Pilgrimage in the Mediterranean World

What is it about?

The study of pilgrimage across cultures enables us to examine the intersection of multiple themes in a volume about interfaith relations in the later Mediterranean: the circulation of people and material objects, artwork and architecture, travel and trade, religious tension and dialogue, diplomacy, warfare and peace. Pilgrimage not only had a profound impact on Mediterranean spirituality, liturgy and music, infrastructure (roads, shrines, hostels, hospitals), and the redistribution of wealth through sales, mortgages, loans and alms, but enabled encounters with other cultures both in the Mediterranean and in the worlds beyond it. While long-distance pilgrimage was perhaps the most prestigious, the vast majority of pilgrimages were local or regional journeys to celebrate the translation of relics to a church or to visit a holy person or place that played a central role in a religion’s holy scriptures or were noted for their ability to pardon sins, heal illnesses, impart wisdom, and grant petitions. Sometimes when holy sites such as Jerusalem were considered inaccessible (due to conflicts imperiling major traveling routes or access to the site was denied or strictly controlled), towns, religious orders, or rulers associated themselves with the holy and offered a more accessible encounter with the sacred, as did more portable icons, relics, guidebooks, and pilgrimage accounts. Another draw to sacred centers was the presence of pious and learned living scholars, ascetics, and mystics. Describing the location and significance of the staggering number of holy places resulted in multiple genres of pilgrim literature, ranging from guides to routes and expected behaviors, pragmatic advice, and lists of indulgences, to geographies and written itineraries, to surviving maps. Rulers both Christian and Muslim earned prestige and legitimacy by cultivating, maintaining, and/or controlling access to sacred sites. Although many pilgrims traveled to encounter and benefit from the holy, some may have combined this with the desire to travel and see new places or better their economic circumstances.

Featured Image

Photo by Tomasz Anusiewicz on Unsplash

Photo by Tomasz Anusiewicz on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This article is important for understanding interreligious tensions and harmony in the Mediterranean world and global history and the practice of pilgrimage.

Perspectives