Pilgrimage in Medieval English Literature, 700-1500 0859916235, 9780859916233

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PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE 700-1500

Dee Dyas

D. S. BREWER

© Dee D yas 2001 A ll Rights Reserved. E xcept as p erm itted u n d e r cu rren t legislation n o p a rt of th is w o rk m ay be photocopied, sto red in a retrieval system , published, perform ed in public, a d a p te d , b ro ad c a st tran sm itted , reco rd ed o r reproduced in any form o r by any m eans, w ith o u t th e prior perm ission of the copyright ow ner

CONTENTS Acknowledgements Introduction

ISBN 978-0-85991-623-3

8 6 1 5 4 7 9 ^0J 2

D. S. B rew er is an im p rin t of Boydell & B rew er L td PO Box 9, W oodbridge, Suffolk IP12 3DF, UK a n d of Boydell & B rew er Inc. 668 M t H o p e A venue, Rochester, NY 14620, USA w eosite: w w w .boydellandbrew er.com

Introduction: The Im portance o f Pilgrimage in Old English Literature 5. From Exile to Eternal Home: the Pilgrimage M otif in Old English Poetry and Prose 6. Place Pilgrimage in the Anglo-Saxon Church 7. The Wanderer and the Seafarer Reconsidered Conclusion

7 6

Part II: The Exile and the Heavenly Home: Pilgrimage in Old English Literature

7 3 6 5 4^

Introduction: The Evolution o f Pilgrimage 1 . The Theology and Practice o f Pilgrimage in the Bible 2. Concepts o f Pilgrimage in the Early Church 3. The Development o f Christian Holy Places 4. The Influence o f the Cult o f the Saints Conclusion: The Meanings of Pilgrimage

7 2

T ransferred to d igital printing

Part I: The Origins and Early Development o f Christian Pilgrimage 2 1

First p u b lish ed 2001 D. S. Brewer, C am bridge

\

0 1

T he rig h t of Dee D yas to be identified as th e au th o rs of this w o rk has been asserted in accordance w ith sections 77 an d 78 of th e C o p y rig h t D esigns an d P atents A ct 1988

vii

P a rt III: ‘P a rfit P ilg rim a g e ’ o r M erely ‘W a n d e ry n g b y th e W ey e ’ ？ A CiP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

—r

SITE

sur

This publication li p rin ted o n ad d -fre e p ap e r

Literal and M etaphorical Pilgrimage in Middle English Literature 8. 9. 10. 11 12.

Introduction: Continuity and Controversy 'Place* Pilgrimage in Middle English Literature Piers Plowman The Canterbury Tales . Inner Journeys Journeying to Jerusalem: An Overview o f Literal and M etaphorical Pilgrimage in M iddle English Literature

125 126 128 145 171 205 232

Conclusion

247

Bibliography

251

Index

281

© Dee D yas 2001 A ll Rights Reserved. E xcept as p erm itted u n d e r cu rren t legislation n o p a rt of th is w o rk m ay be photocopied, sto red in a retrieval system , published, perform ed in public, a d a p te d , b ro ad c a st tran sm itted , reco rd ed o r reproduced in any form o r by any m eans, w ith o u t th e prior perm ission of the copyright ow ner

CONTENTS Acknowledgements Introduction

ISBN 978-0-85991-623-3

8 6 4 1 5 7 9 ^0J 2

D. S. B rew er is an im p rin t of Boydell & B rew er L td PO Box 9, W oodbridge, Suffolk IP12 3DF, UK a n d of Boydell & B rew er Inc. 668 M t H o p e A venue, Rochester, NY 14620, USA w eosite: w w w .boydellandbrew er.com

Introduction: The Im portance o f Pilgrimage in Old English Literature 5. From Exile to Eternal Home: the Pilgrimage M otif in Old English Poetry and Prose 6. Place Pilgrimage in the Anglo-Saxon Church 7. The Wanderer and the Seafarer Reconsidered Conclusion

7 6

Part II: The Exile and the Heavenly Home: Pilgrimage in Old English Literature

7 3 6 5 4^

Introduction: The Evolution o f Pilgrimage 1 . The Theology and Practice o f Pilgrimage in the Bible 2. Concepts o f Pilgrimage in the Early Church 3. The Development o f Christian Holy Places 4. The Influence o f the Cult o f the Saints Conclusion: The Meanings of Pilgrimage

7 2

T ransferred to d igital printing

Part I: The Origins and Early Development o f Christian Pilgrimage 2 1

First p u b lish ed 2001 D. S. Brewer, C am bridge

\

0 1

T he rig h t of Dee D yas to be identified as th e au th o rs of this w o rk has been asserted in accordance w ith sections 77 an d 78 of th e C o p y rig h t D esigns an d P atents A ct 1988

vii

P a rt III: ‘P a rfit P ilg rim a g e ’ o r M erely ‘W a n d e ry n g b y th e W ey e ’ ？ A CiP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

—r

SITE

sur

This publication li p rin ted o n ad d -fre e p ap e r

Literal and M etaphorical Pilgrimage in Middle English Literature 8. 9. 10. 11 12.

Introduction: Continuity and Controversy 'Place* Pilgrimage in Middle English Literature Piers Plowman The Canterbury Tales . Inner Journeys Journeying to Jerusalem: An Overview o f Literal and M etaphorical Pilgrimage in M iddle English Literature

125 126 128 145 171 205 232

Conclusion

247

Bibliography

251

Index

281

And Jhesu, for his grace, wit me sende T o shewe yow the wey， in this viage O f thilke parfit glorious pilgrymage T hat highte Jerusalem celestial. (Canterbury Tales, Parson s Prologue^ 48-51)

ACKNOW LEDGEM ENTS This study has much in com m on with its theme. Em barking upon a project o f such magnitude has frequently evoked images o f Bunyan's most famous work and I am deeply grateful to all those who have helped and encouraged this pilgrim on her way. Such a wide-ranging survey has necessitated consultation with specialists in various areas. Helen Phillips has been an endless source of encouragement and enthusiasm and I am also grateful to Professor Thorlac Turville-Petre, Professor Tony Edwards, Michelle W right and Jill Seal for their comments and insights. Professor Robert M arkus, Professor Bernard Ham ilton, D r Julia Barrow and D r D iana W ebb have all been generous with advice and guidance on historical perspectives. Professor A nthony Thistleton, D r Ed Ball and D r Seth Kunin have given me valuable assistance in the areas o f theology and social anthropology. All o f these people have enriched this book; any remaining errors are, o f course, my responsibility. I am indebted to Professor Brian Tate not only for inform ation about the medieval pilgrimage to Com postela but for an invitation to give a paper at the III Congreso Internacional de Estudios Jacobeos and thus to have the opportunity to visit the shrine of St James myself. A num ber of trusts made it possible for me to visit the Holy Land in 1996 and I am grateful to the staff o f St George’s College ，Jerusalem 广particularly D r Stephen Need and the Director o f Studies, Henry Carse, for the insights which I gained there into the theory and practice o f pilgrimage. Ï have also received generous grants from the St Luke's College Foundation and the British Federation of Women Graduates. Like Bunyan’s pilgrims, I have not had to travel alone. I have instead been sustained by the love, prayers and practical support o f my friends and family. In particular I wish to acknowledge the many contributions made by my m other, the patient (even cheerful) tolerance with which Luke and Ben have borne their m other's preoccupation with the M iddle Ages, and the loving com panionsmp and constant encouragement o f my husband Stuart, my fellow pilgrim through life.

vii

And Jhesu, for his grace, wit me sende T o shewe yow the wey， in this viage O f thilke parfit glorious pilgrymage T hat highte Jerusalem celestial. (Canterbury Tales, Parson s Prologue^ 48-51)

ACKNOW LEDGEM ENTS This study has much in com m on with its theme. Em barking upon a project o f such magnitude has frequently evoked images o f Bunyan's most famous work and I am deeply grateful to all those who have helped and encouraged this pilgrim on her way. Such a wide-ranging survey has necessitated consultation with specialists in various areas. Helen Phillips has been an endless source of encouragement and enthusiasm and I am also grateful to Professor Thorlac Turville-Petre, Professor Tony Edwards, Michelle W right and Jill Seal for their comments and insights. Professor Robert M arkus, Professor Bernard Ham ilton, D r Julia Barrow and D r D iana W ebb have all been generous with advice and guidance on historical perspectives. Professor A nthony Thistleton, D r Ed Ball and D r Seth Kunin have given me valuable assistance in the areas o f theology and social anthropology. All o f these people have enriched this book; any remaining errors are, o f course, my responsibility. I am indebted to Professor Brian Tate not only for inform ation about the medieval pilgrimage to Com postela but for an invitation to give a paper at the III Congreso Internacional de Estudios Jacobeos and thus to have the opportunity to visit the shrine of St James myself. A num ber of trusts made it possible for me to visit the Holy Land in 1996 and I am grateful to the staff o f St George’s College ，Jerusalem 广particularly D r Stephen Need and the Director o f Studies, Henry Carse, for the insights which I gained there into the theory and practice o f pilgrimage. Ï have also received generous grants from the St Luke's College Foundation and the British Federation of Women Graduates. Like Bunyan’s pilgrims, I have not had to travel alone. I have instead been sustained by the love, prayers and practical support o f my friends and family. In particular I wish to acknowledge the many contributions made by my m other, the patient (even cheerful) tolerance with which Luke and Ben have borne their m other's preoccupation with the M iddle Ages, and the loving com panionsmp and constant encouragement o f my husband Stuart, my fellow pilgrim through life.

vii

INTRO DUCTIO N At nyght was come into th at hostelrye Wei nyne and twenty in a compaignye O f sondry folk, by aventure yfalle In felaweshipe, and pilgrimes were they alle. (Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, General Prologue, 23-7)1 Her is non hoom, her nis but wildernesse: F orth, pilgrim, forth! F o rth beste, out o f thy stal! Know thy contree, look up, thank G od o f al; H old the heye wey and lat thy gost thee lede, And trouthe thee shal delivere, it is no drede. (Chaucer, Balade de Bon Conseyl, 17-21)

Pilgrims, historical and fictional, devout and fraudulent, are so frequently encountered in the pages or Middle English literature that it is easy to take their presence, and their significance, for granted. M oreover, the visiting of holy places, whether local shrines or the distant sites of Europe and the Holy Land, formed such an integral part o f medieval religion2 that critics often assume it to have constituted the prim ary meaning o f pilgrimage in medieval thought.3 Pilgrimage is consequently treated as a given fact o f medieval life, a straightforward, pious exercise which some writers, more creative than the rest, chose to craft into an image o f life and inward growth. On closer examination, however, it becomes clear that the reality is more complex, and more fascinating, by far. The etymology o f the terms pilgrim and pilgrimage indicates the breadth o f meaning which these words have acquired over the centuries. The Latin peregrinus [per, through + ager, field, country, land) denoted a foreigner, an alien, one who is on a journey, and peregrinatio the state of being or living abroad. Peregrinus, however, was also used in the Vulgate translation o f the Bible to render the Hebrew gur (sojourner), and the Greek parepidemos (tem porary resident), both terms which carried an additional connotation signifying the special relationship o f the people o f G od to the world around them. As Christian pilgrimage to holy places developed in the fourth ' All quotations are taken from the Riverside Chaucer. 2 See Hall (1965) and Sumption (1975). ' Howard (1980),11.Thus James Simpson commenting on Piers Plowman, VÏ.102-4, remarks: 'Departing for pilgrimage is constituted by staying at home, and continuing to work; Langland has subverted the model of his narrative by creating a new meaning [my italics] for ^pilgrimage1', directly opposed to the normal meaning of the word, which involves leaving home.' Simpson (1990). 71.

INTRODUCTION

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

century, so the term took on a third sense within Christian thought, describing a traveller with a particular religious goal. In Old English, peregrinus and peregrimtio were rendered by elpeodig and elpeodignes. The Toronto Concordance to Old English entry for elpeodig in clu d es:1 .foreign, alien, l.a.i. exiled (voluntarily, usu. as a religious duty), l.a.vi. figurative, of man in the earthly world; alien, foreign. 2.a. foreigner, alien, one who is abroad. 2,a.iii. o f m an on earth probably in sense o f resident alien, foreign resident. Elpeodignes is defined a s : 1 .travel or residence abroad; exile (from one's own country); especially voluntary exile or pilgrimage. 2. Figurative of life on earth as time o f exile from heaven.4 In the centuries following the Conquest, elpeodig was succeeded by pilgrim (from the Old French pelegrin).5 The Middle English Dictionary records a wide range o f meanings for pilgrim including: l.a. A person who travels to a holy place;1.b. A traveller, a wayfarer; 2. An alien, a foreigner, a stranger, a •ojourner; an exile for the Christian faith; 3. Fig. A man or soul as an alien, a sojourner, traveller, or pilgrim; esp. one whose home or destination is heaven, etc.6 This semantic range needs to be carefully borne in mind in the examination of M iddle English texts. Pilgrimage is often described both in terms o f a literal journey and as a lifelong spiritual experience but it is by no means always immediately clear which is considered to be the m etaphor and which the reality. Writers such as Chaucer, Langland, the /Var/-poet and Hilton reveal a range o f attitudes to pilgrimage, which contain many variations and even apparent contradictions. Pilgrimage is therefore a concept at once commonplace and curiously elusive and its use in medieval literature raises many questions. Chaucer's Parson and the Wife o f Bath take the same road to C anterbury but are they in fact on the same journey? How does her experience o f *wanderynge by the weye* (General Prologue, 467) relate to his vision o f 4parfit pilgrymage* (Parson's Prologue, 50)? H ow radical is Langland's use o f pilgrimage in Piers Plowman! W hat relationship does the pilgrimage o f de Deguileville's Dreamer bear to his monastic calling? Could anchorites and mystics, physically confined but spiritually unfettered, be engaged in the most authentic pilgrimage o f ail? The idea o f journey was exploited by m any medieval writers, offering as it did a framework within which characters could encounter new people and places, and explore not only new surroundings but also new levels of understanding and self-knowledge. A geographical journey, therefore, was frequently understood to represent, or at least run in parallel with, m oral or spiritual progress. The use made o f pilgrimage in particular, however, was the result o f a unique interplay between theological principles, popular 4 Healey and Vcnezslcy (1986-), See «lio Smilher» (1957), 151. * See OED, Ä MED.

2

practice and authorial intent. Pilgrimage, as understood by the medieval Church, was not a m onolithic concept but a mosaic o f ideas which had evolved through the Christian centuries: the product o f both syncretism and heated debate. Pilgrimage to holy places was by no means universally approved and was by some regarded as actually harm ful to the spiritual life.7 It offered to medieval writers, therefore, an image familiar to all, yet capable o f a wealth o f differing interpretations. In order to assess the uses wlïich they made o f this image, it is necessary first to examine the spiritual inheritance which shaped their understanding. This approach, however, has been strangely lacking in medieval literary criticism. M uch criticism has been based upon unquestioned assum ptions about the medieval practice of pilgrimage to holy places,8 occasionally supplemented by insights from the discipline o f social anthropology.9 There has been little or no attem pt to examine the origins and development of the pilgrim m otif or to understand why there are tensions to be observed between exponents o f different modes o f pilgrimage. Such theological and historical analysis is vital if literary criticism of such texts as the Canterbury Tales and Piers Plowman is to be soundly based and distortion o f the evidence avoided. The first objective o f this study has therefore been to establish the different elements which comprise the mosaic which is medieval pilgrimage, beginning with an examination o f the origins and early development of Christian pilgrimage. There are four chief elements to be considered in such a survey: the theology and practice o f pilgrimage in the Old Testam ent, the emphasis on the pilgrimage o f life revealed in the New Testam ent, the influence of pagan religion and the debates within the early C hurch prom pted by the rapid growth of the cult o f the saints and the development o f holy places. N ot only can these elements be observed interacting with one another; they can also be seen to exercise considerable influence on medieval writers. The creative force of Old Testam ent models o f exile, wandering and sojourning can be clearly observed in Old and Middle English treatm ents of the stories o f Adam , Cain and Satan, A braham and the people o f Israel.10 The same themes were foundational to the concept o f life as pilgrimage which features strongly in the New Testam ent and patristic writings11 and is subsequently explored in many medieval texts. W hat I term 4life pilgrimage' can be seen to comprise a detachm ent from worldly values,12 a commitment to moral 7 Constable (1976) examines the practical and spiritual arguments against participation in pilgrimage which were put forward in the Middle Ages, many of which reflect earlier debates. s Critics have mainly depended on Sumption (1975) which though it contains much valuable information about place pilgrimage does not address the wider context of the multiple understandings of pilgrimage current in medieval spirituality. 9 See Chapter 10 on the application of the work of Victor Turner to the Canterbury Tales. 10 See Chapter 5. " See Chapter 2. 13 See Hebrew« 11.

3

INTRODUCTION

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

century, so the term took on a third sense within Christian thought, describing a traveller with a particular religious goal. In Old English, peregrinus and peregrimtio were rendered by elpeodig and elpeodignes. The Toronto Concordance to Old English entry for elpeodig in clu d es:1 .foreign, alien, l.a.i. exiled (voluntarily, usu. as a religious duty), l.a.vi. figurative, of man in the earthly world; alien, foreign. 2.a. foreigner, alien, one who is abroad. 2,a.iii. o f m an on earth probably in sense o f resident alien, foreign resident. Elpeodignes is defined a s : 1 .travel or residence abroad; exile (from one's own country); especially voluntary exile or pilgrimage. 2. Figurative of life on earth as time o f exile from heaven.4 In the centuries following the Conquest, elpeodig was succeeded by pilgrim (from the Old French pelegrin).5 The Middle English Dictionary records a wide range o f meanings for pilgrim including: l.a. A person who travels to a holy place;1.b. A traveller, a wayfarer; 2. An alien, a foreigner, a stranger, a •ojourner; an exile for the Christian faith; 3. Fig. A man or soul as an alien, a sojourner, traveller, or pilgrim; esp. one whose home or destination is heaven, etc.6 This semantic range needs to be carefully borne in mind in the examination of M iddle English texts. Pilgrimage is often described both in terms o f a literal journey and as a lifelong spiritual experience but it is by no means always immediately clear which is considered to be the m etaphor and which the reality. Writers such as Chaucer, Langland, the /Var/-poet and Hilton reveal a range o f attitudes to pilgrimage, which contain many variations and even apparent contradictions. Pilgrimage is therefore a concept at once commonplace and curiously elusive and its use in medieval literature raises many questions. Chaucer's Parson and the Wife o f Bath take the same road to C anterbury but are they in fact on the same journey? How does her experience o f *wanderynge by the weye* (General Prologue, 467) relate to his vision o f 4parfit pilgrymage* (Parson's Prologue, 50)? H ow radical is Langland's use o f pilgrimage in Piers Plowman! W hat relationship does the pilgrimage o f de Deguileville's Dreamer bear to his monastic calling? Could anchorites and mystics, physically confined but spiritually unfettered, be engaged in the most authentic pilgrimage o f ail? The idea o f journey was exploited by m any medieval writers, offering as it did a framework within which characters could encounter new people and places, and explore not only new surroundings but also new levels of understanding and self-knowledge. A geographical journey, therefore, was frequently understood to represent, or at least run in parallel with, m oral or spiritual progress. The use made o f pilgrimage in particular, however, was the result o f a unique interplay between theological principles, popular 4 Healey and Vcnezslcy (1986-), See «lio Smilher» (1957), 151. * See OED, Ä MED.

2

practice and authorial intent. Pilgrimage, as understood by the medieval Church, was not a m onolithic concept but a mosaic o f ideas which had evolved through the Christian centuries: the product o f both syncretism and heated debate. Pilgrimage to holy places was by no means universally approved and was by some regarded as actually harm ful to the spiritual life.7 It offered to medieval writers, therefore, an image familiar to all, yet capable o f a wealth o f differing interpretations. In order to assess the uses wlïich they made o f this image, it is necessary first to examine the spiritual inheritance which shaped their understanding. This approach, however, has been strangely lacking in medieval literary criticism. M uch criticism has been based upon unquestioned assum ptions about the medieval practice of pilgrimage to holy places,8 occasionally supplemented by insights from the discipline o f social anthropology.9 There has been little or no attem pt to examine the origins and development of the pilgrim m otif or to understand why there are tensions to be observed between exponents o f different modes o f pilgrimage. Such theological and historical analysis is vital if literary criticism of such texts as the Canterbury Tales and Piers Plowman is to be soundly based and distortion o f the evidence avoided. The first objective o f this study has therefore been to establish the different elements which comprise the mosaic which is medieval pilgrimage, beginning with an examination o f the origins and early development of Christian pilgrimage. There are four chief elements to be considered in such a survey: the theology and practice o f pilgrimage in the Old Testam ent, the emphasis on the pilgrimage o f life revealed in the New Testam ent, the influence of pagan religion and the debates within the early C hurch prom pted by the rapid growth of the cult o f the saints and the development o f holy places. N ot only can these elements be observed interacting with one another; they can also be seen to exercise considerable influence on medieval writers. The creative force of Old Testam ent models o f exile, wandering and sojourning can be clearly observed in Old and Middle English treatm ents of the stories o f Adam , Cain and Satan, A braham and the people o f Israel.10 The same themes were foundational to the concept o f life as pilgrimage which features strongly in the New Testam ent and patristic writings11 and is subsequently explored in many medieval texts. W hat I term 4life pilgrimage' can be seen to comprise a detachm ent from worldly values,12 a commitment to moral 7 Constable (1976) examines the practical and spiritual arguments against participation in pilgrimage which were put forward in the Middle Ages, many of which reflect earlier debates. s Critics have mainly depended on Sumption (1975) which though it contains much valuable information about place pilgrimage does not address the wider context of the multiple understandings of pilgrimage current in medieval spirituality. 9 See Chapter 10 on the application of the work of Victor Turner to the Canterbury Tales. 10 See Chapter 5. " See Chapter 2. 13 See Hebrew« 11.

3

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

obedience112*and a heartfelt desire to reach the heavenly homeland, charACterUUc■ 羹pproprlftte to those who know themselves to be strangers and pilgrimi in the world. The city o f Jerusalem, portrayed in the Psalms as the place where G od dwelt and in the New Testam ent as the location of Christas death and resurrection, is seen to be the antetype o f the heavenly city of the Book o f Revelation, where all those engaged in the pilgrimage o f life will eventually find their true hom e.14 This emphasis on life as pilgrimage which dom inated the teaching o f the C hurch during the first three centuries o f its existence was challenged in the fourth century, as the newly converted Em peror Constantine and his m other Helena set about establishing Palestine as a Holy Land, with Jerusalem, the city formerly scorned by C hristians,15 at its heart. The development o f Christian holy places, together with the parallel (and closely related)16* growth o f the cult o f relics, aroused considerable resistance as profound theological questions were raised. If some places were considered especially holy, then other places must be less so. Could it really be claimed that an omnipresent G od was more accessible in Jerusalem or Bethlehem than anywhere else? けW as a journey to a holy place, what I term ‘place pilgrim­ age’ ， a deeply rewarding spiritual experience or a waste o f time and money? Was the cult o f the saints an aid to piety or a dangerous distraction from the worship o f God? The questions were fundam ental- and (a fact which is o f prime im portance for this study)， they were in the final analysis incapable of resolution. There were, it seems, diHerent kinds of spiritual journeys and pBW, if any, could reconcile their differing demands. These tensions, dating from the earliest days o f Christian pilgrimage to holy places, are identical to those which are to be observed in Middle English literature. Moreover, I balieve that there are particular parallels between these two contexts. Although the difficulties inherent in reconciling different understandings o f pilgrimage never completely disappear during the intervening centuries, it is nevertheless fair to say that they assume a fresh vigour and relevance in Engl丨 nd on the eve o f tAe R eform ation.18 A related development, which raised equally pertinent questions for the later Middle Ages, was the emergence o f monasticism as a specialised form o f the pilgrimage o f life: the abandonm ent o f worldly pleasures in order to seek the presence o f G od on earth and citizenship o f the Jerusalem on high. The notion o f the m onastic calling as a form o f voluntary exile is firmly stamped upon medieval literature.19The early characteristics o f the monastic 11 As advocated in 1 Peter 2:11. t4 See Chapter 12. Sec Chapter 3. ^ See Chapter 4. tT See Chapter 3. 11 See Chapter 8. 19 See Chapter II.

INTRODUCTION

movement, such as the desire to withdraw from this world in order to seek the next, the literal m igration to the desert, which later became the spiritual inspiration for Celtic peregrini and the anchorites o f medieval England, the emphasis on inner growth which characterised the solitaries and early coenobites of the Egyptian desert and Judaean wilderness and later devel­ oped into fully fledged mysticism - all these can be seen to undergird the spirituality of the English Church from the seventh century onwards. Yet, as with place pilgrimage， these forms o f what I have designated ‘interior pilgrimage5 were not immune to controversy. N ot only do Langland and Chaucer satirise the outworking o f the m onastic ideal in their own times but the development o f lay piety in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries also calls into question the whole necessity o f complete withdrawal from the world. H ilto n ^ M ixed Life (written c . 1370) seeks to combine attributes of the active and contemplative lives, and M argery Kempe, a would-be contemplative determined to stay on the move, exemplifies the tensions involvea in seeking to combine interior and place-pilgrimage. The second aim o f this study has been to trace the m anner in wmch these multiple interpretations o f pilgrimage were incorporated into the spirituality o f the Anglo-Saxon C hurch and to examine their influence upon Old English literature. It is broadly true to say that the two traditions of spirituality which shaped the English Church, the Celtic and the Rom an, also repres­ ented two different modes o f pilgrimage. Both were committed to m oral and interior aspects o f the pilgrimage o f life; both practised forms o f place pilgrimage. In the Celtic Church however, the practice o f peregrinatio pro amore dei emphasised the leaving o f one*s home and community, following the model o f Abraham , who *went out, not knowing whither he went5 (Hebrews 1 1 :8 ). Place pilgrimage in the Rom an Church was also an expression of voluntary (if often tem porary) exile20 but was more clearly linked with going to a particular place, often Rome itself, and included a wider range o f motives such as the acquisition o f knowledge or relics. Despite the readiness with which both interpretations o f place pilgrimage were adopted by the Anglo-Saxon Church, it remains true that the dom inant theme in Ola English poetry and prose is th at of life as pilgrimage. W orking from the principle, derived from my study o f biblical and patristic writings, that life pilgrimage is not a single idea but a cluster o f related concepts,21 Ï have re-examined a num ber o f Old English poems, setting them against the understandings o f pilgrimage displayed in homilies, hagiographies and other texts producea in Anglo-Saxon England. The third section of this study is devoted to examining the ways in which selected medieval texts employ concepts o f pilgrimage. As in Old English 20 For example Benedict Biscop and Wilfrid. See Chapter 6. 21 I am indebted to the work of Qardiner (1971) and Smithers ¢1957), in developing a clearer understanding of the pilgrimage concept. See Chapter 1.

