Abstracts of Papers

Last update: July 24 2000

Details may be subject to change.
Abstracts of papers are being made available as they are supplied by speakers.

Bat-Sheva Albert
Pilgrimage in the Carolingian Empire: women's voices

My paper will deal with the participation of women in pilgrimages during the Carolingian period. Although pilgrimage of Anglo-Saxon women to Rome was frowned upon by St Boniface, it nevertheless continued. We also have quite a lot of information about the pilgrimage and healing of women at different Frankish shrines (for instance St Denis, St Benoit-sur-Loire, Seligenstadt). Carolingian queens, like Charlemagne's mother Bertrada and his wife Hildegard, and princesses visited Rome as well as the Frankish shrines with their husbands or other male relatives. These pilgrimages arise different questions: where did the women stay, as they could not enter the monastic enclosure and were not accommodated in the monastic guest house? Could women participate in the ceremonies (translations) and liturgy (celebration of the saint's birthday or/and death and translation) at the shrines? Did the women celebrate these ceremonies in a different way? A second theme of the paper would deal with the female saint of the Carolingian period: who were the most celebrated female saints? What were the criteria for establishing female sainthood in the Carolingian period? Do we notice any differences between the popularity of their shrines and that of male saints? Finally, are those aspects of sainthood and pilgrimage relevant to the status of women in the eighth and ninth centuries?

Arnold Angenendt
The Spirituality of Pilgrimage: Ethnological and Biblical Background

Anyone inquiring into the spirituality of pilgrimage would turn to Hans v. Campenhausen's 1930 monograph "Ascetic Homelessness". The title itself is telling: it is a question of asceticism. Von Campenhausen considers as "decisive" the "practical, ascetic striving for the mortification of the flesh, and loss of God, and monks, who thus became the classic exponents of this ideal". As correct as this approach is, it is also too narrow. v. Campenhausen refers to the example of Abraham, much quoted by the ascetics, who left home, kin and hearth at God's command (Gen, 12, 1). It is, however, striking that this Bible quotation is often heard together with that from the New Testament militating against the family and demanding that father and mother be left. The peregrinatio was intended to effect not only the mortification of the flesh but also a release from family ties. In this respect it had a revolutionary effect in both the Irish and the greater early medieval world, where the network of families, clans, households and feudal allegiances was everywhere of paramount importance. Peregrinatio demanded the dissolution of these bonds, and the necessity of living abroad was in reality one of living without relations. As Christianity had an antagonistic relationship to all genealogy and family ties, the peregrinatio represented a moment of release and represents the first movement towards internationality.

Rina Avner
The Kathisma Church and monastery along the holy road to Bethlehem

Since 1993 I`ve been excavating the site of the Kathisma on the Jerusalem-Bethlehem road. The Kathisma is a 5th century monastery and church, which were known till my excavation from several 6th century sources, as the place of Mary's rest, before Christ's birth, on her way to Bethlehem (a legend commemorated in the Proto-evangelium of St. James). This is probably the earliest church in the Holy Land which was dedicated to Mary Theotokos. Its church was built according to an unusual and complex octagonal plan. I already have proposed it to be the model of the Theotokos Church built by Zenon (484 C.E.) on Mount Gerizim. (Since the Kathisma, according to the sources, was built in the time of Juvenal bishop of Jerusalem between 422-458 C.E.).
My paper will present the chain of monasteries along the "Via Sacra" between Jerusalem and Bethlehem and to focus on the Kathisma as the main pilgrimage stop in this road. Besides the archaeological finds, I`d like to discuss the fact that even when the monastery was distructed, and the memory of the original legend was forgotten, the site continued to serve as a pilgrimage stop, and other legends (such as the re-appearance of the Star of Bethlehem to the Magis) were attached to the site from the 12th century up to are days.

Gideon Avni and Jon Seligman
Recent Excavations at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre – New Evidence of Early Christian Jerusalem

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem has been the focus of Christian pilgrimage to the Holy Land since the construction of the first Constantinian church at the site in the fourth century CE. Descriptions of Christian pilgrims throughout the centuries, along with the modern archaeological and historical research of Jerusalem, facilitate a reconstruction of the history of the church and its phases of development. While the church itself is fairly well illustrated in literature, no comprehensive documentation of its physical components has ever been conducted. Previous investigations concentrated on general features or on specific studies of limited areas. The buildings adjacent to the church remained almost terra incognita to modern inquiry. A new project consisting of a comprehensive survey, documentation and excavations has been carried out since 1997 within and around the church, under the directorship of the authors. Excavations were conducted in several locations in the church complex, and new data was gathered, illuminating the architectural history of the monument. The survey and excavations conducted on the premises of the Coptic Patriarchate, to the north of the church revealed several phases of use, associated with the first Constantinian church. The earliest among these phases was displayed by a hitherto unknown rectangular building which was probably linked directly to the northern transept of the church. This structure may have served as the baptistery of the church, mentioned in pilgrims accounts, but not yet identified. Over this building an early medieval church was built adjacent to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This recently identified church, which was paved with mosaics and stone tiles and supported by a central dome, was not mentioned previously in the descriptions of the church and its surroundings. The scant finds from the excavations at the church suggest that it was constructed in the ninth or tenth centuries CE. The extensive construction which took place at the site in early medieval times suggests that the Christian communities in Jerusalem continued to flourish under Muslim rule as well. Additional excavations conducted at the Rotunda of the church of the Holy Sepulchre revealed several sections of medieval mosaic and marble pavements. These recent discoveries dictate a review of the existing reconstructions of the Byzantine church, made by various scholars in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Attila Bárány
The 'hell-visit' of a Hungarian magnate: pilgrimage to Ireland in the 15th century

The "hell-visit" of a Hungarian magnate, Laurentius Tari, his pilgrimage to St. Patrick's Purgatory in Ireland in 1411, is the first real Hungarian pilgrimage to 'remote parts'. Many legendary recollections established a whole circle of myth around Tari's person (e.g. a poem, 'Peregrinatio Laurentii Taar'). Tari's story can be seen as an example of communication between East and West as well as a valuable source in studying the views held in Hungary of such 'remote parts' as Ireland, and, what novelty it meant for the clerics of Armagh to welcome an aristocratic pilgrim from the boundaries of the Eastern 'Barbary'. What news did they learn on the threat of the Ottoman, which was a relevant issue in the Western clerical society of the early 15th century? My main interest is in the channels of communication of the Church and what structure it maintained in medieval times: how pilgrimage could help in the transfer of ideas and ease relationships and how the cave of Patrick was at all known in the eastern territories of Europe. I am focussing on what are the motivations behind, either in the field of the person's own faith, or in his political relationships. In Emperor Sigismund's system of royal patronage such a pilgrimage could have earned for Tari a great advance at court. His pilgrimage is unprecedented in later medieval Eastern-Central Europe, an unrivalled achievement which cost a fortune and needed a 'lion's courage' since it meant travel to the unknown. It is not possible to find evidence for any serious offence for which the pilgrim might be bound to do penance, which assigns a strange character to the motivations of the travel. I will be examining what motives and considerations, including political and diplomatic interests, may lay behind Tari's meeting with the King of England, Henry V.

Paul Basu
To be a Pabbaich: Sites of Memory - Sources of Identity - Shrines of Self

This paper will explore two journeys in parallel: one physical, the other heuristic. The context of these journeys is the practice of "roots-tourism" in the Scottish diaspora: people of Scottish descent dispersed throughout the world making journeys to ancestral places in their "old country". Such travellers are often keen to distance themselves from the profane world of tourism and see themselves instead as pilgrims. Following two Australian sisters to their ancestral island of Pabbay in the Outer Hebrides, this paper demonstrates that these journeys may indeed be considered 'sacred'. Drawing from an eclectic theoretical literature from Halbwachs and Nora, through Charles Taylor, to New Age/Jungian "spiritual guides", the paper suggests that the landscapes through which such tourist/pilgrims travel may be conceptualised and understood respectively as networks of sites of memory, sources of identity and shrines of self.

Katja Boertjes
Two Canterbury ampullae excavated in Dublin: specimens of a long Christian pilgrims' tradition

The National Museum of Ireland in Dublin owns two ampullae from the shrine of Thomas Becket in Canterbury dating from the first part of the thirteenth century. They were brought to Dublin by pilgrims. The practice of bringing home a souvenir from a holy place is not a new phenomenon of the thirteen century but belongs to a longer tradition. Yet in the early Christian period pilgrims took home such ampullae from sanctuaries. They were usually made of tin-lead, terracotta or glass and decorated with a depiction of a venerated saint or scenes from the Bible. The tradition of these medieval pilgrims' ampullae will be discussed here by means of some striking examples.

Brenda Bolton
Innocent III and the Roman Icons

Cormac Bourke
Insignia Sanctorum Hiberniae

This paper will consider the function and physical context of insular saintly insignia, with specific reference to tomb-shaped reliquaries, croziers and bells. An association with images and statuary will be suggested.

Miriam Clyne
An Irish medieval pilgrim: from Tuam to Santiago

Archaeological excavations beside St. Mary's Cathedral uncovered part of the burial-ground associated with the use of the Romanesque cathedral, built at the end of the 12th century. Thirty burials in unmarked shallow graves were revealed in a layer overlying undisturbed levels. Amongst this group were the remains of a middle-aged man who had been on pilgrimage to Santiago. The emblem of St. James the Apostle, a natural scallop shell, was in situ on the left hip. According to the Liber Sancti Jacobi, scallop shells were sold in booths near the cathedral in Santiago. The burials in Tuam most likely date to the 13th century, based on the finds and architectural evidence. This date is also indicated by the position of the singe shell, which would have been attached to a bag or satchel, and by the fact that it was a small-sized lower (right) convex valve with two perforations. A second pilgrim had been buried at Tuam, as a pair of scallop shells were also found, which had been disturbed from their original grave. These were the first archaeological finds in Ireland relating to medieval pilgrimage to Santiago, and since then a few other emblems of St. James have come to light in excavations. The more numerous documentary sources for pilgrimage will be referred to, with the emphasis placed on the west of Ireland. The pilgrim's journey to Santiago will be traced. It is most likely that he went from Galway, taking a maritime route, which in the 13th century was probably connected with commerce. The ship may have sailed to La Coruna, with a short walk from there to Santiago. It is also possible that the pilgrim travelled to Bordeaux, taking the longer overland route through southern France and northern Spain.

