The Age of Erasmus: Lectures Delivered in the Universities of Oxford and LondonAllen, P. S. (Percy Stafford)
History
The Age of Erasmus: Lectures Delivered in the Universities of Oxford and London
Allen, P. S. (Percy Stafford)
Erasmus, Desiderius, -1536; Renaissance
In the age we are considering, we hear of Henry VII, Henry VIII, and
even Wolsey going as pilgrims to Our Lady of Walsingham in Norfolk;
and Colet took Erasmus with him to Canterbury. But the most renowned
places of Christian pilgrimage were Rome, Santiago, and Jerusalem.
Thither journeyed pilgrims in great numbers from all parts of Europe;
bishops and abbots and clergy, both regular and secular, noblemen of
every degree, wealthy merchants, scholars from the universities, civil
officials and courtiers, and occasionally even women. Piety or
superstition were doubtless the usual motives which led men to face
the very considerable perils of the journey; but besides this there
was probably in some cases the desire to see new scenes, and a love of
adventure for its own sake. Holiday travel was scarcely known in those
days. The discomforts were great, and there were still dangers of the
ordinary kind, even in the most settled parts of Europe. The beginning
of a story in one of More's English works shows how such travel was
regarded--as at least unwise, and perhaps extravagant: 'Now was there
a young gentleman which had married a merchant's wife. And having a
little wanton money which him thought burned out the bottom of his
purse, in the first year of his wedding he took his wife with him and
went over the sea, for none other errand but to see Flanders and
France, and ride out one summer in those countries.' But in the
company of pilgrims there was some security, and accordingly the
adventurous availed themselves of such opportunities. Thus Peter Falk,
burgomaster of Freiburg in Switzerland, went on pilgrimage to
Jerusalem in 1515 and again in 1519; and had he not died on the second
journey, he was projecting a visit to Portugal and Spain, perhaps to
Compostella. He was a keen, interested man. A companion, who was a
Cambridge scholar, describes him as taking an ape with him on board to
make fun for his shipmates; wearing a gun hanging at his belt, being
curious in novelties; carefully noting the names of places and the
situations of towns, and using red ink to mark his guide-book.
The literature of pilgrimages is abundant, and consists primarily in
narratives written by pilgrims themselves. A few of these were printed
by the writers in their own day; many have been published by
antiquarians in isolated periodicals; and in the volumes of the
Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society there is a collection of
translations. Professor Roehricht of Innsbruck has made a wonderful
bibliography of German pilgrims to the Holy Land, replete with
information and references. The narratives necessarily traverse the
same ground, and repeat one another in many points; often reproducing
from an early source exactly identical information of the guide-book
order as to sites, routes, preparations, precautions, and so forth.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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