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

obedience112*and a heartfelt desire to reach the heavenly homeland, charACterUUc■ 羹pproprlftte to those who know themselves to be strangers and pilgrimi in the world. The city o f Jerusalem, portrayed in the Psalms as the place where G od dwelt and in the New Testam ent as the location of Christas death and resurrection, is seen to be the antetype o f the heavenly city of the Book o f Revelation, where all those engaged in the pilgrimage o f life will eventually find their true hom e.14 This emphasis on life as pilgrimage which dom inated the teaching o f the C hurch during the first three centuries o f its existence was challenged in the fourth century, as the newly converted Em peror Constantine and his m other Helena set about establishing Palestine as a Holy Land, with Jerusalem, the city formerly scorned by C hristians,15 at its heart. The development o f Christian holy places, together with the parallel (and closely related)16* growth o f the cult o f relics, aroused considerable resistance as profound theological questions were raised. If some places were considered especially holy, then other places must be less so. Could it really be claimed that an omnipresent G od was more accessible in Jerusalem or Bethlehem than anywhere else? けW as a journey to a holy place, what I term ‘place pilgrim­ age’ ， a deeply rewarding spiritual experience or a waste o f time and money? Was the cult o f the saints an aid to piety or a dangerous distraction from the worship o f God? The questions were fundam ental- and (a fact which is o f prime im portance for this study)， they were in the final analysis incapable of resolution. There were, it seems, diHerent kinds of spiritual journeys and pBW, if any, could reconcile their differing demands. These tensions, dating from the earliest days o f Christian pilgrimage to holy places, are identical to those which are to be observed in Middle English literature. Moreover, I balieve that there are particular parallels between these two contexts. Although the difficulties inherent in reconciling different understandings o f pilgrimage never completely disappear during the intervening centuries, it is nevertheless fair to say that they assume a fresh vigour and relevance in Engl丨 nd on the eve o f tAe R eform ation.18 A related development, which raised equally pertinent questions for the later Middle Ages, was the emergence o f monasticism as a specialised form o f the pilgrimage o f life: the abandonm ent o f worldly pleasures in order to seek the presence o f G od on earth and citizenship o f the Jerusalem on high. The notion o f the m onastic calling as a form o f voluntary exile is firmly stamped upon medieval literature.19The early characteristics o f the monastic 11 As advocated in 1 Peter 2:11. t4 See Chapter 12. Sec Chapter 3. ^ See Chapter 4. tT See Chapter 3. 11 See Chapter 8. 19 See Chapter II.

INTRODUCTION

movement, such as the desire to withdraw from this world in order to seek the next, the literal m igration to the desert, which later became the spiritual inspiration for Celtic peregrini and the anchorites o f medieval England, the emphasis on inner growth which characterised the solitaries and early coenobites of the Egyptian desert and Judaean wilderness and later devel­ oped into fully fledged mysticism - all these can be seen to undergird the spirituality of the English Church from the seventh century onwards. Yet, as with place pilgrimage， these forms o f what I have designated ‘interior pilgrimage5 were not immune to controversy. N ot only do Langland and Chaucer satirise the outworking o f the m onastic ideal in their own times but the development o f lay piety in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries also calls into question the whole necessity o f complete withdrawal from the world. H ilto n ^ M ixed Life (written c . 1370) seeks to combine attributes of the active and contemplative lives, and M argery Kempe, a would-be contemplative determined to stay on the move, exemplifies the tensions involvea in seeking to combine interior and place-pilgrimage. The second aim o f this study has been to trace the m anner in wmch these multiple interpretations o f pilgrimage were incorporated into the spirituality o f the Anglo-Saxon C hurch and to examine their influence upon Old English literature. It is broadly true to say that the two traditions of spirituality which shaped the English Church, the Celtic and the Rom an, also repres­ ented two different modes o f pilgrimage. Both were committed to m oral and interior aspects o f the pilgrimage o f life; both practised forms o f place pilgrimage. In the Celtic Church however, the practice o f peregrinatio pro amore dei emphasised the leaving o f one*s home and community, following the model o f Abraham , who *went out, not knowing whither he went5 (Hebrews 1 1 :8 ). Place pilgrimage in the Rom an Church was also an expression of voluntary (if often tem porary) exile20 but was more clearly linked with going to a particular place, often Rome itself, and included a wider range o f motives such as the acquisition o f knowledge or relics. Despite the readiness with which both interpretations o f place pilgrimage were adopted by the Anglo-Saxon Church, it remains true that the dom inant theme in Ola English poetry and prose is th at of life as pilgrimage. W orking from the principle, derived from my study o f biblical and patristic writings, that life pilgrimage is not a single idea but a cluster o f related concepts,21 Ï have re-examined a num ber o f Old English poems, setting them against the understandings o f pilgrimage displayed in homilies, hagiographies and other texts producea in Anglo-Saxon England. The third section of this study is devoted to examining the ways in which selected medieval texts employ concepts o f pilgrimage. As in Old English 20 For example Benedict Biscop and Wilfrid. See Chapter 6. 21 I am indebted to the work of Qardiner (1971) and Smithers ¢1957), in developing a clearer understanding of the pilgrimage concept. See Chapter 1.

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

INTRODUCTION

literature, so in the writings o f Middle English authors, the theme o f the pilgrimage o f life is surprisingly dom inant. My survey o f the historical and theological heritage o f medieval writers indicates that within the general concept o f life as pilgrimage there are three main strands:

to pilgrimage manifested in Piers Plowman. Since it is clearly impossible within the scope o f this study to cover all the texts which could be relevant to a survey o f this kind, I have therefore selected for discussion texts which are central to the canon, which date from the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries, which were originally written in English24 and which contain substantial unresolved problems connected with the image o f pilgrimage.25 These texts are Piers Plowman, the Canterbury Tales, Pearl, a selection of anchoritic and mystical writings and the Book o f Margery Kempe. Since each of these texts in itself represents a vast field o f scholarly endeavour I have further refined my task by focusing on a num ber o f areas in which the historical and theological perspectives which I have identified offer a key to interpretation and elucidation. These areas are the tensions between life pilgrimage and place pilgrimage and in particular the conflict between stability and mobility, the deeply rooted connection between life pilgrimage, the sacrament o f penance and the seven deadly sins, the relationship between person and place, the positive and negative symbolism o f the desert,26 and the idea o f pilgrimage as a series of concentric or interlocking circles holding together m oral pilgrimage, interior pilgrimage and place pilgrimage within the overarching image of the pilgrimage o f life. The final chapter offers an overview of the use o f literal and m etaphorical pilgrimage within Middle English literature through a detailed examination of one of its most frequently occurring motifs: the journey to Jerusalem. W hilst this approach clearly leaves vast areas o f territory uncharted, I believe it is essential to take a broad view of the pilgrimage m otif in medieval literature if its major elements are to be understood and its complexity and richness are to be appreciated.

L Interior Pilgrimage^ which roughly corresponds to the Contemplative Life and includes monasticism, anchoritism, m editation and mysticism. 2. M oral Pilgrimage, which corresponds to the Active Life, manifesting itself* in a life o f daily obedience to God in the place o f one’s everyday calling and a comm itm ent to avoid, in particular, the pitfalls o f the seven deadly sins. 3. Place Pilgrimage, which includes journeying to saints' shrines or other holy places to secure forgiveness for specific sins or more general indulgences, to seek healing and other material benefits, to learn and to express devotion. There is also an observable oscillation between emphasis on a relationship with God which is independent o f place, and a desire to establish holy places where the presence o f G od may be experienced in a particular fashion. This process is discernible in both Jewish pilgrimage, as the Exodus experience is followed by the establishment of Jerusalem as the place where G od dwells, and in C hristian pilgrimage, as from the fourth century onwards an emphasis on being pilgrims and strangers in daily living is modified by the rapid growth o f place pilgrimage. Neither o f these shifts is absolute and a degree o f fluidity remains throughout. W hat is significant for medieval literature is the tendency throughout the Christian centuries for the life pilgrimage model to be, at least in part, subverted by the practice o f place pilgrimage, and the countervailing tendency for it to be strengthened by an emphasis on moral pilgrimage and interior pilgrimage. Thus, as has already been indicated, it is crucial that the varying importance attached by Middle English writers to these difTerent models o f pilgrimage should be assessed in the context o f an ongoing pilgrimage debate. This study seeks to dem onstrate that the tensions and contradictions apparent in the use o f the pilgrimage motif in Middle English literature are not primarily attributable to the idiosyncrasy, heterodoxy or originality o f individual writers22 but to factors which have always threatened the precarious harm ony between m oral, interior and place pilgrimage.23 Recognition o f this fact, together with a clearer understanding o f the m anner in which these different modes o f pilgrimage both combine and conflict with one another, offers the opportun­ ity to reassess the use o f the pilgrimage m otif in key Middle English texts and to suggest new approaches to particular problems o f interpretation, such as the relevance o f the Parson's Tale and the apparently contradictory attitudes 33 Simpson (1990).

31 Sec Chapter 3.

24 This necessarily excludes devoting more than passing attention to the Pilgrimage o f the Lyfe o f the Manhode, the anonymous fifteenth-century Middle English prose translation of de Deguileville's Le Pèlerinage de la vie humaine. 25 I have for these reasons largely ignored the twelfth-century Latin pilgrim plays which have been treated at length by Gardiner (1971). 26 In the introduction to his study of the wilderness in Christian thought, George Williams states: *We shall find that in the positive sense the wilderness or desert will be interpreted variously as a place of protection, a place of contemplative retreat. . . . We shall find that in its negative sense the wilderness will be interpreted as the world of the unredeemed, as the wasteland.* Williams (1962), 5.

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

INTRODUCTION

literature, so in the writings o f Middle English authors, the theme o f the pilgrimage o f life is surprisingly dom inant. My survey o f the historical and theological heritage o f medieval writers indicates that within the general concept o f life as pilgrimage there are three main strands:

to pilgrimage manifested in Piers Plowman. Since it is clearly impossible within the scope o f this study to cover all the texts which could be relevant to a survey o f this kind, I have therefore selected for discussion texts which are central to the canon, which date from the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries, which were originally written in English24 and which contain substantial unresolved problems connected with the image o f pilgrimage.25 These texts are Piers Plowman, the Canterbury Tales, Pearl, a selection of anchoritic and mystical writings and the Book o f Margery Kempe. Since each of these texts in itself represents a vast field o f scholarly endeavour I have further refined my task by focusing on a num ber o f areas in which the historical and theological perspectives which I have identified offer a key to interpretation and elucidation. These areas are the tensions between life pilgrimage and place pilgrimage and in particular the conflict between stability and mobility, the deeply rooted connection between life pilgrimage, the sacrament o f penance and the seven deadly sins, the relationship between person and place, the positive and negative symbolism o f the desert,26 and the idea o f pilgrimage as a series of concentric or interlocking circles holding together m oral pilgrimage, interior pilgrimage and place pilgrimage within the overarching image of the pilgrimage o f life. The final chapter offers an overview of the use o f literal and m etaphorical pilgrimage within Middle English literature through a detailed examination of one of its most frequently occurring motifs: the journey to Jerusalem. W hilst this approach clearly leaves vast areas o f territory uncharted, I believe it is essential to take a broad view of the pilgrimage m otif in medieval literature if its major elements are to be understood and its complexity and richness are to be appreciated.

L Interior Pilgrimage^ which roughly corresponds to the Contemplative Life and includes monasticism, anchoritism, m editation and mysticism. 2. M oral Pilgrimage, which corresponds to the Active Life, manifesting itself* in a life o f daily obedience to God in the place o f one’s everyday calling and a comm itm ent to avoid, in particular, the pitfalls o f the seven deadly sins. 3. Place Pilgrimage, which includes journeying to saints' shrines or other holy places to secure forgiveness for specific sins or more general indulgences, to seek healing and other material benefits, to learn and to express devotion. There is also an observable oscillation between emphasis on a relationship with God which is independent o f place, and a desire to establish holy places where the presence o f G od may be experienced in a particular fashion. This process is discernible in both Jewish pilgrimage, as the Exodus experience is followed by the establishment of Jerusalem as the place where G od dwells, and in C hristian pilgrimage, as from the fourth century onwards an emphasis on being pilgrims and strangers in daily living is modified by the rapid growth o f place pilgrimage. Neither o f these shifts is absolute and a degree o f fluidity remains throughout. W hat is significant for medieval literature is the tendency throughout the Christian centuries for the life pilgrimage model to be, at least in part, subverted by the practice o f place pilgrimage, and the countervailing tendency for it to be strengthened by an emphasis on moral pilgrimage and interior pilgrimage. Thus, as has already been indicated, it is crucial that the varying importance attached by Middle English writers to these difTerent models o f pilgrimage should be assessed in the context o f an ongoing pilgrimage debate. This study seeks to dem onstrate that the tensions and contradictions apparent in the use o f the pilgrimage motif in Middle English literature are not primarily attributable to the idiosyncrasy, heterodoxy or originality o f individual writers22 but to factors which have always threatened the precarious harm ony between m oral, interior and place pilgrimage.23 Recognition o f this fact, together with a clearer understanding o f the m anner in which these different modes o f pilgrimage both combine and conflict with one another, offers the opportun­ ity to reassess the use o f the pilgrimage m otif in key Middle English texts and to suggest new approaches to particular problems o f interpretation, such as the relevance o f the Parson's Tale and the apparently contradictory attitudes 33 Simpson (1990).

31 Sec Chapter 3.

24 This necessarily excludes devoting more than passing attention to the Pilgrimage o f the Lyfe o f the Manhode, the anonymous fifteenth-century Middle English prose translation of de Deguileville's Le Pèlerinage de la vie humaine. 25 I have for these reasons largely ignored the twelfth-century Latin pilgrim plays which have been treated at length by Gardiner (1971). 26 In the introduction to his study of the wilderness in Christian thought, George Williams states: *We shall find that in the positive sense the wilderness or desert will be interpreted variously as a place of protection, a place of contemplative retreat. . . . We shall find that in its negative sense the wilderness will be interpreted as the world of the unredeemed, as the wasteland.* Williams (1962), 5.

Part I

The Origins and Early Development o f Christian Pilgrimage

The Law o f Moses required all who desired to be holy to speed from all directions to one definite place; but, I, giving freedom to all, teach men not to look for G od in a corner of the earth, nor in mountains, nor in temples made with hands, but that each should worship and adore him at home. Eusebius (d. c. 342)' O you who fear the Lord, praise Him in the places where you now are. Change of place does not effect any drawing nearer unto God. Gregory o f Nyssa (c. 330 - c. 395)1 2 O thers only hear but we both see and touch. Cyril of Jerusalem (c. 320 - ?386)3 W hat are G o d ’s first words to A braham ? ‘G et thee out of thy country and from thy kindred unto a land that I will show thee.’ …. Can we suppose a C hristian’s education complete who has not visited the Christian Athens? . . . The Briton 'sundered from our w orld', no sooner makes progress in religion than he leaves the setting sun in quest o f a spot [Jerusalem] o f which he knows only through Scripture and common report. Jerome (330/347-420)4

1 Demonstratio Evangelica^ 1.6.40, cited Walker (1990), 73. The quotations with which this section opens illustrate the shift in Christian attitudes towards place pilgrimage which (together with the resulting controversy) emerges during the fourth century. Due to limitations of space, quotations from the Bible and patristic writers are given in translation only, unless the vocabulary and phrasing of the original are of particular significance. 2 Gregory of Nyssa, Epistle 2, J Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechesis,13.22. Cyril, as Bishop of Jerusalem, had a vested interest in the promotion of the idea of the *Holy City*. Sec Walker (1990). 4 Jerome, Letter 46.2, 9,10.

9

THE ORIGINS OF CHRISTIAN PILGRIMAGE

age that an explanation of the rich diversity and frequent contradictions observable in the use o f the pilgrimage m otif in Middle English literature is to be found.

Introduction: The Evolution o f Pilgrimage The history of Christian pilgrimage is in many ways akin to the life-story o f a great river; its prim ary source can be identified with comparative ease but that is very far from being the whole story. There are other smaller tributaries to be identified and the very passage of the river through different types o f terrain results in the collection and subsequent deposition o f local material along the way. Neither the river nor the countryside through which it passes remains the same. In the same way Christian pilgrimage owes its character not only to the writings of the Old and New Testament but also to the practice of polytheistic religions, the development o f the Christian cult of the saints, the deliberate strategy o f a converted Rom an Em peror and the instinctive desire o f many unsophisticated believers to feel themselves literally ‘in touch’ with G od and his saints. Inevitably this process o f growth and syncretism produced a num ber of built-in tensions with which Christian thinkers continued to grapple over the centuries, as the Church spread and encountered fresh cultures. As the quotations with which this section opens illustrate, the fourth century saw the emergence o f conflicting attitudes towards the practice o f place pilgrim­ age, attitudes which the Church did not find easy to reconcile. Was pilgrim­ age to be understood as a m etaphor for the whole o f life, an inward spiritual journey or a literal visit to a geographical site, whether near or far away? Were there in fact 'holy places', where particular blessings were to be obtained, or was G od equally accessible to believers wherever they might be? W as the actual process of travelling m eritorious, unnecessary, or even dangerous? Would a visit to the earthly Jerusalem be o f value in gaining access to the heavenly city? Should Christians seek m aterial benefits such as physical healing from the intervention of the saints or fix their eyes solely upon eternal rewards, despising earthly suffering? Such questions surface again and again in the writings of theologians and in attem pts to reform and guide popular religion. M ost im portantly for the purposes o f this study, they were still largely unresolved by the period which saw the production o f the Ancrene Wisse, the writings o f the mystics, Piers Plowman, the Canterbury Tales and Pearl. Pilgrimage to holy places was one o f the practices attacked by the followers of John Wyclif, precisely because its multi-faceted nature made it so vulnerable to m isinterpretation and abuse.1 An examination o f the theological and historical development of pilgrimage is therefore vital, because it is in the complex origins of pilgrim1 See Part III‘ 10

THE ORIGINS OF CHRISTIAN PILGRIMAGE

age that an explanation of the rich diversity and frequent contradictions observable in the use o f the pilgrimage m otif in Middle English literature is to be found.

Introduction: The Evolution o f Pilgrimage The history of Christian pilgrimage is in many ways akin to the life-story o f a great river; its prim ary source can be identified with comparative ease but that is very far from being the whole story. There are other smaller tributaries to be identified and the very passage of the river through different types o f terrain results in the collection and subsequent deposition o f local material along the way. Neither the river nor the countryside through which it passes remains the same. In the same way Christian pilgrimage owes its character not only to the writings of the Old and New Testament but also to the practice of polytheistic religions, the development o f the Christian cult of the saints, the deliberate strategy o f a converted Rom an Em peror and the instinctive desire o f many unsophisticated believers to feel themselves literally ‘in touch’ with G od and his saints. Inevitably this process o f growth and syncretism produced a num ber of built-in tensions with which Christian thinkers continued to grapple over the centuries, as the Church spread and encountered fresh cultures. As the quotations with which this section opens illustrate, the fourth century saw the emergence o f conflicting attitudes towards the practice o f place pilgrim­ age, attitudes which the Church did not find easy to reconcile. Was pilgrim­ age to be understood as a m etaphor for the whole o f life, an inward spiritual journey or a literal visit to a geographical site, whether near or far away? Were there in fact 'holy places', where particular blessings were to be obtained, or was G od equally accessible to believers wherever they might be? W as the actual process of travelling m eritorious, unnecessary, or even dangerous? Would a visit to the earthly Jerusalem be o f value in gaining access to the heavenly city? Should Christians seek m aterial benefits such as physical healing from the intervention of the saints or fix their eyes solely upon eternal rewards, despising earthly suffering? Such questions surface again and again in the writings of theologians and in attem pts to reform and guide popular religion. M ost im portantly for the purposes o f this study, they were still largely unresolved by the period which saw the production o f the Ancrene Wisse, the writings o f the mystics, Piers Plowman, the Canterbury Tales and Pearl. Pilgrimage to holy places was one o f the practices attacked by the followers of John Wyclif, precisely because its multi-faceted nature made it so vulnerable to m isinterpretation and abuse.1 An examination o f the theological and historical development of pilgrimage is therefore vital, because it is in the complex origins of pilgrim1 See Part III‘ 10

PILGRIMAGE IN THE BIBLE

The Theology and Practice o f Pilgrimage in the Bible

\>u scealt oöerne eöel secean ， wynleasran wie, and on wraec hweorfan nacod niedwaedla, neorxnawanges dugeöum bedaeled (Genesis, 927-30)1 I have m ade my vows to the Lord . . . leaving, like A braham , my kinsfolk and my father’s house. (Eddius Stephanus, Life o f Wilfrid)2 Bi >is wildernesse wende ure lauerdes folc as exode teleö tow ard te e a d iib n d o f ierusalem .. . . A nt 3e mine leoue sustrenn wendeö bi pe ilke wei tow ard te hehe ierusalem. {Ancrene Wisse, IV )3

T h e O ld T e sta m e n t - Exile a n d P ro m ised L a n d The biblical view of the history o f m ankind, inherited by medieval writers and theologians, is essentially a tale o f tragic loss and renewed hope, of dispossession and the quest for restoration.4 The Old Testament provides a world-view which not only explains the present plight o f hum anity but offers the possibility o f change. A clear set o f causal relationships is established through the individual narratives contained within the Book o f Genesis: disobedience and rebellion result in exile from G od's presence and exposure to the rigours o f a fallen world: repentance and submission to G od's will are the only route to restoration. This pattern is taken up and expanded in the New Testam ent where participation in the salvation won by Christ on the 1 Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records, IV. 2 Life o f Wilfrid, Chapter 4 in Age of Bede.

Cross is often modelled as a journey, a process o f following the Saviour through an alien and often hostile world in an attitude o f constant penitence and obedience.5 The Bible, therefore, can be seen to prom ote a general understanding o f life as exile and salvation as journey. In addition, the Bible, as received by the medieval Church, offered a complex network o f internal referencing and allegorical interpretation as Old Testament characters and events were given new significance within the doctrinal framework o f the New Covenant. Through this process and the subsequent labours o f patristic and medieval comm entators, a num ber o f key figures and events in both the Old and New Testaments were identified as particularly striking examples of rebellion and obedience. The prominence given to their individual stories reinforced the general message o f the scriptures as they were presented as warnings and examples for those who came after them. It is some o f these figures and events, those o f particular relevance to medieval English texts, which I wish to examine. Satan In medieval chronology, though not in the biblical narrative, the first story is that of Lucifer or Satan, whose fall from grace was attributed to his excessive pride in his God-given beauty and his overweening ambition to supplant G od himself:6 How art thou fallen from heaven, 0 Lucifer, who didst rise in the morning? And thou saidst in thy heart: I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars o f G od . . . I will be like the m ost High . . . But yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, into the depth o f the pit. (Isaiah 1 4 :1 2 ,1 3 ,1 4 ,1 5 )

Satan’s expulsion from heaven was viewed by medieval writers not only as a supreme example o f the horrors o f exile but as an event which loosed a malignant, vengeful force upon the world, intent upon ensuring that hum ankind should share the same miserable plight.7 Adam and Eve In the early chapters o f the Book of Genesis the story o f Creation is followed all too swiftly by the account o f the Fall. Adam and Eve, the parents o f the hum an race, having been persuaded to defy G od's command by the

? Ancrene Wisse (eó. Tolkien), 101/16-18.

4 Since the object of this study is to examine the influence of biblical ideas on Middle English literature it is not my intention to discuss issues which properly belong to Old Testament scholarship, such as the literary origins of the text. My concern is with the biblical text as transmitted to the medieval Church; quotations from the Bible are therefore taken from the Vulgate and the Douay translation, as these are closest to the texts with which medieval writers would have been familiar. (Note that the numbering of Psalms in particular follows the Vulgate version.)

5 For example John 14: 6: *1 am the Way* and Mark 8: 34: i f any man will follow me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.* 6 The story of Lucifer and the fallen angels was pieced together by the Fathers of the Church from scattered biblical allusions (including Isaiah 14:12-15 and Revelation 12: 7-9). Lucifer (•lightbearer’} became Satan (‘adversary’}. 7 See Chapter S on Satan in Old English scriptural and devotional poetry.

PILGRIMAGE IN THE BIBLE

The Theology and Practice o f Pilgrimage in the Bible

\>u scealt oöerne eöel secean ， wynleasran wie, and on wraec hweorfan nacod niedwaedla, neorxnawanges dugeöum bedaeled (Genesis, 927-30)1 I have m ade my vows to the Lord . . . leaving, like A braham , my kinsfolk and my father’s house. (Eddius Stephanus, Life o f Wilfrid)2 Bi >is wildernesse wende ure lauerdes folc as exode teleö tow ard te e a d iib n d o f ierusalem .. . . A nt 3e mine leoue sustrenn wendeö bi pe ilke wei tow ard te hehe ierusalem. {Ancrene Wisse, IV )3

T h e O ld T e sta m e n t - Exile a n d P ro m ised L a n d The biblical view of the history o f m ankind, inherited by medieval writers and theologians, is essentially a tale o f tragic loss and renewed hope, of dispossession and the quest for restoration.4 The Old Testament provides a world-view which not only explains the present plight o f hum anity but offers the possibility o f change. A clear set o f causal relationships is established through the individual narratives contained within the Book o f Genesis: disobedience and rebellion result in exile from G od's presence and exposure to the rigours o f a fallen world: repentance and submission to G od's will are the only route to restoration. This pattern is taken up and expanded in the New Testam ent where participation in the salvation won by Christ on the 1 Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records, IV. 2 Life o f Wilfrid, Chapter 4 in Age of Bede.

Cross is often modelled as a journey, a process o f following the Saviour through an alien and often hostile world in an attitude o f constant penitence and obedience.5 The Bible, therefore, can be seen to prom ote a general understanding o f life as exile and salvation as journey. In addition, the Bible, as received by the medieval Church, offered a complex network o f internal referencing and allegorical interpretation as Old Testament characters and events were given new significance within the doctrinal framework o f the New Covenant. Through this process and the subsequent labours o f patristic and medieval comm entators, a num ber o f key figures and events in both the Old and New Testaments were identified as particularly striking examples of rebellion and obedience. The prominence given to their individual stories reinforced the general message o f the scriptures as they were presented as warnings and examples for those who came after them. It is some o f these figures and events, those o f particular relevance to medieval English texts, which I wish to examine. Satan In medieval chronology, though not in the biblical narrative, the first story is that of Lucifer or Satan, whose fall from grace was attributed to his excessive pride in his God-given beauty and his overweening ambition to supplant G od himself:6 How art thou fallen from heaven, 0 Lucifer, who didst rise in the morning? And thou saidst in thy heart: I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars o f G od . . . I will be like the m ost High . . . But yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, into the depth o f the pit. (Isaiah 1 4 :1 2 ,1 3 ,1 4 ,1 5 )

Satan’s expulsion from heaven was viewed by medieval writers not only as a supreme example o f the horrors o f exile but as an event which loosed a malignant, vengeful force upon the world, intent upon ensuring that hum ankind should share the same miserable plight.7 Adam and Eve In the early chapters o f the Book of Genesis the story o f Creation is followed all too swiftly by the account o f the Fall. Adam and Eve, the parents o f the hum an race, having been persuaded to defy G od's command by the

? Ancrene Wisse (eó. Tolkien), 101/16-18.

4 Since the object of this study is to examine the influence of biblical ideas on Middle English literature it is not my intention to discuss issues which properly belong to Old Testament scholarship, such as the literary origins of the text. My concern is with the biblical text as transmitted to the medieval Church; quotations from the Bible are therefore taken from the Vulgate and the Douay translation, as these are closest to the texts with which medieval writers would have been familiar. (Note that the numbering of Psalms in particular follows the Vulgate version.)