Lila Collamore
Gregorian Chant along the way of St. James

When pilgrims along the Way of St. James crossed the Pyrenées from France into Spain, they entered a country with a culture different from that which they left. However, the liturgy in the churches would have been celebrated according to the familiar Roman Rite accompanied by a Gregorian chant which - according to the traditional view - was imported from France into Spain in the late eleventh century at the time of the suppression of the native Spanish liturgy and chant. Manuscripts of Gregorian chant preserved in Spain, which were for the most part copied there, bear witness to the imposition of non-Spanish chant on Spain.
A close examination of these manuscripts also reveals several chants and melodies that do not appear in sources outside of Spain, and hence are not borrowed from France. These must have been composed in Spain itself. In this paper, I will explore some of these Spanish chants which would have been heard by pilgrims as they made the journey to Santiago de Compostela.

Uzi Dahari
Sinai in the Byzantine Period - Monks, Monasteries, Pilgrims and Pilgrim Routes

Christians believe that the Torah was given on Jebel Musa, identified as Mt. Sinai. This belief made the mountain the holiest Christian site in Sinai, attracting communities of monks and pilgrims from all over the Christian world, who came to live and worship on this mountain and in the surrounding area, since the fourth century CE. Juliana Saba, the Syrian monk, arrived in Sinai in 363 CE as a pilgrim and built a chapel on the mountain peak, in the exact place where Moses hid when God revealed himself.
In 384 CE, the pilgrim Egeria visited Mt. Sinai, and described the holy mountain and many other holy sites near Mt. Sinai and in Pharan oasis.
After Egeria's pilgrimage there is abundant evidence for the pilgrimage to Mt. Sinai and to the Sinai Monastery. Sinai pilgrimage movement was tempered by the vast distances traveled along difficult desert routes in a harsh climate, with almost no settlements along the way. A pilgrimage to Mt. Sinai entailed great physical strain, high risk and expense. There were two main roads from Jerusalem to Mt. Sinai. The shortest (eastern) route led via Elussa and Aila, and had eighteen way stations. The longer (western) road ran from Gaza along the Mediterranean sea, Augustamnica Provincia, Clysma, Gharandal and Pharan, to Mt. Sinai with c. 25 way stations.
Juliana Saba's chapel has been reconstructed and enlarged by King Justinian in the sixth century. The church was dedicated to the mother of God. Justinian also built a monastery at the base of Mt. Sinai.
More than sixty monastic complexes have been surveyed in the granite mountains of south Sinai, and seven were excavated.
The results of the survey and excavations can be summarized, as follows:

1. All the monastic complexes were built only on granite mountains, never on volcanic rocks.
2. The total number of monks who dwelt in southern Sinai at one time was approximately 600.
3. Only a few monks occupied each monastic complex. The most common type of monastery was the Laura, with 5 to twenty monk inhabitants.
4. All the buildings and cells excavated date between the fourth to the seventh centuries CE.
5. All the monasteries were built near water sources and were agriculturally based, mainly on various fruits.
6. Pilgrimage to Mt. Sinai has been the aspiration of many Christian from all over the Christian world who made an incredibly dangerous effort to include this mountain in their holy land itinerary.

Marike de Kroon
Medieval Pilgrim Badges and their Role as Intermediary in Iconography

The medieval pilgrim badge was a mass-produced object that was spread on a large scale over vast areas throughout the (western) medieval world. As such it functioned as an intermediary in the geographical spreading of iconography - a role which from the fifteenth century onwards is usually attributed to woodcuts and other forms of graphic arts. From the twelfth to the late fifteenth century images and ideas were spread by means of these small mass-produced articles of pious devotion, made of inexpensive pewter-alloy. The paper will go into this intermediary role of pilgrim badges and present a number of examples of this phenomenon, among which pilgrim badges of Saint Theobald of Thann (Alsace), Saint Adrian of Geraardsbergen (Belgium) and (with reservations) the holy man Job, who was especially venerated in Wezemaal (Belgium).

Pía Dewar
Pilgrimage and Nationalism in Later Medieval Scotland

This paper discusses the evidence produced so far with regard to the popularity of the veneration of Scottish saints and its connection with the nascent nationalistic sentiment of late fifteenth- and early sixteenth-century Scotland. Reference is made to extant primary sources and to the views of contemporary scholars who argue for late medieval preference for Scottish saints over international ones, and for the greater popularity of certain national shrines in detriment of the rest. Further evidence is drawn from a study of medieval hospitals' and collegiate churches' dedications, leading up to the questioning of some current conclusions on the matter.

Dee Dyas
Pilgrimage in Middle English Literature

If one example above all others serves to focus the extraordinary variety which characterises the use of the pilgrimage motif in Middle English literature, it is the idea of journeying to Jerusalem. In medieval spirituality Jerusalem was, in effect, not one city but three, each being the goal of a different mode of pilgrimage. An examination of the ways in which medieval writers describe journeying to Jerusalem, therefore, offers a valuable overview of the use of the theme of pilgrimage as a whole. It is also a very fruitful exercise, for the idea of Jerusalem served as inspiration for a remarkably wide range of writers. There are a number of extant pilgrimage narratives detailing the journey to the earthly city, which combine piety and practicality in varying degrees. In the dream-poems Pearl and Piers Plowman, the narrators not only learn in graphic detail of the death of Christ in the earthly Jerusalem but are challenged to embark upon lives of moral pilgrimage by their glimpses of the Jerusalem on high. Even Chaucer's pilgrims in the Canterbury Tales, though ostensibly travelling to the shrine of St Thomas, are urged by the Parson, the spiritual member of the group, to focus on reaching the 'Jerusalem celestial'. Spiritual writings in prose similarly bear witness to the abiding fascination exercised by the idea of Jerusalem, Ancrene Wisse speaking of the anchorhouse as 'Jerusalem' where the anchoress need never see anything but peace and Walter Hilton choosing to use the pilgrimage to Jerusalem as a dynamic image of the mystical life. In this paper I wish to explore the multiple identities of Jerusalem presented in Middle English texts and thus to consider the many modes of pilgrimage available to medieval Christians.

Geoff Egan
Pilgrims and Politics - Some Constraints and Preferences Suggested by Medieval Souvenir Badges found in England

The large numbers of pilgrim badges discovered in England are now well represented in the literature. This is substantially the work of Brian Spencer, whose recent publication on London finds (1998) gives for first time an idea of the range and scope, and of the further potential of this information from the ground. His catalogues detailing finds of badges in Salisbury and Norfolk as well as London are the basis for future work having charted through individual losses a number of chronological and regional differences in the repertoire of souvenirs now known. The badges of lead/tin, and towards the end of the Middle Ages of brass foil, were cheap enough to have been almost universally affordable for the venturesome who undertook pilgrimage. Some shrines, like Canterbury and Walsingham, come over as consistently extremely popular, judging from these trinkets, while others sustained a lesser presence, and others again appear to have risen rapidly to favour or fallen from grace after a brief prominence. Shrines of only local importance have emerged for each area. International relations are to some extent reflected by changing routes chosen by English pilgrims to Compostella in Spain and to Italy and presumably beyond, represented by souvenirs particularly from shrines away from trouble spots and potentially dangerous areas (for example during the Hundred Years' War). The late medieval period saw an overall decline in the institution of pilgrimage as less-credible tales of saints came under critical scrutiny. Some shrines responded with inventive new lines in souvenirs while others were content to continue offering an established image or range in staggeringly degenerate forms. A few badges from identifiable shrines acquired political overtones with the inclusion of what seem to be factional motifs from the Wars of the Roses – this blend arguably culminating under the early Tudor monarchy in the phenomenally popular cult of the alleged martyr king Henry VI, which is represented by very large numbers of cheap mementos. Military and secular leaders had badges made specifically for their men and supporters. Parallel with these developments, a range of partly religious and fully secular festivals also came to have available favours produced in the same manufacturing tradition. The disappearance from the archaeological record of all badges, religious and secular, in this tradition of some three and a half centuries is very marked. Such, it seems, was the effect of Henry VIII's break with Rome that even brooches which only looked like religious souvenirs were completely out of fashion. There are hints that a few of the former makers might have transferred their particular skills to the manufacture of pewter trinkets like toys and decorative dress pins and clasps. Almost 50 religious and secular badges from the late 15th/early 16th century found at an archaeological site in London in the early 1990s provide an unparalleled, closely dated archaeological framework for the latest souvenirs from the last couple of generations before the English Reformation. These single losses permit the construction of a rough 'league table' of the popularity of the cults represented as the final decline in popular religious tourism came about. The method can be applied to other tight assemblages and more widely, but such an approach can give only a partial picture in the present state of knowledge. A number of souvenirs, several quite commonly encountered, remain unidentified, and it would be rash to claim some of the representations of the most prominent saints for a particular shrine without further, specific evidence. There must have been varying levels of enthusiasm among the ecclesiastical authorities at different institutions for badge production to cater for the potential souvenir market, since a number of important centres for which obvious motifs would be readily identifiable are entirely unrepresented among recognised finds. The great increase in the recovery of badges from the mid 1970s onwards means that fresh, broad questions can now begin to be formulated about certain aspects of popular pilgrimage. The finds now recorded will provide answers to some but not all of them.

Avrum Ehrlich
The Political Significance of Pilgrimages in Jewish Life

While a place usually attains a status of awe because of holy activities having occurred therein, this is not the sole cause of it becoming a site for pilgrimages. Unusual happenings may occur and saints may have lived and died in many places, few subsequently become shrines. Various factors cause a place to be elevated to pilgrim status. And other factors primarily political and economic cause them to become more popular and widespread. I will discuss this in a general Jewish context with particular reference to Hasidic pilgrimages in 19th century Eastern Europe as well as in the burgeoning trends of Jews today to visit holy sites in Israel, Eastern Europe and America. Amongst the reasons are: - Economic interests of poor towns to encourage pilgrimage and thus boost a town's tourist industry. - Postal services and strong networks were developed as a result of initial pilgrimages that further strengthened the ties and the reverence towards a holy site. - Unity, often difficult amongst disparate social groups living in different places could be galvanised by shared experiences at a pilgrim site. I will also illustrate how this is so in various Hasidic groups and in various orthodox groupings in Israel today.

Eli Johanne Ellingsve
Pilgrim's Place-Names along Medieval Roads to Nidaros (Norway)

Shortly after his death in the battle at Stiklestad in 1030, the Norwegian king Olav Haraldsson was declared a saint by the catholic church in Norway. The king's body was placed in a church in Nidaros (today Trondheim), the most prominent town in Norway at that time. The worshipping of king Olav initiated a quickly growing pilgrimage to Nidaros, which drew pilgrims from the Nordic countries and also the continent. The tradition was formally kept up until the Reformation in 1536, and eventually came to an end when the king's coffin was hidden in the cathedral Nidarosdomen in 1568. Even though more than 500 years have passed since the termination of the pilgrimage to Nidaros, several place-names along the medieval roads still remind us of this business. The paper gives a survey of the various types of Norwegian place-names which bear witness or can bear witness to the medieval pilgrimage to Saint Olav's tomb in the town of Nidaros. The speaker expresses a critical attitude towards a rather common tendency of explaining place-names along the medieval roads leading to Nidaros as true 'pilgrim place-names', and underlines the necessity to discuss opaque name elements in a broader linguistic, historical and temporal context.

