The Age of Pilgrimage: The Medieval Journey to God

The Age of the Pilgrimage Brings alive the history of pilgrimage in Europe. We are apt to forget how much people traveled in the Middle Ages. Not only merchants, friars, soldiers and official messengers, but also 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.