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Authors: Walter Starkie
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were allowed to engage in the Spanish Crusade. For this reason the pilgrimage to Compostella acquired the prestige of a crusade and it was chosen for its unusual difficulty. Indeed, Montaigne reminds us that Italians made their vows and went on pilgrimages rather to James in Galicia, whereas those of Galicia preferred to journey to Our Lady of Loretto. *
The ancient pilgrims went fervently and heartily on their pilgrimages, and they mortified their flesh, like the three young clerics of Ireland described in the Book of Lismore. Clerical pilgrims, however, soon lost their reputation for sanctity, for the anonymous author of the Regula Magistri of the eighth century says of clerical tramps that they have no choice but to travel, to whom the whole world is closed, since they can submit to no rule or discipline. Their pilgrimage is not for the sake of their souls, but for the sake of their bellies. ‘ ’Tis the belly’s call compels these men to be travellers, always wiping off their sweat with the straw of a stranger’s bed. Since they have no taste for the discipline of a monastery, they may not live and work in a fixed place like, other men, but must keep moving on from day to day, walking, begging, sweating and whining. Always wandering, they know not where their last moments will overtake them, nor in what grave their bones will rest.’ *
The pilgrimage to the Holy Land was only for valiant and adventurous spirits, who were prepared to fight their way through hostile countries, and, moreover, the Moslems of Syria were more furious and intolerant than the Moors in Spain, who were disposed to trade and even to consort with their Christian neighbours.
Already in the eleventh century the pilgrimage to Compostella was well known in England, and by the following century the vigorous propagandist Archbishop, Diego de Gelmirez, made it rank in fame with Jerusalem and Rome. In spite of the romantic appeal that the journey through the passes of the Pyrenees and North Spain had for the adventurous, the spiritual benefits to be derived from Compostella Were not at first as great as those from Rome and Jerusalem. Compostella, however, possessed one supreme asset compared with the other two centres, and this was the unfailing memory of St. James. St. Peter and St. Paul at Rome and the guardian angels at Jerusalem were inclined at times to forget the names, the pleas and the devotion of crusaders and pilgrims, but St. James never forgot his devotees. Sometimes he did not grant their requests immediately, but the favour was sure to come, provided the devotee did not lose heart.
By the twelfth century the multitudes that journeyed to Compostella from all parts of Europe were so great that they were compared to the clouds of stars of the Milky Way, and Dante in the Convito speaks of the galaxy—‘the white circle which the common people call, Way of St. James’. Women and peasants in Italy called it the Roman road, la strada di Roma, and in England, Chaucer tells us that the Canterbury pilgrims called it ‘the Watling Street of the sky’.
Pilgrimages in the religious sense of the word appealed instinctively to man, as we can ascertain from the study of primitive religions. A pilgrimage for him meant the possibility of winning grace and getting into closer contact with the great mysteries of his religion. Even in ancient classical days thinkers like Cicero had spoken in glowing terms of their visits to the hallowed sites in Athens where great men had lived and died. Even though St. Jerome had said that the gates of Heaven were as open in Britain as in Jerusalem, religious teachers believed that special blessings could be obtained in places where saints and martyrs had died, and that men who had sinned could expiate their crimes at such shrines. A pilgrimage could be the easiest means of atonement, and so absolution was frequently granted by Papal Bull, upon condition that the penitent should visit certain holy places. Such was
The ancient pilgrims went fervently and heartily on their pilgrimages, and they mortified their flesh, like the three young clerics of Ireland described in the Book of Lismore. Clerical pilgrims, however, soon lost their reputation for sanctity, for the anonymous author of the Regula Magistri of the eighth century says of clerical tramps that they have no choice but to travel, to whom the whole world is closed, since they can submit to no rule or discipline. Their pilgrimage is not for the sake of their souls, but for the sake of their bellies. ‘ ’Tis the belly’s call compels these men to be travellers, always wiping off their sweat with the straw of a stranger’s bed. Since they have no taste for the discipline of a monastery, they may not live and work in a fixed place like, other men, but must keep moving on from day to day, walking, begging, sweating and whining. Always wandering, they know not where their last moments will overtake them, nor in what grave their bones will rest.’ *
The pilgrimage to the Holy Land was only for valiant and adventurous spirits, who were prepared to fight their way through hostile countries, and, moreover, the Moslems of Syria were more furious and intolerant than the Moors in Spain, who were disposed to trade and even to consort with their Christian neighbours.
Already in the eleventh century the pilgrimage to Compostella was well known in England, and by the following century the vigorous propagandist Archbishop, Diego de Gelmirez, made it rank in fame with Jerusalem and Rome. In spite of the romantic appeal that the journey through the passes of the Pyrenees and North Spain had for the adventurous, the spiritual benefits to be derived from Compostella Were not at first as great as those from Rome and Jerusalem. Compostella, however, possessed one supreme asset compared with the other two centres, and this was the unfailing memory of St. James. St. Peter and St. Paul at Rome and the guardian angels at Jerusalem were inclined at times to forget the names, the pleas and the devotion of crusaders and pilgrims, but St. James never forgot his devotees. Sometimes he did not grant their requests immediately, but the favour was sure to come, provided the devotee did not lose heart.
By the twelfth century the multitudes that journeyed to Compostella from all parts of Europe were so great that they were compared to the clouds of stars of the Milky Way, and Dante in the Convito speaks of the galaxy—‘the white circle which the common people call, Way of St. James’. Women and peasants in Italy called it the Roman road, la strada di Roma, and in England, Chaucer tells us that the Canterbury pilgrims called it ‘the Watling Street of the sky’.
Pilgrimages in the religious sense of the word appealed instinctively to man, as we can ascertain from the study of primitive religions. A pilgrimage for him meant the possibility of winning grace and getting into closer contact with the great mysteries of his religion. Even in ancient classical days thinkers like Cicero had spoken in glowing terms of their visits to the hallowed sites in Athens where great men had lived and died. Even though St. Jerome had said that the gates of Heaven were as open in Britain as in Jerusalem, religious teachers believed that special blessings could be obtained in places where saints and martyrs had died, and that men who had sinned could expiate their crimes at such shrines. A pilgrimage could be the easiest means of atonement, and so absolution was frequently granted by Papal Bull, upon condition that the penitent should visit certain holy places. Such was
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