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In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, aligning with the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD and ended with the fall of Constantinople in 1453 AD before transitioning into the Renaissance and then the Age of Discovery. The Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history: antiquity, medieval, and modern. The medieval period is itself subdivided into the Early, High, and Late Middle Ages. Late medieval scholars at first called these the Dark Ages in contrast to classical antiquity.
A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, after which the pilgrim returns to their daily life.
The Holy Land is an area roughly located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Eastern Bank of the Jordan River, traditionally synonymous both with the biblical Land of Israel and with the region of Palestine. The term "Holy Land" usually refers to a territory roughly corresponding to the modern State of Israel and the Palestinian territories. Jews, Christians, and Muslims regard it as holy.
Riḥla refers to both a journey and the written account of that journey, or travelogue. It constitutes a genre of Arabic literature. Associated with the medieval Islamic notion of "travel in search of knowledge", the riḥla as a genre of medieval and early-modern Arabic literature usually describes a journey taken with the intent of performing the Hajj, but can include an itinerary that vastly exceeds that original route. The classical riḥla in medieval Arabic travel literature, like those written by Ibn Battuta and Ibn Jubayr, includes a description of the "personalities, places, governments, customs, and curiosities" experienced by traveler, and usually within the boundaries of the Muslim world. However, the term rihla can be applied to other Arabic travel narratives describing journeys taken for reasons other than pilgrimage; for instance the 19th century riḥlas of Muhammad as-Saffar and Rifa'a al-Tahtawi both follow conventions of the riḥla genre by recording not only the journey to France from Morocco and Egypt, respectively, but also their experiences and observations.
The Via Francigena is an ancient road and pilgrimage route running from the cathedral city of Canterbury in England, through France and Switzerland, to Rome and then to Apulia, Italy, where there were ports of embarkation for the Holy Land. It was known in Italy as the "Via Francigena" or the "Via Romea Francigena". In medieval times it was an important road and pilgrimage route for those wishing to visit the Holy See and the tombs of the apostles Peter and Paul.
Egeria, Etheria, or Ætheria was a Western European Christian woman, widely regarded to be the author of a detailed account of a pilgrimage to the Holy Land about 381/2–386. The long letter, dubbed Peregrinatio or Itinerarium Egeriae, is addressed to a circle of women at home. Historical details it contains set the journey in the early 380s, making it the earliest of its kind. It survives in fragmentary form in a later copy—lacking a title, date and attribution.
Fulk III, the Black, was an early count of Anjou celebrated as one of the first great builders of medieval castles. It is estimated Fulk constructed approximately 100 castles, along with abbeys throughout the Loire Valley in what is now France. He fought successive wars with neighbors in Brittany, Blois, Poitou and Aquitaine and made four pilgrimages to Jerusalem during the course of his life. He had two wives and three children.
Benjamin of Tudela was a medieval Jewish traveler who visited Europe, Asia, and Africa in the twelfth century. His vivid descriptions of western Asia preceded those of Marco Polo by a hundred years. With his broad education and vast knowledge of languages, Benjamin of Tudela is a major figure in medieval geography and Jewish history.
In Orthodox Christian belief, the Holy Fire is a ceremony that occurs every year at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem on Great Saturday, the day before Orthodox Easter.
Itinerarium Burdigalense, also known as Itinerarium Hierosolymitanum, is the oldest known Christian itinerarium. It was written by the "Pilgrim of Bordeaux", an anonymous pilgrim from the city of Burdigala in the Roman province of Gallia Aquitania.
The Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society (PPTS) was a text publication society based in London, which specialised in publishing editions and translations of medieval texts relevant to the history of pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Particular attention was given to accounts by pilgrims and other travellers containing geographical or topographical information, as well as those which discussed the manners and customs of the Holy Land. The original narratives were written in a variety of languages, including Greek, Latin, Arabic, Hebrew, Old French, Russian, and German.
Christianity has a strong tradition of pilgrimages, both to sites relevant to the New Testament narrative and to sites associated with later saints or miracles.
The Emirate of Bari was a short-lived Islamic state in Apulia, in what is now Italy, ruled by non-Arabs, probably Berbers and Black Africans. Controlled from the South Italian city of Bari, it was established about 847 when the region was taken from the Byzantine Empire, but fell in 871 to the army of Emperor Louis II.
Symon Semeonis was a 14th-century Irish Franciscan friar and author.
