Medieval pilgrimage

One of the rarest afflictions to come across within twelfth century English hagiography is the double disability of being deaf and mute; in fact, of the eight hagiographic sources, and two-hundred and ninety-two accounts of individuals, that I have researched for my thesis there are only three sufferers (the equivalent of 1%); and in fact, as separate afflictions, there are only seventeen accounts (6%) of muteness and two of deafness (0.6%).

Of these three joint cases, two individuals are cured and one is punished with these disabilities. But, what is particularly interesting thought is that within these rare examples miracle cures the saintly remedy given does not cure both afflictions automatically.  In the Vita et Miracula Sancta Æbbe Virginis, deafness is cured by Becket but it is not until later that Æbbe restores speech to the man (MAE.4.vii) whilst in Miracula S. Swithuni the boy learns to speak from spending time at the tomb of Winchester’s famous saint.  Two questions immediately spring to mind with regards to the rarity of such accounts; firstly, how likely was it that someone suffering from this double disability would attempt to find a cure and secondly why do the saints appear to be unwilling to offer their full services?

This paper considers how the deaf and mute (and those who were both deaf and mute) are reflected within twelfth-century hagiographies and why these cases are quite so rare.  It will also consider the problems of partial cures and what that meant for both the cults and for the sufferer.  Is the lack of mention due to the fact that these where disabilities that could be lived with or were cures less forthcoming (and therefore the cure-seekers have gone unrecorded)?

How can cultural works from the distant past-such as the Middle Ages-teach us ethical modes of behavior for today? One form of ecopoetics emerges through slow practice, making the reader collaborate in the measured process of co-creating the emotional impact of an imaginative text. Drawing on rich debates about slow cinema, this essay suggests how Chaucer's The Clerk's Tale-from his grand fourteenth-century poem, The Canterbury Tales-evokes a slow eco-aesthetics with ethical impact. The relative slowness of walking shapes how individuals respond to their environment. In turn, a deceleration of perception affects how travel comes to be written about, as seen in the tale of Patient Griselda. Introduced by Giovanni Boccaccio and adapted by such writers as Francesco Petrarch, Geoffrey Chaucer, and Christine de Pizan, she acts dynamically through her apparent silence and notorious patience. The environmental humanities offer paradigms for us to consider the strategies of slowness and patience. This essay shows how medieval pilgrimage literature evokes a slow aesthetic which is at the same time an ecocritical strategy. Slowness results in an enduring impact and heightened sensitivity to the ecological damage for which we all are culpable. Sloweness somatically inculcates key aspects of environmental awareness. Pilgrimage texts from the Middle Ages teach us slow ethical aesthetics, suggesting that the medieval moment-finally and a long time coming-is now. Resumen ¿Cómo puede la producción cultural del pasado más lejano, como la del medievo, enseñarnos modos éticos de comportamiento para hoy en día? Una de las formas de la ecopoética surge a través de la práctica lenta, haciendo que el lector colabore en el proceso medido de co-crear el impacto emotivo de un texto ficticio. Inspirado en los valiosos debates en torno al slow cinema (cinematografía lenta), este ensayo plantea cómo El cuento del erudito (The Clerk's Take) de Chaucer, de su gran poema del sigo XIV, Los cuentos de Canterbury, logra evocar una ecopoética lenta con un impacto ético. La relativa lentitud del caminar determina cómo responde el individuo a su medio ambiente. La desaceleración de la percepción, a su vez, afecta a la forma en la que se narra el viaje, como se ve en el cuento de la paciente Griselda. Introducida por primera vez por Giovanni Boccaccio y adaptada por escritores como Francesco Petrarca, Geoffrey Chaucer, y Christine de Pizan, ella actúa dinámicamente por medio de su aparente silencio y su notoria paciencia. Las humanidades ambientales nos ofrecen paradigmas para considerar las estrategias de la lentitud y la paciencia. Este ensayo muestra cómo la literatura del peregrinaje medieval evoca una estética lenta que es a la vez una estrategia ecocrítica. La lentitud resulta en un impacto duradero y una sensibilidad aguzada hacia el daño ecológico del que somos todos culpables. La lentitud corporal inculca aspectos clave de concienciación medioambiental. Los textos medievales sobre el peregrinaje nos enseñan la lenta estética ética, sugiriendo que el momento medieval, tan largamente esperado, por fin ha llegado.

