Women Pilgrims and Their Travelling Companions in Twelfth-Century England

Abstract

This article investigates a little discussed aspect of female pilgrimage in the High Middle Ages: companionship. Drawing on evidence from miracle collections produced in twelfth-century England, it examines the identities and motivations of individuals recorded as accompanying women on their journeys to local healing shrines. The article establishes that women travelled with a variety of companions ranging from husbands and parents to neighbors and hired guides, but it also reveals that the frequency with which women are depicted on pilgrimage with a companion is surprisingly low. Putting these findings into context, the article assesses both the social reality and the cultural representation of female pilgrimage in these texts, and considers how and why some elements of women’s companionship in twelfth-century miracle accounts challenge our general conceptions of female mobility in the Middle Ages.