5 For example John 14: 6: *1 am the Way* and Mark 8: 34: i f any man will follow me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.* 6 The story of Lucifer and the fallen angels was pieced together by the Fathers of the Church from scattered biblical allusions (including Isaiah 14:12-15 and Revelation 12: 7-9). Lucifer (•lightbearer’} became Satan (‘adversary’}. 7 See Chapter S on Satan in Old English scriptural and devotional poetry.

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

treacherous serpent, forfeit the joys o f the Earthly Paradise and are sent into exile. Their descendants are shown inheriting a world still beautiful but now haunted by the inevitability of death and decay: Cursed is the earth in thy work . . . T horns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee . . . In the sweat o f thy brow shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the earth o ut of which thou wast taken . . . A nd the Lord G od sent him out of the Paradise o f pleasure . . . A nd he cast out A dam ; and placed before the paradise o f pleasure Cherubims, and a flaming sword, turning every way, to keep the way o f the tree o f life. (Genesis 3 : 1 7 ,1 8 ,1 9 , 23, 24)

This image of exile from the presence of G od and deprivation of eternal life is one o f the m ost powerful in the Judaeo-Christian tradition, overshadow­ ing the whole history o f hum ankind and forming the backdrop to the dram a o f redem ption and the long journey towards restoration.8 Thus the sermon Veneranda Dies, which appears in the twelfth-century Liber Sancti Jacobi^ speaks o f Adam as *the first pilgrim, since because o f his transgression o f the com m andm ent o f G od he was sent from paradise into the exile of this w orld',9 Medieval tradition asserted the continued existence of the Earthly Paradise10 but even if it were to be discovered, the way was known to be barred: there could be no return for the descendants o f Adam , tainted as they were by original sin. Their hope lay elsewhere. Cain The second act o f the hum an tragedy played out in these early chapters of Genesis makes it clear that not only does the sin of Adam and Eve distance hum an beings from G od but that the sinful tendencies which their off­ spring inherit also distance hum an beings from one another.11 Cain's m urder of Abel produces a new punishm ent which could be described as In tern al exile\ H um an beings as a group have been exiled from the presence o f God; now Cain and others who commit particularly heinous crim es12 are to suffer exile within exile, banished from home and kindred. Cain is condemned to be sa fugitive and a vagabond (vagus et profugus) upon the earth， （ Genesis 4 :1 2 ). The stories of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel are foundational to the 8 See Ladner (1967) and Gardiner (1971). 9 Miracles, 26. 10 See Pearsall and Salter (1973), Chapter 3; also Chapter 11 below on Pearl. 11 "When the first couple eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they become, not divine as the serpent had promised, but truly human. True humanity from that point on is characterized by an alienation from other humans, from the natural world and from God.' Gunn and Fewell (1993), UO. 12 It is significant that in the Old Englilh poem Grendel is identifled as belonging to the seed of Cain. See Chapter 5.

14

PILGRIMAGE IN THE BIBLE

perceived spiritual dilemma which runs throughout the biblical narrative. H um ankind’s alienation from G od results in a dual tension; hum an beings are in the world but not o f it; condemned to live in an environment which is not their true home. C ut off from G od as a result o f sin, man is depicted as doubly an alien and a stranger, at home neither in a fallen world, 'I am a sojourner {incola) on the earth5 (Psalm 118:19), nor in the company of God, T o r we are sojourners {peregrini) before thee, and strangers (advenae) as were all our fathers* (1 Chronicles 2 9 : 15).13 Choices constantly face those who would restore their relationship with God: obedience means not only a rejection o f sin but also a willingness to detach oneself from earthly ties. This requirement for a radical shift in allegiance and perspective is exemplified in the stories o f A braham and the exodus of the people of Israel from Egypt.14 Abraham the sojourner Significantly, the Old Testam ent narrative, in the form familiar to medieval writers, identifies the first step towards the establishment o f a distinctive people of G od with a com m and to undertake a journey into the unknown with God. The book o f Genesis states that Abraham , a figure o f profound importance to both Jews and Christians, was called to leave his home and go out in search o f another land, promised by G od but as yet unspecified. And the Lord said to Abram: Go forth out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee.15 (Genesis 12:1) A braham ’s semi-nomadic way o f life as presented in Genesis is literally that o f a sojourner (Hebrew gwr), as he moves from place to place to pasture his flocks.16 The Promised Land, which it is said will stretch *from the river of 13 This dual alienation is echoed in 2 Corinthians 5: 6 in which the Apostle Paul declares that *while we are present in the body we are absent from the Lord, a phrase which the Vulgate renders as peregrinamur a Domino. An Old English homily comments: ^Cwaïï sc apostel be 0an, sanctus Paul: Dum sumus in corpore peregrinamur a Domino, swa lange swa we biofl an )?ys8um deadlicum life 7 on ]?yssum mennis[c]am gecynde swa lange we bio8 etfieodige fram ussum dryhtne.* Vercelli Homilies^ XIV.23-6. 14 These motifs occur often in Old and Middle English literature. Sec for example the Old English Exodus (Chapter 5 below), the use of Abraham as an example by exponents of both Celtic and Roman forms of place pilgrimage (Chapter 6 below) and the journey to the Promised Land as a model of the anchoritic life in Ancrene Wisse (Chapter 11 below). 19 Henry Carse comments: 'It is interesting that the Promised Land . . . is not designated us 'holy' in Genesis. For Abraham, the sanctity of the way lies in the hearing and in the response of the traveler.* Carse (1994),17. ,A The identification of Abraham as a 'sojourner* in both the Old and New Testaments supplies an important element in the subsequent understanding of pilgrimage. The Hebrew j(urt translated in the New Teitument at trt£p〇 iK〇 ?, resident alien* carries the connotation of u foreigner, someone making r it 魏y in a country not his own: whereas .nomad， is used of thoie who move from pluce to plncc, uxuilly within h prescribed area, in search 〇 r pasture. See Barclay (1964). 284.

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

treacherous serpent, forfeit the joys o f the Earthly Paradise and are sent into exile. Their descendants are shown inheriting a world still beautiful but now haunted by the inevitability of death and decay: Cursed is the earth in thy work . . . T horns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee . . . In the sweat o f thy brow shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the earth o ut of which thou wast taken . . . A nd the Lord G od sent him out of the Paradise o f pleasure . . . A nd he cast out A dam ; and placed before the paradise o f pleasure Cherubims, and a flaming sword, turning every way, to keep the way o f the tree o f life. (Genesis 3 : 1 7 ,1 8 ,1 9 , 23, 24)

This image of exile from the presence of G od and deprivation of eternal life is one o f the m ost powerful in the Judaeo-Christian tradition, overshadow­ ing the whole history o f hum ankind and forming the backdrop to the dram a o f redem ption and the long journey towards restoration.8 Thus the sermon Veneranda Dies, which appears in the twelfth-century Liber Sancti Jacobi^ speaks o f Adam as *the first pilgrim, since because o f his transgression o f the com m andm ent o f G od he was sent from paradise into the exile of this w orld',9 Medieval tradition asserted the continued existence of the Earthly Paradise10 but even if it were to be discovered, the way was known to be barred: there could be no return for the descendants o f Adam , tainted as they were by original sin. Their hope lay elsewhere. Cain The second act o f the hum an tragedy played out in these early chapters of Genesis makes it clear that not only does the sin of Adam and Eve distance hum an beings from G od but that the sinful tendencies which their off­ spring inherit also distance hum an beings from one another.11 Cain's m urder of Abel produces a new punishm ent which could be described as In tern al exile\ H um an beings as a group have been exiled from the presence o f God; now Cain and others who commit particularly heinous crim es12 are to suffer exile within exile, banished from home and kindred. Cain is condemned to be sa fugitive and a vagabond (vagus et profugus) upon the earth， （ Genesis 4 :1 2 ). The stories of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel are foundational to the 8 See Ladner (1967) and Gardiner (1971). 9 Miracles, 26. 10 See Pearsall and Salter (1973), Chapter 3; also Chapter 11 below on Pearl. 11 "When the first couple eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they become, not divine as the serpent had promised, but truly human. True humanity from that point on is characterized by an alienation from other humans, from the natural world and from God.' Gunn and Fewell (1993), UO. 12 It is significant that in the Old Englilh poem Grendel is identifled as belonging to the seed of Cain. See Chapter 5.

14

PILGRIMAGE IN THE BIBLE

perceived spiritual dilemma which runs throughout the biblical narrative. H um ankind’s alienation from G od results in a dual tension; hum an beings are in the world but not o f it; condemned to live in an environment which is not their true home. C ut off from G od as a result o f sin, man is depicted as doubly an alien and a stranger, at home neither in a fallen world, 'I am a sojourner {incola) on the earth5 (Psalm 118:19), nor in the company of God, T o r we are sojourners {peregrini) before thee, and strangers (advenae) as were all our fathers* (1 Chronicles 2 9 : 15).13 Choices constantly face those who would restore their relationship with God: obedience means not only a rejection o f sin but also a willingness to detach oneself from earthly ties. This requirement for a radical shift in allegiance and perspective is exemplified in the stories o f A braham and the exodus of the people of Israel from Egypt.14 Abraham the sojourner Significantly, the Old Testam ent narrative, in the form familiar to medieval writers, identifies the first step towards the establishment o f a distinctive people of G od with a com m and to undertake a journey into the unknown with God. The book o f Genesis states that Abraham , a figure o f profound importance to both Jews and Christians, was called to leave his home and go out in search o f another land, promised by G od but as yet unspecified. And the Lord said to Abram: Go forth out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee.15 (Genesis 12:1) A braham ’s semi-nomadic way o f life as presented in Genesis is literally that o f a sojourner (Hebrew gwr), as he moves from place to place to pasture his flocks.16 The Promised Land, which it is said will stretch *from the river of 13 This dual alienation is echoed in 2 Corinthians 5: 6 in which the Apostle Paul declares that *while we are present in the body we are absent from the Lord, a phrase which the Vulgate renders as peregrinamur a Domino. An Old English homily comments: ^Cwaïï sc apostel be 0an, sanctus Paul: Dum sumus in corpore peregrinamur a Domino, swa lange swa we biofl an )?ys8um deadlicum life 7 on ]?yssum mennis[c]am gecynde swa lange we bio8 etfieodige fram ussum dryhtne.* Vercelli Homilies^ XIV.23-6. 14 These motifs occur often in Old and Middle English literature. Sec for example the Old English Exodus (Chapter 5 below), the use of Abraham as an example by exponents of both Celtic and Roman forms of place pilgrimage (Chapter 6 below) and the journey to the Promised Land as a model of the anchoritic life in Ancrene Wisse (Chapter 11 below). 19 Henry Carse comments: 'It is interesting that the Promised Land . . . is not designated us 'holy' in Genesis. For Abraham, the sanctity of the way lies in the hearing and in the response of the traveler.* Carse (1994),17. ,A The identification of Abraham as a 'sojourner* in both the Old and New Testaments supplies an important element in the subsequent understanding of pilgrimage. The Hebrew j(urt translated in the New Teitument at trt£p〇 iK〇 ?, resident alien* carries the connotation of u foreigner, someone making r it 魏y in a country not his own: whereas .nomad， is used of thoie who move from pluce to plncc, uxuilly within h prescribed area, in search 〇 r pasture. See Barclay (1964). 284.

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

Egypt even to the great river Euphrates* (Genesis 15:18), is subsequently described as terram peregrinationis tuae, 4the land o f your sojournment* (Genesis 17: 8). M oving around the land which his descendants will one day colonise, A braham remains a stranger rather than a conqueror. When, following the death o f Sarah at Hebron, he tells the Hittites, *1 am an alien and stranger (advena et peregrinus) among you' (Genesis 23: 4), he is stating a simple fact.17 Yet, at a spiritual level, Abraham is also a prototype pilgrim who has been willing to leave his home in search of the place to which G od is calling him and to sacrifice short-term benefits for long-term rewards. This is the way in which Abraham*s actions were later interpreted by the Christian Church. John Chrysostom (c. 347-407) in his Homilies on Genesis^ com­ mented: Let us in turn im itate this and go forth from the affairs o f the present life with enthusiasm and relish, and travel to heaven. It is possible, you see, if we are willing, to take the road for that goal while still living here when we perform deeds worthy o f heaven ,18 when we are not caught up in the affairs o f the world, when instead o f chasing after the empty glory of this life we rather scorn it and devote ourselves to longing after th at true and everlasting glory ,19

A braham ’s daily journeying with God, together with his willingness to sacrifice his only son,2021made him an exemplar o f faith and obedience not only for Jews but also for Christians. His life-story, together with that o f the other patriarchs, was crafted by New Testam ent and patristic writers into a continuing m etaphor of the spiritual life. The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, in a passage fundam ental to the ongoing development o f the pilgrimage motif, interprets the experience o f these Old Testament figures as models for all Christians to follow: (AI1 these died according to faith, not having received the promises, but beholding them afar off and saluting them, and confessing that they are pilgrims and strangers (peregrini et hospites) on the earth’ （ Hebrews 11:13). Abraham , the epitome o f faith, appears frequently in Middle English texts such as Piers Plowman11 and the religious dram a.22 A braham the prototype pilgrim is evoked by representatives o f both Rom an and Celtic spirituality to justify their particular forms of place pilgrimage. Thus Eddius Stephanus, biographer o f Wilfrid (634-709), a powerful figure within the developing English Church, writes that the saint refused to be deflected from a pilgrim­ 17 The Septuagint renders advena et peregrinus as ndpotKo^ Kal 7rap€mèr}fi〇s, terms picked up again by the New Testament writers. 18 John Chrysostom makes it clear that living as a citizen of heaven has strong overtones of moral obedience for those engaged in the pilgrimage of life, a theme developed by both Langland and Chaucer. See Chapters 9 and 10 below. 19 John Chrysostom, Homilies on Genesis, 37.14. 20 Genesis 22. 21 Compare Piers Plowman: *thanne mette I with a man . . .and Abraham he highte'. . . "I am Feith•” quod that frcke，（ XVI.I72, 173, 176). 33 See for example the Brome Sacrifice ofhaac and the Chester Abraham and Isaac,

16

PILGRIMAGE IN THE BIBLE

age to Rome, declaring, (I have made my vows to the Lord . . . leaving, like Abraham , my kinsfolk and my father^ house to visit the Apostolic See*,23 while a tenth-century Irish writer explains the m otivation of the Celtic peregrini in very similar terms: N ow the good counsel which G od enjoined here on the father of the faithful is in cu m b en t. . . on all the faithful; th at is to leave their country and their land, their wealth and tneir worldly delight for the sake of the Lord o f the Elements, and to go into perfect pilgrimage in im itation o f him .24

Through the Wilderness to the Promised Land

The account o f the history of the people o f Israel provided by the remaining books o f the Pentateuch continues the pilgrim motif. The descendants of Abraham are forced to tsojourn, as slaves in Egypt and their eventual deliverance under the leadership o f Moses is followed by a prolonged period in the wilderness, which is presented as a place o f testing.25 It is also, however, a place where they experience G o d ^ presence, symbolised by the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar o f fire by night, and learn G od's commandments. This positive view of the desert is seen in retrospective comments in the prophetic books o f the Old Testament: *1 will allure her and will lead her into the wilderness (in solitudinem): and I will speak to her heart . . . according to the days of her coming up out o f the land o f Egypt’ （ Hosea 2 :14-1 5 ). This perspective also lies behind the identification of the wild­ erness as a place o f spiritual growth whicn is evident in the Desert Fathers of the fourth century, the Celtic peregrini and the anchorites and mystics of the later Middle Ages in England.26 George Williams finds in the Old Testam ent four concepts which recur in post-biblical history: the wilderness as potential paradise， as place o f testing, as experience o f bliss and as place of contem plation.27 23 Life o f Wilfrid^ Chapter 4 in Age o f Bede. 24 Old Irish Life o f St Columba. Cited Henry (1966), 30. 25 Christ's forty days of lasting, prayer and overcoming temptation in the Judaean wilderness (Luke 4) were thought of as analogous to the forty years spent by the people of Israel in the deserts of the Sinai. 26 See for example Ancrene Wisse (ed. Tolkien), IV.101/10: 'Wildernesse is antich lif of ancre wununge’. See Chapters 2, 6 and 10 below. 27 Williams (1962),18. In recounting the darker side of the wilderness topos, Williams notes that Tor the indigenous Canaanites the desert was peopled with dragons, demons and monsters of the night. [The Israelites] inevitably assimilated some of the native mythology and cultus . . . there were . . . the howling dragon and monster (tant tannin), the winged female night monster {lilith)t which entered Hebrew demonology during the Babylonian exile.' This view of the wilderness as the abode of such dark forces is echoed in the Lives of the Desert Fathers, who went out into the desert to do battle with demons who frequently appeared in the form of monsters (as in the Ltfe o f St Anthony). In Anglo-Saxon England the fens seem to have functioned as an equivalent to the desert. Outhlac wrestled with demonic monsters on hit island near CrowUnd And In ガ the monster Orendel is alio said to be a fen-dweller. Sec Chapter 5.

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

Egypt even to the great river Euphrates* (Genesis 15:18), is subsequently described as terram peregrinationis tuae, 4the land o f your sojournment* (Genesis 17: 8). M oving around the land which his descendants will one day colonise, A braham remains a stranger rather than a conqueror. When, following the death o f Sarah at Hebron, he tells the Hittites, *1 am an alien and stranger (advena et peregrinus) among you' (Genesis 23: 4), he is stating a simple fact.17 Yet, at a spiritual level, Abraham is also a prototype pilgrim who has been willing to leave his home in search of the place to which G od is calling him and to sacrifice short-term benefits for long-term rewards. This is the way in which Abraham*s actions were later interpreted by the Christian Church. John Chrysostom (c. 347-407) in his Homilies on Genesis^ com­ mented: Let us in turn im itate this and go forth from the affairs o f the present life with enthusiasm and relish, and travel to heaven. It is possible, you see, if we are willing, to take the road for that goal while still living here when we perform deeds worthy o f heaven ,18 when we are not caught up in the affairs o f the world, when instead o f chasing after the empty glory of this life we rather scorn it and devote ourselves to longing after th at true and everlasting glory ,19

A braham ’s daily journeying with God, together with his willingness to sacrifice his only son,2021made him an exemplar o f faith and obedience not only for Jews but also for Christians. His life-story, together with that o f the other patriarchs, was crafted by New Testam ent and patristic writers into a continuing m etaphor of the spiritual life. The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, in a passage fundam ental to the ongoing development o f the pilgrimage motif, interprets the experience o f these Old Testament figures as models for all Christians to follow: (AI1 these died according to faith, not having received the promises, but beholding them afar off and saluting them, and confessing that they are pilgrims and strangers (peregrini et hospites) on the earth’ （ Hebrews 11:13). Abraham , the epitome o f faith, appears frequently in Middle English texts such as Piers Plowman11 and the religious dram a.22 A braham the prototype pilgrim is evoked by representatives o f both Rom an and Celtic spirituality to justify their particular forms of place pilgrimage. Thus Eddius Stephanus, biographer o f Wilfrid (634-709), a powerful figure within the developing English Church, writes that the saint refused to be deflected from a pilgrim­ 17 The Septuagint renders advena et peregrinus as ndpotKo^ Kal 7rap€mèr}fi〇s, terms picked up again by the New Testament writers. 18 John Chrysostom makes it clear that living as a citizen of heaven has strong overtones of moral obedience for those engaged in the pilgrimage of life, a theme developed by both Langland and Chaucer. See Chapters 9 and 10 below. 19 John Chrysostom, Homilies on Genesis, 37.14. 20 Genesis 22. 21 Compare Piers Plowman: *thanne mette I with a man . . .and Abraham he highte'. . . "I am Feith•” quod that frcke，（ XVI.I72, 173, 176). 33 See for example the Brome Sacrifice ofhaac and the Chester Abraham and Isaac,

16

PILGRIMAGE IN THE BIBLE

age to Rome, declaring, (I have made my vows to the Lord . . . leaving, like Abraham , my kinsfolk and my father^ house to visit the Apostolic See*,23 while a tenth-century Irish writer explains the m otivation of the Celtic peregrini in very similar terms: N ow the good counsel which G od enjoined here on the father of the faithful is in cu m b en t. . . on all the faithful; th at is to leave their country and their land, their wealth and tneir worldly delight for the sake of the Lord o f the Elements, and to go into perfect pilgrimage in im itation o f him .24

Through the Wilderness to the Promised Land

The account o f the history of the people o f Israel provided by the remaining books o f the Pentateuch continues the pilgrim motif. The descendants of Abraham are forced to tsojourn, as slaves in Egypt and their eventual deliverance under the leadership o f Moses is followed by a prolonged period in the wilderness, which is presented as a place o f testing.25 It is also, however, a place where they experience G o d ^ presence, symbolised by the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar o f fire by night, and learn G od's commandments. This positive view of the desert is seen in retrospective comments in the prophetic books o f the Old Testament: *1 will allure her and will lead her into the wilderness (in solitudinem): and I will speak to her heart . . . according to the days of her coming up out o f the land o f Egypt’ （ Hosea 2 :14-1 5 ). This perspective also lies behind the identification of the wild­ erness as a place o f spiritual growth whicn is evident in the Desert Fathers of the fourth century, the Celtic peregrini and the anchorites and mystics of the later Middle Ages in England.26 George Williams finds in the Old Testam ent four concepts which recur in post-biblical history: the wilderness as potential paradise， as place o f testing, as experience o f bliss and as place of contem plation.27 23 Life o f Wilfrid^ Chapter 4 in Age o f Bede. 24 Old Irish Life o f St Columba. Cited Henry (1966), 30. 25 Christ's forty days of lasting, prayer and overcoming temptation in the Judaean wilderness (Luke 4) were thought of as analogous to the forty years spent by the people of Israel in the deserts of the Sinai. 26 See for example Ancrene Wisse (ed. Tolkien), IV.101/10: 'Wildernesse is antich lif of ancre wununge’. See Chapters 2, 6 and 10 below. 27 Williams (1962),18. In recounting the darker side of the wilderness topos, Williams notes that Tor the indigenous Canaanites the desert was peopled with dragons, demons and monsters of the night. [The Israelites] inevitably assimilated some of the native mythology and cultus . . . there were . . . the howling dragon and monster (tant tannin), the winged female night monster {lilith)t which entered Hebrew demonology during the Babylonian exile.' This view of the wilderness as the abode of such dark forces is echoed in the Lives of the Desert Fathers, who went out into the desert to do battle with demons who frequently appeared in the form of monsters (as in the Ltfe o f St Anthony). In Anglo-Saxon England the fens seem to have functioned as an equivalent to the desert. Outhlac wrestled with demonic monsters on hit island near CrowUnd And In ガ the monster Orendel is alio said to be a fen-dweller. Sec Chapter 5.

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

PILGRIMAGE IN THE BIBLE

The journey o f the Israelites, like that o f A braham , is measured in spiritual growth, not merely in geographical progress. Indeed only those who m eet God*s requirements o f faith and obedience are allowed to enter the Promised Land; the remainder die in the wilderness. The centrality of obedience (the reversal, in effect, o f the sin of Adam and Eve) is marked by the warning that even when they have reached Canaan, secure tenure will remain conditional upon submission to G od's commandments: rebellion or apostasy will bring defeat by their enemies and even the prospect o f exile.28 It i$ made clear th at it is not enough to travel physically towards the Promised Land; what is required o f the people of G od is a spiritual journey worked Out in a life of ongoing obedience and moral transform ation. It is also apparent th at the concept o f dual alienation, evident in the Psalms cited earlier, is fundam ental to the identity o f the Israelites. The covenant with God entered into by the people o f Israel offered the possibility o f resolving the alienation from G od brought about by the Fall but also implied a further alienation, this time from those who worshipped the deos alienos, the strange gods forbidden in Exodus 20: 3. Followers o f the true G od were not to integrate with the followers o f the Baalim, the indigenous gods o f the land of C anaan.29 When, as frequently happened, the Israelites strayed and betrayed their special status, judgem ent loomed and true penitence was required to bring about restoration. The prophetic books are full o f warnings o f the dangers of disobedience and presuming upon the privileges bestowed by God upon his people. It would be hard to exaggerate the importance o f the Exodus m otif in Christian thought. The long journey through the wilderness towards the Promised Land was interpreted by theologians, preachers and writers alike as a paradigm o f the Christian journey through a fallen world towards the heavenly hom eland,30 a view which strongly colours the Old English Exodus^' and undergirds much later medieval spirituality.32

establishment of the people o f Israel in the Promised Land came also the development o f place pilgrimage. The Book o f Psalms, so deeply woven into the spirituality o f the medieval Church,33 reflects the extent to which Jerusalem became a unique symbol o f the relationship between G od and his people.34 It was in Jerusalem that the Ark o f the Covenant rested as a symbol o f G od’s presence and it was to Jerusalem th at pilgrims made their way to worship. The Psalms o f Ascent (119-33), reflect the emotions with which pilgrims travelled to the city o f David, now also the city o f G od, to worship, to offer sacrifices, to petition and to give thanks. Psalm 119: 5-6, expresses the longings of one living among an alien people:

Pilgrimage within the land The Exodus is comm emorated within the Jewish faith in the three great pilgrimage festivals: Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles. Ironically, these celebrations o f the experience o f being God*s people on the move came to be celebrated in a fixed spot: the city of Jerusalem. F or with the gradual

ai See for example Deuteronomy 28: 58, 63. 19 There was inevitably some degree of syncretism. See Chapter 3. M i t is a fact that the entire history of the Hebrew people, and in particular its wanderings, symbolized the march of the Church towardi the heavenly Jerusalem which is the true Promised Land.* Leclercq (1982), 133. See Chapter 5. 13 See for example Chaucer'i Balut^ dt Btm Constyi: (Hcr ii non hoom, her nis but wildernesse', R im sitk Chaucer.

Woe is me, that my sojourning (incolatus) is prolonged! I have dwelt with the inhabitants of Cedar: my soul hath long been a sojourner (incola)?5 The opening of Psalm 83 describes an intensely em otional response to the place where G od is believed to d w ell:(My soul longeth and fainteth for the courts of the Lord536 Later the psalm speaks o f the blessings and trials o f pilgrims and the sense o f anticipation that G od will reveal himself to them in the place which he has chosen: ‘the G od o f gods shall be seen in Sion’. Jews who were subsequently deported to other countries or migrated for eco­ nomic reasons continued to be bound in affection and loyalty to the land, and to Jerusalem in particular, by the ongoing observance of this pilgrimage. It can be seen from this brief survey th at the Old Testam ent narrative furnishes the concept o f pilgrimage with several strands o f significance. The Fall o f M an and the subsequent exile o f Adam , Eve and their descendants place hum an beings in an imperfect, insecure world in which the transience o f hum an life and achievement contrasts sharply with the eternal verity of G od’s word: ‘All flesh is grass, and all the glory thereof as the flower o f the field. . . . The grass is withered and the flower is fallen: but the word o f our Lord endureth for ever’ （ Isaiah 40: 6, 7- 8). The life o f A braham models a perfect balance between literal and spiritual journeying: as he moves out in obedience to seek the land o f C anaan, so he grows in spiritual understanding and experience of G od. Due to their disobedience, the Israelites who are delivered from Egypt experience a prolonged time o f testing in the wilderness: geographically they are

13 See Chapter 7. 34 For the process by which Jerusalem achieved this status, see Chapter 3. 35 Jerome comments in his Homilies, On the Psalms, 41:This is the plaint of the lover of Christ who wants nothing of the body, who is detached from the world and longs for heaven.. . . l4My sojourn'*, not my dwelling. **My sojourn'', for in the present world we have no lasting dwelling place; we are pilgrims. That is why the apostle says: t4as strangers and pilgrims^ (1 Peter 2 :ll).' See also Gregory the Great, Morals on the Book of Job, XVIII, 48. 16 It is useful to compare this intense expression of devotional fervour with the responses of medieval Christian pilgrims such ui Margery Kempe and the companions of Felix Fabri. See Chapters 8 and 12 below.

