets its conclusions within the wider religious developments of the time

Ancient history · Archaeology · Medieval history · Medieval Literature · Medieval studies · Middle Ages · Classics · History · Medieval Literature and History · Reformation and Early Modern Christianity · Religious Tourism and Spaces

• Urban Piety & Camino de Santiago

  Open Access•Piotr Roszak, Franciszek Mróz et al.•De Medio Aevo•2024

  Add to list

• Micro Pilgrimages

  Open Access•Anne E Bailey•Religions•2022

  Add to list