Helmut Flachenecker
Pilgrimages in the context of the Schottenklöster

Yvonne Friedman
Sharing the Sacred: Christian and Jewish Pilgrimage to the Holy Land

As a religion that grew out of Judaism, Christianity had many factors in common with its mother-religion, not the least the Holy Scriptures and the historical-geographical background of the Holy Land. This shared heritage was never an easy one for both sides, as generations of Christian-Jewish polemics based on the Old Testament show. Christian pilgrimage supposedly differed greatly from the Jewish concept of aliyah leregel – the triennial pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem. But after the destruction of the temple and Christianity's development into a universal religion, the concept of Holy Place changed in both religions, and reciprocal influence of rival concepts can be traced. Nevertheless, at the holy sites themselves the traditions of holiness were often shared by the the different denominations. This 'sharing of the sacred' manifested itself in a variety of ways in the Middle Ages:

1. Syncretism: a holy site was visited and venerated by pilgrims of both religions at the same time, sharing traditions and place.
2. A polemical attitude: each religion claims to possesss the true tradition and knowledge of the holy place. This may lead to rival identifications of the exact location of the sacred place (King David's tomb, Temple Mount, Cave of the patriarchs in Hebron).
3. Polemical miracles: a miracle at the holy place proves to the pilgrims the authenticity of their religious belief (The Holy Sepulchre, the holy shroud, the grave of R. meir in Tiberias).
4. Development of holy places specific to each religion that are not shared: e.g. a greater reliance on New Testament traditions in Jerusalem by Christian pilgrims and the list of post-biblical graves venerated by the Jewish pilgrims. Although easier from the theological point of view this development of alternative, parallel lines of holy traditions is contested by folkloristic, local traditions that tend to share the sacred, however problematic that sharing may be.

Malcolm Garrard
Die nie toufes künde emphiengen: the presentation of the "enemy" in Wolfram v. Eschenbach's Willehalm

Michael Gibbons and Jerry Walsh
Excavations on Croagh Patrick

Bozena Gierek
Is there Celtic tradition of pilgrimage routes in Ireland?

This paper is an attempt to answer the question, whether there is a Celtic tradition for pilgrimage routes in Ireland and if such phenomenon exists, what form it appears in. It is impossible to examine all pilgrimage places in Ireland, therefore I will concentrate on three sites. As examples I chose Croagh Patrick, Lough Derg and Ballyvourney. The first two places, connected with St. Patrick, are of national importance and the third one, connected with St. Gobnait, is of local importance. I will start with the examination of pre-Christian (pagan) elements occurring in the surroundings of the listed sites and with such motifs woven into local legends and stories related to the saints who are patrons of these places. I will base my examination on archaeological evidences and folklore material, complemented by the geographic setting of the sites. Afterwards I will move to the pilgrimage rites which are performed while doing turas. A general, short description of the rites performed at the holy wells will also be given. Finally, I am going to talk about the meaning of the described places and the pilgrimages that are still undertaken by people.

R. Gillespie and B. Cunningham
The changing nature of St Patrick's Purgatory in the early modern period

The main features and peculiarities of pilgrimage in medieval Ireland are well known thanks to the work of Peter Harbison and others. What is much less well documented is how the well-established pilgrimage sites of medieval Ireland, such as Lough Derg, Holy Cross or Christ Church in Dublin, fared in the early modern period. Some disappeared under the influence of the Reformation but others, such as Lough Derg, continued to operate into the eighteenth century. However they were not immune to change. The processes of the Catholic, or Counter, Reformation in Ireland, after a slow start, began to have an impact on these traditional sites. There was an attempt to transform the idea of pilgrimage from an experience of contact with holiness vested at a particular site to a more interiorised spiritual experience. This process of change at places such a Lough Derg has been little studied. This paper examines the transformation of the pilgrimage to St Patrick's purgatory from the world of medieval religion to that of Tridentine Catholicism. There is a particular focus on the clericalisation of the events on the island of Lough Derg. The process was not a simple one nor was it complete even by 1700. Many of those who visited the site were unimpressed by the changes that were taking place – the dismantling of communally sanctioned rituals and their replacement with printed instructions for the pious – and ways were devised ways to subvert the clerically-sponsored changes. The result was that the Lough Derg pilgrimage acquired characteristics of both traditional and reformed Catholicism and acted as a bridge between the two world for those who participated in its rituals.

Christine Glaßner
The manuscripts of the "Visiones Georgii" at Melk

The library of the Benedictine monastery at Melk (Lower Austria) holds two manuscripts of the "Visiones Georgii", an account of the pilgrimage of the Hungarian knight George, the son of Crissaphan, to St. Patrick's Purgatory. One manuscript contains a Latin redaction dated 1414, the other one a German redaction written down by two scribes in 1443 and 1459 respectively, commonly regarded as a translation C (M. Voigt, Beiträge zur Geschichte der Visionenliteratur im Mittelalter [Palaestra 146]. Leipzig 1924, 215 f.). The paper presents a study on these two manuscripts with special reference to the German text focussing on the conditions of their production and reception in the monastic context of the Benedictine reform movement initiated by the monastery of Melk (the so-called "Melker Reform") in the 15th century.

Réne Gothóní
The notion of Pilgrimage in Greek Orthodox context. The case of Mount Athos

The Holy Mountain of Athos is the heart of Orthodox spirituality ever since the tenth century. Today there are about two thousand monks striving towards deification – union with God. More than forty thousand men from all over Europe visit the Holy Mountain every year: for advice, to confess and to experience, as do the monks, the presence of God. The Greek authorities limit the number of visitors to 120 per day. They want to give permission to pilgrims only. What kind of pilgrims are these visitors? How many of them are tourists? What does it mean to be a pilgrim in the Greek context? What is the Greek notion of pilgrimage? These questions will be dealt with in the paper and the reader will argue that the notion of pilgrimage in Greece differ from the concept of pilgrimage as conceived of in the West.

Aryeh Grabois
Image and Reality of the Holy Land in the Descriptions of the 14th century European Pilgrims

The West European pilgrims who visited the Holy Land in the fourteenth century were aware of its Biblical and Evangelic image, they learned from the Holy Scriptures and from the descriptions by pilgrims of the previous centuries. This image was unrelated to the contemporary realities, neglected by generations of pilgrims. However, the radical changes of Western mentality, particularly by the legitimation of the term 'curiositas' since the thirteenth century, led the fourteenth century pilgrims to pay more attention to the real conditions of the Holy Land of their own times and to include these accounts in their descriptions of pilgrimage. The aim of the present study is to discuss the impacts of this new perception by a confrontation between the conformist image and the reality.

Zvi Greenhut
Immigration, Pilgrimage or Reinterment? Evidences from Second Temple Tombs in Jerusalem During the Second Temple period

Jerusalem signified for the Jewish people, both in Zion and in the Diaspora, a spiritual and religious focus much greater than that of a mere capital. The city, and mainly the Temple, functioned as the focus of a rich creation and cultural existence. The city played a major role in the Halacha, the Jewish learning, the prophecy, the longing and the hope of the People of Israel. In the literature of the period Jerusalem replaces Eretz-Israel as the major focus of Jews. It is a known fact that the significance of Jerusalem, reflected in these many aspects, initiated the immigration of many Diaspora Jews to the city, with the purpose of staying in it permanently, and increased the number of pilgrims coming to the city three times a year, during the Jewish Holidays. The historical record, both by Josephus Flavius and the Rabbinic literature offers few examples of this phenomenon, and it is corroborated by some archaeological finds. The interpretation of the archaeological and historical evidence from the Second Temple period which suggests the burial of Jews from the Diaspora in Jerusalem is in dispute. Were the deceased people who immigrated to the city, lived and died there, or did they die in the Diaspora and their bones transferred to Jerusalem for reinterment? The paper strives to show that at least some of the cases bear sufficient evidence to conclude that the bones were brought from the Diaspora for burial in Jerusalem. One may assume that this practice was similar in its concept to the pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and that it reflected the Jew's wish to be buried in this final resting place, where according to belief and tradition resurrection will take place. The paper presents also the results from the excavation of the 'Caiaphas Cave' and deals with its significance to the Christian world.

Bernard Hamilton
Western Pilgrimage to Jerusalem 350-1550

This paper examines the reasons for the fluctuation in western pilgrimage to Jerusalem from the foundation of the shrine churches there in the fourth century until the reshaping of Catholic spirituality by the Council of Trent. Special attention is given to the impact on pilgrimage of:

1. the Muslim conquest of Jerusalem in 638;
2. the approach of the first millennium;
3. Crusader rule in the Holy Land during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries;
4. the establishment of the Franciscan Custodia Terrae Sanctae in 1328.

Tina Hellmuth (Petra S.)
Pilgrims and Pedagogues: Irish Monks and their Manuscripts on the Continent

Irish monks travelling to the Continent from the 6th century onwards had a not inconsiderable impact on the religious and cultural life in the countries that they visited. Visible testimony of the activities of these Irish peregrini is, apart from the numerous monasteries and churches that they founded, a number of manuscripts, probably used for teaching, now preserved in various Continental libraries. In these manuscripts are contained a large number of glosses and marginalia which constitute our most important source material for the earliest stages of the Irish language. This paper is going to focus on these manuscripts, investigate their history and that of their scribes/owners, as well as give an overview of the material contained in them.

Klaus Herbers
The pilgrimage to Compostela and the political evolution of the Iberic world in the 12th and 13th centuries

Máire Herbert
St Martin of Tours in Irish Sources

Colm Hourihane
The Three Hebrews in the Fiery Furnace -Difficulty and Resolution

The study of high cross iconography has undergone considerable re-evaluation since the pioneering work undertaken by scholars such as Sexton, Kingley Porter and Flower. From looking at these monuments from an indigenous and localised perspective we have come full circle and contextualised their subject matter in the mainstream of Biblical iconography. Recent scholarship has tended to look at the subject matter in relation to the transmission of ideas, usually via the pilgrimage, from fifth and sixth century Italy and to see the high crosses and sarcophagi as two book ends of European monumental sculpture. This approach has tended to obscure the unique contribution which ninth century Ireland made in reinterpreting and visually depicting Biblical texts. Even if the pilgrimage did provide a unique means of communication and transmission it should not be seen as providing the total influence for Irish sculpture of the ninth century.
The Three Hebrews in the Fiery Furnace first appears in third century Italy in a variety of media and increases in popularity, reaching a peak in the fourth and fifth centuries especially on the sarcophagi. Between the fifth and ninth centuries it is rarely depicted until resurrected, once again, in ninth century Ireland. In this insular context the iconographic composition changes completely to reflect a re-interpretation of the Biblical sources and a resolution of difficulties which had originally caused the theme to be abandoned some four centuries earlier.
This paper will evaluate the material from third to fifth century Italy against the new composition in ninth century Ireland, the transmission routes through which communication took place and suggest reasons for its use in an insular context.