Leiðarvísir og borgarskipan is an itinerary written c. 1157 by Níkulás Bergsson, the abbot of the monastery of Þverá in Eyjafjörður, Northern Iceland.
Sæwulf was probably the first English pilgrim to Jerusalem following its conquest in the First Crusade. His Latin written account of his pilgrimage tells of an arduous and dangerous journey; and Sæwulf's descriptive narrative provides scholars brief but significant insight into sea travel across the Mediterranean to the new Kingdom of Jerusalem that was established soon after the end of the First Crusade.
De situ terrae sanctae is a short 6th-century report of a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Its author is identified in a 9th-century manuscript as a German archdeacon named Theodosius.
The Pilgrim's Road or Pilgrims' Road was a route through Asia Minor to the Holy Land.
Thietmar or Dithmar was a German Christian pilgrim who visited the Holy Land in 1217–1218 and wrote an account of his travels, the Liber peregrinationis.
Historical sources of the Crusades: pilgrimages and exploration include those authors whose work describes pilgrimages to the Holy Land and other explorations to the Middle East and Asia that are relevant to Crusader history. In his seminal article in the Catholic Encyclopedia, Dominican friar and historian Bede Jarrett (1881–1934) wrote on the subject of Pilgrimage and identified that the "Crusades also naturally arose out of the idea of pilgrimages." This was reinforced by the Reverend Florentine Stanislaus Bechtel in his article Itineraria in the same encyclopedia. Pilgrims, missionaries, and other travelers to the Holy Land have documented their experiences through accounts of travel and even guides of sites to visit. Many of these have been recognized by historians, for example, the travels of ibn Jubayr and Marco Polo. Some of the more important travel accounts are listed here. Many of these are also of relevance to the study of historical geography and some can be found in the publications of the Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society (PPTS) and Corpus Scriptorum Eccesiasticorum Latinorum (CSEL), particularly CSEL 39, Itinerarium Hierosolymitana. Much of this information is from the seminal work of 19th-century scholars including Edward Robinson, Titus Tobler and Reinhold Röhricht. Recently, the Independent Crusaders Project has been initiated by the Fordham University Center for Medieval Studies providing a database of Crusaders who traveled to the Holy Land independent of military expeditions.
References
- 1 2 3 4 Halevi, Leor (January 1998). "Bernard, Explorer of the Muslim Lake: a Pilgrimage From Rome to Jerusalem, 867". Medieval Encounters. 4 (1): 24–50. doi:10.1163/157006798X00025 – via Brill Journals Archive.
- ↑ Halevi, Leor (January 1998). "Bernard, Explorer of the Muslim Lake: a Pilgrimage From Rome to Jerusalem, 867". Medieval Encounters. 4 (1): 25. doi:10.1163/157006798X00025 – via Brill Journals Archive.
- 1 2 McCormick, Michael (2001). Origins of the European Economy: Communications and Commerce, A.D. 300-900. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 137. ISBN 0-521-66102-1.
- ↑ McCormick, Michael (2001). Origins of the European Economy: Communications and Commerce A.D. 300-900. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 137. ISBN 0-521-66102-1.
- 1 2 Bernard the Pilgrim (2009). Paul Edward Dutton (ed.). Carolingian Civilization: A Reader, Second Edition. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. p. 473. ISBN 978-1-55111-492-7.
- ↑ Bernard the Pilgrim (2009). Paul Edward Dutton (ed.). Carolingian Civilization: A Reader, Second Edition. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. p. 478. ISBN 978-1-55111-492-7.
- ↑ Halevi, Leor (January 1998). "Bernard, Explorer of the Muslim Lake: a Pilgrimage From Rome to Jerusalem, 867". Medieval Encounters. 4 (1): 40. doi:10.1163/157006798X00025 – via Brill Journals Archive.
- ↑ Bernard the Pilgrim (2009). Paul Edward Dutton (ed.). Carolingian Civilization: A Reader, Second Edition. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. p. 475. ISBN 978-1-55111-492-7.
- ↑ Friedman, John Block et al., eds. Trade, Travel, and Exploration in the Middle Ages: An Encyclopedia, p. 60 (Routledge 2000)
- ↑ The History of the Kings of England and the Modern History of William of Malmesbury, pp. 438-39 (Translated by Rev. John Sharpe, London, 1815)
- ↑ Clarke, Edward Daniel. Travels in Various Countries of Europe, Asia and Africa, Volume 2, Part 1, p. 635 (1813)
