Relics and Pilgrimage in Western Europe

Abstract

Relics, pilgrimage, miraculous occurrences, the visual arts, architecture, and patronage were closely intertwined western Christendom from the earliest period through the later Middle Ages. Relics have been venerated not only in Christianity but also in many other religions, including Islam and Buddhism. Due to the complex relationship between religious conviction, physical objects, precious materials and containers, wars and political alliances, economic and territorial interests, and the explosion in the number of pilgrimage centers in Western Europe, this brief study of relics, pilgrims, and pilgrimage must be limited to mainstream Latin Christianity, primarily from the later Middle Ages until the Protestant Reformation. Background will be provided to flesh out the special nature of the content. The profound influence on the visual arts of pilgrimage and the veneration of relics is apparent in various aspects of this study: the relics themselves and their containers; reasons and motivations for pilgrimage in the later Middle Ages; accommodations for visitors in churches and along the routes of pilgrimage. Visual arts and architecture supported the honor and veneration of holy beings and holy sites by pilgrims at reliquary shrines, with textiles, special containers, and altar vessels; painted and gilded exterior and interior sculpture programs made of stone or wood; painted stained-glass windows and wall paintings; and church furnishings. Grand and spacious churches with many formal similarities were constructed during the later Middle Ages along each route followed by pilgrims from Northern Europe to Jerusalem, Rome, and Santiago de Compostela. The development of church plans and the proliferation of chapels around the choir reveal the impact of pilgrimage and the relics pilgrims sought to visit. Pilgrims undertook their arduous journeys for various reasons. Upon setting out, pilgrims usually intended to return home, though the dangers and difficulties meant that many were unable to do so. Pilgrims obtained authorization from their local bishop to be given hospitality and to be accommodated on their journeys. The later Middle Ages witnessed an explosion in the numbers of participants in extended journeys as well as in local pilgrimages, in all regions of Europe. Thefts and translations as well as pious donations brought a proliferation of relics and reliquaries. The needs of pilgrims—for shelter and sustenance, nourishment and healthcare, and well-maintained roads, bridges, and ferry crossings—meant that the architectural amenities provided in response to pilgrimage had a powerful international impact in the places they visited and upon the homelands to which they returned. The influences not only of souvenirs brought home but also of the pilgrim’s life experience on the visual arts and architecture are complex and have been long-lasting.