Books and Resources
Pilgrimage in the Middle Ages: A Reader
Author: Brett Edward Whalen
Time Period: 2ND CENTURY CE-1539
About The Book
Pilgrimage inspired and shaped the distinct experiences of commoners and nobles, men and women, clergy and laity for over a thousand years. Pilgrimage in the Middle Ages: A Reader is a rich collection of primary sources for the history of Christian pilgrimage in Europe and the Mediterranean world from the fourth through the sixteenth centuries. The collection illustrates the far-reaching significance and consequences of pilgrimage for the culture, society, economics, politics, and spirituality of the Middle Ages. Brett Edward Whalen focuses on sites within Europe and beyond its borders, including the holy places of Jerusalem, and provides documents that shed light upon Eastern Christian, Jewish, and Islamic pilgrimages. The result is an innovative sourcebook that offers a window into broader trends, shifts, and transformations in the Middle Ages.
About The Author
Brett Edward Whalen is Associate Professor of History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the author of Dominion of God: Christendom and Apocalypse in the Middle Ages (Harvard University Press, 2009).
Study Questions
The following questions are taken from a very popular online “quiz” that was launched alongside the publication of the book. There are two types of questions: “True or False” and “Multiple Choice.” Click on each question to reveal the answer.
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For early Christians, penance was a form of satisfaction made to God for one's sins.
True / FalseReveal Answer
TrueFalse
Guilbert of Nogent blames the saints themselves for the rise of counterfeit relics at pilgrimage sites.
True / FalseReveal Answer
True
False
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B) Paula and Eustochium
C) The Promised Land of the Saints
D) Bishop Claudius of Turin
A) Melania
B) Claim that a pilgrim en route to the threshold of St-James of Compostela stole his horse
Under what Roman emperor-™s rule was St. Foy made a martyr?
A) Constantine
B) Julian the Apostate
C) Jovian
D) DiocletianReveal Answer
D) Diocletian
A) It was bitten off and fed to a dragon