Last year was the 30th anniversary of the Cultural Routes of Council of Europe. It is interesting to notice that some of these cultural itineraries refers to important medieval pilgrimage routes: for instance, it is the case of “St. James’ Way” and the “Via Francigena”. Both itineraries have known a growth in the number of tourists during the last years. Their success is due to two main aspects: firstly, they are slow-tourism products, different from the mass-tourism ones; secondly, they are presented to the public as an authentic experience, strictly connected to the one lived by the medieval pilgrims centuries ago. In my paper, I would like to explain why it is not possible to assimilate the medieval pilgrims with the modern tourists, and in which way these cultural and touristic projects use the Middle Ages as an element of attraction for tourists. In fact, while for a medieval man the pilgrimage was a journey undertaken mainly for religious motivations, a modern tourist decides to set out for different reasons, like the desire of escaping from the daily routine or the opportunity of visiting cultural heritage sites. Furthermore, the idea of reconnecting modern tourists with medieval pilgrims, and the importance of the authenticity of these experiences, seem to suppose a clear dichotomy: the fast modern world is opposed to the quieter and peaceful medieval period, a time when it was possible to face a long journey on foot in order to visit important sanctuaries and churches.

Le pèlerinage est-il un phénomène propre à l'homme sédentaire ? Comment s'est développé le pèlerinage de Compostelle au milieu des autres pèlerinages chrétiens et quelles ont été les clés de son succès jusqu'à aujourd'hui ? Comment voyons-nous et construisons-nous une image du pèlerinage médiéval à partir des idées que nous nous faisons de cette époque, de ses pratiques religieuses et artistiques ? Que sont devenus les pèlerinages aujourd'hui ? Quels sont les effets des mouvements de foules sur le patrimoine religieux ? Y at -il d'autres formes de périples qui se sont développées en contexte athée, mais avec les mêmes caractéristiques de vénération que les pèlerinages religieux ? C'est à toutes ces questions que ce livre tente d'apporter des réponses en donnant la parole à divers spécialistes venus d'histoire des religions, de sociologie, d'histoire, d'anthropologie, d'histoire de l'art, et des milieux de la conservation patrimoniale. Les articles édités dans ce volume sont le résultat de rencontres internationales qui ont eu lieu au mois de juin 2018 dans le cadre de la célébra-tion des vingt ans du classement au patrimoine mondial de l'UNESCO du bien 868 bis : « Chemins de Saint-Jacques-de-Compostelle en France ». Le but de ces rencontres, organisées par la Direction du patrimoine de la ville de Cahors sous la direction de Térence Le Deschault de Monredon, était d'ouvrir nos horizons au-delà de la Galice pour chercher à comprendre d'où viennent les pèlerinages et où vont se perdre leurs sentes nombreuses et variées dans le panorama contemporain.

Migrating Art Historians brings an embodied perspective to the study of medieval pilgrimage. Embodied readings of medieval art are on the rise since the sensual turn in art history, privileging the body as the essential instrument of investigation. Pilgrimage, intensely physical yet surrounded by rich visual culture, is particularly well suited to this type of inquiry. I am not an art historian, but a leader of courses on pilgrimage, and I consider the project and accompanying documentary film. Migrating Art Historians amply demonstrates the pedagogical, as well as scholarly, potential of becoming a pilgrim with one's students. This volume resulted from a semester-long project directed by Ivan Foletti (Masaryk University) in spring 2017. Twelve professors, postdocs, and graduate and undergraduate students walked a total of over 1,500 kilometers along three major medieval French pilgrimage routes (the Lemovicensis, Turonensis, and Podiensis), spending longer rest periods at the abbeys of Conques, Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, and Mont-Saint-Michel. Their investigations there were streamed through Masaryk University's e-learning platform.

