Vestiti a la morescha: Pilgrims in disguise in late Medieval Accounts

Abstract

In the late middle ages, hundreds of pilgrims set sail from Venice to the Holy Land. Holy Places pilgrimages were for Jerusalem and the whole region (Jaffa, Bethlehem, the Jordan river) an important source of income. In Jaffa, pilgrims were controlled by officers with standard procedures, to collect due payments, prevent them from conducting espionage activity, or from getting out of the control of the mandatory guides, putting at risk their own safety. This paper deals with a little-known aspect of the medieval pilgrimage to the holy land: the disguise strategies adopted by pilgrims, in order not to be ripped off, or to pay high tolls.