Michael Howlett and Anne Jordan
Medieval and Modern Credit Systems: Indulgences and Lifelong Learning

This paper aims to examine the medieval theory of indulgences. This will involve an analysis of the rationale for indulgences given by Aquinas, systems for awarding indulgences including their role in pilgrimage, the abuse of indulgences leading to the reaction of Luther, and the counter reaction of the Council of Trent. The subsequent uses of indulgences in catholic piety will also be examined. The theory and practice of indulgences arose at a time when accounting and banking systems were being developed and concepts of wealth accumulation were becoming respectable, as indicated in the metaphor used to describe indulgences the treasury of merit. Today, the concept of 'lifelong learning', a new orthodoxy, is also reliant on the individual's utilisation of credit accumulation and transfer. Whereas for the medieval mind, 'good works' were the basis for granting indulgence, in the modern system there is an evaluation and quantification of 'experience'. The paper will trace the links between the two systems of credit accumulation and exemption, criticisms of such systems as forms of market-driven recognition of merit, or of 'dumbing down' an essential message of salvation. This leads in both systems to a requirement in some quarters for stringent 'justification', with the claim that experience or good works alone cannot be classified as incritricious: only that validated by a higher authority, whether that authority be religious or didactic. The paper will conclude with a consideration of the enduring relationship between theology, economics and educational theory.

Michael Jackson
Pilgrimage in St. Augustine - a Paper Exercise

There is no evidence in the writings of Augustine of Hippo that he enjoyed travel. Again, it is unclear that he ever went to what was emerging in the fourth and fifth centuries as the Holy Land. Peregrinatio is central to his thinking about theology and spirituality. It is a notion heavily dependent on Neo-Platonism. It describes the movement of the soul away from its natural environment, its living in a world of sin and evil and its movement back to the source of its being and fulfilment.
This paper will trace the impact on the theology of Augustine of pilgrimage as peregrinatio. It will show how such pilgrimage wanderings are pivotal to unravelling the thought pattern of the later Augustine and are, at the same time, deeply embedded in his early post-conversion writings. It will also assess the validity of such a theology.

Jeanne Krochalis
From Eton to Compostela to Rome to Jerusalem: The first pilgrimages of William Wey

An Oxford graduate in theology, William Wey was one of the founding fellows of Henry VI's College of Eton. In his retirement at the College of Bonneshommes in Eddington, he wrote an account of this pilgrimages, the first to Compostela in 1456, and the second and third, much longer, to Rome and Jerusalem in 1458 and 1462, where he accompanied Sir John Tiptoft's party. (Ms Bodely 565; printed edition, Roxburght Club, 1857) Absence form Eton required special royal permission; Henry granted it, and indeed encouraged the pilgrimage. What made the rough sea voyage to Compostela so attractive to a learned divine? He gives us a rare description of the sacred sites at Padron, south of Compostela, where James' body first washed ashore, and of the harbour of La Coruña. He had a mind for practical detail, as his later accounts of voyages to the Holy Land indicate, with their English phrase books, and notes on good sources of sheets, blankets, chickens, and donkeys. He drew one of the better surviving fifteenth century maps of his journeys. All these are projects which Henry, and Eton, might have found useful. But in a learned, borderline Humanist world, he recounts two miracles happening to fellow pilgrims, collected relics, built a model of the Holy Sepulchre, bought a cloth the length of Christ's body, and recorded all the indulgences of churches in Rome. In the shifting political world of England in the 1450's and 1460's, Wey is a rare example of traditional piety reasserting itself in learned circles. This talk will examine Wey's writings and attitudes.

Barry Lewis
Pilgrimage in the Poetry of Medieval Wales

The poetry of medieval Wales, composed by professional bards for aristocratic patrons, is a rich source for the religious beliefs and customs of the period, but very little information about it is available in English. In this paper, I will survey some of the references to pilgrims and pilgrimage contained within it.
Of Welsh pilgrim sites, undoubtedly the most famous is Holywell, in Flintshire. A number of poems survive which outline the story of S. Gwenfrewy and her well, and the miraculous cures to be had there. In the south, Wales' foremost Marian shrine was located at Pen-rhys, in the Rhondda valley, and in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries a group of local poets celebrated it in verse. But there was a host of lesser shrines scattered all over Wales - remote churches dedicated to the Welsh saints, which offered healing wells, or images of the crucifixion, attracting throngs of pilgrims. Many poems commissioned to celebrate (and publicise) these sites survive.
Beyond Wales, the rood at Chester was a favourite among the poets. But the great sites were also patronised - above all, Rome and Santiago. We have accounts by poets who went there, and eulogies to patrons who attempted these dangerous journeys. While the sights at Rome are described in some detail, those bound for Galicia expend their poetic energies on the terrors of the long sea passage.
Even short stretches of water can present problems, however, and that between the mainland and the tiny, beautiful island of Bardsey, in legend the resting place of twenty thousand saints, was and remains notorious. The sorry adventures which befell the hapless Rhys Llwyd on his way there still make entertaining reading today.
I hope that this paper will convey some of the riches and pleasures of a poetry too little known outside Wales. The emphasis will be above all on the literary response to the pilgrim experience.

Fernando López Alsina
The archaeology of the city of Santiago de Compostela

Anna Maria Luiselli Fadda
Rome and Medieval Pilgrimage

Aidan MacDonald
St Columba's Shrine

The documentary evidence relating to the nature and movements of St. Columba's relics, especially during the 9th century, lacks specific details. All suggestions, therefore, regarding the precise significance of the movements of his relics of all kinds can be suggestions only - including, of course, this one. The focus of attention here is on the corporeal relics, which are rarely mentioned explicitly, in the 9th century or later. It will be contended that the corpored relics cannot be shown to have been required to validate the office of the successor (coarb) of Colmcille, or to formalise the status of his church; or to validate royal authority in the Scottish Kingdom; and that there was never any serious intention to evacuate the monastery of Iona. So it was not necessary to remove the corporeal relics permanently from Iona: there may, indeed, have been a positive inhibition against doing so. On this basis, the case will be made that these relics left Iona once or twice only and were returned thither (presumably sooner rather than later) at some subsequent date(s) not noticed by the surviving sources; and that their continued and normal presence there explains in large part a revival of pilgrimage to Iona in the 10th century and later, some archaeological remains and some later traditions surrounding a persistent local belief in St. Columba's grave.

Carmel McCallum Barry
Pilgrimage and Politics

The paper will examine some of the political aspects of pilgrimage in Greece of the Classical Period, with special reference to the celebration of the Mysteries at Eleusis. The festival at Eleusis was unusual among the Panhellenic festivals in that individual initiation and vision of the Mysteries formed the basis of the rituals, but despite the intensely personal nature of the experience we find that the pilgrims' journey to Eleusis from Athens was highly politicised. Historical sources as well as traditional myths demonstrate that in the Eleusinian Mysteries as in Greek religious practice generally, individual worship and state regulation were not perceived as being in conflict, but as inseparable.

Mary McGrath
Foreign Influence on Irish Decorative Art in the Middle Ages

Fionnbarr Moore
Excavations at Ardfert

Wojciech Mruk
"Loca Peregrinationis terre sancte" by Radulph of Iklingham as an example of the 14th century guide-book for pilgrims to the Holy Land

The increasing number of pilgrims travelling to the Holy Land in the late Middle Ages was one of the reasons for growing interest in pilgrimage literature, including guidebooks for pilgrims. Most of them were probably prepared by the Franciscans who since the fourth decade of the 14th century had the holy places in their custody. Such texts were spread all over Europe through the Franciscan monasteries. The most popular anonymous guidebooks contained nothing but the enumeration of places worth seeing; the places were briefly described. Since the mid-fourteenth century a list of indulgences and texts of prayers for each holy place were added. The Franciscans started the tradition of preparing such guidebooks in the 13th century as they had their houses in the Holy Land till the fall of Akko in 1291. They continued the tradition after their return to Palestine in the 14th century. At the same time besides preparing new guidebooks describing the actual situation in the Holy Land writers adopted older texts. A guidebook entitled "Loca peregrinations terre sancte" attributed to Radulph of Iklingham is an example of such an adaptation. The author used, maybe not directly, the description of the Holy Land written by Philippus Brusserius of Savona who made his pilgrimage in the end of the 13th century. The original text by Philippus was considerably shortened and some details concerning the actual situation in the Holy Land were added. Fifteen charts of delicate parchment containing probably a copy of Radulph's text (made in the 14th century) were bound together with thirty-two sheets of white paper. This unusual note-book was produced in the first half of the 18th century. The small size of the manuscript (ca 150mm x 100mm) and the elegance of handwriting suggests that it could be a part of a guidebook prepared for a wealthy pilgrim. It is possible that it is one of the oldest example of a pocket size hand-written guidebook for pilgrims to the Holy Land.

Kenneth Nicholls
An Irish penitent's journey in the year 1543

David Nunan
Spirituality of Pilgrimage

In the summer of 1998 I carried out an ethnographic study of contemporary European pilgrimage based around two pilgrimage sites, namely St. Patrick's Purgatory, (Lough Derg), and the other at the Taizé ecumenical community of brothers situated in the Burgundy region of France. The former site is almost exclusively Catholic in outlook whereas the latter is broadly non-denominationally Christian. The project focuses on Irish Catholic pilgrims journeying to and participating in the exercises at the two sites.
Both Taylor (1995) and Warner (1997) focus their studies of religion primarily from the point of view of the action and feeling of participants rather than the cerebral view points of those concerned. Warner (1997:220) decides, in his paper, "to move beyond cerebral to embodied understandings of religious communities to go beyond the theorizing, that puts thought first, and toward a focus on action and feeling". This type of research can inform us about what is actually happening among religious communities. Rather than attempting to understand from afar, we can try to describe pilgrimage and what it means to people, from the pilgrim's point of view. We might then understand the role of pilgrimage in peoples' lives today and the state of religion in an increasingly secular society. From this process I was able to find theoretical perceptions that might link in with the lay perceptions studied. Four major themes surfaced from the analysis of the data: Sacred Space in Secular Culture; Transformations; Embodied Ritual; and Unity in Diversity, and a frame was used to split pilgrimage into broadly speaking, the primitive and the modern. Some of my conclusions were as follows: where Irish Catholics can still maintain a sense of local community, whatever their commitment to the Catholic Church, it is likely that they may continue to go on pilgrimage to places like Lough Derg. On the other hand where there is a loss of a sense of community, as might occur in large cities, Irish People, particularly the young, will seek to create new rituals, new rites of passage. Although people will be receptive to embodied ritual in a pilgrim site like Lough Derg, in Taizé on the other hand, simple and imaginative forms of ritual will be highly receptive to pilgrims seeking to construct their own sense of the sacred. If Catholic or other Christian Churches in Ireland were to bring in simple ritual, the potential that embodied ritual has to bond people together might bridge boundaries and once again build religious communities.