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

PILGRIMAGE IN THE BIBLE

The journey o f the Israelites, like that o f A braham , is measured in spiritual growth, not merely in geographical progress. Indeed only those who m eet God*s requirements o f faith and obedience are allowed to enter the Promised Land; the remainder die in the wilderness. The centrality of obedience (the reversal, in effect, o f the sin of Adam and Eve) is marked by the warning that even when they have reached Canaan, secure tenure will remain conditional upon submission to G od's commandments: rebellion or apostasy will bring defeat by their enemies and even the prospect o f exile.28 It i$ made clear th at it is not enough to travel physically towards the Promised Land; what is required o f the people of G od is a spiritual journey worked Out in a life of ongoing obedience and moral transform ation. It is also apparent th at the concept o f dual alienation, evident in the Psalms cited earlier, is fundam ental to the identity o f the Israelites. The covenant with God entered into by the people o f Israel offered the possibility o f resolving the alienation from G od brought about by the Fall but also implied a further alienation, this time from those who worshipped the deos alienos, the strange gods forbidden in Exodus 20: 3. Followers o f the true G od were not to integrate with the followers o f the Baalim, the indigenous gods o f the land of C anaan.29 When, as frequently happened, the Israelites strayed and betrayed their special status, judgem ent loomed and true penitence was required to bring about restoration. The prophetic books are full o f warnings o f the dangers of disobedience and presuming upon the privileges bestowed by God upon his people. It would be hard to exaggerate the importance o f the Exodus m otif in Christian thought. The long journey through the wilderness towards the Promised Land was interpreted by theologians, preachers and writers alike as a paradigm o f the Christian journey through a fallen world towards the heavenly hom eland,30 a view which strongly colours the Old English Exodus^' and undergirds much later medieval spirituality.32

establishment of the people o f Israel in the Promised Land came also the development o f place pilgrimage. The Book o f Psalms, so deeply woven into the spirituality o f the medieval Church,33 reflects the extent to which Jerusalem became a unique symbol o f the relationship between G od and his people.34 It was in Jerusalem that the Ark o f the Covenant rested as a symbol o f G od’s presence and it was to Jerusalem th at pilgrims made their way to worship. The Psalms o f Ascent (119-33), reflect the emotions with which pilgrims travelled to the city o f David, now also the city o f G od, to worship, to offer sacrifices, to petition and to give thanks. Psalm 119: 5-6, expresses the longings of one living among an alien people:

Pilgrimage within the land The Exodus is comm emorated within the Jewish faith in the three great pilgrimage festivals: Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles. Ironically, these celebrations o f the experience o f being God*s people on the move came to be celebrated in a fixed spot: the city of Jerusalem. F or with the gradual

ai See for example Deuteronomy 28: 58, 63. 19 There was inevitably some degree of syncretism. See Chapter 3. M i t is a fact that the entire history of the Hebrew people, and in particular its wanderings, symbolized the march of the Church towardi the heavenly Jerusalem which is the true Promised Land.* Leclercq (1982), 133. See Chapter 5. 13 See for example Chaucer'i Balut^ dt Btm Constyi: (Hcr ii non hoom, her nis but wildernesse', R im sitk Chaucer.

Woe is me, that my sojourning (incolatus) is prolonged! I have dwelt with the inhabitants of Cedar: my soul hath long been a sojourner (incola)?5 The opening of Psalm 83 describes an intensely em otional response to the place where G od is believed to d w ell:(My soul longeth and fainteth for the courts of the Lord536 Later the psalm speaks o f the blessings and trials o f pilgrims and the sense o f anticipation that G od will reveal himself to them in the place which he has chosen: ‘the G od o f gods shall be seen in Sion’. Jews who were subsequently deported to other countries or migrated for eco­ nomic reasons continued to be bound in affection and loyalty to the land, and to Jerusalem in particular, by the ongoing observance of this pilgrimage. It can be seen from this brief survey th at the Old Testam ent narrative furnishes the concept o f pilgrimage with several strands o f significance. The Fall o f M an and the subsequent exile o f Adam , Eve and their descendants place hum an beings in an imperfect, insecure world in which the transience o f hum an life and achievement contrasts sharply with the eternal verity of G od’s word: ‘All flesh is grass, and all the glory thereof as the flower o f the field. . . . The grass is withered and the flower is fallen: but the word o f our Lord endureth for ever’ （ Isaiah 40: 6, 7- 8). The life o f A braham models a perfect balance between literal and spiritual journeying: as he moves out in obedience to seek the land o f C anaan, so he grows in spiritual understanding and experience of G od. Due to their disobedience, the Israelites who are delivered from Egypt experience a prolonged time o f testing in the wilderness: geographically they are

13 See Chapter 7. 34 For the process by which Jerusalem achieved this status, see Chapter 3. 35 Jerome comments in his Homilies, On the Psalms, 41:This is the plaint of the lover of Christ who wants nothing of the body, who is detached from the world and longs for heaven.. . . l4My sojourn'*, not my dwelling. **My sojourn'', for in the present world we have no lasting dwelling place; we are pilgrims. That is why the apostle says: t4as strangers and pilgrims^ (1 Peter 2 :ll).' See also Gregory the Great, Morals on the Book of Job, XVIII, 48. 16 It is useful to compare this intense expression of devotional fervour with the responses of medieval Christian pilgrims such ui Margery Kempe and the companions of Felix Fabri. See Chapters 8 and 12 below.

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

tantalisingly close to their goal; spiritually they are judged unready to enter into the promised haven until their period o f refining is complete. The experiences o f Abraham and the events o f the Exodus both model a particular kind o f pilgrimage characterised by insecurity and open-endedness, in which to journey obediently is in itself to encounter God. F or those who settled in the land, on the other hand, pilgrimage to Jerusalem became a formalised religious exercise which focused on the joy o f arrival,37 a life journey in miniature, which offered the possibility o f a significant encounter with God when the destination was reached. Wheh exile was experienced, the symbolic pilgrimage to the city o f David acquired an enhanced emotional and spiritual significance bound up with the identity o f the people and their place in the purposes of G od. Jews might, through force of circumstances, settle away from the land but without Jerusalem and at least the possibility o f visiting the city, they could never be complete. Jewish spirituality had shifted from a relationship with G od which was independent o f place, to one which linked the presence o f G od with a particular city and place o f worship. Henry Carse points out evidence o f unease about this development, citing 2 Samuel 7:6,7, where the author depicts G od's reaction to D avid's desire to build a temple in Jerusalem: I have not dwelt in a house since the day I brought up the people o f Israel from Egypt to this day. . . . In all places where I have moved with all the people o f Israel, did I speak a word . . . saying, ‘Why have you not built me a house of cedar?’

Carse comments: (A tension, then, appears in the theology of pilgrimage, even in the period o f its scriptural fo undation/38 As early as the Old Testam ent, therefore, two differing, and not entirely compatible, forms of pilgrimage can be discerned. There is, however, as there is in later term ino­ logy, an etymological harm ony between the two modes o f pilgrimage. A braham , the sojourner, left an indelible stam p upon the vocabulary and concept o f pilgrimage for the Hebrew word for pilgrimage, magur, is derived from gurt the word applied so often to the patriarchs. In Jewish thought, therefore ‘pilgrims are by definition “ sojourners” ， a people en route’.39 The foundation of potential opposition between place pilgrimage and the pilgrimage o flife has ，however, already been laid.

PILGRIMAGE IN THE BIBLE

The New Testament: the pilgrimage of life and the heavenly home Jesus the pilgrim-stranger M uch of the action o f the Gospels reflects the importance o f Jerusalem in the religious and cultural life of the Jewish people of the early first century AD. Jesus himself is taken to Jerusalem as a baby to be presented in the temple and he is recorded as joining his parents on one of the annual pilgrimages to the city when he was twelve years old. Later he is shown visiting the city during the great festivals and singing the pilgrim psalms. F or all the im portance o f Jerusalem as a place, however, the emphasis of the New Testament is quite clearly on spiritual rather than physical pilgrimage. Jesus, as the incarnate W ord, is presented as having voluntarily entered this world o f exile in order to bring about reconciliation between m ankind and G od.40 He is therefore a pilgrim-stranger, a fact underlined by the peripatetic nature o f his ministry.41 His battle against Satan takes him into the desert, where he overcomes tem ptations similar to those which defeated Adam.42 On the Emmaus road he is taken for a stranger to Jerusalem by two o f his own disciples, an incident later given enhanced significance in medieval pilgrim plays.43 When he returns to his home in heaven, it is having opened the way for his disciples to join him there. Jesus himself, therefore, is presented as being a stranger in the world which he had created. It is logical, therefore, that in the epistles directed to those seeking to follow his example, the concept o f sojourner-pilgrims should have been adopted as a fruitful m eta­ phor for the difficult relationship between C nnstians and the world in which they lived. Transience and judgement A closely related concept is the Christian beliei in the transience o f this present world. Foundational to the teachings o f Jesus were the possibility o f salvation and the certainty oi judgem ent. Salvation would be offered for a limited period only; then Christ would himself return as judge (M atthew 25: 31-3). His return would be sudden (M atthew 24: 36-44) and cataclysmic (2 Peter 3:10-13). Christians needed therefore to keep in mind the essential transience44 o f this world and its joys. Though the beauty and glories o f the 40 John 1:1-12. 41 Matthew 8: 20: The Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.1 42 Luke 4. See Williams (1962), 23, who speaks of the ‘conviction that the second Adam in the wilderness had reversed the consequences of Adam*s temptation in Paradise*.

43 Gardiner (1971) and Holloway (1988) both regard the Emmaus theme as of great importance v Henry Carse suggests that 'the sacred nature of the Holy City also answered the human longing for a social resolution of* the loiwlinMi and lufTerin丨 of wandering’. Carse (1994), 23. Carte (1994), 23-4.

MJeffrey (1992), 255.

20

in medieval views of pilgrimage. See also the forthcoming book ^Christ as Gardener and Pilgrim in Medieval Art and Drama* by Professor V. A. Kolve. 44 A theme which figures signlflcantly in Old English poetry and prose (see Part II below) and in Middle English Uxti. Sec Chapter 10 below and Mogan (1969).

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

tantalisingly close to their goal; spiritually they are judged unready to enter into the promised haven until their period o f refining is complete. The experiences o f Abraham and the events o f the Exodus both model a particular kind o f pilgrimage characterised by insecurity and open-endedness, in which to journey obediently is in itself to encounter God. F or those who settled in the land, on the other hand, pilgrimage to Jerusalem became a formalised religious exercise which focused on the joy o f arrival,37 a life journey in miniature, which offered the possibility o f a significant encounter with God when the destination was reached. Wheh exile was experienced, the symbolic pilgrimage to the city o f David acquired an enhanced emotional and spiritual significance bound up with the identity o f the people and their place in the purposes of G od. Jews might, through force of circumstances, settle away from the land but without Jerusalem and at least the possibility o f visiting the city, they could never be complete. Jewish spirituality had shifted from a relationship with G od which was independent o f place, to one which linked the presence o f G od with a particular city and place o f worship. Henry Carse points out evidence o f unease about this development, citing 2 Samuel 7:6,7, where the author depicts G od's reaction to D avid's desire to build a temple in Jerusalem: I have not dwelt in a house since the day I brought up the people o f Israel from Egypt to this day. . . . In all places where I have moved with all the people o f Israel, did I speak a word . . . saying, ‘Why have you not built me a house of cedar?’

Carse comments: (A tension, then, appears in the theology of pilgrimage, even in the period o f its scriptural fo undation/38 As early as the Old Testam ent, therefore, two differing, and not entirely compatible, forms of pilgrimage can be discerned. There is, however, as there is in later term ino­ logy, an etymological harm ony between the two modes o f pilgrimage. A braham , the sojourner, left an indelible stam p upon the vocabulary and concept o f pilgrimage for the Hebrew word for pilgrimage, magur, is derived from gurt the word applied so often to the patriarchs. In Jewish thought, therefore ‘pilgrims are by definition “ sojourners” ， a people en route’.39 The foundation of potential opposition between place pilgrimage and the pilgrimage o flife has ，however, already been laid.

PILGRIMAGE IN THE BIBLE

The New Testament: the pilgrimage of life and the heavenly home Jesus the pilgrim-stranger M uch of the action o f the Gospels reflects the importance o f Jerusalem in the religious and cultural life of the Jewish people of the early first century AD. Jesus himself is taken to Jerusalem as a baby to be presented in the temple and he is recorded as joining his parents on one of the annual pilgrimages to the city when he was twelve years old. Later he is shown visiting the city during the great festivals and singing the pilgrim psalms. F or all the im portance o f Jerusalem as a place, however, the emphasis of the New Testament is quite clearly on spiritual rather than physical pilgrimage. Jesus, as the incarnate W ord, is presented as having voluntarily entered this world o f exile in order to bring about reconciliation between m ankind and G od.40 He is therefore a pilgrim-stranger, a fact underlined by the peripatetic nature o f his ministry.41 His battle against Satan takes him into the desert, where he overcomes tem ptations similar to those which defeated Adam.42 On the Emmaus road he is taken for a stranger to Jerusalem by two o f his own disciples, an incident later given enhanced significance in medieval pilgrim plays.43 When he returns to his home in heaven, it is having opened the way for his disciples to join him there. Jesus himself, therefore, is presented as being a stranger in the world which he had created. It is logical, therefore, that in the epistles directed to those seeking to follow his example, the concept o f sojourner-pilgrims should have been adopted as a fruitful m eta­ phor for the difficult relationship between C nnstians and the world in which they lived. Transience and judgement A closely related concept is the Christian beliei in the transience o f this present world. Foundational to the teachings o f Jesus were the possibility o f salvation and the certainty oi judgem ent. Salvation would be offered for a limited period only; then Christ would himself return as judge (M atthew 25: 31-3). His return would be sudden (M atthew 24: 36-44) and cataclysmic (2 Peter 3:10-13). Christians needed therefore to keep in mind the essential transience44 o f this world and its joys. Though the beauty and glories o f the 40 John 1:1-12. 41 Matthew 8: 20: The Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.1 42 Luke 4. See Williams (1962), 23, who speaks of the ‘conviction that the second Adam in the wilderness had reversed the consequences of Adam*s temptation in Paradise*.

43 Gardiner (1971) and Holloway (1988) both regard the Emmaus theme as of great importance v Henry Carse suggests that 'the sacred nature of the Holy City also answered the human longing for a social resolution of* the loiwlinMi and lufTerin丨 of wandering’. Carse (1994), 23. Carte (1994), 23-4.

MJeffrey (1992), 255.

20

in medieval views of pilgrimage. See also the forthcoming book ^Christ as Gardener and Pilgrim in Medieval Art and Drama* by Professor V. A. Kolve. 44 A theme which figures signlflcantly in Old English poetry and prose (see Part II below) and in Middle English Uxti. Sec Chapter 10 below and Mogan (1969).

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

PILGRIMAGE IN THE BIBLE

world were not denied (they had after all been created by God), the epistles were unanim ous in their warnings against investing in such tem porary pleasures: 4the world passeth away, and the concupiscence thereof, but he that doth the will o f G od, abideth for ever' (1 John 2 : 17).4*45 The language used hints at the paradox underlying the Christian perspective: it is the apparently fixed, reliable, m aterial world which is in fact transient, 'passing away*. The believer, called to pursue the intangible benefits o f obedience is the one who will abide.46 A similar confidence is expressed in Paul's Second Letter to the Corinthians: 4We are confident, and have a good will to be absent (peregrittari) rather from the body, and to be present with the Lord* (2 Corinthians 5: 8).47

William Barclay defines the paroikos, the resident alien, as 4a m an who came to stay in a place without being naturalised . . . he was a licensed so jo u rn er. . . [who] had never given up citizenship of the place to which he truly belonged*.51 This was a situation familiar to the Jews o f the Dispersion, who for a variety o f reasons, political and economic, knew what it was to live outside their homeland. William G. Johnsson, in his discussion o f the pilgrimage m otif in Hebrews, identifies a group o f associated words, each o f which supplies im portant inform ation about the mosaic which is pilgrimage:

Pilgrims and citizens of heaven The Letter to the Hebrews makes the point explicit. A braham , Isaac and Jacob, the writer states, sojourned48 in tents, a symbol o f impermanence, in order to inherit a city whose solid foundations and design speak o f security and permanence. By faith he abode in the land of promise, as in a strange country dwelling in tents, with Isaac and Jacob, the co-heirs of the same promise. For he looked for a city49 that hath foundations; whose builder and maker is God. (Hebrews 11:8-10) In the life o f A braham and his fellow patriarchs the characteristics o f true servants o f G od are set out for imitation: it is impossible for them to be more than sojourners on earth because they are citizens o f another place.50 4i See also 1 Corinthians 7: 31 and James 1:11. 46 The necessity of obedience as a mark of returning to God is the central characteristic of what 1 term moral pilgrimage. It is constantly reiterated in Middle English penitentials, treatises such as Hilton*s Scale o f Perfection and sermons and is an important theme in Piers Plowman (see Chapter 9) and Chaucer's Parsons Tale (Chapter 10). 47 Walter Hilton incorporates this text and his own application into his Mixed Life: lSeynt Poul sci|> )?at as longe as we aren in J?is bodi, we are pilgrimes fro oure lord; J>at is we aren absent from heuene in |?is exile. We goo bi troupe, not bi si3t; ]?at is we lyuen in troupe, not in bodili feelynge*. Mixed Life, 45/525-9. 41 The Greek verb irapoiKtiv, *to live as a resident alien, where one is not a citizen, abroad' (Kittel ( 1965), V.843) is also the word used of Abraham in the Septuagint. The full force of Hebrews 11: 9a reads: *By faith he dwelt as a foreigner without rights of citizenship in the land of the promise as in a land not his own.* Wuerst (1947), 202. 49 The concept of the heavenly city as the long-term destination of the Christian is repeated in Hebrews 13:14 where the writer urges his readers to share the Reproach' borne by Christ, reminding them: non enim habemus hie manentem dvitaiem sedfuturum inguirimus (*For we have not here a lasting city, but we seek one that is to come'). 50 John Chrystostom comments on this passage in his Homilies on Hebrews, XXIV.73-4: *The first virtue, yea the whole of virtue is to be a stranger to this world, and a sojourner, and to have nothing in common with things here but to hang loose from them, as from things strange to us. . . . [Abraham] built no splendid houm , he eryjoyed no luxuries, he had no care about dreu, which are till thingi of ihU world; but lived in all respects as belonging to this city yonder.'

22

We here meet definite terminology which bears on the discussion o f pilgrimage: TTap〇 iK€〇) (v 9 = (to inhabit, live as a stranger,), dXX6rpi〇 s (v 9 = 'strange, alien, hostile, enemy' - even though it was the land o f promise!), iKSexo^at (v 10 = ‘to expect，w ait’)，Tto’ppo^ev (vl3 = ‘from a distance’)， (v 13 = ‘stranger ， alien’)， (v 13 = ‘exile， stranger ’) ， irarpLS (v 14 = ‘hom eland ，fatherland，)， ⑽ (v 16 = ‘better，)， TTÓAts (v 16 = ‘city ’) ， /LuaöaTToSoat'a (v 26 = ‘pay ，wages，rew ard’) ，7repie>x〇 /^u (v 37 = ‘go a ro u n d go from place to place1), nXaydo) (v 38 = 'to wander*), and cTrayyeXia (vv 13, 39 = ‘promise ’).52

This cluster of associated ideas is of considerable significance in the interpretation of medieval literature. In his seminal articles on the Wanderer and the Seafarer, G. V. Smithers drew largely from patristic writings and Old English homilies a chain of associated notions 'A dam the exile from Paradise1/ 'the beginning of the seven ages of the world with AdamV 'the last day o f the world and the Day o f Judgem ent，/ m an’s return to his hereditary home in heaven .53

F. C. G ardiner developed this analysis further, referring in particular to the Letter to the Hebrews and suggesting th at later writers such as St Augustine, Gregory the G reat, Alcuin and Anselm let the theme o f the pilgrimage of life, ‘emerge from a cluster o f key words， each o f which anticipates and complements the others through the evocative and associative power of ideas and words’,54 These key words he lists as pilgrim, exile，journey, heavenly fatherland, desire and hardship, and he proceeds to focus upon the desire for heaven manifested in commentaries, letters and the Latin and English pilgrim plays. Whilst acknowledging the valuable insights o f both Smithers and Johnsson, I would like to suggest that the pilgrimage topos they analyse is o f greater antiquity, more broadly based and more farreaching in its influence than they indicate. As can be seen from Johnsson^ analysis o f Hebrews 11， the ‘cluster of key words’ （ to adopt G ardiner’s useful phrase) should include exile, living as a pilgrim/stranger, expectation, desire for the heavenly homeland and the search for the security o f the 51 Barclay (1964), 284. 12 Johnsson ¢1978), 241. V1 Smither8 0957), 149. S4 Gardiner (1971), 12.

23

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

PILGRIMAGE IN THE BIBLE

world were not denied (they had after all been created by God), the epistles were unanim ous in their warnings against investing in such tem porary pleasures: 4the world passeth away, and the concupiscence thereof, but he that doth the will o f G od, abideth for ever' (1 John 2 : 17).4*45 The language used hints at the paradox underlying the Christian perspective: it is the apparently fixed, reliable, m aterial world which is in fact transient, 'passing away*. The believer, called to pursue the intangible benefits o f obedience is the one who will abide.46 A similar confidence is expressed in Paul's Second Letter to the Corinthians: 4We are confident, and have a good will to be absent (peregrittari) rather from the body, and to be present with the Lord* (2 Corinthians 5: 8).47

William Barclay defines the paroikos, the resident alien, as 4a m an who came to stay in a place without being naturalised . . . he was a licensed so jo u rn er. . . [who] had never given up citizenship of the place to which he truly belonged*.51 This was a situation familiar to the Jews o f the Dispersion, who for a variety o f reasons, political and economic, knew what it was to live outside their homeland. William G. Johnsson, in his discussion o f the pilgrimage m otif in Hebrews, identifies a group o f associated words, each o f which supplies im portant inform ation about the mosaic which is pilgrimage:

Pilgrims and citizens of heaven The Letter to the Hebrews makes the point explicit. A braham , Isaac and Jacob, the writer states, sojourned48 in tents, a symbol o f impermanence, in order to inherit a city whose solid foundations and design speak o f security and permanence. By faith he abode in the land of promise, as in a strange country dwelling in tents, with Isaac and Jacob, the co-heirs of the same promise. For he looked for a city49 that hath foundations; whose builder and maker is God. (Hebrews 11:8-10) In the life o f A braham and his fellow patriarchs the characteristics o f true servants o f G od are set out for imitation: it is impossible for them to be more than sojourners on earth because they are citizens o f another place.50 4i See also 1 Corinthians 7: 31 and James 1:11. 46 The necessity of obedience as a mark of returning to God is the central characteristic of what 1 term moral pilgrimage. It is constantly reiterated in Middle English penitentials, treatises such as Hilton*s Scale o f Perfection and sermons and is an important theme in Piers Plowman (see Chapter 9) and Chaucer's Parsons Tale (Chapter 10). 47 Walter Hilton incorporates this text and his own application into his Mixed Life: lSeynt Poul sci|> )?at as longe as we aren in J?is bodi, we are pilgrimes fro oure lord; J>at is we aren absent from heuene in |?is exile. We goo bi troupe, not bi si3t; ]?at is we lyuen in troupe, not in bodili feelynge*. Mixed Life, 45/525-9. 41 The Greek verb irapoiKtiv, *to live as a resident alien, where one is not a citizen, abroad' (Kittel ( 1965), V.843) is also the word used of Abraham in the Septuagint. The full force of Hebrews 11: 9a reads: *By faith he dwelt as a foreigner without rights of citizenship in the land of the promise as in a land not his own.* Wuerst (1947), 202. 49 The concept of the heavenly city as the long-term destination of the Christian is repeated in Hebrews 13:14 where the writer urges his readers to share the Reproach' borne by Christ, reminding them: non enim habemus hie manentem dvitaiem sedfuturum inguirimus (*For we have not here a lasting city, but we seek one that is to come'). 50 John Chrystostom comments on this passage in his Homilies on Hebrews, XXIV.73-4: *The first virtue, yea the whole of virtue is to be a stranger to this world, and a sojourner, and to have nothing in common with things here but to hang loose from them, as from things strange to us. . . . [Abraham] built no splendid houm , he eryjoyed no luxuries, he had no care about dreu, which are till thingi of ihU world; but lived in all respects as belonging to this city yonder.'

22

We here meet definite terminology which bears on the discussion o f pilgrimage: TTap〇 iK€〇) (v 9 = (to inhabit, live as a stranger,), dXX6rpi〇 s (v 9 = 'strange, alien, hostile, enemy' - even though it was the land o f promise!), iKSexo^at (v 10 = ‘to expect，w ait’)，Tto’ppo^ev (vl3 = ‘from a distance’)， (v 13 = ‘stranger ， alien’)， (v 13 = ‘exile， stranger ’) ， irarpLS (v 14 = ‘hom eland ，fatherland，)， ⑽ (v 16 = ‘better，)， TTÓAts (v 16 = ‘city ’) ， /LuaöaTToSoat'a (v 26 = ‘pay ，wages，rew ard’) ，7repie>x〇 /^u (v 37 = ‘go a ro u n d go from place to place1), nXaydo) (v 38 = 'to wander*), and cTrayyeXia (vv 13, 39 = ‘promise ’).52

This cluster of associated ideas is of considerable significance in the interpretation of medieval literature. In his seminal articles on the Wanderer and the Seafarer, G. V. Smithers drew largely from patristic writings and Old English homilies a chain of associated notions 'A dam the exile from Paradise1/ 'the beginning of the seven ages of the world with AdamV 'the last day o f the world and the Day o f Judgem ent，/ m an’s return to his hereditary home in heaven .53

F. C. G ardiner developed this analysis further, referring in particular to the Letter to the Hebrews and suggesting th at later writers such as St Augustine, Gregory the G reat, Alcuin and Anselm let the theme o f the pilgrimage of life, ‘emerge from a cluster o f key words， each o f which anticipates and complements the others through the evocative and associative power of ideas and words’,54 These key words he lists as pilgrim, exile，journey, heavenly fatherland, desire and hardship, and he proceeds to focus upon the desire for heaven manifested in commentaries, letters and the Latin and English pilgrim plays. Whilst acknowledging the valuable insights o f both Smithers and Johnsson, I would like to suggest that the pilgrimage topos they analyse is o f greater antiquity, more broadly based and more farreaching in its influence than they indicate. As can be seen from Johnsson^ analysis o f Hebrews 11， the ‘cluster of key words’ （ to adopt G ardiner’s useful phrase) should include exile, living as a pilgrim/stranger, expectation, desire for the heavenly homeland and the search for the security o f the 51 Barclay (1964), 284. 12 Johnsson ¢1978), 241. V1 Smither8 0957), 149. S4 Gardiner (1971), 12.

