In this blog, Cathryn takes a look at pilgrimage in the Medieval period.

Medieval people went on pilgrimages for a variety of reasons; to seek salvation, to try to cure an illness, to give thanks etc. As well as Rome and Jerusalem other important pilgrimage sites included Santiago De Compostela (the shrine of St James) and Cologne (the shrine of the Three Kings). There were also hundreds of sites in England. These included the shrine of Thomas Beckett in Canterbury and the shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham in Norfolk. The latter site was popular with royal visitors, Edward IV, Henry VII, Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon all visited the shrine. More local sites included the shrine of St Cuthbert in Durham and Lindisfarne (the island had links with St Cuthbert and St Aidan).

Newcastle had its’ own popular pilgrimage site in Jesmond, St Mary’s Chapel. Sometime after the Norman Conquest, someone reported having a vision of the Virgin Mary holding an infant Jesus, close to the site of the chapel. The news of the vision spread, and people began to come on pilgrimage to the site, with the chapel being built sometime in the 1100s. The site may have held relics linked to the Virgin Mary and this also helped add to the site’s popularity. The side chapel (the ruins of which can still be seen today) was added in the 1300s. In 1479 a rector from Yorkshire left money in his will to help people visit the four most important pilgrimage sites in England he lists St Mary’s Chapel alongside Canterbury Cathedral and St Paul’s in London, showing the importance of the site during the Medieval era. Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries the site was sold to Newcastle by Edward VI in 1549. It then had several owners until 1883 when it was returned to the city by Lord Armstrong. The chapel gives both Jesmond and Pilgrim Street their names. Jesmond from ‘Jesus Mound’ in reference to the reported vision, whilst Pilgrim Street gets its’ name from the fact that pilgrims would often stay at inns on the street before making their way to Jesmond.

Like all things saints and pilgrimage sites associated with them went in and out of fashion. In Hereford in the late 1200s a campaign was begun to make Thomas De Cantilupe, a former archbishop of Hereford who died in 1282, a saint. Hereford had a patron saint Ethelbert II of East Anglia, but he had become unpopular, and it was decided that a new saint was needed to draw the crowds back in. The campaign seems to have begun soon after De Cantilupe’s death with miracles being attributed to him almost immediately after his death. In 1307 a Papal canonisation enquiry was opened, with Thomas De Cantilupe being made a saint in 1320. One miracle examined by the enquiry was the resurrection of William Cragh. Cragh, a Welsh outlaw had been hanged at Swansea in 1290 on the orders of the Norman Marcher Lord William De Briouze. After several hours on the gallows, Cragh’s body was taken to a nearby house where he made a full recovery from his execution. Cragh and Lady Mary De Briouze (the wife of Lord William De Briouze) both gave evidence at the canonisation enquiry, with both stating that they had prayed to Thomas De Cantilupe in the hopes that Cragh’s life would be spared. Cragh also stated that he had a vision of Thomas De Cantilupe supporting his feet whilst he was on the gallows. After the canonisation the shrine of Thomas De Cantilupe became a popular one with Medieval pilgrims.

Saints didn’t even have to be officially canonised in order to become popular with Medieval pilgrims, so-called ‘Folk Saints’ could prove very popular. One example is that of Little St Hugh of Lincoln. In 1255 he went missing and was supposedly killed by Lincoln’s Jews. Around ninety people were arrested in connection with the apparent killing, with eighteen being hanged.  Although this wasn’t the first case of Blood Libel (the false belief that Jews kill Christian children in order to use their blood in religious ceremonies) in England it was the first to be given official approval. The combination of reports of miracles attributed to the boy alongside the official approval given to the case by Henry III made the shrine dedicated to him in Lincoln Cathedral a popular destination with Medieval pilgrims. The cult of Little St Hugh seems to have lost its’ popularity around the 1420s and the shrine was mostly destroyed after the Reformation, although the remains can still be seen in Lincoln Cathedral.  Little St Hugh also became a figure in popular culture. Chaucer refers to him in The Canterbury Tales at the end of The Prioress’s Tale. Also, Little St Hugh is the subject of a popular ballad (Roud No. 73, Child No: 155) probably first sung around the time of his death, with the first written version appearing in the 1700s. Steeleye Span recorded a version of the ballad, with anti-Semitic elements removed, for their 1975 album Commoner’s Crown.

As you can see pilgrimage in the Medieval era had an interesting, varied and sometimes dark history.