Stiofán Ó Cadhla
"Bloody Knees from Devotion: Bloody Heads from Fighting": Ardmore Pattern as the Centre of a Moral Universe

The "pattern" in Ireland marks the feast day of a parish's patron saint and entails a pilgrimage usually to a "holy" or "Blessed" well dedicated to the Saint. This is commonly referred to as "pattern day" in Ireland from the pronunciation of pátrún in Irish or patron in English. It is estimated that there were three thousand holy wells in Ireland. The pattern of St. Declan held annually still on the 24th of July is an interesting example in terms of vernacular religious practice and the Irish carnivalesque. In 1810 Crofton-Croker counted up to 15,000 people at the pattern. This paper examines the pattern from the perspective of folklore and ethnology as a community generated festival, as a dramatisation and sacralisation of its own social structure.

Eamon Ó Carragáin
The Vercelli Book as a Pilgrim's manuscript

The Vercelli Book (now kept in the Cathedral Library, Vercelli) is the only major surviving manuscript in which Old English religious poetry is combined with religious prose. It is the earliest manuscript in which we can examine the tastes of a single compiler of religious material in prose and verse. While it does not seem likely that the book was originally compiled with a view to being used on pilgrimage, the presence of the book at Vercelli, a major stop for pilgrims to Rome, suggests that it was used on a pilgrimage and left at Vercelli. Some ways in which the book was suitable reading on pilgrimage are discussed: it is filled with religious material. This material is either ascetic or eschatological. Repentance is a recurring them, as is the shortness of time available to repent. The poem "Andreas" tells of a journey among dangerous foreigners (cannibals) and the poem "Elene" tells of the first and most famous pilgrim to Jerusalem. "Elene" and "The Dream of the Rood" celebrate the Cross, of which there were several important relics to be seen in Rome: at St Peter's, at the Lateran, and at S. Croce in Gerusalemme. Why should the manuscript have ended up at Vercelli? The book shows signs of being a canon's manuscript. Canons were being removed from Anglo-Saxon foundations in favour of monks. But St Eusebius of Vercelli was famed as the founder and patron of canons. It is argued that the manuscript may have been used at Vercelli by some elderly canons who, departing from their own country, found peace to read and pray at the shrine of St Eusebius.

Tomás Ó Carragáin
Archaeology, Pilgrimage Foci and Church Organisation in South and West Co. Kerry

The Iveragh and Dingle Peninsulas (South and West Co. Kerry respectively) are poorly served by documentary sources but the preservation of early ecclesiastical archaeology in the area is second to none. The sites on these peninsulas are closely related and in many respects the area constitutes a distinct archaeological region, quite different from neighbouring North Kerry and the Beara Peninsula. Nonetheless there are differences between the structure of the early church on Iveragh and that on Dingle and it is proposed that analysis of the form and distribution of pilgrimage sites, including mountain pilgrimages and reliquary foci, is essential to understanding these differences. The paper concentrates in particular on the west ends of both peninsulas and highlights the dominance of Kilmalkedar and the cult of St. Brendan in the area west of Mount Brandon on Dingle. This is contrasted with the area west of MacGillycuddy's Reeks on Iveragh where there are a number of different pilgrimage foci, both major (e.g. Sceilg Mhichil) and minor (e.g. the reliquary shrine at Killoluaig). The paper explores the implications of this contrast for our understanding of ritual practice and church organisation in the region.

Colmán Ó Clabaigh
To follow the naked Christ: the journey of Friars Symon Simeonis and Hugh the Illuminator from Ireland to the Holy Land, 1322-1324

In 1322 two Franciscan Friars, Symon Simeonis and Hugh the Illuminator, left Ireland for the Holy Land. Their route took them through England, France, Switzerland, Italy and Egypt and the Friar Symon's account of the pilgrimage is the only known example from an Irish source. While its religious significance has been noted by a number of historians, another major factor has generally been overlooked. The journey took place at a time of great tension between the Anglo-Irish and Gaelic members of the Irish Franciscan province, and both pilgrims were prominent in the politics of the Order and the Irish church.

Dónal O'Connor
The Ardmore Pilgrimage in the 12th Century: The City and the Desert

In the 12th century there were three reasons why people made a pilgrimage to Ardmore. People would have been drawn to the biblical and religious scenes carved in the stones on the outside of the Western Gable. The church and its builder merited a reference in the Annals of Innisfallen for the year 1203. Devout people were drawn to Declan's Dysert (Hermitage) as a place of solitude and prayer, following the example of Declan, who retired there in his final years to escape the noise and bustle of the monastery. The Vita Declani (which Ml. Ó Clérigh copied in 1629 from the earlier book of E. O'Heffernan, written in 1582) uses the present tense for the many devout people, "who are always dwelling in that place". The chief attraction in Ardmore then was the Tomb of Declan (where the present Oratory stands), a place of healing of body and spirit from Declan's time (5th. century) right up "until now" as the Life has it. It was the Tomb of the Saint and its many miracles that drew the crowds. And while Eugene, bishop of Ardmore, was acting as suffragan in Lichfield (1184-85), he could witness the pilgrimages to the tomb of St. Chad in Lichfield, and of St. Werburga in Chester (from which abbey his stipend of 5 shillings a day was drawn; Pipe Roll 31 Henry II, p.142), and of St. Cuthbert of Durham, a saint whose birth-place Eugene claimed for Ireland in a Libellus de Ortu St. Cuthberti, written by a Northumbrian scribe, and in which Eugene collaborated. And R. Sharp has suggested Eugene as the likely author of our Life of Declan.
Today the Tomb of Declan is empty, and the main focus of the Ardmore Pilgrimage is Dysert, which Tadhg Gaelach described in his poem Duan Deaglan.

Sean Ó Duinn
The Sceilig Mhichíl Pilgrimage as a Rehearsal for the Soul's Journey to the Otherworld

The consciousness of a world beyond death seems to have been a particularly important factor in early Irish Christian Spirituality. The concept had practical repercussions in the care lavished by the living on their dead relatives and friends in an effort to liberate them from Hell and transfer them to Heaven. Monastic Rules impress on nuns and clerics the importance of prayer for the Dead with special reference to the recitation of the "Biait" (Psalm 118/119). Traditionally, St. Michael, the Archangel, adopts the role of psycho-pomp in leading the Dead into the Otherworld Paradise. He is associated with high places overlooking the sea, and the unique monastic site - Sceilig Mhichíl - off the coast of Kerry is dedicated to him. It was also a pilgrimage site remarkable for its isolation and awesome exposure to nature in its most elemental forms in rock, wind and sea. Some miles further south stands another isolated rock known as "Tech nDuind" - the house of Donn, Irish god of the Dead. It was to him that the souls of the Dead made their way. Could it be, then, that Sceilig Mhichíl was deliberately chosen as a suitable site from which St. Michael and his human Christian helpers could launch a spiritual assault on Donn his fellow-psycho-pomp of pagan persuasion? Could the terrifying pilgrim's path through narrow rock formations, up steep steps to perch precariously on a projecting rock over the raging sea have been an initiation rite - a rehearsal for the perilous journey of the soul to the Otherworld?

Patrick O'Flanagan
Santiago de Compostela in 1752: Before or Afterwards. The structure of a pilgrimage focus

Santiago de Compostela is a monumental settlement. Its public spaces are awesome, impressive and spectacular. Most of the buildings and spaces there in 1752 has survived to this day as a baroque phenomenon. For centuries Santiago has functioned as a major administrative centre, a university town and a pilgrimage focus. Like all pilgrimage routes now and in the past El Camino de Santiago has a spatial structure which can be clearly defined. Likewise, it is argued in this presentation, does the settlement of Santiago have a distinct spatial structure. By analysing the results from a detailed census expedited in 1752, it is possible to delineate the spatial morphology of the city by relating its class structure to its monumental and physical characteristics.

Ragnall Ó Floinn
Two medieval relic lists from Christ Church, Dublin

Little is known of the contents of medieval church treasuries in Ireland. Not only did the objects which were housed in such treasuries not survive the Reformation, but Irish medieval sources are remarkably silent on the subject. Almost all surviving medieval reliquaries from Ireland are associated with Irish saints and with patrons and craftsmen of the church inter Hibernos. The fifteenth-century manuscript known as The Book of Obits and Martyrology of the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity, Dublin contains two incomplete lists of the relics in the possession of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin. This manuscript was first edited in 1844 by J.C. Crosthwaite for the Irish Archaeological Society in 1844. They are the only records of their type to have survived for a major church in the English-controlled part of Ireland.
The paper will analyse these little-known but unique records. The lists appear to date to the twelfth and fifteenth centuries and an analysis of each and a comparison between the two sheds some light on how church treasuries were accumulated during the middle ages. The paper will examine the saints (both Irish and non-Irish) and the relic types represented in the lists, charting the development of the cathedral's treasury, its patrons and its internal and external connections.

Eoghan Ó hAnnracháin
Etton of Bienvillers-au-Bois and Dompierre-sur-Helpe – two local pilgrimages

Etton is the patron saint of two communes in the Département du Nord of France, and his feast day is 10 July. Born in Ireland about 590, he ministered in Bienvillers-au-Bois, and died at Dompierre-sur-Helpe on 654. Quite unknown in Ireland, he is still well-known in these two parishes and has the title of "Protecteur de tout le Pays d'Artois". On pilgrimage to Rome, he was given the task of converting the area west of Arras. In what is Bienvillers-au-Bois today, he built a church dedicated to Saint James and placed in it relics of Saint Clement, pope and martyr. A thaumaturgist who could relate to the everyday problems of the people, he rapidly converted the population of that forested area - where druidism still reigned - to Christianity. Rebuilt after WWI, the church is still dedicated to Saint James. Next, Etton moved some seventy kilometres south-east to another pagan area. There, he built a church dedicated to Saint Peter (Dom(inus) Pierre) which became the place-name. Again, he had a good rapport with the local people; his fame was strengthened when he restored speech to a mute struck dumb by a great shock. The church is now named Saint Etton. In the middle ages, Etton's relics were taken to the abbey of Liessies. This was never accepted by the people of Dompierre. At the height of the Revolution, 400 Dompierrois brought back the relics to their church. In 1989, when France commemorated the bicentenary of the Revolution, Dompierre celebrated the bicentenary of the return of the relics of Etton. Each Ascension Day, Etton is commemorated at Dompierre in a colourful traditional pilgrimage.