23

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PILGRIMAGE IN THE BIBLE

eternal city. To these I would wish to add the idea of faith expressed through venturing into the unknown (1 1 :8 ), willingness to relinquish transient hum an riches (11: 25-6), and an im portant link between rejection by and o f the world and wandering in desert places (11: 38).55 These ideas are not only largely derived (as I have shown) from the Old Testam ent but are also echoed in other New Testament texts such as 1 Peter and 2 Corinthians. Since the Letter to the Hebrews was not, in the opinion o f modern scholars, written by Paul as G ardiner suggests, this makes the acceptance of the concept o f life pilgrimage in the New Testam ent even wider than he supposes. Moreover, I would suggest that the essential interdependence of this cluster o f images makes it likely that the use of one or more of them, whether in a sermon, commentary, poem or prose work, frequently signals the presence, whether implicit or explicit, o f the others.56 The image o f the city and citizenship, which neither Smithers nor G ardiner develops, had a particular resonance within the context of the Rom an Empire, combining as it did elements o f status and responsibility. The New Testam ent taught that Christians enjoyed the privilege of adoption into the household o f G od and into citizenship within his king­ dom (Ephesians 2:19). This new status, however, had radical implications. Like those Rom an citizens who lived in colonies scattered across the Empire, Christians had to combine life amongst people o f other creeds and lifestyles with a constant awareness o f their true hom eland and allegiance (Philippians 3:10). Out o f the twin concepts of the sojournerpilgrim and the citizen o f a distant, greater homeland, therefore, the New Testam ent writers fashioned an image which combined the promise o f future security with a challenge to present behaviour. Faith in God*s promises of blessings to come would inspire willingness to m ake sacrifices in the present. Pilgrims en route to heaven would be enabled to remain impervious to sufferings or abuse. Like the heroes o f faith listed by the writer o f the Letter to the Hebrews, they would be content to be aliens on earth if thereby they might win citizenship in heaven. As present and future citizens o f heaven, then, their conduct m ust be governed by standards higher than those obtaining around them. Thus the writer o f 1 Peter urged his readers (the parepidemoi of the dispersion):57 *1 beseech you as strangers

and pilgrims (tamquam advenas et peregrinos)58 to refrain yourselves from carnal desires which war against the souF (1 Peter 2 :1 1 ). This warning, linking pilgrim status with a need for constant vigilance and obedience, underlies the particular relationship between the topoi o f the pilgrimage of life and the seven deadly sins which appears in so m any Middle English texts.59

55 Basil the Great (c. 330-79), the organiser of Eastern monasticism, shows clearly the perceived link between this passage and life in the desert: (1 am living . . . in the wilderness wherein the Lord dwelt . . . Here are teachers and prophets, **wandering in deserts, in mountains, in dens, and in caves of the earth." Here are apostles and evangelists and the life of monks, citizens of the desert' Epistola XI.III. Cited Williams (1962, 39). On the positive role of the desert in Christian spirituality see Chapters X 6 and 11. M See Chapter 5. 17 1 Peter 1:1. 'Christians are presented at men who have no country of their own on this earth; they tre simply temporary reiidents... . Their alien status emerges clearly in the fact that they belong to the 6td〇ir〇pa, the Jewish concept being applied to Christiani.' Kittel (1963), 6S.

24

The New Jerusalem In the Epistles the bare mention of a future home is sufficient; it was left to the writer of the Book of Revelation to attem pt to paint the glories o f the city to which pilgrims were travelling. W riting to churches which faced persecution and tem ptations to compromise, he conjured up a glittering picture o f the New Jerusalem60 and the saints rejoicing within the security o f its walls. And G od shall wipe away all tears from their eyes: and death shall be no more; nor mourning, nor crying, nor sorrow shall be any more. . . . And the twelve gates are twelve pearls, one to each. . . . And the street o f the city was pure gold, as it were, transparent glass. (Revelation 2 1 :4 , 21)

The city, as envisaged by the Apostle, offered peace, com fort and healing in the presence o f G od, an appropriate goal for weary, foot-sore pilgrims, scarred by the trials and tem ptations of a world in which they could no longer feel at home. It was a picture which gripped the minds of Christian writers during the succeeding centuries. The promise and allure of the heavenly homeland is apparent in patristic sermons, treatises and letters61 and is woven into a surprising num ber o f Old English poems and prose texts. Middle English artists and writers were equally gripped by the splendours of the heavenly city and the prospect of eternal security. The message o f the New Testam ent helped to shape a world view which set earthly exile against heavenly citizenship, tem porary suffering against eternal joy. The decision to live as a penitent, obedient pilgrim on earth would be amply recompensed in the heavenly Jerusalem. T hat is why an evocation o f the joys of the heavenly city makes such an appropriate ending to the Parson's Tale, a text which advocates just such a life o f moral pilgrimage:62 ther joye hath no contrarioustee o f wo ne grevaunce; ther alle harmes been passed o f this present lyf; ther as is the sikernesse fro the peyne o f helle; ther as is the blisful compaignye th at rejoysen hem everemo, everich o f otheres joye; ther as the body o f man, th at whilom was foul and derk, is m oore cleer than the

58 Greek napoUov^ Kai TrapcTriSijftouy. w See Chapter 9 on Piers Plowman and Chapter 10 on the Canterbury Tales.

60 On the importance of the description of the city in Pearl see Chapter 11. ft> See Gardiner (1971). 62 See Chapter 10.

2S

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

PILGRIMAGE IN THE BIBLE

eternal city. To these I would wish to add the idea of faith expressed through venturing into the unknown (1 1 :8 ), willingness to relinquish transient hum an riches (11: 25-6), and an im portant link between rejection by and o f the world and wandering in desert places (11: 38).55 These ideas are not only largely derived (as I have shown) from the Old Testam ent but are also echoed in other New Testament texts such as 1 Peter and 2 Corinthians. Since the Letter to the Hebrews was not, in the opinion o f modern scholars, written by Paul as G ardiner suggests, this makes the acceptance of the concept o f life pilgrimage in the New Testam ent even wider than he supposes. Moreover, I would suggest that the essential interdependence of this cluster o f images makes it likely that the use of one or more of them, whether in a sermon, commentary, poem or prose work, frequently signals the presence, whether implicit or explicit, o f the others.56 The image o f the city and citizenship, which neither Smithers nor G ardiner develops, had a particular resonance within the context of the Rom an Empire, combining as it did elements o f status and responsibility. The New Testam ent taught that Christians enjoyed the privilege of adoption into the household o f G od and into citizenship within his king­ dom (Ephesians 2:19). This new status, however, had radical implications. Like those Rom an citizens who lived in colonies scattered across the Empire, Christians had to combine life amongst people o f other creeds and lifestyles with a constant awareness o f their true hom eland and allegiance (Philippians 3:10). Out o f the twin concepts of the sojournerpilgrim and the citizen o f a distant, greater homeland, therefore, the New Testam ent writers fashioned an image which combined the promise o f future security with a challenge to present behaviour. Faith in God*s promises of blessings to come would inspire willingness to m ake sacrifices in the present. Pilgrims en route to heaven would be enabled to remain impervious to sufferings or abuse. Like the heroes o f faith listed by the writer o f the Letter to the Hebrews, they would be content to be aliens on earth if thereby they might win citizenship in heaven. As present and future citizens o f heaven, then, their conduct m ust be governed by standards higher than those obtaining around them. Thus the writer o f 1 Peter urged his readers (the parepidemoi of the dispersion):57 *1 beseech you as strangers

and pilgrims (tamquam advenas et peregrinos)58 to refrain yourselves from carnal desires which war against the souF (1 Peter 2 :1 1 ). This warning, linking pilgrim status with a need for constant vigilance and obedience, underlies the particular relationship between the topoi o f the pilgrimage of life and the seven deadly sins which appears in so m any Middle English texts.59

55 Basil the Great (c. 330-79), the organiser of Eastern monasticism, shows clearly the perceived link between this passage and life in the desert: (1 am living . . . in the wilderness wherein the Lord dwelt . . . Here are teachers and prophets, **wandering in deserts, in mountains, in dens, and in caves of the earth." Here are apostles and evangelists and the life of monks, citizens of the desert' Epistola XI.III. Cited Williams (1962, 39). On the positive role of the desert in Christian spirituality see Chapters X 6 and 11. M See Chapter 5. 17 1 Peter 1:1. 'Christians are presented at men who have no country of their own on this earth; they tre simply temporary reiidents... . Their alien status emerges clearly in the fact that they belong to the 6td〇ir〇pa, the Jewish concept being applied to Christiani.' Kittel (1963), 6S.

24

The New Jerusalem In the Epistles the bare mention of a future home is sufficient; it was left to the writer of the Book of Revelation to attem pt to paint the glories o f the city to which pilgrims were travelling. W riting to churches which faced persecution and tem ptations to compromise, he conjured up a glittering picture o f the New Jerusalem60 and the saints rejoicing within the security o f its walls. And G od shall wipe away all tears from their eyes: and death shall be no more; nor mourning, nor crying, nor sorrow shall be any more. . . . And the twelve gates are twelve pearls, one to each. . . . And the street o f the city was pure gold, as it were, transparent glass. (Revelation 2 1 :4 , 21)

The city, as envisaged by the Apostle, offered peace, com fort and healing in the presence o f G od, an appropriate goal for weary, foot-sore pilgrims, scarred by the trials and tem ptations of a world in which they could no longer feel at home. It was a picture which gripped the minds of Christian writers during the succeeding centuries. The promise and allure of the heavenly homeland is apparent in patristic sermons, treatises and letters61 and is woven into a surprising num ber o f Old English poems and prose texts. Middle English artists and writers were equally gripped by the splendours of the heavenly city and the prospect of eternal security. The message o f the New Testam ent helped to shape a world view which set earthly exile against heavenly citizenship, tem porary suffering against eternal joy. The decision to live as a penitent, obedient pilgrim on earth would be amply recompensed in the heavenly Jerusalem. T hat is why an evocation o f the joys of the heavenly city makes such an appropriate ending to the Parson's Tale, a text which advocates just such a life o f moral pilgrimage:62 ther joye hath no contrarioustee o f wo ne grevaunce; ther alle harmes been passed o f this present lyf; ther as is the sikernesse fro the peyne o f helle; ther as is the blisful compaignye th at rejoysen hem everemo, everich o f otheres joye; ther as the body o f man, th at whilom was foul and derk, is m oore cleer than the

58 Greek napoUov^ Kai TrapcTriSijftouy. w See Chapter 9 on Piers Plowman and Chapter 10 on the Canterbury Tales.

60 On the importance of the description of the city in Pearl see Chapter 11. ft> See Gardiner (1971). 62 See Chapter 10.

2S

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

sonne; ther as the body, that whilom was syk, freele, and fieble, and m ortal, is inm ortal, and so strong and hool that ther may no thyng apeyren it; ther as ne is neither hunger, thurst, ne coold, but every soule replenyssed with the sighte o f the parfit knowynge o f God. (Parson s Tale^ 1076-9)

2

Concepts o f Pilgrimage in the Early Church

U ton we hycgan hwaer we ham agen, ond Jjonne gej?encan hu we j?ider cumen. {Seafarer^ 117-18)' Her is non hoom, her nis but wildernesse: F orth, pilgrim, forth! F o rth beste, out o f thy stal! Know thy contree ，100k up, thank G od o f al. (Chaucer, Balade de Bon ConseyU 17-21)2

As will be demonstrated in subsequent chapters, the idea o f life as pilgrimage is fundamental to Anglo-Saxon and later medieval spirituality. Indeed, it would be no exaggeration to claim that the spiritual landscape o f the Middle Ages was largely shaped by the ways in which this concept was developed and expressed during the early centuries o f the Church. This chapter, therefore, offers a brief survey o f the centrality o f this theme in patristic writings, particularly in the work o f Augustine o f Hippo, who exercised such a profound influence on the English Church. It illustrates the repeated insistence o f the early Fathers on the need for a life o f daily obedience, a concept which I have termed m oral pilgrimage and which plays an im port­ ant role in Piers Plowman and the Canterbury Tales. It also traces the origins o f a particularly radical application o f life pilgrimage, the movement to the desert, which brought into being the monastic orders and was still function­ ing as a powerful model o f interior journeying in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Life P ilgrim age in E a rly P a tristic W ritin g s In discussion of the history o f the pilgrimage m otif much attention has rightly been given to Augustine^ exposition o f the concept o f the Church as a pilgrim people in the City o f God. It is, however, im portant to recognise that the New Testament identification o f Christians as citizens of heaven and pilgrims travelling to the heavenly homeland also permeates the writings of ' Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records, III. 1 Riverside Chaucer p. 653.

26

27

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

sonne; ther as the body, that whilom was syk, freele, and fieble, and m ortal, is inm ortal, and so strong and hool that ther may no thyng apeyren it; ther as ne is neither hunger, thurst, ne coold, but every soule replenyssed with the sighte o f the parfit knowynge o f God. (Parson s Tale^ 1076-9)

2

Concepts o f Pilgrimage in the Early Church

U ton we hycgan hwaer we ham agen, ond Jjonne gej?encan hu we j?ider cumen. {Seafarer^ 117-18)' Her is non hoom, her nis but wildernesse: F orth, pilgrim, forth! F o rth beste, out o f thy stal! Know thy contree ，100k up, thank G od o f al. (Chaucer, Balade de Bon ConseyU 17-21)2

As will be demonstrated in subsequent chapters, the idea o f life as pilgrimage is fundamental to Anglo-Saxon and later medieval spirituality. Indeed, it would be no exaggeration to claim that the spiritual landscape o f the Middle Ages was largely shaped by the ways in which this concept was developed and expressed during the early centuries o f the Church. This chapter, therefore, offers a brief survey o f the centrality o f this theme in patristic writings, particularly in the work o f Augustine o f Hippo, who exercised such a profound influence on the English Church. It illustrates the repeated insistence o f the early Fathers on the need for a life o f daily obedience, a concept which I have termed m oral pilgrimage and which plays an im port­ ant role in Piers Plowman and the Canterbury Tales. It also traces the origins o f a particularly radical application o f life pilgrimage, the movement to the desert, which brought into being the monastic orders and was still function­ ing as a powerful model o f interior journeying in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Life P ilgrim age in E a rly P a tristic W ritin g s In discussion of the history o f the pilgrimage m otif much attention has rightly been given to Augustine^ exposition o f the concept o f the Church as a pilgrim people in the City o f God. It is, however, im portant to recognise that the New Testament identification o f Christians as citizens of heaven and pilgrims travelling to the heavenly homeland also permeates the writings of ' Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records, III. 1 Riverside Chaucer p. 653.

26

27

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

CONCEPTS OF PILGRIMAGE IN THE EARLY CHURCH

m any of the early Fathers, who evidently regarded this concept as funda­ m ental to the understanding o f the Christian life.3 Thus Origen ( c . 185 - c. 254) com pared the journey o f the Christian soul to G od with the pilgrimage o f the Israelites from Egypt to the Promised Land,4 while the Letter o f St Clement (bishop o f Rome c. 90-9) to the Corinthians opens with the greeting: T h e Church o f G od which dwells as a pilgrim (irapoiKovoa)5 in Rome to the Church o f God in pilgrimage at Corinth.*6 The Letter o f Barnabas, written early in the second century, equates 'the path to the appointed goaF with a life of moral and spiritual obedience: 4T hou shah love thy C reator . . . thou shalt glorify Him who redeemed thee from d e a th .. . . Thou shalt not take evil counsel against your neighbour . . . thou shalt not commit fornication.'7*The second-century Letter to Diognetus, possibly the earliest extant work in defence o f Christianity, echoes the words o f the writer o f the Letter to the Hebrews:

reflect constantly that we have renounced the world and as strangers and foreigners (hospites et peregrinos) we sojourn here for a time' (On Mortality, C hapter 26). Such insistence by Christians on their alternative citizenship fell oddly on pagan ears. Eusebius records that Pamphilus, a Christian martyr, made such a claim while undergoing interrogation at the hands o f a Rom an governor called Firmilian in 310.

[Christians] live each in his native land but as though they were not really at home there [lit. as sojourners, ndpotKoi] They share in all duties as citizens and suffer all hardships as strangers (feVoi). Every foreign country is a fatherland (narpts) to them, and every fatherland a foreign land. . . . They dwell on earth but they are citizens o f heaven. {Letter to Diognetus, 5 f

The Shepherd o f Hermas ( c . 120-54) repeats the same motif, rebuking those who invest in worldly, transient goods, rather than in eternal treasure: *You servants o f G od are living in a foreign country . . . if you know the city in which you are eventually to dwell, why do you secure fields, rich establish­ ments, houses and superfluous dwellings?'9 The treatises o f Cyprian, bishop o f Carthage (249-58), speak o f transience and the expected imminent end of the world in terms which anticipate the tone of the Old English elegies: 'W hatever is born degenerates with the old age o f the world, itself, so that no one should marvel that everything in the world has already begun to fail, when the entire world itself is already in a decline and at its end* (To Demetrian^ Chapter 4 ) . 10 Once again, Christians are visualised as strangers and foreigners, in exile from and longing for their homeland: 4We should 5 Ladner (1967), 237 observes: The topoi of xeniteia and peregrinatio, of pilgrimage, of homelessness， of strangeness in this world, are among the most widespread in early しhnstian ascetic literature.’ 4 In Num. 27.4. Cited Ramsey (1993), 63. Williams notes: The baptismal theology and practice of the ancient Church was everywhere based upon the identification of the new Christian Israel with the people of the Old Covenant, who passed through the Red Sea and the wilderness of Sinai to the Promised Land.* Williams (1962), 29. * The same phrase is used in greetings to churches in the Epistle o f Polycarp to the Pnilippians and The Martyrdom of Polycarp in The Apostolic Fathers. 4 The Apostolic Fathers^ 9. 1 Epistle of Barnabas, Chapter 19, in The Apostolic Fathers. 1 The Apostolic Fathers, 360-1. 9 Parable 1:1 in The ApostoHc Fathers. 10 Cyprian, Treatises. See alto On Mortality, Chtpter 25, in Cyprian. Letters.

28

[The governor] next asked him what his city was. . . . [The m artyr said] that Jerusalem was his city - meaning to be sure . . . the Jerusalem that is above___ But the other haa his thoughts fixed on the world here below, and enquired closely and carefully as to w hat city it was, and in what part o f the world it was situated. {Martyrs o f Palestine, 1 1 .9 ,10)"

The puzzled governor is said to have concluded that the Christians had 'established a city somewhere at enmity and hostile to the Rom ans' but failed to elicit any further details o f the mysterious threat. The concept of the Christian as a citizen of heaven and hence a stranger within the world iunctioned not only as source o f encouragement in times of persecution but as a challenge to the daily lifestyle o f Christians. John Chrysostom (d. 40 フ)， commenting on the third chapter o f Paul’s Letter to the Colossians， comments th at the Apostle’s purpose is not to have his readers 'emigrate somewhere far from this world, but while they go about in the midst of it, he would have them act as strangers to it . . . and by their actions prove to the infidels that they have changed their citizenship to another c o u n try \12 Here we have a continuation o f the exhortation to a life o f m oral pilgrimage which was outlined in 1 Peter and supported by many other New Testament passages. The m etaphor o f the Christian as pilgrim and stranger in the world was well established in early Church writings and would continue to motivate and inspire; there were, however, a growing num ber o f believers for whom it had more radical implications. A sceticism a n d th e g ro w th o f m o n asticism The ascetic movement which gathered m omentum from the middle o f the third century onwards was, to a large degree, a product o f the widespread sense o f alienation felt by Christians. The conviction that their true status was that o f ‘pilgrims and strangers’ in this world impelled many to renounce earthly ties and pleasures in order to pursue the spiritual goals which they saw set out in the New Testament. According to the Life o f St Anthony written by Athanasius (328-73), the saint was moved to embark on a life of asceticism by hearing words from M atthew 's G o sp el;(If thou wilt be perfect, sell all that thou hast and give it to the poor; and come follow me and thou 11 Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History and the Martyrs o f Palestine, 385. 12 Baptismal In,uructionst no. 7.23.

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

CONCEPTS OF PILGRIMAGE IN THE EARLY CHURCH

m any of the early Fathers, who evidently regarded this concept as funda­ m ental to the understanding o f the Christian life.3 Thus Origen ( c . 185 - c. 254) com pared the journey o f the Christian soul to G od with the pilgrimage o f the Israelites from Egypt to the Promised Land,4 while the Letter o f St Clement (bishop o f Rome c. 90-9) to the Corinthians opens with the greeting: T h e Church o f G od which dwells as a pilgrim (irapoiKovoa)5 in Rome to the Church o f God in pilgrimage at Corinth.*6 The Letter o f Barnabas, written early in the second century, equates 'the path to the appointed goaF with a life of moral and spiritual obedience: 4T hou shah love thy C reator . . . thou shalt glorify Him who redeemed thee from d e a th .. . . Thou shalt not take evil counsel against your neighbour . . . thou shalt not commit fornication.'7*The second-century Letter to Diognetus, possibly the earliest extant work in defence o f Christianity, echoes the words o f the writer o f the Letter to the Hebrews:

reflect constantly that we have renounced the world and as strangers and foreigners (hospites et peregrinos) we sojourn here for a time' (On Mortality, C hapter 26). Such insistence by Christians on their alternative citizenship fell oddly on pagan ears. Eusebius records that Pamphilus, a Christian martyr, made such a claim while undergoing interrogation at the hands o f a Rom an governor called Firmilian in 310.

[Christians] live each in his native land but as though they were not really at home there [lit. as sojourners, ndpotKoi] They share in all duties as citizens and suffer all hardships as strangers (feVoi). Every foreign country is a fatherland (narpts) to them, and every fatherland a foreign land. . . . They dwell on earth but they are citizens o f heaven. {Letter to Diognetus, 5 f

The Shepherd o f Hermas ( c . 120-54) repeats the same motif, rebuking those who invest in worldly, transient goods, rather than in eternal treasure: *You servants o f G od are living in a foreign country . . . if you know the city in which you are eventually to dwell, why do you secure fields, rich establish­ ments, houses and superfluous dwellings?'9 The treatises o f Cyprian, bishop o f Carthage (249-58), speak o f transience and the expected imminent end of the world in terms which anticipate the tone of the Old English elegies: 'W hatever is born degenerates with the old age o f the world, itself, so that no one should marvel that everything in the world has already begun to fail, when the entire world itself is already in a decline and at its end* (To Demetrian^ Chapter 4 ) . 10 Once again, Christians are visualised as strangers and foreigners, in exile from and longing for their homeland: 4We should 5 Ladner (1967), 237 observes: The topoi of xeniteia and peregrinatio, of pilgrimage, of homelessness， of strangeness in this world, are among the most widespread in early しhnstian ascetic literature.’ 4 In Num. 27.4. Cited Ramsey (1993), 63. Williams notes: The baptismal theology and practice of the ancient Church was everywhere based upon the identification of the new Christian Israel with the people of the Old Covenant, who passed through the Red Sea and the wilderness of Sinai to the Promised Land.* Williams (1962), 29. * The same phrase is used in greetings to churches in the Epistle o f Polycarp to the Pnilippians and The Martyrdom of Polycarp in The Apostolic Fathers. 4 The Apostolic Fathers^ 9. 1 Epistle of Barnabas, Chapter 19, in The Apostolic Fathers. 1 The Apostolic Fathers, 360-1. 9 Parable 1:1 in The ApostoHc Fathers. 10 Cyprian, Treatises. See alto On Mortality, Chtpter 25, in Cyprian. Letters.

28

[The governor] next asked him what his city was. . . . [The m artyr said] that Jerusalem was his city - meaning to be sure . . . the Jerusalem that is above___ But the other haa his thoughts fixed on the world here below, and enquired closely and carefully as to w hat city it was, and in what part o f the world it was situated. {Martyrs o f Palestine, 1 1 .9 ,10)"

The puzzled governor is said to have concluded that the Christians had 'established a city somewhere at enmity and hostile to the Rom ans' but failed to elicit any further details o f the mysterious threat. The concept of the Christian as a citizen of heaven and hence a stranger within the world iunctioned not only as source o f encouragement in times of persecution but as a challenge to the daily lifestyle o f Christians. John Chrysostom (d. 40 フ)， commenting on the third chapter o f Paul’s Letter to the Colossians， comments th at the Apostle’s purpose is not to have his readers 'emigrate somewhere far from this world, but while they go about in the midst of it, he would have them act as strangers to it . . . and by their actions prove to the infidels that they have changed their citizenship to another c o u n try \12 Here we have a continuation o f the exhortation to a life o f m oral pilgrimage which was outlined in 1 Peter and supported by many other New Testament passages. The m etaphor o f the Christian as pilgrim and stranger in the world was well established in early Church writings and would continue to motivate and inspire; there were, however, a growing num ber o f believers for whom it had more radical implications. A sceticism a n d th e g ro w th o f m o n asticism The ascetic movement which gathered m omentum from the middle o f the third century onwards was, to a large degree, a product o f the widespread sense o f alienation felt by Christians. The conviction that their true status was that o f ‘pilgrims and strangers’ in this world impelled many to renounce earthly ties and pleasures in order to pursue the spiritual goals which they saw set out in the New Testament. According to the Life o f St Anthony written by Athanasius (328-73), the saint was moved to embark on a life of asceticism by hearing words from M atthew 's G o sp el;(If thou wilt be perfect, sell all that thou hast and give it to the poor; and come follow me and thou 11 Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History and the Martyrs o f Palestine, 385. 12 Baptismal In,uructionst no. 7.23.