The village of Pyrga lies in the vicinity of the famous monastery of Stavrovouni, that is the mountain of the Cross, between the cities of Nicosia, Larnaka and Limassol . The toponym of Pyrga/Pyrka (Greek: Πυργά/Πυρκά) probably originates either from the local red soil (Greek: Πυρ+γη) or from the towers (Greek: Πύργοι) that had existed in the area. In medieval sources, the Chronicle of Leontios Makhairas and Diomede’s Strambali translation mentioned the name Piria/Pirgià (Πυρία/Πυργιά). Equally important, however, is the existence of travelogues of medieval pilgrims, who passed through the area of Pyrga on their way to the monastery of the Holy Cross in Stavrovouni. According to their accounts, there was a village near the mountain and at a close range to the monastery; one of them refers to it as (village of) Holy Cross (Sanctae Crucis). Nowadays, no village in the wider area bears that name. It may have been possible that a medieval village existed there which was abandoned and its location has been subsequently forgotten.

Four medieval sources, nevertheless, provide significant pieces of evidence for the identification of the village. The first source dates back to December 1394 AD when the pilgrim Nicola de Martoni visited Stavrovouni and referred to a village beneath the mountain that belonged to the abbot of the monastery who also had a residence there. Furthermore, the historian George Boustronios mentioned that in January 1474 AD the Venetian authorities confiscated all the possessions of the monastery of the Cross (Staurovouni), including the nearby village. Moreover, a Venetian report (1523 AD) documents that the Venetians gave the village (casal Piria) back to the monastery (abbadia i.e. abbey) of the Holy Cross. Most enlightening is the text by Felix Fabri, who went to Stavrovouni monastery in June 1483 AD. It informs us about a village near the mountain that was called Sanctae Crucis (village of Holy Cross), which had two churches close to each other, a Latin and a Greek one. In both churches officiated the same clerk, who was also a monk, hinting thus at close affinities with the monastery of Stavrovouni. In this paper, the village is identified with Pyrga (Piria) and the churches with the so-called Royal Chapel (Latin chapel) and Agia Marina (Greek church). Thus, a nuanced connection become here apparent, linking the dedication of the Royal Chapel to the Holy Cross, and anchoring it closer to the name of the village of Holy Cross and the monastery of Stavrovouni.

Based on a cross-reading of the sources, the present article demonstrates that the village of Pyrga was referred to as (village of) Holy Cross (French: Sainte Croix) in the travelogues written by the Latins, especially visitors, who perhaps adopted it from hearsay; consequently identifying the monastery property (fief). On the other hand, the local population used the name Piria/Pirgià for both the village and the wider area, as recorded in a source written in the Cypriot Greek by Leontios Makhairas. Later, after the expulsion of the Franks and Venetians by the Ottomans the toponym Piria remained. Therefore, the village mentioned in the sources as (village of) Holy Cross (Sanctae Crucis) is actually the village of Pyrga (Piria - Pirgià - Pyrka).

Between Jerusalem and Europe: Essays in Honour of Bianca Kühnel analyses how Jerusalem is translated into the visual and material culture of medieval, early modern and contemporary Europe, and in what ways European encounters with the city have shaped its holy sites. The volume also demonstrates methodological shifts in the study of Jerusalem in Western art by mapping the diversity of concepts that underlie imaginations of the city as an earthly presence and a heavenly realization, as a physical and a mental space, and as a unique location which is multiplied and re-imagined in numerous copies elsewhere.
Contributors are Lily Arad, Pnina Arad, Barbara Baert, Neta B. Bodner, Iris Gerlitz, Anastasia Keshman Wasserman, Katrin Kogman-Appel, Ora Limor, Galit Noga-Banai, Robert Ousterhout, Yamit Rachman-Schrire, Bruno Reudenbach, Alessandro Scafi, Tsafra Siew, and Victor I. Stoichita.

The survey location sits within the historic city of Chichester; the Cathedral was constructed as a part of the urbanisation of Diocesan seats following the Norman conquests and later became the site of pilgrimage to St Richard, a former bishop of the Cathedral. A visual survey was undertaken at Chichester Cathedral to identify and record the pre-reformation graffiti marks present within the body of the cathedral church. Following this initial recording a total station was used to plot the locations of these marks, this confirmed the initial findings that much of the graffiti was clustered in specific locations. These points within the cathedral relate directly to the veneration of St Richard. It is the distribution of the graffiti marks at the entrance to the cathedral used by the pilgrims, at both veneration sites and at a single location between the two that marks out a probable route for the pilgrims to be moved round the cathedral. As a preliminary work this raises questions as to the likely distribution of marks at other pilgrimage sites, the nature of these marks within the medieval world and the implicit  permission granted in allowing such marks to be placed on the walls of the cathedral.