Jennifer O'Reilly
Insular images of pilgrimage

Early Irish and Anglo-Saxon monks, though living 'at the ends of the earth', saw Jerusalem as its literal and symbolic centre. From the Mediterranean culture of Late Antiquity they had inherited a rich tradition of the spiritual interpretation of biblical images of Jerusalem and of the journey to the Promised Land. Such interpretations, adapted to local time and place, were made present in Insular monastic life, liturgy and literature.
The De locis sanctis, written by Adomnan, the ninth abbot of Iona (679-704), includes a detailed account of Old and New Testament sites venerated in post-Constantinian Jerusalem and the surrounding area. The book is based on Adomnan's formidable biblical learning and what purports to be the dictated, eye-witness account of a recently-returned Christian pilgrim, Arculf. The work circulated in Northumbria and Bede, monk of Wearmouth-Jarrow, soon produced his own version of Adamnan's guide to the Holy Places from which he later quoted in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, c.731. Bede also wrote homilies and commentaries on the biblical accounts of the Tabernacle, built by Moses and the children of Israel in the wilderness during their journey to the Promised Land, and on the Temple built by Solomon in Jerusalem. Bede here shows an informed interest in the literal text of the Old Testament accounts and a creative use of New Testament and patristic traditions of interpreting the continuing spiritual significance of Tabernacle, Temple and Jerusalem for Christian readers. The present paper discusses examples of themes used by Adomnan and Bede in their treatment of Jerusalem journeys and of inner pilgrimage.

Jerry O'Sullivan
Iona, Inishmurray and Clonmacnoise: the pilgrim's view of complex ecclesiastical landscapes

Iona, Inishmurray and Clonmacnoise are three examples of complex early church sites with a diversity of surviving monuments. Here there are constellations of greater and lesser churches, founders' tomb chapels, paved routeways, wayside crosses, principal cemeteries, satellite cemeteries and pilgrim stations or leachta. The result is a confusing accretion of features over several centuries. Understandably, much attention has been focused on individual or isolated elements, rather than the landscape of monuments as a whole. This paper asks whether the pilgrim's perspective offers a more unified or ordered view of these complex ecclesiastical landscapes, but also looks at evidence for reorganisation and reinterpretation of the monuments by successive generations at different periods.

John Osborne
Exorcising the demons: Rome's ancient monuments in the experience of medieval pilgrims

Medieval pilgrims visiting the Christian shrines in Rome could not help but notice the remarkable legacy of the city's ancient past which stood everywhere around them. This legacy ranged from buildings such as the Colosseum, the Pantheon, or the Castel Sant' Angelo, to the triumphal columns, arches and obelisks, and the many bronze and marble statues. Some of these had been collected at places where pilgrims would frequently gather – for example, in the porch of the Lateran palace, the papal residence. Others stood in their original locations throughout the city, bearing witness to a greatness that was no more. These objects and buildings produced a variety of responses in their medieval viewers, including both fear and amazement. Many wondered who had made such 'marvels', and why. Others pondered the obvious contradiction between a glorious but pagan past, and the rather more impoverished Christian present. The 'official' response to such questions was a formal attempt to integrate past and present through a process of 'Christianization', particularly of the buildings. Thus the temple dedicated to all the gods (the Pantheon) took on new life as a church dedicated to Mary and all the saints; the tomb of the emperor Hadrian was linked to the cult of St. Michael the Archangel; and so on. Texts such as the twelfth-century Mirabilia urbis Romae made these links explicit for their readers, and similar explanations must have been available to the many thousands of pilgrims who did not have such literacy skills. Many of these more 'popular' tales, however, are rather more fanciful and imaginative than the standard fare of the Mirabilia. A number have survived in the travel accounts written by visitors to the city, for example a certain magister Gregorius, who has left us with a detailed account of the ancient monuments still visible in the city circa 1220. Gregorius derides the foolish legends and superstitions which were then in circulation, but he and others have at least recorded them for posterity. This paper will explore the 'unofficial' reception history of Rome's 'material' legacy from the ancient world, as it can be recreated from a wide variety of texts. The aim will be to recover some sense of the response of the typical pilgrim to the city when confronted with the impressive buildings and objects of a pagan culture which they had been conditioned to regard as 'other'.

Carlos Baliñas Pérez
The Taming of the Shrew: Power and Politics in the early Beginnings of St James' Cult (IXth Century)

The aim of the paper is to put the discovering of the presumed body of Saint James the Elder in Galicia into its political context. In first place, the role of the new religious cult as a link between the new-born Kingdom of Asturias and the regional elites of Galicia. Secondly, the way in which the Asturian kingship associated itself with Galician church to build the royal power on Northwestern Spain. In third place, how Galician churchmen became part of the hierarchy of the new political space, becoming rich and powerful through royal patronage, but paying the high price of losing their freedom of political choice and becoming, in fact, a mere tool of the kings of Asturias.

Helen Phelan
Ad mortem festinamus: music, pilgrimage and rites for the dead

This paper proposes a speculative connection between Irish attitudes to pilgrimage and the use of music in contemporary Irish Catholic funeral liturgies. The widespread persistence of artifacts and architecture related to the religious ritual practices of early Christianity in Ireland would seem to suggest that the spiritual attitudes and expressions developed at that time retain a contemporary relevance. The early Christian practice of pilgrimage in Ireland differed in many significant ways from contemporaneous European practice, most significantly in a view of pilgrimage as, ideally, irreversible. It is in this sense, that pilgrimage is described as a martyrdom or a death.
The connection between death, pilgrimage and liturgy in Ireland is traced up to the current revision of funeral liturgies in the Roman Catholic Order of Christian Funerals. The characteristics of music in pilgrimage, including its ability to move between secular and sacred spaces are examined in light of the contemporary practice of using secular music in Irish Catholic funeral liturgies at the Rite of Commendation or during the procession immediately following. The paper concludes with the suggestion that the ritual impoverishment of musical practice in contemporary Catholic funeral liturgies has resulted in the borrowing of musical practice from other ritual environments (such as pilgrimage) and a concomitant inclusion of popular, paraliturgical practices into the expression of officially sanctioned liturgical rites.

W. Piron and H. van Asperen
Pilgrim-badge database

During the last decades thousands of medieval pilgrim badges have been excavated all over Europe. These objects provide us with an unique source of information about the medieval society in general and pilgrimages in particular.
At the Catholic University of Nijmegen (The Netherlands) an international, computerised database is being developed containing these badges (1000-1599). A consistent and thorough documentation was urgently needed because of the vulnerability of the material and, consequently, the irrevocable disappearance of information connected to these badges. In addition a database is helpful for research because scattered and inaccessible objects are gathered in one central registration point. Thanks to the database the researcher can approach his material in various ways: it becomes possible to make surveys and calculations as well as comparisons on a stylistic or iconographic level.
Alongside religious badges the database also contains ampoules and profane badges. The latter are included because they also offer information about cultural-historical aspects of medieval life. Furthermore, a distinction between religious and profane subjects often can not be made. Also secondary sources like moulds, casts on bells, texts or painted badges, are recorded in the database because of the additional information about lost or incomplete badges.

Virginia C. Raguin
Margery Kempe: Pilgrim at Jerusalem and Rome

Margery Kempe, the author of the autobiographical Book of Margery Kempe of 1438, travelled to Jerusalem in 1415. Kempe described her visit to the Holy Sepulchre in detail, noting each place she was led to by the friars. She arrived in Rome in August 1415, after travelling through Venice then Assisi, and remained in Rome through Easter of the following year. Kempe names many places she visited in Rome, particularly churches. However, her descriptions of what she saw are generally abbreviated. Her purpose, of course, is not to provide a traveller's account, but rather, a pilgrim's account. Her third person narration concentrates on her actions, visions and experiences. John Capgrave, an Austin Friar from Lynn, Kempe's own town, was in Rome between 1447 and 1452 (about 35 years after Kempe's stay). Capgrave notes devotional practices, especially the visits to parish (Stationary) churches during the Lenten season. Kempe would undoubtedly have visited many of these forty churches and she specifically recalled a time when the wind and rain of "gret tempestys" kept her from such devotions. St. John Lateran and St. Mary Major are two of the great basilicas mentioned by Kempe. An important site to an English visitor, now considerably altered, was the Hospital of Saint Thomas of Canterbury, established in 1362, most likely as a result of the increased number of English pilgrims to Rome for the Jubilee of 1350. In the late 14th century, the Church of St. Bridget was built by Pope Boniface IX, who also canonized the Swedish mystic on October 7, 1391. Kempe describes visiting the saint's burial place. Bridget was of great influence on late medieval piety and her pilgrimage to Jerusalem and visions received in the Holy Sepulchre inspired both pilgrimage and visionary literature, notably Kempe's own behaviour.

Grellan Rourke
Skellig Michael: Magnificent Window on an Early Christian Monastery

Kathryn Rudy
Heer Bethlem's Printed Guide for Mental Pilgrimage

Just before the Protestant Reformation, many new devotional exercises - especially those that involved meditations on Christ's Passion and suffering - were developed in Western Europe. These included pilgrimage to the Holy Land, literally walking in Christ's footsteps. Several late medieval manuscripts also contain textual instructions for mental or spiritual pilgrimage. The publisher Willem Vorsterman in Antwerp printed the earliest such guide on 12 October 1518, called Heer Bethlem's guide to spiritual pilgrimage, and heavily illustrated with woodcuts representing the Holy Sites. The book claims that Heer Bethlem (most definitely a sobriquet invented by the printer) lived in the Holy Land for a long time, where he measured the distances between the Holy Sites, and that "whoever reads it devotionally will earn all the indulgences as fully as if he had visited all the holy places in Jerusalem with his body." Heer Bethlem, however, was not the author of the booklet; rather, it was adapted from a guide to spiritual pilgrimage copied by Augustinian nuns near Maastricht. A copy of Heer Bethlem's guide, now in the Koninklijke Bibliotheek in The Hague bears numerous added marginal notes. Specifically, the notationalist wrote references to landmarks within a female cloister that reveal that a nun used the book in order to turn her own cloister into a miniature Jerusalem. Among other buildings, she refers to a spinhuis, a weaving or spinning house. Furthermore, she practices her devotions to the Last Supper in the cloister's hospital, and in the middle of the hospital corridor, she is to fall on her knees to show her devotion to Christ praying at Gethsemane. She shows her devotion to Christ during his betrayal by Judas by praying in the "werm hous," possibly a bakery, where she declares her co-suffering for Christ's "wretched imprisonment." At numerous places, she notes that she walks around the entire cloister compound in order to take the same number of steps that Christ did during his Passion.