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

CONCEPTS OF PILGRIMAGE IN THE EARLY CHURCH

shalt have treasure in heaven’ （ M atthew 19: 21).13 A nthony is said to have insisted th at there was no need to travel in order to find God because the Kingdom o f G od was within the hum an heart. Yet his own quest for perfection led him to withdraw to the desert, a move which represented both a retreat from materialism and a commitment to engage in spiritual warfare with the demons who are subsequently said to have afflicted him .14 Emerging from A thanasius' Life is a clear concept o f the life o f the m onk as a spiritual journey, a movement from ‘exteriority to an increasingly profound interiority,.15 Those who jóined A nthony in the desert were described in The Lives o f the Desert Fathers as ^rue servants o f God. They do not busy themselves with any earthly m atter o r take account of anything th at belongs to this transient world. But while dwelling on earth in this m anner they live as true citizens o f heaven' {Prologue, 5).16 Athanasius wrote th at *the desert was populated with m onks who left their own people and registered themselves for citizenship in heaven*.17 The anonymous Life o f Pachomius, written around the end o f the fourth century, describes the m onastic life as a journey to the East (Paradise): 4If one journeys well and with fear, once one has arrived at the east he finds the Saviour on his throne, and all around him are hosts o f angels and eternal crowns, and they crown the one who journeys to him w e ll/18 Two strands o f ascetic observance merged during the fourth century: the anchoritic or solitary life and the coenobitic life of the monastery. Both would profoundly influence the spirituality o f the English Church. Figures such as Anthony, Paul the Hermit and M ary the H arlot were the heroes and heroines o f the solitary life, whose example inspired the AngloSaxon saints C uthbert and G uthlac and who were regarded as role models for the anchorites o f the later Middle Ages. Thus, as Ann W arren points out,

sharing a common rule o f life.20 Both forms o f life, however, continued to represent a form o f earthly exile for those whose goal was heavenly citizenship. Jean Leclercq outlines the logic behind the identification o f the m onastic life with the pilgrim ideal:

The prim ary symbol o f the c e l l . . . was that o f the desert. The medieval anchorite's refuge, nestled against the village church, drew the recluse back in time to the desert caves of the Egyptian saints: St A nthony . . . St Paul o f Thebes . . . and St M ary the Egyptian. These were the primitive, half-mythic, half-historic forbears o f the medieval recluse and the legends of their lives established the frame o f the paradigm atic journey to heaven which found its central image in the desert m otif .19

N ot all had the stam ina or temperament to be solitaries. Others needed com panions on their spiritual journey and so communities sprang up 13 Athanasius, The Life o f St Anthony,19. On the influence of the Life o f Anthony on the AngloSaxon saint Guthlac see Chapter 5. 14 Compare Chapter l on attitudes to the desert. 15 Ramsey (1993),151. Sec Chapter 11. The Lives of the Desert Fathers, 17 Athanasius, T / m*Life o f St Anthony,14. 11 K prima gr, PachomiU 140. Cited Ramiey (1993), 152. 19 Warren (1985), 9.

30

On voit combien aisément cette peregrination ascétique pouvait aboutir ä la vie monastique: Tétranger qui s'en va devient non seulement un pauvre, un homme obligé aux privations et ä la pénitence, mais un solitaire: il s'est isolé, dans le m onde comme dans un désert. Et le plus souvent il part, de fait, dans le désert. Cette practique explique tout un aspect du monachisme antique. II est des textes, dans les Vies des Pères, oü la vie parm i les moines d 'un désert d'Egypte est définie comme une pérégrination. Les grands exemples q u'on invoque pour justifier cette m éthode de sanctification p ar Texil et Tisolement sont ceux des Patriarches, du Seigneur Jésus, des A pötres et des Disciples. Particulièrement fréquent est le thème d'A braham .21

Jerome, writing c. 373 to a friend who had exchanged the ascetic life for service as presbyter in his home town, highlights the element o f exile which he sees as undergirding the m onastic life, asserting that sa m onk cannot be perfect in his own country'.22 He also weaves a pattern o f connections between the desert, the place of voluntary exile within exile, and opportun­ ities to anticipate the joys o f heaven:23 40 desert, bright with the flowers o f Christ! . . . O wilderness, gladdened with G od's especial presence! . . . Does the boundless solitude o f the desert terrify you? In the spirit you may walk always in P arad ise/24 Physical withdrawal from city o r town to the desert, together with the severing o f family and community ties, was seen as a sure route to spiritual rewards, both in this life and in the world to come. Yet Jerome could be flexible in his application of the concept o f withdrawal. Speaking of a young girl whose lifestyle in m any respects anticipates the anchoresses o f the Middle Ages, he claims 4shut up in her narrow cell she roam ed through paradise . . . she sought her delight in solitude and found for herself a monkish hermitage in the centre o f busy Rom e,.25 The monastic life, whether solitary o r coenobitic, soon came to be seen as the highest calling for a Christian, a status which it would continue to enjoy for the next millennium. As persecution faded, so the m onk inherited the m antle o f the m artyr, that supreme example o f the citizen of heaven. Ironically those who retreated to the deserts o f Egypt and Palestine themselves became in time objects o f pilgrimage, as visitors to the Holy 20 See Lawrence (1984)， Chapter 1, 21 Leclercq (1964), 43. 22 Jerome, Letter 14.7. See also Chitty (1966),14, on monasticism and exile. 13 See Chapter 11 on the theme of anticipation. 24 Jerome, Letter 14.10. Williams (1962), 39, comments: i t was among the hermits and monks that the biblical sense lived on of the ambiguity of the wilderness of Sinai and the wilderness of Jordan, the wilderness of temptation and the wilderness which is a provisional paradise with saints and beasts in harmony, obedient unto Christ.' The sense of restored harmony with creation is also reflected In the lives of the Celtic saints. 3i Jerome, Letter 24.3,4. See McNamara (1984).

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

CONCEPTS OF PILGRIMAGE IN THE EARLY CHURCH

shalt have treasure in heaven’ （ M atthew 19: 21).13 A nthony is said to have insisted th at there was no need to travel in order to find God because the Kingdom o f G od was within the hum an heart. Yet his own quest for perfection led him to withdraw to the desert, a move which represented both a retreat from materialism and a commitment to engage in spiritual warfare with the demons who are subsequently said to have afflicted him .14 Emerging from A thanasius' Life is a clear concept o f the life o f the m onk as a spiritual journey, a movement from ‘exteriority to an increasingly profound interiority,.15 Those who jóined A nthony in the desert were described in The Lives o f the Desert Fathers as ^rue servants o f God. They do not busy themselves with any earthly m atter o r take account of anything th at belongs to this transient world. But while dwelling on earth in this m anner they live as true citizens o f heaven' {Prologue, 5).16 Athanasius wrote th at *the desert was populated with m onks who left their own people and registered themselves for citizenship in heaven*.17 The anonymous Life o f Pachomius, written around the end o f the fourth century, describes the m onastic life as a journey to the East (Paradise): 4If one journeys well and with fear, once one has arrived at the east he finds the Saviour on his throne, and all around him are hosts o f angels and eternal crowns, and they crown the one who journeys to him w e ll/18 Two strands o f ascetic observance merged during the fourth century: the anchoritic or solitary life and the coenobitic life of the monastery. Both would profoundly influence the spirituality o f the English Church. Figures such as Anthony, Paul the Hermit and M ary the H arlot were the heroes and heroines o f the solitary life, whose example inspired the AngloSaxon saints C uthbert and G uthlac and who were regarded as role models for the anchorites o f the later Middle Ages. Thus, as Ann W arren points out,

sharing a common rule o f life.20 Both forms o f life, however, continued to represent a form o f earthly exile for those whose goal was heavenly citizenship. Jean Leclercq outlines the logic behind the identification o f the m onastic life with the pilgrim ideal:

The prim ary symbol o f the c e l l . . . was that o f the desert. The medieval anchorite's refuge, nestled against the village church, drew the recluse back in time to the desert caves of the Egyptian saints: St A nthony . . . St Paul o f Thebes . . . and St M ary the Egyptian. These were the primitive, half-mythic, half-historic forbears o f the medieval recluse and the legends of their lives established the frame o f the paradigm atic journey to heaven which found its central image in the desert m otif .19

N ot all had the stam ina or temperament to be solitaries. Others needed com panions on their spiritual journey and so communities sprang up 13 Athanasius, The Life o f St Anthony,19. On the influence of the Life o f Anthony on the AngloSaxon saint Guthlac see Chapter 5. 14 Compare Chapter l on attitudes to the desert. 15 Ramsey (1993),151. Sec Chapter 11. The Lives of the Desert Fathers, 17 Athanasius, T / m*Life o f St Anthony,14. 11 K prima gr, PachomiU 140. Cited Ramiey (1993), 152. 19 Warren (1985), 9.

30

On voit combien aisément cette peregrination ascétique pouvait aboutir ä la vie monastique: Tétranger qui s'en va devient non seulement un pauvre, un homme obligé aux privations et ä la pénitence, mais un solitaire: il s'est isolé, dans le m onde comme dans un désert. Et le plus souvent il part, de fait, dans le désert. Cette practique explique tout un aspect du monachisme antique. II est des textes, dans les Vies des Pères, oü la vie parm i les moines d 'un désert d'Egypte est définie comme une pérégrination. Les grands exemples q u'on invoque pour justifier cette m éthode de sanctification p ar Texil et Tisolement sont ceux des Patriarches, du Seigneur Jésus, des A pötres et des Disciples. Particulièrement fréquent est le thème d'A braham .21

Jerome, writing c. 373 to a friend who had exchanged the ascetic life for service as presbyter in his home town, highlights the element o f exile which he sees as undergirding the m onastic life, asserting that sa m onk cannot be perfect in his own country'.22 He also weaves a pattern o f connections between the desert, the place of voluntary exile within exile, and opportun­ ities to anticipate the joys o f heaven:23 40 desert, bright with the flowers o f Christ! . . . O wilderness, gladdened with G od's especial presence! . . . Does the boundless solitude o f the desert terrify you? In the spirit you may walk always in P arad ise/24 Physical withdrawal from city o r town to the desert, together with the severing o f family and community ties, was seen as a sure route to spiritual rewards, both in this life and in the world to come. Yet Jerome could be flexible in his application of the concept o f withdrawal. Speaking of a young girl whose lifestyle in m any respects anticipates the anchoresses o f the Middle Ages, he claims 4shut up in her narrow cell she roam ed through paradise . . . she sought her delight in solitude and found for herself a monkish hermitage in the centre o f busy Rom e,.25 The monastic life, whether solitary o r coenobitic, soon came to be seen as the highest calling for a Christian, a status which it would continue to enjoy for the next millennium. As persecution faded, so the m onk inherited the m antle o f the m artyr, that supreme example o f the citizen of heaven. Ironically those who retreated to the deserts o f Egypt and Palestine themselves became in time objects o f pilgrimage, as visitors to the Holy 20 See Lawrence (1984)， Chapter 1, 21 Leclercq (1964), 43. 22 Jerome, Letter 14.7. See also Chitty (1966),14, on monasticism and exile. 13 See Chapter 11 on the theme of anticipation. 24 Jerome, Letter 14.10. Williams (1962), 39, comments: i t was among the hermits and monks that the biblical sense lived on of the ambiguity of the wilderness of Sinai and the wilderness of Jordan, the wilderness of temptation and the wilderness which is a provisional paradise with saints and beasts in harmony, obedient unto Christ.' The sense of restored harmony with creation is also reflected In the lives of the Celtic saints. 3i Jerome, Letter 24.3,4. See McNamara (1984).

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

Land, such as Egeria,26 sought out living m anifestations o f holiness, and others sought to share their life.27 The implications o f the adm iration afforded to ascetics, however, raised troubling questions about the status and heavenly prospects o f ordinary Christians who could not or would not withdraw from the world. The fact that the concept of life pilgrimage remained available to those in secular life and was not entirely usurped by the m onastic movement, was due in no small part to Augustine of Hippo, whose vision o f the Church as pilgrim in the world was large enough to encompass and inspire both callings. T h e C h u rc h as a pilgrim people: the c o n trib u tio n o f A u g u stin e o f H ip p o Augustine o f Hippo (354-430) bequeathed to later generations both an intensely emotional, even mystical,28 personal response to the prospect o f the pilgrim's heavenly goal and a carefully reasoned analysis o f the Church*s pilgrim status in the world. In his Confessions^ he offers a glimpse o f the experience o f ‘interior ，pilgrimage， focused upon desire for G od and the glories o f the heavenly Jerusalem: I shall go into my own little room [i.e. his heart] and sing love songs to Thee, groaning unutterable groanings during my pilgrimage, recalling in my heart the Jerusalem to which my heart has been uplifted, Jerusalem my hom eland Jerusalem my mother. (Confessions^ X II.16)

Although Augustine was himself strongly influenced by the ideals of asceticism and the monastic vision, his experience as a bishop required him to take seriously the needs and questions o f ordinary Christians as they too sought to find their way to heaven.29 In The City o f God, written not long after the sack o f Rome by the G oths in 410, Augustine faced a challenge to account for the apparent decline in the fortunes o f the Rom an Empire since the adoption of Christianity. Rom an religion had always contained a strong pragm atic element, the role o f the gods being to protect Rome and ensure prosperity (this pragm atism seems to have played some p art in Constantine's own conversion, just as it would in the conversion o f Anglo-Saxon kings such as Edwin o f N orthum bria).30 In the era before the conversion of 26 Egeria visited Palestine between 381 and 384. See Egerias Travels. 21 Such as Basil the Great: (I read the Gospel, and I saw there that a great means of perfection was the selling of one's goods . . . and the refusal to allow the soul to be turned by any feeling of sympathy to things of this earth.【 prayed that I might find some of the brethren who üad chosen this way of life1Epistolo 223 (c. 370). Cited in Jerusalem Pilgrims^ 23. 28 On the mysticism of Augustine see TeSelle (1984). Compare Rolle and other English mystics. See Chapter 11. 29 *For Augustine the ordinary Christian was no more remote from grace and salvation than the monk or ascetic. All are called to pursue perfection, none attain it here.1Markus (1990). 65. 30 See Dyas (1997a), Chapter I.

32

CONCEPTS OF PILGRIMAGE IN THE EARLY CHURCH

Constantine, Christians had frequently been persecuted precisely because their refusal to sacrifice to the gods was felt to endanger the welfare of the state; even in the subsequent tC hristian, times doubts still lingered about the commitment o f Christians to the society in which they lived. Augustine answered the challenge by reversing its underlying premise: the vital question was not 4How successful was Christianity in protecting and prospering the Rom an Empire?' but (How could the members o f the City o f G od who happened to be living within that empire, so relate to its structures that their pilgrimage to heaven might be facilitated rather than impeded?* W hat was required was to recognise the pre-eminence of the ‘glorious city o f G od’， the dual reality o f which Augustine promised to describe 'both as it exists in this world of time, a stranger among the ungodly, living by faith, and as it stands in the security of its everlasting seat5 (City o f God, I: Preface).31 This dual perspective was vital. The eventual trium ph o f the City of God was assured, but the struggles o f its members whilst still pilgrims and strangers on the earth were all too real. Christians faced not only hostility and arguments but the tem ptation to conform and compromise. The presence of many within the Church who had joined it for reasons of expediency rather than conviction threatened to undermine commitment and encourage attachm ent to the m aterial benefits of this world. In Augustine’s view, these philosophical and pastoral problems could both be resolved by the same proposition: there were, he maintained, not one but two cities,32 one earthly, one heavenly, one bounded by the limitations o f this world, the other illumined by an eternal perspective. Though both cities experienced alike the blessings and afflictions o f hum an life they did so *with a different faith, a different expectation, a different love, until they are separated by the final judgement, and each receives her own end, o f which there is no end' (XVIII.54). Until that judgem ent came it would not be possible to differentiate with certainty between the citizens o f one realm and the other. Augustine concluded that whilst m ankind was designed for a social life, men and women could never find the peace or order they needed in a society torn and m arred by sin. Nevertheless, he did not advocate withdrawal to the desert, as did some o f his contemporaries, but a cautious engagement with society which never lost sight o f the standards and responsibilities of heavenly citizenship. F or Augustine, therefore, the image of the City of God 4on pilgrimage in this world，33 provided a valuable model. Those who are merely sojourners on the earth are able, in his view, to regard life on earth with the detachm ent o f men and women whose true long-term ambitions lie elsewhere: T h ey enjoy their earthly blessings in the m anner Augustine of Hippo, Thif City o f Cod, Bourke (1995), 293, im i the concept of the two cities as originating in the Psalms. A theme taken up by Bid«. Sn Chipitr 6.

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

Land, such as Egeria,26 sought out living m anifestations o f holiness, and others sought to share their life.27 The implications o f the adm iration afforded to ascetics, however, raised troubling questions about the status and heavenly prospects o f ordinary Christians who could not or would not withdraw from the world. The fact that the concept of life pilgrimage remained available to those in secular life and was not entirely usurped by the m onastic movement, was due in no small part to Augustine of Hippo, whose vision o f the Church as pilgrim in the world was large enough to encompass and inspire both callings. T h e C h u rc h as a pilgrim people: the c o n trib u tio n o f A u g u stin e o f H ip p o Augustine o f Hippo (354-430) bequeathed to later generations both an intensely emotional, even mystical,28 personal response to the prospect o f the pilgrim's heavenly goal and a carefully reasoned analysis o f the Church*s pilgrim status in the world. In his Confessions^ he offers a glimpse o f the experience o f ‘interior ，pilgrimage， focused upon desire for G od and the glories o f the heavenly Jerusalem: I shall go into my own little room [i.e. his heart] and sing love songs to Thee, groaning unutterable groanings during my pilgrimage, recalling in my heart the Jerusalem to which my heart has been uplifted, Jerusalem my hom eland Jerusalem my mother. (Confessions^ X II.16)

Although Augustine was himself strongly influenced by the ideals of asceticism and the monastic vision, his experience as a bishop required him to take seriously the needs and questions o f ordinary Christians as they too sought to find their way to heaven.29 In The City o f God, written not long after the sack o f Rome by the G oths in 410, Augustine faced a challenge to account for the apparent decline in the fortunes o f the Rom an Empire since the adoption of Christianity. Rom an religion had always contained a strong pragm atic element, the role o f the gods being to protect Rome and ensure prosperity (this pragm atism seems to have played some p art in Constantine's own conversion, just as it would in the conversion o f Anglo-Saxon kings such as Edwin o f N orthum bria).30 In the era before the conversion of 26 Egeria visited Palestine between 381 and 384. See Egerias Travels. 21 Such as Basil the Great: (I read the Gospel, and I saw there that a great means of perfection was the selling of one's goods . . . and the refusal to allow the soul to be turned by any feeling of sympathy to things of this earth.【 prayed that I might find some of the brethren who üad chosen this way of life1Epistolo 223 (c. 370). Cited in Jerusalem Pilgrims^ 23. 28 On the mysticism of Augustine see TeSelle (1984). Compare Rolle and other English mystics. See Chapter 11. 29 *For Augustine the ordinary Christian was no more remote from grace and salvation than the monk or ascetic. All are called to pursue perfection, none attain it here.1Markus (1990). 65. 30 See Dyas (1997a), Chapter I.

32

CONCEPTS OF PILGRIMAGE IN THE EARLY CHURCH

Constantine, Christians had frequently been persecuted precisely because their refusal to sacrifice to the gods was felt to endanger the welfare of the state; even in the subsequent tC hristian, times doubts still lingered about the commitment o f Christians to the society in which they lived. Augustine answered the challenge by reversing its underlying premise: the vital question was not 4How successful was Christianity in protecting and prospering the Rom an Empire?' but (How could the members o f the City o f G od who happened to be living within that empire, so relate to its structures that their pilgrimage to heaven might be facilitated rather than impeded?* W hat was required was to recognise the pre-eminence of the ‘glorious city o f G od’， the dual reality o f which Augustine promised to describe 'both as it exists in this world of time, a stranger among the ungodly, living by faith, and as it stands in the security of its everlasting seat5 (City o f God, I: Preface).31 This dual perspective was vital. The eventual trium ph o f the City of God was assured, but the struggles o f its members whilst still pilgrims and strangers on the earth were all too real. Christians faced not only hostility and arguments but the tem ptation to conform and compromise. The presence of many within the Church who had joined it for reasons of expediency rather than conviction threatened to undermine commitment and encourage attachm ent to the m aterial benefits of this world. In Augustine’s view, these philosophical and pastoral problems could both be resolved by the same proposition: there were, he maintained, not one but two cities,32 one earthly, one heavenly, one bounded by the limitations o f this world, the other illumined by an eternal perspective. Though both cities experienced alike the blessings and afflictions o f hum an life they did so *with a different faith, a different expectation, a different love, until they are separated by the final judgement, and each receives her own end, o f which there is no end' (XVIII.54). Until that judgem ent came it would not be possible to differentiate with certainty between the citizens o f one realm and the other. Augustine concluded that whilst m ankind was designed for a social life, men and women could never find the peace or order they needed in a society torn and m arred by sin. Nevertheless, he did not advocate withdrawal to the desert, as did some o f his contemporaries, but a cautious engagement with society which never lost sight o f the standards and responsibilities of heavenly citizenship. F or Augustine, therefore, the image of the City of God 4on pilgrimage in this world，33 provided a valuable model. Those who are merely sojourners on the earth are able, in his view, to regard life on earth with the detachm ent o f men and women whose true long-term ambitions lie elsewhere: T h ey enjoy their earthly blessings in the m anner Augustine of Hippo, Thif City o f Cod, Bourke (1995), 293, im i the concept of the two cities as originating in the Psalms. A theme taken up by Bid«. Sn Chipitr 6.

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

CONCEPTS OF PILGRIMAGE IN THE EARLY CHURCH

of pilgrims {tamquam peregrina) and they are not attached to them, while these earthly misfortunes serve for testing and correction* (1.29). Citizens of the heavenly kingdom still need to m ake use of earthly things but they m ust do so lik e a pilgrim (tamquam peregrina) in a foreign land, who does not let himself be taken in by them or distracted from his course towards G o d ’ (XIX. 17). Augustine urged upon his fellow pilgrims a sense of perspective and the ability to differentiate between ‘use’ and ‘enjoym ent ’ ：‘The good make use o f this world in order to enjoy G od, whereas the evil want to make use o f G od in order to enjoy the world’ （XV. 7). Since, according to Augustine’s thesis, the two cities had existed since the creation and fall o f the angels, their development could be discerned throughout the history o f hum ankind. Particularly im portant are the respective models provided by Cain and Abel:

Caesarius incorporates into his argum ent Christ's injunction36 to follow the narrow way: leave the broad way on the left which drags you to death, and cling to the narrow path on the right which happily leads you to life* (Sermon 151.5). He also echoes the phraseology o f the First Letter o f Peter and the Letter to the Hebrews, adding a very practical application:

Now Cain was the first son born to those parents of mankind, and he belonged to the city o f man; the later son Abel, belonged to the City o f God. . . . When those two cities started on their course through the succession o f birth and death, the first to be born was a citizen o f this world, and later appeared one who was a pilgrim and stranger in the world, belonging as he did to the City of G o d . . . . Scripture tells us that Cain founded a city, whereas Abel, as a pilgrim, did not found one. (X V .l )34

As he traces the history of the pilgrim City o f G od, Augustine draws out lessons o f warning and encouragement for contem porary Christians. There will always be opposition and persecution but suffering is perm itted by God for a purpose: 'W ithout a doubt, the providence of G od provides her with the consolation o f prosperity so that she is not shattered by adversity, and with the discipline o f adversity so that she is not corrupted by prosperity' (X V III.51). This will be the experience o f Christians 'right up to the end of histor ゾ （XV1I1.52), Augustine’s lengthy reasoned exposition o f the pilgrim status o f the Church and its members is o f considerable importance given the widespread influence o f his writings in subsequent centuries. The twin themes of the two cities and the pilgrim status o f Christians were also taken up and developed by Caesarius o f Arles (c. 470-542), archbishop in Gaul 502-42: There are two cities.. . . The good Christian ever journeys {peregrinatur) in the city o f the world, but he is recognised as a citizen of the city o f p ara d ise.. . . We ought to be pilgrims (peregrini) in this world, in order that we may merit to be citizens in heaven. If a man loves the world, and wants to be a citizen o f it, he has no place in heaven, for by the fact that we long for our true country (patria) wc prove that we are pilgrim s. . . the true country o f Christians is not here, but in heaven. (Sermon 151.2)?5

I beseech you, brethren, let us live in this world just as strangers and pilgrims [my italics]. By almsgiving let us store up for the eternal country whatever we acquire as the result o f some work or a lair business transaction or service in a ju st war. W ith the exception o f daily nourishm ent and simple clothing, w hat is left should not be consumed by dissipation in this exile and earthly sojourn, but should be transm itted to our true country through the exercise o f mercy. We are travelling a journey, brethren. (Sermon 151.8)

The concept of life pilgrimage also features significantly in the thought of Gregory the G reat (c. 540-604), the pope who dispatched Augustine o f C anterbury on his mission to the Anglo-Saxons and whose writings were held in great esteem by the English Church. In his comm entary on the Song o f Songs, Gregory wrote of the exile endured by the hum an race since it was 'expelled from the joys o f paradise and came into the pilgrimage o f this present life' [my italics].37 In his discussion o f the Book o f Job, Gregory asked: But w hat People is 'on travel* in this world, but that which hastening to the inheritance o f the Elect knows well th at it has its native country in the heavenly world . . . the ‘pilgrim People， is the num ber o f all the Elect, who accounting this life a species o f exile to themselves, pant with the whole bent o f the heart after their native country above. (Moralia in Job, Book 18)38

In a letter of consolation to a bereaved friend he commented: Peregrinatio quippe est vita praesens; et qui suspirat ad patriam , ei torm entum est peregrinationis locus, etiamsi blandus esse videatur .-19 This present life is indeed a pilgrimage and he who longs for the fatherland, for him the place of pilgrimage is torture, even though it appears enticing.

From the examples examined above it can be seen th at the prim ary New Testam ent understanding of pilgrimage as a journey through life remained dom inant in the writings of the early Fathers. In time this concept was transm itted to the Church in England, not only through the biblical text but also through the comments of writers such as Augustine and Gregory, whose influence on the Anglo-Saxon and medieval Church was considerable. The cluster of ideas found together in the Letter to the Hebrews,40 such as living 36 Matthew 7:13,14. 17 PL, 79.471. Gregory the Great, Morals on the Book o f Job. w Epistola LXXW. P L 77.1175. 4U See Chapter 1,

M Augustine of Hippo, The City oj Gtut, 396. %f Caeiarius of Arles, Stfrmom,

34

33

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

CONCEPTS OF PILGRIMAGE IN THE EARLY CHURCH

of pilgrims {tamquam peregrina) and they are not attached to them, while these earthly misfortunes serve for testing and correction* (1.29). Citizens of the heavenly kingdom still need to m ake use of earthly things but they m ust do so lik e a pilgrim (tamquam peregrina) in a foreign land, who does not let himself be taken in by them or distracted from his course towards G o d ’ (XIX. 17). Augustine urged upon his fellow pilgrims a sense of perspective and the ability to differentiate between ‘use’ and ‘enjoym ent ’ ：‘The good make use o f this world in order to enjoy G od, whereas the evil want to make use o f G od in order to enjoy the world’ （XV. 7). Since, according to Augustine’s thesis, the two cities had existed since the creation and fall o f the angels, their development could be discerned throughout the history o f hum ankind. Particularly im portant are the respective models provided by Cain and Abel:

Caesarius incorporates into his argum ent Christ's injunction36 to follow the narrow way: leave the broad way on the left which drags you to death, and cling to the narrow path on the right which happily leads you to life* (Sermon 151.5). He also echoes the phraseology o f the First Letter o f Peter and the Letter to the Hebrews, adding a very practical application:

Now Cain was the first son born to those parents of mankind, and he belonged to the city o f man; the later son Abel, belonged to the City o f God. . . . When those two cities started on their course through the succession o f birth and death, the first to be born was a citizen o f this world, and later appeared one who was a pilgrim and stranger in the world, belonging as he did to the City of G o d . . . . Scripture tells us that Cain founded a city, whereas Abel, as a pilgrim, did not found one. (X V .l )34

As he traces the history of the pilgrim City o f G od, Augustine draws out lessons o f warning and encouragement for contem porary Christians. There will always be opposition and persecution but suffering is perm itted by God for a purpose: 'W ithout a doubt, the providence of G od provides her with the consolation o f prosperity so that she is not shattered by adversity, and with the discipline o f adversity so that she is not corrupted by prosperity' (X V III.51). This will be the experience o f Christians 'right up to the end of histor ゾ （XV1I1.52), Augustine’s lengthy reasoned exposition o f the pilgrim status o f the Church and its members is o f considerable importance given the widespread influence o f his writings in subsequent centuries. The twin themes of the two cities and the pilgrim status o f Christians were also taken up and developed by Caesarius o f Arles (c. 470-542), archbishop in Gaul 502-42: There are two cities.. . . The good Christian ever journeys {peregrinatur) in the city o f the world, but he is recognised as a citizen of the city o f p ara d ise.. . . We ought to be pilgrims (peregrini) in this world, in order that we may merit to be citizens in heaven. If a man loves the world, and wants to be a citizen o f it, he has no place in heaven, for by the fact that we long for our true country (patria) wc prove that we are pilgrim s. . . the true country o f Christians is not here, but in heaven. (Sermon 151.2)?5

I beseech you, brethren, let us live in this world just as strangers and pilgrims [my italics]. By almsgiving let us store up for the eternal country whatever we acquire as the result o f some work or a lair business transaction or service in a ju st war. W ith the exception o f daily nourishm ent and simple clothing, w hat is left should not be consumed by dissipation in this exile and earthly sojourn, but should be transm itted to our true country through the exercise o f mercy. We are travelling a journey, brethren. (Sermon 151.8)

The concept of life pilgrimage also features significantly in the thought of Gregory the G reat (c. 540-604), the pope who dispatched Augustine o f C anterbury on his mission to the Anglo-Saxons and whose writings were held in great esteem by the English Church. In his comm entary on the Song o f Songs, Gregory wrote of the exile endured by the hum an race since it was 'expelled from the joys o f paradise and came into the pilgrimage o f this present life' [my italics].37 In his discussion o f the Book o f Job, Gregory asked: But w hat People is 'on travel* in this world, but that which hastening to the inheritance o f the Elect knows well th at it has its native country in the heavenly world . . . the ‘pilgrim People， is the num ber o f all the Elect, who accounting this life a species o f exile to themselves, pant with the whole bent o f the heart after their native country above. (Moralia in Job, Book 18)38

In a letter of consolation to a bereaved friend he commented: Peregrinatio quippe est vita praesens; et qui suspirat ad patriam , ei torm entum est peregrinationis locus, etiamsi blandus esse videatur .-19 This present life is indeed a pilgrimage and he who longs for the fatherland, for him the place of pilgrimage is torture, even though it appears enticing.

