The Age of Pilgrimage

Download or read book The Age of Pilgrimage written by Jonathan Sumption and published by Paulist Press. This book was released on 2003 with total page 580 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We are apt to forget how much people traveled in the Middle Ages. Not only merchants, friars, soldiers and official messengers, but crowds of pilgrims were a familiar sight on the roads of Western Europe. In this engaging work of history, Jonathan Sumption brings alive the traditions of pilgrimage prevalent in Europe from the beginning of Christianity to the end of the fifteenth century. Vividly describing such major destinations as Jerusalem, Rome, Santiago de Compostela and Canterbury, he examines both major figures -- popes, kings, queens, scholars, villains -- and the common people of their day.