Ian C. Rutherford
Palms, Feet and Graffiti - the Iconography of Pilgrimage in the Ancient World

Pilgrimage is an important phenomenon in the ancient world. It is attested in Greece, the Near East, and Greco-Roman Egypt. And we find it in various forms: state-pilgrimage, personal pilgrimage, initiation, and healing pilgrimage.
In the Greek world commemoration is usually by means of official inscriptions, but the "epigraphic habit" is rare before the 4th century BC, and even after then it tend to be sporadic, commemorating only exceptional cases. Another mode of commeoration is to leave a physical dedication.
In the Hellenistic and Roman periods, and particularly in the context of pilgrimage within Egypt, we begin to find a more personal commemoration of pilgrimage. There are two sides to this:

1. graffiti
   1. formulas such as emnesthe = "X remembers Y" or mnesthe = "let X be remembered", possibly translating an Aramaic original;
   2. the proskunema formula, indicating that someone remembers there 'adoration' of the deity. possibly translating a demotic Egyptian original;
   3. other formulae.
2. iconography
   1. a branch, possibly a palm-branch;
   2. representations of feet, which are ambiguous but may sometimes indicate the completion of a pilgrimage;
   3. other images.

Michael Shields
German Flagellant Songs in the Year of the Black Death

German pilgrim songs appear to conform to two musical types, (1) the leis (a vernacular litany with the refrain kyrie eleis) and (2) the reigen, a popular round-dance form. Both use responsion between a soloist or soloists (vorsinger) and the collective gathering. The leis already existed in the 9th century; the dance forms probably developed in the 13th century and are attested from the 14th century on.
Little is known of questions regarding the performance of most pilgrim songs. However, the flagellant "liturgy", as performed twice daily on their 33½-day journey by penitents in the Summer of 1349, has been recorded in minute detail. The most detailed accounts are the Straßburger Chronik of Fritsche Closener (written in 1362) and the Chronikon of Hugo von Reutlingen. While Closener is careful not to call the flagellants pilgrims, it is clear that the redemptive 33½-day journey was perceived by contemporaries as an alternative kind of pilgrimage, legitimised by the Heavenly Letter that was read at the end of each enactment of the flagellation ritual. Research into the flagellant songs has concentrated largely on identifying song genres (Hübner). The study by Beat Kölliker (1977) is the first to emphasise that the songs have a coherent overall structure with a cumulative "bewußtseinsverändernde Wirkung", that enables singers and listeners to identify with various roles - Christ, usurer, murderer, thief, penitent. For Kölliker its main thrust is devotional and ultimately introspective.
The paper will offer a new (and somewhat more histrionic) reconstruction of how the flagellants' main song, the Hauptleis, was performed, and will argue that the songs have three main functions: fostering solidarity among flagellants, gaining acceptance for the group as it enters a town for the first time, and enabling participants to try out alternative identities, locating themselves in an eschatological context.

Margalit Shilo
The immigration to the Holy Land as a pilgrimage: the case of Jewish widows in the 19th century

The census of Jews in Palestine in the 19th century shows an outstanding phenomenon – the number of women was nearly twice as many as the number of men. One of the reasons for this peculiar demographic situation was women coming to settle in the Holy Land after their husbands' deaths. Widowhood offered them for the first time in their life a stance of independence. Jewish women's exclusion from the mainstream practices of religiosity, learning the sacred texts and praying in a group, did not leave them any alternative for expressing their religious feelings. Immigration to Palestine in order to live near the Holy places turned into a unique religious experience. Historical evidence uncovers the coming of women from various parts of the world: from the Balkans, Eastern and Western Europe and from North Africa. Some came with money and some were dependent on allowances that were given to them in Palestine, some lived on their own, but a great number of them lived in semi-communes, consisting of women only. These women developed their unique ways of worship: adopting Rachel's Tomb as a women's shrine, taking special care of the Wailing Wall and performing special deeds of benevolence. These women wanted to devote their last years to glorifying God. An extraordinary tombstone tells us the story of a young unmarried woman who decided to leave her earthly life in exile and make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in order to devote her life to God. Can all this be explained as quasi-nunneries? An in-depth analysis of these women sheds new light on our understanding of Jewish women's religiosity and on the evolvement of popular religion. It also enlightens in a new way the links between the pioneers of Israel and those who preceded them.

Mary Sleeman
The Holy Wells of County Cork

The presentation will provide an illustrated account of the various holy well's in County Cork, based on the field work carried out by the Cork Archaeological Survey UCC, over the last two decades. It will discuss the various types, how many are in use, pattern days etc. Finally, it will focus on a small number of wells which are still venerated, discussing their history, traditions and current practices.

Danny Syon
A Crusader Workshop of Lead Ampullae from 'Akko

The workshop was discovered during an excavation conducted in the northeastern corner of the present day old city of 'Akko, in a hitherto unknown quarter of the crusader city. This part was not inhabited during the Ottoman era and is thus well preserved. The finds represent the various stages of manufacture: lead 'scraps' for melting; raw material for casting; six moulds; and one finished ampulla. Most of the moulds are made of slate, a material not readily available in the Levant. The fact that not a single complete mould was found, but rather what appear to be discarded fragments, suggests that the artisan may have been able to escape 'Akko in 1291 with most of his tools of trade.
These 13th century ampullae carry on the Byzantine tradition of ampullae manufactured at various loca sancta. In contrast to the majority of ampullae of both Byzantine and medieval origin, which are found in museum collections all over the world, the present find comes from a controlled archaeological excavation. It provides, for the first time, an opportunity to study the whole technical process of producing these ancient souvenirs. When Jerusalem was lost to the Crusaders in 1187, 'Akko became the main hub of Christian pilgrim activity for the next hundred years. The finds from 'Akko seem to indicate that this city provided the bulk of lead-alloy ampullae to the Christian pilgrim in the 13th century Levant. The ampullae of the 13th century ceased to carry the recognizable hallmarks of specific holy sites and the religious representations associated with them. They rather became generic, mass-produced items, to be bought in 'Akko and carried to any holy site.

Denis Thalson
Longing for Home: What Medieval Irish Pilgrimage Can Offer the Place and Environment Dialogs Today

The last decade in particular has seen an explosion of popular interest in location-based spiritualities and increased attunement to environment, and has produced a voluminous literature which chronicles the exploration of place which is both an adjunct to and a catalyst for the sense of spiritual unfoldment which is often presented as travelling a "path". One theme currently being elaborated is that of the tension between a longing to belong to a place, or to be "located" in a deep way, against the all too frequent modern sense of dislocation and exile felt even in the midst of "home". Contemporary assumptions about the connections between place and spirit differ greatly from those current during the great age of Irish pilgrimage, from the 6th to 11th centuries. The two understandings of the connections between place, journey and the spirit animating the path in between, divergent though they are, still share some common motivations, and the practices and traditions of medieval Irish pilgrimage still offer insights which can elucidate the pilgrim's path today.

Renilde Vervoort
St. James, a Witch Hunter? A Peculiar Bruegel Engraving of St. James and the Magician Hermogenes (1565)

This engraving depicts the meeting between the apostle James the Greater and the magician Hermogenes. James was a very popular saint in the Netherlands at the end of the Middle Ages: a great number of people took on a pilgrimage to Compostella. But St. James was also very present in the Netherlands: the churches, chapels, altars, hospitals, fraternities and the stories told by the pilgrims must have made him a top saint. Although the competition between St. James and Hermogenes, as told in the Legenda Aurea, has been depicted several times in the Low Countries, the saint has never been seen in this unusual environment before. Bruegel does not quite follow the legend. The engraving swarms with monsters, devils and witches who fly astride dragons and a goat. Actually, this print can be considered as a compendium of the witchcraft, soon followed by other artists in the Netherlands ­ omitting St. James but using the same diabolical language and witchcraft paraphernalia. Why did Bruegel choose this universe of witchcraft for St. James? Are there any pilgrims with St. James? What other aspects of pilgrimage can be seen in this print? When Bruegel depicted specifically a witch, as he did in The Witch of Mallegem she seems not dangerous, just a quack on the local kermis. But in St. James and the magician Hermogenes the witches are threatening. In the continuation of the scene, in The Fall of the Magician, acrobats replace the witches. What do acrobats have to do with witchcraft? During my lecture I would like to respond to these questions, and go more into detail on the roots of the different "witch symbols" as depicted by Bruegel.

Lothar Vogel
The Pilgrimage to Rome as depicted in early medieval hagiography

Journeys to Rome are recorded in numerous hagiographical texts of the early Middle Ages. Their value for the investigation of pilgrimage consists in the narrative character of these sources. They offer 'flash-light snapshots' of such journeys, and reflect customs, experiences and expectations connected with pilgrimage to Rome at that time. Significant for the hagiographical motif of the journey to Rome is a certain tension and almost rivalry between Rome as a destination of pilgrimage and the place where the bones of the saint described in that text are buried. This tension is the result of the foundational function for the worship of the saint such lives have to fulfil, and that becomes manifest, for instance, in the astonishment the Pope shows on the occasion of an audience about the holiness of his guest or in the fact, that a healing, that did not come to pass at Rome, is happening at the grave of the saint. The motif of a journey to Rome occurs mostly in the descriptions of holy bishops. The manner in which these journeys are described is also reflected in the increasingly active role Rome achieved in relation to the local churches at least in the Frankish kingdom during the eighth century. Whereas previously the journeys to Rome bore the character of real pilgrimage, now the audience with the Pope comes to the foreground in the description of the saint's stay at Rome. From this meeting the saint receives the canonical legitimisation to be active in his local church. In cases where a judgment has to made made, whether a recorded journey to Rome is historically probable or not, the development of the hagiographical motif of journey to Rome must be taken into account.

Benedicta Ward
Pilgrimage of the Heart: Monks and Pilgrimage in the early Middle Ages

Pilgrimage has provided an image of the inner life of Christians from the earliest times and it was also given an an external reality as an increasingly popular form of devotion throughout the Middle Ages. The two concepts were not simple alternatives but the several strands within each were constantly interwoven. I will discuss some of the ambiguities of external and internal ideas of Christian pilgrimage. First I will look at the idea of pilgrimage as dispossession for the individual, as going away from earthly life towards heavenly life, both in action and in idea with special reference to early monasticism, as an ideal pattern for the Christian in his journey to the new Jerusalem. Secondly I will look at the idea of pilgrimage of individuals towards a shrine with a view to getting something , as in the pilgrimages of the Middle Ages, for example at the shrine of St. Thomas Becket. I will look at the pilgrimages made by the relics of saints themselves, e.g. the journeys of the hairs of the Virgin from Laon in the twelfth century. In conclusion I will see how these two ideas of pilgrimage were given a new direction in the sixteenth century.