From the examples examined above it can be seen th at the prim ary New Testam ent understanding of pilgrimage as a journey through life remained dom inant in the writings of the early Fathers. In time this concept was transm itted to the Church in England, not only through the biblical text but also through the comments of writers such as Augustine and Gregory, whose influence on the Anglo-Saxon and medieval Church was considerable. The cluster of ideas found together in the Letter to the Hebrews,40 such as living 36 Matthew 7:13,14. 17 PL, 79.471. Gregory the Great, Morals on the Book o f Job. w Epistola LXXW. P L 77.1175. 4U See Chapter 1,

M Augustine of Hippo, The City oj Gtut, 396. %f Caeiarius of Arles, Stfrmom,

34

33

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

as pilgrims and strangers and seeking the heavenly homeland, was further interpreted and developed, becoming part o f the thought patterns of later generations. From the late third century onwards, however, the idea of place-orientated pilgrimage began to take hold within the Church and the fourth century saw a development o f pilgrimages to the Holy Land and the shrines of saints which would also profoundly affect the understanding o f pilgrimage within the medieval Church. From focusing almost entirely on holiness o f life and the journey to the heavenly Jerusalem, the Church gradually came to accommodate the idea o f pilgrimage to holy places upon earth. In order to appreciate the significance o f this m ajor shift in Christian thought (and the complexities which it brought into the use o f pilgrimage as a literary image), it is necessary to examine both Jewish and pagan beliefs about sacred places and to trace the effects o f the conversion o f Constantine and the growth o f the cult o f the saints.

3

The Development o f Christian Holy Places

Pilgrymes and palmeres plighten hem togidere T o seken Seint Jame and seintes in Rome; W enten forth in hire wey with many wise tales And hadden leve to iyen al hire lif after. (Piers Plowman,, Prologue, 46 -9 )1 Nowhere have I received the grace o f G od in so large a measure as I did in the place where our redem ption was wrought. (Felix F abri )2

The sharply differing attitudes towards pilgrimage to holy places revealed in the excerpts from medieval authors with which this chapter is headed, need to be placed in a wider context if they are to be fully understood. F or the question o f whether certain places could be considered holy, that is offering particular access to or special revelations o f G od, did not originate in the fourteenth century; it was a problem with which the Christian Church had wrestled throughout the centuries and which has never been completely resolved. An examination o f the history o f the Church reveals an ongoing process o f oscillation between an emphasis on the omnipresence of G od and the belief th at visiting special places would result in special blessings. W ithin this overall discussion, however, there have been two particular periods when a m ajor re-evaluation o f the argum ents has taken place. These periods are the fourth century in Palestine and the period leading up and including the Reform ation in W estern Europe. The former involved a decisive shift towards the development of place pilgrimage within Christianity; the latter m arked a rejection of a practice seen as corrupt and liable to undermine true devotion. The roots of the tensions observable in medieval English attitudes to pilgrimage lie therefore in the extraordinary events o f the fourth century which witnessed the initiation o f a network of holy places which would spread from the Holy Land throughout Europe. It is the purpose o f this chapter to chart the origins and implications of this development. All religions have a strong concept o f sacred place and m any elements of this concept are held in common. H arold Turner describes four universal 1 William Langland, Thu Vision o f P im Plowman. 2 The Book o f thi WandfHngs, 2.

36

37

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

as pilgrims and strangers and seeking the heavenly homeland, was further interpreted and developed, becoming part o f the thought patterns of later generations. From the late third century onwards, however, the idea of place-orientated pilgrimage began to take hold within the Church and the fourth century saw a development o f pilgrimages to the Holy Land and the shrines of saints which would also profoundly affect the understanding o f pilgrimage within the medieval Church. From focusing almost entirely on holiness o f life and the journey to the heavenly Jerusalem, the Church gradually came to accommodate the idea o f pilgrimage to holy places upon earth. In order to appreciate the significance o f this m ajor shift in Christian thought (and the complexities which it brought into the use o f pilgrimage as a literary image), it is necessary to examine both Jewish and pagan beliefs about sacred places and to trace the effects o f the conversion o f Constantine and the growth o f the cult o f the saints.

3

The Development o f Christian Holy Places

Pilgrymes and palmeres plighten hem togidere T o seken Seint Jame and seintes in Rome; W enten forth in hire wey with many wise tales And hadden leve to iyen al hire lif after. (Piers Plowman,, Prologue, 46 -9 )1 Nowhere have I received the grace o f G od in so large a measure as I did in the place where our redem ption was wrought. (Felix F abri )2

The sharply differing attitudes towards pilgrimage to holy places revealed in the excerpts from medieval authors with which this chapter is headed, need to be placed in a wider context if they are to be fully understood. F or the question o f whether certain places could be considered holy, that is offering particular access to or special revelations o f G od, did not originate in the fourteenth century; it was a problem with which the Christian Church had wrestled throughout the centuries and which has never been completely resolved. An examination o f the history o f the Church reveals an ongoing process o f oscillation between an emphasis on the omnipresence of G od and the belief th at visiting special places would result in special blessings. W ithin this overall discussion, however, there have been two particular periods when a m ajor re-evaluation o f the argum ents has taken place. These periods are the fourth century in Palestine and the period leading up and including the Reform ation in W estern Europe. The former involved a decisive shift towards the development of place pilgrimage within Christianity; the latter m arked a rejection of a practice seen as corrupt and liable to undermine true devotion. The roots of the tensions observable in medieval English attitudes to pilgrimage lie therefore in the extraordinary events o f the fourth century which witnessed the initiation o f a network of holy places which would spread from the Holy Land throughout Europe. It is the purpose o f this chapter to chart the origins and implications of this development. All religions have a strong concept o f sacred place and m any elements of this concept are held in common. H arold Turner describes four universal 1 William Langland, Thu Vision o f P im Plowman. 2 The Book o f thi WandfHngs, 2.

36

37

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHRISTIAN HOLY PLACES

characteristics o f the sacred place: its function as the centre o f life; its capacity to m irror a more perfect realm; its role as a meeting point for deity and mankind; the presence o f the cult object which symbolises and embodies the divine presence.3 As we have seen in Chapter 1 , the Old Testament narrative charts a perceptible shift from the pilgrim journeys o f Abraham and the Exodus community towards a new focus upon worshipping and encountering G od in a given place, namely the city o f Jerusalem. In the New Testament, however, we see a reversal o f this process and a strong move away from attitudes to place inherited from Jewish tradition. F or three centuries the Church focused predom inantly upon G od’s presence with his people wherever they might be, looking for comfort and inspiration to a heavenly rather than an earthly Jerusalem. Thus Origen (d. c. 254) commented that, if the whole earth had been cursed as a result o f the Fall, then this must needs include the land o f Judaea, which should no longer be regarded as a land flowing with milk and honey but simply as the ^shadow and figure of that pure land, godly and large, in the pure region of heaven, in which is the heavenly Jerusalem ’.4 Like Judaism, however, Christianity was susceptible to external influ­ ences. W ith the conversion o f Constantine in 312 and his subsequent strategy o f ‘reclaiming， pagan and Jewish sacred sites,5 Christian thinking on holy places underwent a major shift, though not without considerable debate and dissension. The outcome was a new sacred topography which radically transform ed the experience of Christians6 yet at the same time opened the door to beliefs and practices which sat uneasily with the doctrine of the Apostles. The relationship between pilgrimage, understood as a life journey towards heaven, and the pilgrimages to holy places which grew in popularity from the fourth century onwards, was from the outset, therefore, both uncertain and complex. A detailed examination o f the evolution o f that relationship (and the unresolved tensions which were built into it) is essential if we are to fully appreciate the multi-faceted view of pilgrimage which was in time transm itted to the medieval Church and which so profoundly influenced the imaginations o f medieval writers.

desired to find a tabernacle for the G od o f Jacob. But Solomon built him a house. Yet the most High dwelleth not in houses made with hands. . . . You stiff necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy G host. As your fathers did, so do you also. W hich of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? A nd they have slain them who foretold o f the coming o f the Just One; o f whom you have been now the betrayers and murderers. (Acts 7: 44-8, 51-2)

The Jewish background Holy city, holy land The tabernacle of the testimony was with our fathers in the desert. . . . Which also our fathers, receiving, brought in with Jesus [Joshua] into the possession of the gentiles . . . unto the days of David, who found grace before God and ' Turner (1979), Chapter I.

4 Against Celsus. VIl.XXIX in Origcn, Writing 9 Such as Mamre. See Taylor 3 Catechetical Lectures, V.9, in Cyril of Jerusalem. Works.

S8

the presence of an invisible person. The devotees who flocked to Rome to the shrine of St Lawrence . . . were not merely going to a place; they were going to a place to meet a person - ad dominum Laurentium.' 15 Les Inscriptions chrètiennes dt la Gaule, 1.240, cited Brown (1981),4. 16 The practice of incorporating relict into the altars of churches was to become commonplace and in 787 the Second Council of Nicati made it mandatory for the dedication of new churches.

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

together in gladness and joy and to celebrate the birthday o f his m artyrdom , both in memory o f those who fought the fight and for the training and preparation o f those who will fight. (Martyrdom o f S t Polycarp, Chapter 18)

The ongoing inspiration provided by a m artyr such as Polycarp was ensured by the annual celebration of his 'birthday' and the physical focus provided by his burial place. Recording such tbirthdays, became a m atter o f im port­ ance. A century later (c. 250) Cyprian wrote: 'M ark the days on which they depart, that we may celebrate their memories . ’8 From this practice developed the observance o f saints' days and the offering of votive masses in their honour. By 400 the m ost im portant saints had a regular place in the eucharistie prayers o f the Church. During the age of tüe m artyrs ，canon­ isation was ‘a spontaneous act of the local comm unity ’9 but as time went on some form o f regulation became necessary. The Fifth Council of Carthage held in 401 stipulated that proper authentication must be forthcoming or the altars dedicated to saints would be destroyed. Bishops and councils took an increasingly im portant role in this process, although the first papal canon­ isation did not take place until 993 . 10 After the conversion o f Constantine and the resultant decrease in m artyrdom s, new concepts of sainthood flourished. From the second cen­ tury onwards it had been suggested that confessors (that is those who were willing to die but had not in fact been called upon to shed their blood) need not be classed as inferior to the m artyrs and as m artydom s became rare, honour was also paid to outstanding ascetics, bishops, missionaries and defenders o f the faith. W orks such as the Life o f St Anthony by Athanasius and the Life o f S t Martin (bishop o f Tours 371-97) by Sulpicius Severus, which would influence hagiography for centuries to come , 11 showed their subjects as not only holy but able to work miracles for those who sought their help. Thus the supply of saints continued to grow apace and their role as intercessors became more clearly defined. As friends o f G od while on earth, they could logically be expected to have particular influence with him in heaven. Cyril o f Jerusalem ’s lectures on the Eucharist state: ‘Then we com m em orate also those who have fallen asleep before us, first Patriarchs, Prophets ，Apostles ，M artyrs, that 如 ，/ ^ /r / 7阳夕奶 am/ W e/rm /ö/w God would receive our petition' (my italics ) . 12

THE INFLUENCE OF THE CULT OF THE SAINTS

T h e d ev elo p m en t o f shrines John Chrysostom (d. 407), in a series o f baptismal instructions, also written shortly before the end o f the fourth century, shows how high the expecta­ tions o f those who visited the m artyrs, tombs had risen, in terms o f both spiritual and m aterial benefits: G od has given us the relics of the holy martyrs, although he has taken their souls to him self.. . . But even to this day Zie ん/if us to give us the exhortation and encouragement we need. . . . Since we realise how free [the martyrs] are to speak, let us always have recourse to them and accept the help which they will give. . . . Because o f their sufferings, these blessed martyrs who have won the freedom to address the king o f heaven will be all the more able to win for us the greatest blessings. . . . Let us have continuous recourse to them as to physicians o f the spirit. It was for this reason that the good M aster has left their bodies with us, th at we might stand beside their tom bs and clasp them with the whole strength o f our s o u l.. . . F or i f we stand beside them with faith, whether our sickness be o f the body or o f the soul, we will not leave their tombs without the healing o f which we stood in need [my italics].13

The tombs of the saints represented the point at which heaven and earth intersected: the saints being capable o f simultaneously enjoying life in heaven and being present in their relics for the benefit of the faithful . 14 Thus an inscription from the tom b o f M artin o f Tours reads: ‘Here lies M artin the bishop, o f holy memory, whose soul is m the hand o f God; but he is fully here, present and made plain in miracles o f every kind / 15 Such cults were initially o f only local im portance but during the fourth century the practices o f translation and invention led to rapid expansion. Since Con­ stantinople, the 'new Rom e’ built by Constantine ，had no m artyrs comparable with those of Rome, the bodies of Timothy and Luke were moved there in 356-7. In the West, the force o f Rom an law and Christian teaching opposed both translation and the dismemberment of bodies but such objections were often outweighed by the demands o f popular piety. In 386, Ambrose, prom pted by the people o f Milan, instituted a search for suitable relics for the dedication o f his new basilica and the bodies o f two hitherto obscure m artyrs, Gervasius and Protasius， were ‘discovered’ and duly installed under the altar . 16 Relics of these two saints, in the form of objects such as cloth which had been in contact with the bodies, were widely distributed among the churches o f Gaul. In 396, Ambrose dispatched an 13 Baptismal Instructions, VII.1,4, 5. 14 Brown (1981),88, comments: The praesentia on which such heady enthusiasm focused was

1 Cyprian, Letters 12.2. 9 Kemp (1948), 7. 10 Kemp (1948) outlines the development of the process of canonisation. " Including the writings of Bede and Felix*i Lift of Guthlac. See Chapter 5.

>3 Catechetical Lectures, V.9, in Cyril of Jerusalem. Works.

S8

the presence of an invisible person. The devotees who flocked to Rome to the shrine of St Lawrence . . . were not merely going to a place; they were going to a place to meet a person - ad dominum Laurentium.' 15 Les Inscriptions chrètiennes dt la Gaule, 1.240, cited Brown (1981),4. 16 The practice of incorporating relict into the altars of churches was to become commonplace and in 787 the Second Council of Nicati made it mandatory for the dedication of new churches.

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

THE INFLUENCE OF THE CULT OF THE SAINTS

even greater gift to the Gallic city o f Rouen: the relics of thirteen saints. The ecstatic welcome accorded these relics in a sermon-treatise by Bishop Victricius dem onstrates how deeply the cult of the saints had touched the emotions. He stresses the bond forged by the presence o f the saints between believers living in a more peaceful age and the Church's heroic past:

views, which appear to have won some support, were fiercely refuted by Jerome whose treatise Contra Vigilantium was written in 406. According to Jerome, Vigilantius denied 'th at religious reverence is to be paid to the tombs of the m artyrs5, asked "Why do you kiss and adore a bit o f powder wrapped up in a cloth?， and complained:

N o bloody enemy assails us today yet we are enriched by the Passion of the Saints. . . . N o blood is shed now; no persecution pursues us yet we are filled with the joy o f those that triu m p h .. . . Let us cal! out with one voice, so that you [the Saints], who inhabit forever the Holy Relics, may purge our bodies. (De Laude Sanctorum^ 1 , 6)'7

U nder the cloak of religion we see w hat is all but a heathen ceremony [my italics] introduced into the churches: while the sun is still shining, heaps of tapers are lighted, and everywhere a paltry bit o f powder, wrapped up in a costly cloth, is kissed and worshipped. G reat honour do men o f this sort pay to the blessed martyrs, who, they think, are to be made glorious by trumpery tapers, when the Lam b who is in the midst of the throne, with all the brightness o f His majesty, gives them light. (Against Vigilantius, 4 )22

The fact that m any relics were secondary or fragmentary in nature did not diminish their efficacy in the eyes o f churchm en such as Victricius: Let no one, deceived by vulgar error, think that the truth o f the whole o f their bodily Passion is not contained in these fragments of the Just and in this apostolic consecration . . . I touch rem nants but I affirm th at in these Relics perfect grace and virtue are contained. . . . H e who cures lives. H e who lives is present in his Relics. Apostles and M artyrs cure and wash away sin. De Laude Sanctorum, 9, 11)

The logic was plain: where the relic was, there the saint was also; where the saint was, men and women could come to avail themselves o f the saint's power to help and heal . 1718 Such developments did not go unopposed either by those who objected on the grounds o f custom and decency or those who voiced strong theological objections. Amongst pagans the rise o f the cult of relics provoked a sdeep religious anger 5. 19 Julian the A postate (emperor 361-3) complained: *You keep adding m any corpses newly dead to the corpse o f long ago. You have filled the whole world with tombs and sepulchres . ' 20 The repugnance felt by pagans at the breaking down o f the barrier between the living and the dead which Rom an law had carefully m aintained is evidenced in Julian’s criticism o f the Christian practice o f carrying relics in procession: The carrying o f the corpses o f the dead through a great assembly o f people, in the midst o f dense crowds, staining the eyesight o f all with ill-omened sights of the dead. W hat day so touched with death could be lucky? How, after being present at such ceremonies， could anyone approach the gods and their temples?21 Ironically the objections voiced by Vigilantius, a Christian cleric from Gaul, included the charge of pagan practice and sub-Christian teaching. His 17

Vigilantius also apparently argued th at 'the souls o f the Apostles and m artyrs have their abode either in the bosom of Abraham , or in the place of refreshment, or under the altar o f G od, and that they cannot leave their own tombs and be present where they w iir. Jerome, writing with all the venom at his command, rejects the accusation th at the martyrs are being worshipped, demanding: ‘M adm an, who in the world ever adored the m artyrs ?*23 He makes the traditional (but by no means universally observed) distinction between latria (worship) which was due to G od alone and dulia (veneration) which may properly be accorded to the saints. He also argues that their influence cannot be restricted: It is written concerning [the Apostles] T h ey follow the Lam b, whithersoever he go eth \ If the Lam b is present everywhere, the same m ust be believed respecting those who are with the L am b___ Y ou say, in your pam phlet, th at so long as we are alive we can pray for one another; b u t once we die, the prayer of no person for another can be heard___ If Apostles and martyrs while still in the body can pray for o th e rs. . . how much more m ust they do so when once they have won their crowns, overcome and triumphed? (Against Vigilantius， 6)

Significantly it is Jerom e’s defence of the cult, rather than the attack m ounted by Vigilantius, which has survived. The cult o f the saints was clearly meeting a need, offering a tangible bridge between a visible, troubled world and an unseen powerful Uod. The saint frequently assumed the role of protector towards individuals and communities (a role which pagan deities had occupied in earlier times). There was, in Peter Brown's phrase, 'even something cozy about the cult o f the m artyrs *,24 especially when the patron saints or saints were ‘locals ’ ： fellow citizens on earth as well as in heaven. A bishop of Turin declared

Hillgarth (1969), 22-5.

" Sec Kemp (1948), 5. 19 Brown (1981),6. 30 Contra Galilaeos, 33SC. Cited Brown (1981),7. 31 Epistulaeet Leges. Cited Brown (1981), 7.

60

33 Jerome, Letters. IS Jerome, Letters. 24 Brown (198!), 61

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

THE INFLUENCE OF THE CULT OF THE SAINTS

even greater gift to the Gallic city o f Rouen: the relics of thirteen saints. The ecstatic welcome accorded these relics in a sermon-treatise by Bishop Victricius dem onstrates how deeply the cult of the saints had touched the emotions. He stresses the bond forged by the presence o f the saints between believers living in a more peaceful age and the Church's heroic past:

views, which appear to have won some support, were fiercely refuted by Jerome whose treatise Contra Vigilantium was written in 406. According to Jerome, Vigilantius denied 'th at religious reverence is to be paid to the tombs of the m artyrs5, asked "Why do you kiss and adore a bit o f powder wrapped up in a cloth?， and complained:

N o bloody enemy assails us today yet we are enriched by the Passion of the Saints. . . . N o blood is shed now; no persecution pursues us yet we are filled with the joy o f those that triu m p h .. . . Let us cal! out with one voice, so that you [the Saints], who inhabit forever the Holy Relics, may purge our bodies. (De Laude Sanctorum^ 1 , 6)'7

U nder the cloak of religion we see w hat is all but a heathen ceremony [my italics] introduced into the churches: while the sun is still shining, heaps of tapers are lighted, and everywhere a paltry bit o f powder, wrapped up in a costly cloth, is kissed and worshipped. G reat honour do men o f this sort pay to the blessed martyrs, who, they think, are to be made glorious by trumpery tapers, when the Lam b who is in the midst of the throne, with all the brightness o f His majesty, gives them light. (Against Vigilantius, 4 )22

The fact that m any relics were secondary or fragmentary in nature did not diminish their efficacy in the eyes o f churchm en such as Victricius: Let no one, deceived by vulgar error, think that the truth o f the whole o f their bodily Passion is not contained in these fragments of the Just and in this apostolic consecration . . . I touch rem nants but I affirm th at in these Relics perfect grace and virtue are contained. . . . H e who cures lives. H e who lives is present in his Relics. Apostles and M artyrs cure and wash away sin. De Laude Sanctorum, 9, 11)

The logic was plain: where the relic was, there the saint was also; where the saint was, men and women could come to avail themselves o f the saint's power to help and heal . 1718 Such developments did not go unopposed either by those who objected on the grounds o f custom and decency or those who voiced strong theological objections. Amongst pagans the rise o f the cult of relics provoked a sdeep religious anger 5. 19 Julian the A postate (emperor 361-3) complained: *You keep adding m any corpses newly dead to the corpse o f long ago. You have filled the whole world with tombs and sepulchres . ' 20 The repugnance felt by pagans at the breaking down o f the barrier between the living and the dead which Rom an law had carefully m aintained is evidenced in Julian’s criticism o f the Christian practice o f carrying relics in procession: The carrying o f the corpses o f the dead through a great assembly o f people, in the midst o f dense crowds, staining the eyesight o f all with ill-omened sights of the dead. W hat day so touched with death could be lucky? How, after being present at such ceremonies， could anyone approach the gods and their temples?21 Ironically the objections voiced by Vigilantius, a Christian cleric from Gaul, included the charge of pagan practice and sub-Christian teaching. His 17

Vigilantius also apparently argued th at 'the souls o f the Apostles and m artyrs have their abode either in the bosom of Abraham , or in the place of refreshment, or under the altar o f G od, and that they cannot leave their own tombs and be present where they w iir. Jerome, writing with all the venom at his command, rejects the accusation th at the martyrs are being worshipped, demanding: ‘M adm an, who in the world ever adored the m artyrs ?*23 He makes the traditional (but by no means universally observed) distinction between latria (worship) which was due to G od alone and dulia (veneration) which may properly be accorded to the saints. He also argues that their influence cannot be restricted: It is written concerning [the Apostles] T h ey follow the Lam b, whithersoever he go eth \ If the Lam b is present everywhere, the same m ust be believed respecting those who are with the L am b___ Y ou say, in your pam phlet, th at so long as we are alive we can pray for one another; b u t once we die, the prayer of no person for another can be heard___ If Apostles and martyrs while still in the body can pray for o th e rs. . . how much more m ust they do so when once they have won their crowns, overcome and triumphed? (Against Vigilantius， 6)

Significantly it is Jerom e’s defence of the cult, rather than the attack m ounted by Vigilantius, which has survived. The cult o f the saints was clearly meeting a need, offering a tangible bridge between a visible, troubled world and an unseen powerful Uod. The saint frequently assumed the role of protector towards individuals and communities (a role which pagan deities had occupied in earlier times). There was, in Peter Brown's phrase, 'even something cozy about the cult o f the m artyrs *,24 especially when the patron saints or saints were ‘locals ’ ： fellow citizens on earth as well as in heaven. A bishop of Turin declared

Hillgarth (1969), 22-5.

" Sec Kemp (1948), 5. 19 Brown (1981),6. 30 Contra Galilaeos, 33SC. Cited Brown (1981),7. 31 Epistulaeet Leges. Cited Brown (1981), 7.