Although venerated throughout the Christian West, St Roch has nevertheless remained a mysterious personage.  Beginning in the second half of the fifteenth century the cult of the holy pilgrim, protector against the plague, spread from Lombardy to Venice and from Venice German merchants took it to Nuremberg and southern Germany, from where it swiftly spread to the rest of Europe.  But who was in fact St Roch and what were the causes which led to his cult becoming so deeply rooted with such speed so that traces of it can be seen everywhere including representations of him in works of art ?
It was to answer these questions that Belgian, French, Italian and German scholars met at Padua in February 2004.  Their exchange of views led to the abandonment of opinions previously considered certainties.  The joint examination of hagiographic, literary, iconographic and documentary sources as well as the discovery of new texts all gave rise to the problematical image of a new saint who appeared in the wake of a new illness – the plague.  It was the result of a process of hagiographic elaboration but not as such a product of pure imagination.  It was the invention of printing which led to the rapid progression of the cult by the laity of this lay saint, both at its origins and in its elaboration.

The 'Kniga Palomnik', a pilgrim report from the early 13th century written by the Russian pilgrim Dobrynja Jadrejkovič (the future Archbishop Antony of Novgorod), is known as the most detailed and, at the same time, most confusing description of the sacred places and relics of Constantinople on the eve of its plunder in the fourth crusade in 1204.
Yet the text, which is preserved in manuscript miscellanies from the 16th-18th century, is only known from a 1899 Russian edition, which itself is based on only about half the known manuscripts. It hence provides a distorted image of the author as somebody whose confusing travel notes are the result of a fading memory, leading to a topographical dislocation of churches and a contamination of travelling routes.
The doctoral dissertation provides a new annotated critical edition of the text. It shows how the author’s reputedly confusing modus operandi might be untangled by taking into consideration the entire manuscript tradition and the structure of the text.
Moreover, it provides the results of the analysis of a newly found manuscript fragment, which is significant for the complex history of the text transmission.

The results of the study can be summarised in three points which refute the accepted scientific opinion about a) numerous text redactions, b) the initially broad dissemination of the text and c) the capability and confusion of the author:
Firstly, a codicological and textological examination shows that all ten text witnesses known today derive from the same archetype. There is, therefore, only one redaction of the text. The text variations in two fragments from the 17th and 18th century have been identified as later additions made by scribes in order to restore lost or damaged text passages. They are mostly taken from popular tales about the construction of the Hagia Sophia and widespread eschatological narratives about the destruction of Constantinople which were circulating in Russian miscellanies from the 15th and 16th centuries.
It thus follows that, secondly, the text of the Kniga palomnik was not widespread and hence, unlike the report written by the abbot Daniil about Palestine and transmitted in more than 100 manuscripts, was rather unpopular.
Thirdly, an analysis of the syntactical coherence of the intact text passages shows a consistent, partly adversative text structure which was initially intended by the author, but in some places had been destroyed by the corrupt manuscript transmission and was thus misunderstood by older research. The application of this syntactical pattern to the damaged passages enables the restoration of the text order and a reconstruction of individual text passages. The now correct reading of the text therefore allows a more accurate characterisation of the author, who had initially endeavored to describe the sanctuaries of the city in an exceptionally precise manner. His report can hence be considered an authoritative historical source.

While the first two results are important for further research – in particular an examination of the reception and tradition of medieval travel literature in Russia – the third aspect is of great importance for the correct interpretation of the text and, as a consequence, for the reconstruction of the sacred geography of the Emperor’s City.

