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This module considers the nature and practice of pilgrimage in medieval Europe. Pilgrimage is taken to be a fundamental and highly contested concept in medieval culture which involves religious, social, political, and economic life at every social level. It is concerned with saints, cults, relics, miracles, and magic; with penance and healing, and with political protest and legitimation; with travel and perceptions of other cultures; with the spiritual imagination, mystical experience, and affective piety. Embodying the changing practices of orthodox Christianity, it also expresses the unorthodoxies of popular culture. This study will provide a framework for the understanding of the place of European pilgrimage from c1000 to 1550 and will focus upon English case studies, in particular the cult of Thomas Becket at Canterbury, as well as European ones. From the 4th century pilgrimage to the city of Jerusalem occupied a vital role in medieval mentalities and generated a rich heritage of cultural artefacts which survive to this day. Attention will be given to the institutional aspects of pilgrimage, sanctity and miracles; the nature of shrines and their associated buildings, and to the objects of the visual arts which celebrated cults and helped to sustain them; popular religion and beliefs in the Late Middle Ages.

100% Coursework

• WEBB, D., 'Pilgrims and pilgrimage in the medieval West' (London, 1999).
• FINUCANE, R 'Miracles and Pilgrims' (1977)
• DUFFY, E, 'The Stripping of the Altars' (2005)
• SUMPTION, J 'Pilgrimage: an Image of Medieval Religion' (London, 1975).
• WEBB, D 'Pilgrimage in Medieval England' (London, 2000)
• STAUNTON, M, 'The lives of Thomas Becket' (Manchester, 2001)

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No pre-requisites