Christabel Watson
A reassessment of the western parts of the Romanesque cathedral of Santiago de Compostela

During the last two decades it has generally become accepted that the Romanesque Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela was unfinished at the time of Archbishop Gelmírez's death in 1140. Not until Master Mateo was given his contract in 1168 was the building finally completed. This overturns Conant's hypothesis of 1926 that the cathedral was raised in one building programme, from the mid 1070s to 1140. The aim of this paper is to propose a reassessment of the western parts of the cathedral. By a detailed study of the standing fabric, the author has discovered that far more of the Romanesque church existed at the west end before the advent of Mateo. It will be shown that Mateo had to develop his new work within the constraints established by a pre-existing building.

Diana Webb
Language and Difference: the Pilgrim as Foreigner

The words for 'pilgrim' in the modern European languages derive from the Latin peregrinus, which has among its main meanings 'foreigner' or 'stranger'. Although much medieval pilgrimage was in fact short-range and local, thousands of pilgrims clearly did cover great distances. Travellers to the Holy Land, as also to Santiago, often noted the peculiarities of the landscape and the peoples among whom they found themselves, but comment in the reverse direction seems to be less common. The pilgrim who came from far away, having been disappointed at many other shrines, only to find deliverance at the shrine that you happened to be advertising, was a stock character of many if not most miracle collections, and in principle, therefore, there was ample scope for comment on the linguistic and other peculiarities which marked him (or her) out as a foreigner. Such comment, for example on difficulties on communicating with foreign pilgrims, is less abundant than one might expect. This paper proposes to examine some of the evidence from a wide period of 'the middle ages' in an attempt to discover whether a picture of 'the pilgrim as foreigner' is attainable.

Maggie Williams
Marking the "Pilgrim's Way" at Clonmacnois: the High Crosses and Devotional Practice

It has frequently been argued that the massive round towers which dot the Irish countryside functioned as beacons to guide medieval pilgrims to their destinations, but what role did the high crosses play in marking pilgrimage sites? Although they would not have been visible from as great a distance, these impressive stone monuments were tangible signs and sentinels of Christian sites like Clonmacnois, county Offaly. They marked holy ground and undoubtedly served as focal points for pilgrims' devotional activities. In this paper, I will demonstrate that the three surviving stone crosses at Clonmacnois functioned as outdoor altars for pilgrims travelling from afar. Pilgrimage to Clonmacnois began as early as the sixth or seventh century after rumours were spread that the earth within which Saint Ciarán's holy relics were interred had cured King Diarmait mac Cerbaill of his deafness. Following Diarmait's miraculous recovery, pilgrims began to flock to Clonmacnois, and the annals record their presence on the site from as early as 617 C.E. Their destination was the tiny oratory known as Temple Ciarán – or Teach Chiaráin, meaning Ciarán's house – which contained the founder's relics. Several other sacred items may have also been stored in the building, including the hide of the Dun Cow which purportedly had salvific powers. Temple Ciarán has recently been radio-carbon dated to sometime between 660 and 980 C.E., making it one of the earliest stone buildings on the site, and it is located on axis with the ancient stone pathway, known as the "pilgrim's way." Although Temple Ciarán was undoubtedly the pilgrims' ultimate destination, the building itself was not large enough to accommodate their numbers. Consequently, many visitors to Clonmacnois must have spent a significant portion of their time on the site wandering among the other structures and kneeling before the high crosses in prayer. Using archaeological and iconographical evidence, I will show that the high crosses at Clonmacnois would have served as altars before which pilgrims could perform acts of devotional either before or after having viewed the splendid reliquaries within which Saint Ciarán's powerful remains were stored.

Wes Williams
Mystagogues and Missionaries: the Professionalisation of Pilgrimage to Early Modern Jerusalem

The paper will focus on the figure of the pilgrim-turned-missionary in early modern Jerusalem, and examine the emergence of a figure referred to in contemporary texts as the 'mystagogue': the guide to the meaning of sacred sites. Looking at this figure in the work of one Jean duBlioul in particular, I hope to suggest how different forms of belonging and transcultural attachment were being experimented with in early modern Jerusualem, initially alongside, and then as an alternative to forms of pilgrimage. The mystagogue is the one who stayed on, as it were, 'went native' to some extent, and so broke certain rules of engagement with the pilgrim place and the local people (i.e. he spoke to locals, got to know the place in terms of local detail, learned local languages and so on). He is also, crucially a professional; and one who displaces the drogoman/truchement as the primary guide for European pilgrims through the land. In this respect the pilgrim-turned-mystagogue and sometimes missionary is, of course, one possible grand-father to the later Orientalists. But he is more interesting as a version of someone who makes their home somewhere else. Issues he raises include the threat his way of living in sacred place poses both to theose who had traditionally guided pilgrims through the sites, and indeed to the visiting pilgrims themselves (who are, as pilgrims, strictly 'passing through' have no abiding city and so on). The fantasy of hybrid belonging which he seems – to many – to live out is the focus of DuBlioul's French pilgrimage account, and will be that of my paper.

Jonathan Wooding
Early Irish Peregrinatio - 'Pilgrimage' or 'exile'?

Study of peregrinatio since the 1970s has taken principally a phenomenological perspective, perhaps at the expense of a full understanding of peregrinatio as a vocation taken up for individual reasons under individual circumstances. This paper will examine in detail some cases of peregrinatio against the backdrop of our understanding of the personal, spiritual and economic circumstances of individual peregrini. From this it will be seen that peregrinatio describes a range of monastic activities, pilgrimage amongst them.

Gerry Wrixon and Joachim Beug
Pilgrimage to Santiago

Peter Yeoman
Footsore and Penitent - Pilgrimage Archaeology of Scotland

Pilgrimage and the cults of saints was as popular with the Pictish, Irish, Norse and Scots peoples of Scotland as with any others in Christendom, with major shrines at the heart of important reliquary churches at Tain, Iona, Kirkwall, Whithorn, Glasgow, Dunkeld, Dunfermline and St Andrews. Scotland had its fair share of the patronage of saints, ranging from an apostle of Christ, to national, indigenous saints such as Ninian, Columba and Kentigern, to a multiplicity of lesser holy men and martyrs. The archaeology of pilgrimage can illustrate an aspect of medieval life with which we can still connect, providing a rare shiver of contact. The author has recently completed the first book to review the archaeology of pilgrimage in Scotland, published in the Batsford/Historic Scotland series, spring 1999. This book is concerned with interpreting the physical evidence, and using this to achieve a better understand of the all-pervading nature of religion in everyday life. Our understanding of the fabric of the medieval world can be informed by the practicalities of pilgrimage. The pilgrim had to obtain written permission from the parish priest; safe conducts were needed for foreign travel; wealth was entrusted to the king or to a great church; wives were empowered to run their affairs. We can learn about travel infrastructure, about accommodation, about victualling, and almsgiving. The cult of saints helps us understand the design and function of medieval churches and cathedrals, not just their use in the sometimes exclusive worship of monks or clergy, but also their role in popular religion. Great reliquary churches were built as a housing for the relics of the saint, thus making them available to the faithful. All of the chief centres of ecclesiastical organisation in Scotland were given credibility by possessing the relics of the saints. Saints and their relics were used to achieve political ends, often with Church and State in conspiracy. Corporate identification with saints was used to reinforce concepts of national identity during troubled times. This happened specifically during the creation of the emergent kingdom of Alba in the ninth century, and again during and after the Wars of Independence when the cult of St Andrew was manipulated to good effect. Another feature of this time was the wider promotion of native cults to help provide a strong, separate identity for the Scottish church, to enable Scotland to present itself to the Papacy as a modern, sovereign state. A review is also made of Scots pilgrims' badges; these are rich in meaning, both to their original medieval owners, and also to us when seeking a better understanding of medieval life. They provide reliable evidence of the movement of people, of real and arduous journeys, while also underlining the tangible devotion to individual saints, within the wider context of popular religion. There is also a significant body of pilgrimage artefacts that illustrate Scots' pilgrimage abroad, in England, Europe and the Holy Land.

Yechiel Zelinger
Byzantine road stations around Jerusalem

The Roman administration in Palestine is notable for its extensive network of roads, paved in a compact web, connecting every city and district in the province. They can be precisely dated in most areas of the country due to the extensive use of milestones. The termination of their usage during the Byzantine period caused researchers to question whether these existing roads were utilized in this later period. To provide answers to this question, archaeological sites dating to the Byzantine period were examined along known roads between the coast of Palestine and the holy city of Jerusalem. An excavation conducted by the author at one of the road stations on the Jaffa-Jerusalem road uncovered complexes dating from the 5th century A.D. to the 9th century A.D. In light of this excavation and a re-examination of the known road stations in the area of Jerusalem, it can be stated that a shift in settlement patterns along the ancient roads changed dramatically with the influx of pilgrims in the Byzantine period.

Snjezana Zoric
The Stupa of Borobudur as a Place of Inner Pilgrimage

The objective of my paper lies in the attempt to connect the architectural forms of the Javanese temple – stopa Borobudur – with the spirituality as exposed in the Buddhist scriptures of Lalitavistara, Jatakamala and Gandavyuha, i.e. to show the correspondences of the semantics of the texts with the symbolicity of its material expression in the architectural art. My point of departure is that the analogical differentiation of symbolizing and symbolized in the case of Borobudur is not enough to interpret its forms and to understand its meaning in the context of pilgrimage research. The symbolizing i.e. the stupa forms are neither a mere representation of the textual passages nor is the temple simply a symbol of the "body of the Buddha's law" (dharmakaya), as usually interpreted. Further, it is not a sacred place where people gather together to worship Buddhas and bodhisattvas, but also such a place where the reaching of the highest Buddhist goal, nirvana, should be realized. It implies that the visiting of thestupa for each individual means an inner pilgrimage, a process of inner transformation rather than the performance of their religiosity. Architectural forms of temple's tripartite construction follow the triadic simbolicity as it is contained in the Buddhist texts (e.g. 3 as a sign of the three existential characteristics, 4 as the four noble truths, 8 as the eightfold path, etc.), so that proceeding through the temple structures will mean the proceeding through the teaching itself, even more, the transcending of it.
The approaching of stupa is conceptualized as an entering of the Buddhist path in general. The first rectangular level corresponds to the mental analytics of personality (panna), the hemispheric part corresponds to the realization of the moral precepts (sila) and the cupola as a symbol of meditation, samadhi unites the two previous moments – the one of the discursive knowledge and the other of ethical predispositions, both as a guiding transcending of it.
This shows a double nature of the stupa in Borobudur – as an architectural expression of the Buddhist spirituality and as a sacred place of its possible realization through the inner pilgrimage, starting from the differentiating analysis of the existential forms in samsara to the experience of the voidness in nirvana.

An interdepartmental conference supported by the Departments of Ancient Classics, Archaeology, English, the Combined Departments of Irish, French, Geography, German, Hispanic Studies and History, the Boole Library, Centre for Adult Continuing Education and the Chaplaincy

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