Ad limina Sancti Jacobi è l'espressione che definisce il viaggio presso una delle principali mete di pellegrinaggio della cristianità. E poiché gli orizzonti geografici dell'epoca erano molto diversi dagli attuali, per giungere a Santiago occorreva letteralmente andare "in capo al mondo" ossia raggiungere gli estremi confini del mondo conosciuto. Si trattava di percorrere le zone di confine con il mondo musulmano, incontrare popolazioni non sempre ospitali e rischiare di imbattersi in ladri, truffatori o assassini. Senza contare le difficoltà materiali: guadare fiumi, attraversare zone impervie e finanche superare i Pirenei. Per questo motivo la scelta dell'itinerario aveva grande importanza e poteva significare molto sia sul piano della sicurezza che della durata.

One of the great premises of medieval popular religion was the localization of the holy, the essential principle of the pilgrimage.  At the same time, there was a widespread equation between excessive art and holiness.  One result of these complementary dynamics was that many pilgrims felt that the localization of the holy was indicated by an elevated artistic environment, an attitude that was used at times by religious institutions at some holy sites to meet the expectations of some great experience on the part of the tens and even hundreds of thousands of visitors who are recorded as having annually visited these places.  At the high point of the pilgrimage (11th-12th centuries), almost all of these pilgrims had no or only very little formal education.  And so the question arises, given the important role of art in the lived experience, how was this often complex form of visual media negotiated in this unique intersection of high culture and the non-elite in actual practice?  In other words, what provided the crucial interface for a largely uneducated public and the often phenomenally expensive art programs that had been created almost entirely for their benefit, practically speaking?  Or, put another way still, was there such a thing as a "tour guide" in the Middle Ages?
This study investigates the medieval "tour guide" or, perhaps better, it investigates guide culture.  Toward this end, I ask such questions as was there a "tour guide" in the Middle Ages, that is, is there evidence for an artistic component within medieval guide culture?  If so, what was the precedent for this?  What was its relation to artistic culture in general and pilgrimage culture in particular?  Is there any evidence of guide support, such as guide training or guide aids?  What can we say about the range of artistic culture addressed by medieval guides and, in this regard, what sort of information did they convey?  Who were these guides and what social groups did they address?  Did they act to maintain--consciously or unconsciously--the traditional social distance between the spiritual elite and the non-elite?  And how does all this affect our conception of medieval artistic culture, broadly speaking?
Medieval guide culture and its mediating dynamic, ephemeral by nature, have been largely overlooked.  But at least something--even if little more than an awareness--of this culture may be recovered.  The evidence suggests that it was an active factor in the transmission of particular categories of knowledge and claims, and strongly affected both the object-viewer dynamic and the social context of medieval public art.  And in this, the guide, variously understood, was often the principal mediator between the ordinary visitor and the sometimes incredibly lavish and complex art programs--between the public and the public work of art--of the Middle Ages.

Christian pilgrimage was one of the most striking phenomena characterising medieval societies. A physical encounter with the relics of saints often constituted the spiritual summit of the pilgrim’s journey. In order to understand the importance of physicality and the rationale behind the veneration of relics, it is necessary to consider the philosophical recategorisation of the human body and the Christological reflections of Christian writers during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. This article presents some exemplificative texts, which show the emergence of a Christian philosophy within which the human body assumed a new dignity and new powers. When juxtaposed to these metaphysical and theological discourses, the acts of veneration towards the bodies and relics of saints become intelligible, suggesting that this aspect of medieval spirituality should be seen not merely as a fideistic and irrational phenomenon but rather as the manifestation of an internally coherent cosmology.

As the settlement and pilgrimage of Santiago de Compostela grew, the city's central spaces gradually became sources of rupture between local residents and pilgrims. The important places of Compostela, such as religious community buildings, the palace and the cathedral, were intended to accommodate the city's religious visitors. The interplay of significances embodied in the city's spatial networks translated into sources of tension in Compostela, which cast native Compostelans as outsiders, and welcomed foreign pilgrims. Compostelans endured in these spaces which became increasingly exclu-sionary as the pilgrimage expanded. In the twelfth century, the pro-pilgrimage policies of Bishop Diego Gelmírez increased the exclusionary effect of the city's spaces to such an extent that Compostelans finally rebelled. The activities of rebels were directed at precisely the structures and spaces that, as epicenters of pilgrimage and episcopal activity, generated the strongest antipathy among urban inhabitants.

According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Archbishop Sigeric of Canterbury went to Rome in 990, to fetch his pallium. Sigeric, formerly a monk of Glastonbury and then abbot of St Augustine's, Canterbury, had been consecrated bishop of Ramsbury in 985, and became archbishop of Canterbury at the end of 989 or at the beginning of 990, on the death of Archbishop AEthelgar. During the journey, or more likely, once he had returned to England, he committed to writing a diary covering his journey and his stay in Rome. This year, the 1000th anniversary of Sigeric's visit to the 'city of St Peter', as medieval travellers called Rome, seems a suitable time to undertake a new examination of the considerable devotional and artistic impact of the Roman pilgrimage on the cultural and spiritual life of the late Anglo-Saxon Church.

Votive objects or ex-votos are a broad category of material artifacts produced with the intention of being offered as acts of faith. Common across historical periods, religions, and cultures, they are presented as tokens of gratitude for prayers answered, as well as the physical manifestation of hopes and anxieties. Agents of Faith explores votive offerings in the context of material culture, art history, and religious studies to better understand their history and present-day importance. By looking at what humans have chosen to offer in their votive transactions, this volume uncovers their most intimate moments in life and questions the nature, role, and function of one of the most fundamental aspects of the relationship between people and things—the imbuing of objects with sentiment. Encompassing exquisite works of art as well as votives of humble origin and material, with objects dating from 2000 B.C. to the twenty‐first century, the beautiful illustrations and wide-ranging text expose the global reach of votive practices and the profoundly personal nature behind their creation.

Wanneer we trachten ons een beeld te vormen van de middeleeuwse bedevaarten en pelgrimstochten in en vanuit een bepaalde regio, in dit geval dus in en vanuit het Zeeuwse deltagebied, staat betrekkelijk weinig en nogal uiteenlopend bronnenmateriaal ter beschikking. In de eerste plaats vormen uiteraard de relatief weinige pel-grimstekens die bewaard bleven en andere bedevaartssouvenirs een vrij directe infor-matiebron. In de tweede plaats zijn er gegevens voorhaknden in de rechterlijke archie-ven van zowel kerkelijke als wereldlijke overheden ten aanzien van strafbedevaarten. Tenslotte bevinden zich meer verspreid en met name in particuliere en kerkelijke ar-chieven, historische berichten over pelgrimsreizen. Deze laatste categorie is door de diversiteit van de bronnen zoals mirakelboeken, testamenten, reisverslagen, dag-en kasboeken, het lastigst grijpbaar. In de hierna volgende globale schets zullen we wat dit betreft dan ook moeten volstaan met enkele, toevallig aangetroffen berichten over reizen naar Zeeuwse bedevaartsplaatsen en over tochten vanuit Zeeland naar pelgrimsoorden in den vreemde.

http://rime.cnr.it/index.php/rime/article/view/454

The article traces the history of the relationship between the Nordic and Mediterranean worlds, from the Viking age to the time of the Crusades (9th-12th century), reconstructing the events, paths and motivations that led men and women of the North to undertake the journey south. From the sources examined (runic inscriptions, Old Norse sagas, Latin and Arab chronicles) emerges the substantial continuity of these relationships and above all the importance of the conversion to Christianity, which for Scandinavian pilgrims and crusaders opened the way to the main Christian sanctuaries and holy places.

L'articolo ripercorre la storia dei rapporti tra il mondo nordico e quello mediterraneo, dall'età vichinga fino all'epoca delle crociate (IX-XII secolo), ricostruendo gli avvenimenti, i percorsi e le motivazioni che spinsero uomini e donne del Nord a intraprendere il viaggio a sud. Dalle fonti esaminate (iscrizioni runiche, saghe norrene, cronache latine e arabe) emerge la sostanziale continuità di queste relazioni e soprattutto l'importanza della conversione al cristianesimo,  che aprì ai pellegrini e poi ai crociati scandinavi le vie verso i principali santuari e luoghi santi della cristianità.

Saewulf’un anlatısı, Haçlı seferleriyle birlikte Avrupa’da sayısında kayda değer bir artış gözlemlenen hem seyahatname hem de hac rehberi hüviyetindeki eserlerin ilk örneklerinden birisidir. Yazarın İtalya’da  yola çıkışıyla başlayıp geri dönüş yolundayken Türkiye’de sonlanan metin, üç ana bölümden oluşmaktadır. İlk bölüm Saewulf’un Monopoli’den Yafa’ya seyahatini; ikinci bölüm Kudüs Krallığı’ndaki dinî mekânlara gerçekleştirdiği ziyaretleri; üçüncü bölüm Yafa’dan Marmaraereğlisi’ne kadar olan dönüş yolculuğunu içermektedir. Bu makalede Saewulf’un kimliği, izlediği güzergâhlar, Akdeniz’deki coğrafî etmenlerin deniz yolculuğuna etkileri, ‘öteki’lere bakış açısı ve anlatısının yapısı analiz edilmiştir. Diğer yandan seyahatnamenin tarihî bir kaynak olarak önemi üzerinde durulmuştur ve metin Türkçeye çevrilmiştir. Ayrıca metnin yeni bir edisyonu yapılmıştır.

This chapter investigates Islamic pilgrimage to Jerusalem and the network of Islamic holy sites in the city during the Mamlūk period. Using the Faḍā’il al-Quds pilgrimage guides on Jerusalem dating from the Mamlūk period, the study will first enumerate the holy sites visited by Muslim pilgrims on the Ḥaram al-Sharif complex. Second, the study will delineate the Islamic holy sites existing outside the Ḥaram and in and around the city. Third, the intensive building of Islamic religious institutions undertaken by Mamlūk authorities in Jerusalem will be examined to reveal how the sacred sphere further extended beyond the Haram complex and into the city and its environs, thus blurring the liminal spaces separating the sacred from the urban. Finally, the study will demonstrate how this phenomenon of blurred liminal spaces in Mamlūk Jerusalem also existed in another important Islamic holy city – Mecca. Research will demonstrate how medieval Mecca’s holy sites were also not restricted to al-Masjid al-Ḥarām complex and its Ka‘ba, but, rather, numerous secondary holy sites were scattered throughout Mecca city and its surrounding mountains, resulting in the blurring of liminal spaces in Mecca as well. This chapter will thus attempt to show how, just like in medieval Mecca, the sacred in Mamlūk Jerusalem transcended beyond the Ḥaram al-Sharīf complex, and that the presence of Islamic holy sites and religious buildings both inside and outside the Ḥaram rendered the boundaries delimiting the sacred from the urban more fluent. The city of Jerusalem, it will be argued, thus became one wider liminal space during the Mamlūk period.

Braj is the epicentre of the Krishna cult. The physical representation of the scriptural Braj Mandala as we see it today, however, is a medieval construct. During the 15th and 16th centuries, as a part of religious exercises or in the quest for the land of Krishna, the propagators of various sampradayas (sects) reached the region seeking spiritual solace. This process of rediscovering Braj and the settlement of the various sects was followed by a thronging of the region by merchant-followers and, subsequently, by Rajput rulers from the adjoining kingdoms of Rajasthan and Bundelkhand. The pilgrimage to Braj created an environment conducive for traders, especially from Gujarat and Punjab, to establish economic links with the region through a process of endowment and exchange. Hundis (bills of exchange) and wealth in the form of jewelry and gifts from businessmen coming to Braj on a pilgrimage significantly contributed to the development of the region. Of note, however, pilgrimage undertaken by Rajput rajas (kings) was certainly an attempt to assert their authority and raise themselves in the hierarchy vis-à-vis other rulers and nobles. As Braj came to be associated with the Mughals, this pilgrimage also meant allegiance to the courtly culture. This paper establishes that the Braj pilgrimage has served multiple purposes other than quenching one’s spiritual thirst. It served as a medium for legitimising the accumulation of wealth by merchants through their contribution to religious activities. It was also a platform for the formulation of community bonds where monetary help in adverse times could be sought, and safer business travel ensured. Unlike most medieval institutions, which have withered away with the passage of time, pilgrimage to Braj Mandala in the neighbourhood of Vrindavan and Gokul – comprising a circuit of 84 kos (around 252 kilometre) – is still a living tradition.