60

33 Jerome, Letters. IS Jerome, Letters. 24 Brown (198!), 61

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THE INFLUENCE OF THE CULT OF THE SAINTS

Though we should celebrate, brothers, the anniversaries of all the martyrs with great devotion, yet we ought to put our whole veneration into observing the festivals especially of those who poured out their blood in our own home town (domiciliis). Though all the saints are everywhere present and aid every one, those who suffered for us intervene for us especially. . . . So all the martyrs should be most devoutly honoured, yet specially those whose relics we possess here. . . . With these we have a sort of familiarity: they are always with us, they live among us [my italics]. (Maximus Taurin, Sermo 12.1-2) 25

sacrifice the martyrs are named, in their own place and in the appointed order, as men o f G od who have overcome the world in the confession of his name. (X X II.10)

Even Augustine moved from caution to enthusiasm and the account which he gives in the City o f God (XXII) o f miracles wrought through relics provides valuable evidence for the spread and acceptance o f the cult. The views o f Augustine are o f particular significance to this study because of his lasting influence on the Church which would be founded among the Anglo-Saxons by his namesake, Augustine o f Canterbury. Augustine indic­ ates the existence of localised cults such as that of the Twenty M artyrs 'whose memory is cherished in our part o f the world* (X X II. 8 ) and o f the miracle-working relics o f Protasius and Gervasius, the otherwise unknown figures whose hiding place was revealed in a dream to Ambrose. In addition, Augustine refers to the translation o f the relics o f Stephen, the power o f which was not only dem onstrated to those present at the shrine (interrupting Augustine himself in mid-sermon) but was capable o f transference to garments placed upon the shrine which were subsequently used in healings elsewhere (XXII. 8 ). There is also an intriguing account o f the actions o f a former tribune called Hesperius, who was in possession o f earth from Jerusalem which he used to ward o ff the attacks o f evil spirits. His problem solved, he offered the earth which Augustine describes significantly as % sacred earth taken from Jerusalem, where Christ was buried and rose again on the third d a y \ to be buried on the site o f a new place o f worship. This place is now described by Augustine as a 'sacred spot 5 and a miracle of healing prom ptly occurs there. Augustine has accepted the possibility o f transferring spiritual power via objects from one place, made sacred by its awociations， to another m any miles away. Augustine favours the recording and proclam ation of such events, noting that *at Hippo we have started the practice o f reading to the people the accounts o f those who receive such blessings' (X X II. 8 ). He is saddened that such stories are unlikely to have the wider currency they deserve. Such miracles, Augustine contends, are super­ ior to anything allegedly performed in pagan temples. He is anxious, however, to define the place o f the m artyrs in the worship o f the Church: We Christians construct, in honour of our martyrs, not temples, as if to gods, but memorial shrines, as to men who are dead, but whose spirits are living with God. We do not in those shrines raise altars on which to sacrifice to the martyrs, but to the one God, who it the martyrs' God and ours; and at this1 11 Cited Markuiing hie 0 a eadelican life forworhton on neorxnawange, 0 a dryhten hie srest set frym0 e in gesette .■ . 7 nu se man se 0e penceO, >aet he of )>ysse gchrorenlican worulde )>one heofonlican rice begite, he Oonnc sceaU eallinga oSernc wc丨 gefaran 7 otfrum dsdum don . . . |>onnc sceolan we >one weg eft gefaran to heofona rice 7 to >am heofonlican ham.， krcW" // öw"如 ， 273/177-9, IM-6 ( 196-7.

pilgrim plays. See Chapter l above. 10 Unfortunately the text of the Ruin, which deals with the theme of transience, is incomplete, but it is possible that it too might have contained references to eternal security and the heavenly home as do the Wanderer and the Seafarer. " As in Hebrews tl. 13 For example Smithers (1937) und (1959).

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Introduction: The Importance o f Pilgrimage in Old English Literature The lengthy critical debate which has surrounded the Old English poem known as the Seafarer provides striking'evidence of the need to clarify the various meanings of pilgrimage inherited and experienced by the AngloSaxon Church. All interpretations o f the poem with a claim to completeness must seek to explain the lines cited above and many such explanations have indeed been advanced during the last century . 1 Yet scholars are still divided about the true significance o f the Seafarer's journey: was it a literal voyage across the sea to other lands , 2 an image o f the Christian's passage through life3 or even both at the same time ? 4 Such questions cannot be answered satisfactorily without a wide-ranging examination o f the multi-faceted view o f pilgrimage inherited by the AngloSaxon C hurch and o f the use made o f the pilgrimage m otif by other AngloSaxon poets . 5 The need for such a survey is, however, far greater than the requirement to elucidate a single poem. All too frequently the presence of this image has been overlooked or taken for granted and its breadth and richness have gone unrecognised. So fundam ental is it to contem porary Christian thought and so ubiquitous its use in Old English literature that it can fairly be described as the key undergirding image o f Christian poetry and prose in the period from the Conversion to the N orm an Conquest. The im portance o f the concept o f the pilgrimage o f life, for theologians and poets, was twofold. It explained the general history o f m ankind from the expulsion o f Adam from Eden to the final Judgement ;6 and it contextualised the individual histories o f men and women seeking to turn involuntary exile on earth into a purposeful spiritual journey . 7 The concept o f pilgrimage as m ankind's journey through life to the heavenly home was in fact so deeply embedded in the minds and imaginations o f those who produced Old 1 See Old English Elegies, Introduction. 1 See Whitelock (1950). * See, for example, Ehrismann (1909) and Smithers (1957).

4 Pope (1974); Old English Elegies, Introduction. * As far as I am aware, no previous survey covers all this ground. * For example Augustine of Hippo, City o f God, XV.1. 7 Thus VerceUi Homily XVI; 'Ac utan wc gemunan hu ure yldran, J?a arcstan men, )?urh hwylc

English poetry and prose th at it was possible for it to be widely used without explanation or amplification. Thus in the Old English Exodus, the poet assumes that his audience will understand the parallels to be drawn between the Israelites* journey through the desert and the spiritual journey made by the Christian to the heavenly hom eland, whereas in contrast the author of the Middle High Germ an Exolied does feel the need to provide such an explanation . 8 Central to this survey is the fact, apparent from the examination of biblical and early Christian writings in Chapters 1 and 2, th at within Christian theology the idea of pilgrimage is inextricably entwined with the related concepts of m ankind^ present exile on earth, prospective citizen­ ship of the heavenly homeland, the transience o f earthly pleasures and the eternal joys o f the Heavenly City o f Jerusalem. Pilgrimage therefore should not be viewed as a single image, based on one type o f hum an activity, but as a group o f tightly knit images which make a num ber of profound statements about the hum an condition. The essential interdependence of this cluster o f images is a crucial factor in assessing the extent of the use of the life-pilgrimage m otif in Old English literature .9 Each element in the cluster only makes sense if the others are accepted and the use o f one in a poem or prose work frequently signals the presence, whether implicit or explicit, of the others . 10 In order to become a pilgrim in the New Testament sense, an individual m ust first have recognised th at m ankind is in a state of spiritual exile and accepted that earth can only be a tem porary restingplace; only then is it logical to respond with a commitment to live as one seeking a different goal . 11 To em bark upon life pilgrimage is necessarily to adopt the view that earthly pleasures and achievement are transitory and to learn to reflect on hum an experience in the light of the coming Judgement. I hope to show some of the ways in which the dose theological connections between these concepts can be seen to inform modes o f poetic expression in a num ber o f Old English poems. M any critical studies have tended to concentrate on patristic writings , 12 with only occasional examples cited from Old English texts. I shall therefore seek to dem onstrate from works produced during the Anglo-Saxon period the extent to which the pilgrim­ age m otif and its associated images were actually used by Anglo-Saxon writers. It is, moreover, the case that in the context o f Old English poetry the theme o f exile had a particular resonance and a num ber o f poems reflect the 8 See Green (1966). I am indebted to Prof. Peter Lucas for drawing my attention to this point. 9 I have borrowed and expanded a term used by Gardiner (1971) in discussion of medieval

|>ing hie 0 a eadelican life forworhton on neorxnawange, 0 a dryhten hie srest set frym0 e in gesette .■ . 7 nu se man se 0e penceO, >aet he of )>ysse gchrorenlican worulde )>one heofonlican rice begite, he Oonnc sceaU eallinga oSernc wc丨 gefaran 7 otfrum dsdum don . . . |>onnc sceolan we >one weg eft gefaran to heofona rice 7 to >am heofonlican ham.， krcW" // öw"如 ， 273/177-9, IM-6 ( 196-7.

pilgrim plays. See Chapter l above. 10 Unfortunately the text of the Ruin, which deals with the theme of transience, is incomplete, but it is possible that it too might have contained references to eternal security and the heavenly home as do the Wanderer and the Seafarer. " As in Hebrews tl. 13 For example Smithers (1937) und (1959).

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harsh reality o f separation, whether caused by strife, loss o f a lord or the punishment o f crime .*3 In secular terms, this was a state to be feared and mourned, since the loss o f relationship and community signified the loss o f security and significance. Whilst it did not reject the importance o f relation­ ships and community, Christianity offered a perspective which transcended earthly gain or loss and offered com fort to all exiles whether voluntary or the victims o f circumstances . 14 A num ber of Anglo-Saxon poems, therefore, can be seen to make creative use o f the tensions and paradoxes involved in seeking to reconcile present loss and renunciation with the hope o f eternal joy and security. The spiritual pilgrimage o f Christians through the world was by definition arduous; the perspective which sustained them was, therefore, in constant need o f reaffirmation and rearticulation. The results can be clearly seen in the poetry and prose o f Anglo-Saxon England. In this section I intend firstly to establish the widespread acceptance o f the idea o f life pilgrimage in the extant poetry and prose; secondly to examine the evidence for Anglo-Saxon practice o f place pilgrimage; and finally to consider how these findings may shed fresh light on the Seafarer and the in particular.

From Exile to Eternal Home: The Pilgrimage M otif in Old English Poetry and Prose

He us onlysde ond us lif forgeaf heofonlicne ham. (Dream o f the Rood, 147-8)

O ld E nglish p o e try Any attem pt to survey the use of particular themes in Old English poetry is inevitably beset by problems o f dating. I therefore propose to group the poems to be examined by category, rather than by date, in order to dem onstrate the presence of the idea of life pilgrimage as an underlying theme in a num ber o f different types of poem. Scriptural poetry: exiles and wanderers In Christian thought, there are two chief categories o f exile . 1 The first is involuntary exile, which is a punishm ent for disobedience. The second is voluntary exile, which signals a desire to achieve spiritual restoration through total commitment to the will o f God. To be in exile, therefore, may signal either great culpability or great sanctity .2 The former condition is associated chiefly with three prototypical biblical figures o f exile: Satan, Adam and Cain, all three o f whom are considered in the Old English poem known as Genesis A ? Satan In his highly influential Moralia in Job, Gregory the G reat described Satan as alienus, the stranger ,4 and the Old English poet is similarly concerned to

For example, the Wanderer, Rtxigmititm, (ht NwiimiHt'a M magi, Ihe Wife's Lament, Anne Klinck Old English Etegies, 225, m «i llh« MHH of MPHrvlion* ui the 'esiential element of elegy1. 14 Ai in the Wanderer, Sec Chiiptar 7.

1 Magennis (1996), 149, notes that 'the narratives of the Old English biblical poems all concern themselves in some way with the theme of dislocation, which finds its archetypal form in the banishment of Adam and Eve from paradise at the beginning of human history'. See entry on *Exile' in Jeffrey (1992). 2 Thus Grendel and Guthlac both dwell in the isolation of the fens but for very different reasons. See below. ' Doane assigns Genesb A to the eighth century (Genesis A, 36-7). 4 Gregory the Orcut, Morah on thtf Book o f Job, XII.36.41,

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

harsh reality o f separation, whether caused by strife, loss o f a lord or the punishment o f crime .*3 In secular terms, this was a state to be feared and mourned, since the loss o f relationship and community signified the loss o f security and significance. Whilst it did not reject the importance o f relation­ ships and community, Christianity offered a perspective which transcended earthly gain or loss and offered com fort to all exiles whether voluntary or the victims o f circumstances . 14 A num ber of Anglo-Saxon poems, therefore, can be seen to make creative use o f the tensions and paradoxes involved in seeking to reconcile present loss and renunciation with the hope o f eternal joy and security. The spiritual pilgrimage o f Christians through the world was by definition arduous; the perspective which sustained them was, therefore, in constant need o f reaffirmation and rearticulation. The results can be clearly seen in the poetry and prose o f Anglo-Saxon England. In this section I intend firstly to establish the widespread acceptance o f the idea o f life pilgrimage in the extant poetry and prose; secondly to examine the evidence for Anglo-Saxon practice o f place pilgrimage; and finally to consider how these findings may shed fresh light on the Seafarer and the in particular.

From Exile to Eternal Home: The Pilgrimage M otif in Old English Poetry and Prose

He us onlysde ond us lif forgeaf heofonlicne ham. (Dream o f the Rood, 147-8)

O ld E nglish p o e try Any attem pt to survey the use of particular themes in Old English poetry is inevitably beset by problems o f dating. I therefore propose to group the poems to be examined by category, rather than by date, in order to dem onstrate the presence of the idea of life pilgrimage as an underlying theme in a num ber o f different types of poem. Scriptural poetry: exiles and wanderers In Christian thought, there are two chief categories o f exile . 1 The first is involuntary exile, which is a punishm ent for disobedience. The second is voluntary exile, which signals a desire to achieve spiritual restoration through total commitment to the will o f God. To be in exile, therefore, may signal either great culpability or great sanctity .2 The former condition is associated chiefly with three prototypical biblical figures o f exile: Satan, Adam and Cain, all three o f whom are considered in the Old English poem known as Genesis A ? Satan In his highly influential Moralia in Job, Gregory the G reat described Satan as alienus, the stranger ,4 and the Old English poet is similarly concerned to

For example, the Wanderer, Rtxigmititm, (ht NwiimiHt'a M magi, Ihe Wife's Lament, Anne Klinck Old English Etegies, 225, m «i llh« MHH of MPHrvlion* ui the 'esiential element of elegy1. 14 Ai in the Wanderer, Sec Chiiptar 7.

1 Magennis (1996), 149, notes that 'the narratives of the Old English biblical poems all concern themselves in some way with the theme of dislocation, which finds its archetypal form in the banishment of Adam and Eve from paradise at the beginning of human history'. See entry on *Exile' in Jeffrey (1992). 2 Thus Grendel and Guthlac both dwell in the isolation of the fens but for very different reasons. See below. ' Doane assigns Genesb A to the eighth century (Genesis A, 36-7). 4 Gregory the Orcut, Morah on thtf Book o f Job, XII.36.41,

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

THE PILGRIMAGE MOTIF IN OLD ENGLISH

emphasise not only the presum ption which caused Satan's downfall but the state o f exile which forms the major element of that downfall. Satan*s rebellion against G od is punished by banishm ent from the realm of heaven, expulsion from his erstwhile homeland: Sceop l^am werlogan wräsclicne ham weorce to leane, helleheafas， hearde niöas . . . aeSele bescyrede his wiSerbrecan wuldor gestealduip (Genesis, 36-8, 63-4)

The repeated play on ham and edel in the early part of the poem underlines the significance o f home and homeland in the mind of the poet and in the theological substructure o f the story. There is an implicit irony in the fact that Satan’s quest for a ‘ham and heahsetl’ in the heavenly kingdom has resulted in the loss o f the home which he already enjoyed by G od's grace. Dissatisfaction has bred disobedience and the outcome is that contradiction in terms, a ‘wraeclicne ham ’ （ 3フ ). Satan is henceforth literally a ‘lost soul ’ ， 5 expelled from his native land like any rebellious Anglo-Saxon thane, his sense o f loss and the hopelessness of regaining the longed-for home feeding a desire for revenge .6 The exile, banished without hope of return, is a dangerous creature, a point made also by the Beowulf-poet in his depiction o f Grendel {Beowulf, 86-9).

Gesaeton J?a aefter synne sorgfulre land, eard and edyl unspedigran fremena gehwilcre )?onne se frumstol waes pQ hie aefter daede o f adrifen wurdon. (Genesis^ 961-4)

This new home is a bleak and inghtening place , 9 but as exiles Adam and Eve are in a different category from Satan. His sentence is irrevocable whereas their banishment, though long and dreary, yet contains (as a Christian audience would have been aware), the hope o f ultimate redemption. With the Harrowing of Hell, an event which features strongly in Old English poetry and prose , 10 the process of exile would be reversed and Adam and Eve be admitted to the heavenly homeland. It is noteworthy that in Genesis B Adam is provided with a speech which at once articulates a desire to make amends and hints at the idea o f voluntary exile, perhaps even a penitential pilgrimage , 11 as part o f the process o f restoration: Gir ie waldendes willan cuöe, hwaet ic his to hearmsceare habban sceolde, ne gesawe ]>u no sniomor, )?eah me on sae wad an hete heofones god heonone nu J?a, on flod faran, naere he firnum )?aes deop, merestream p x s micel, )?aet his 0 min mod getweode, ac ic to )?am gründe genge, gif ic godes meahte willan gewyreean. (Genesis, 828-35)

Adam and Eve Once the rebellious angels have departed, the peace of the heavenly home­ land, the 'wuldres eöel' (83), is restored. The pattern of ambition, disobe­ dience and dispossession (a sequence all too familiar in Anglo-Saxon society) is, however, repeatea in the case o f Adam and Eve. Succumomg to the desire to be 4as gods, (Genesis 3: 4), they also receive a sentence of exile, a state which they will bequeath to all tneir descendants :7 p u sceali oderrte edel secean^ wynleasran wie, and on wrxc hweorfan nacod niedwasdla， neorxnawanges dugcöum bedseled. (Genesis, 927-30)

Cain The third negative example of exile is C ain : 12 like Adam a hum an being; like Satan, envious, rebellious, and destructive. The punishment for m urder is not death but banishment; the sentence passed on Cain is, in effect, exile within exile, alienation not only from G od but from hum an society as well: }?u }?aes ewealmes scealt wite winnan and on wraec hweorfan, awyrged to widan aldre . . . scealt geomor hweorfan, arleas o f earde )?inum, swa J?u Abel wurde to forabanan; for)?on J?u flema scealt widlast wrecan, winemagum laö. (Genesis, 1013-15, 1018-21)

For the contribution of exile to the characterisation of Satan see below on Christ and Satan. The fact of his exile is also used against Satan by the saints (e.g. Andreas 1380-2). • The point is made also in Genesis, 356-7: is \>xs ienga styde ungelic swiöe/ J?amoSrum ham |?e we aer cuflon/ hean on heofonrice.' TCompare Vercelli Homily XI: 4For (>®s aercstan mannes synnum, Adam[e]s, we wurdon aworpene of neorxnawanges eöle 7 on wracworuld sende. 7 we swa syndon on ^yssum middangearde swa we hn nsnig eSd ne habbaO.' VvnvUi HtmUlivs, 223/46-B. " Compare Bückling Homily II: *we synd on (»isse worlde tel^codige, 7 swa waeron sit>|?on se feresta ealdor pisses menniscan cynnes Codes bebodu abruec: 7 for^on gylte we w«ron on l^ysne wriec-3 i|> sende, 7 nu ert sceoton o^eme e|»cl wctin.' BlUkling Hotmlies, 23.

According to the Vulgate text, Cain is not to become a peregrinus but a vagus et profugus (Genesis 4:1 4 ), a wanderer without purpose or direction. The

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^ Magennis (1996), 148-9, highlights the manner in which the poet contrasts the secure environment of Paradise with the new landscape and unsettled climate of the place of exile. 10 See for example the Exeter Book Descent into Hell, Christ III, Christ and Satan, Blickling Homily VII and the Old English version of the Gospel o f Nicodemus. 11 On penance and peregrinatb see Chapter 6 . 13 See Chapter I above.

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

THE PILGRIMAGE MOTIF IN OLD ENGLISH

emphasise not only the presum ption which caused Satan's downfall but the state o f exile which forms the major element of that downfall. Satan*s rebellion against G od is punished by banishm ent from the realm of heaven, expulsion from his erstwhile homeland: Sceop l^am werlogan wräsclicne ham weorce to leane, helleheafas， hearde niöas . . . aeSele bescyrede his wiSerbrecan wuldor gestealduip (Genesis, 36-8, 63-4)

The repeated play on ham and edel in the early part of the poem underlines the significance o f home and homeland in the mind of the poet and in the theological substructure o f the story. There is an implicit irony in the fact that Satan’s quest for a ‘ham and heahsetl’ in the heavenly kingdom has resulted in the loss o f the home which he already enjoyed by G od's grace. Dissatisfaction has bred disobedience and the outcome is that contradiction in terms, a ‘wraeclicne ham ’ （ 3フ ). Satan is henceforth literally a ‘lost soul ’ ， 5 expelled from his native land like any rebellious Anglo-Saxon thane, his sense o f loss and the hopelessness of regaining the longed-for home feeding a desire for revenge .6 The exile, banished without hope of return, is a dangerous creature, a point made also by the Beowulf-poet in his depiction o f Grendel {Beowulf, 86-9).

Gesaeton J?a aefter synne sorgfulre land, eard and edyl unspedigran fremena gehwilcre )?onne se frumstol waes pQ hie aefter daede o f adrifen wurdon. (Genesis^ 961-4)

This new home is a bleak and inghtening place , 9 but as exiles Adam and Eve are in a different category from Satan. His sentence is irrevocable whereas their banishment, though long and dreary, yet contains (as a Christian audience would have been aware), the hope o f ultimate redemption. With the Harrowing of Hell, an event which features strongly in Old English poetry and prose , 10 the process of exile would be reversed and Adam and Eve be admitted to the heavenly homeland. It is noteworthy that in Genesis B Adam is provided with a speech which at once articulates a desire to make amends and hints at the idea o f voluntary exile, perhaps even a penitential pilgrimage , 11 as part o f the process o f restoration: Gir ie waldendes willan cuöe, hwaet ic his to hearmsceare habban sceolde, ne gesawe ]>u no sniomor, )?eah me on sae wad an hete heofones god heonone nu J?a, on flod faran, naere he firnum )?aes deop, merestream p x s micel, )?aet his 0 min mod getweode, ac ic to )?am gründe genge, gif ic godes meahte willan gewyreean. (Genesis, 828-35)

Adam and Eve Once the rebellious angels have departed, the peace of the heavenly home­ land, the 'wuldres eöel' (83), is restored. The pattern of ambition, disobe­ dience and dispossession (a sequence all too familiar in Anglo-Saxon society) is, however, repeatea in the case o f Adam and Eve. Succumomg to the desire to be 4as gods, (Genesis 3: 4), they also receive a sentence of exile, a state which they will bequeath to all tneir descendants :7 p u sceali oderrte edel secean^ wynleasran wie, and on wrxc hweorfan nacod niedwasdla， neorxnawanges dugcöum bedseled. (Genesis, 927-30)

Cain The third negative example of exile is C ain : 12 like Adam a hum an being; like Satan, envious, rebellious, and destructive. The punishment for m urder is not death but banishment; the sentence passed on Cain is, in effect, exile within exile, alienation not only from G od but from hum an society as well: }?u }?aes ewealmes scealt wite winnan and on wraec hweorfan, awyrged to widan aldre . . . scealt geomor hweorfan, arleas o f earde )?inum, swa J?u Abel wurde to forabanan; for)?on J?u flema scealt widlast wrecan, winemagum laö. (Genesis, 1013-15, 1018-21)

For the contribution of exile to the characterisation of Satan see below on Christ and Satan. The fact of his exile is also used against Satan by the saints (e.g. Andreas 1380-2). • The point is made also in Genesis, 356-7: is \>xs ienga styde ungelic swiöe/ J?amoSrum ham |?e we aer cuflon/ hean on heofonrice.' TCompare Vercelli Homily XI: 4For (>®s aercstan mannes synnum, Adam[e]s, we wurdon aworpene of neorxnawanges eöle 7 on wracworuld sende. 7 we swa syndon on ^yssum middangearde swa we hn nsnig eSd ne habbaO.' VvnvUi HtmUlivs, 223/46-B. " Compare Bückling Homily II: *we synd on (»isse worlde tel^codige, 7 swa waeron sit>|?on se feresta ealdor pisses menniscan cynnes Codes bebodu abruec: 7 for^on gylte we w«ron on l^ysne wriec-3 i|> sende, 7 nu ert sceoton o^eme e|»cl wctin.' BlUkling Hotmlies, 23.

According to the Vulgate text, Cain is not to become a peregrinus but a vagus et profugus (Genesis 4:1 4 ), a wanderer without purpose or direction. The

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^ Magennis (1996), 148-9, highlights the manner in which the poet contrasts the secure environment of Paradise with the new landscape and unsettled climate of the place of exile. 10 See for example the Exeter Book Descent into Hell, Christ III, Christ and Satan, Blickling Homily VII and the Old English version of the Gospel o f Nicodemus. 11 On penance and peregrinatb see Chapter 6 . 13 See Chapter I above.

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

THE PILGRIMAGE MOTIF IN OLD ENGLISH

horror of this sentence is made clear in the speech which the Old English poet supplies to Cain:

dwelling place 18 given to Grendel may well have more Christian elements than have been recognised, for it seems to have much in common with the m onster-haunted wilderness places o f Jewish tradition and the battlegrounds of Christian ascetics . 19 The unknown wastelands where Grendel prowls are the same fenlands in which G uthlac fights the fiends20 and they stand in the same relationship to normal hum an habitations as the fallen world does to the lost delights o f Eden. Andy Orchard, in his discussion o f the m onsters o f the Beowulfmanuscript, sets Grendel in the broader context o f patristic commentary on the fate o f Cain:

)du to daege )?issum ademest me fram duguöe and adrifest from

earde minum. (Genesis, 1031-3)

Cain departs, 'wineleas wrecca' (1051): an exile without hope of return, bereft o f homeland, kinsmen and spiritual hope . 13 The figure o f Cain cast a dark shadow over Old English literature: to understand the theological and sociological significance o f his ‘double exile’ is also to recognise the implications o f the lineage attributed to Grendel in Beowulf\XA, wonsaeli wer weardode hwile, si}>6an him scyppend forscrifan htefde in Caines cynne. J^one cwealm gewrxc ece drihten, J?aes \>e he Abel slog; ne gefeah he }?aere fehöe, ac he hine feor fonvrsec, m etod for ]>y mane, mancynne fram. J>anon untydras ealle onwocon, eotenas ond ylfe ond orcneas. (Beowulf, 104-12)

Grendel is placed here in a long line o f exiles, human and supernatural, whose sentence offers no prospect of reprieve. By linking Grendel with Cain, the poet not only endows his m onster with cosmic stature as a player in the age-long dram atic conflict between good and evil, but also clothes him with the bitter characteristics o f the outcast, the exile without hope of restoration. By suggesting not only hum an 15 but also dem onic 16 attributes the poet also evokes the brooding envy which characterises Satan and his followers elsewhere in Old English poetry . 17 G rendel's attack on H eorot is motivated by anger and resentment and it is significant that H rothgar's scop is portrayed singing the story of the creation of mankind and o f the perfect world which Adam and Eve were to lose. Grendel, we may infer, hates Heorot because it represents the home which he will never have and because there is heard the song o f that earlier home which all have lost. Moreover the

Grendel is a true heir o f Cain, who, as the Beowulf-poct tells us (lines 109-10), was exiled for his crime *far from mankind* (feor . . . mancynne fram ), and both Stanley Greenfield and Joseph Baird have stressed the im portance of such exile imagery in the poet’s depiction o f Grendel. Such a view was fully sanctioned by patristic commentary: according to the Septuagint (Genesis IV .16) Cain was driven from the face o f G od into the land of N od (Naid), where the Vulgate simply makes him an ^xile* (profugus). In his interpretation of the passage Bede addresses both readings, and reconciles them through the traditional Hebrew etymology o f Naid, enshrined by Jerome, as M ovem ent or fluctuation* (motus siue fluctuatio).2i Bede goes on to conclude, following Isidore, that *Cain was to be for ever unstable and wandering o f uncertain abode’ (Cain instabilis semper et fluctuans atque incetarum sedium esset fucturus).11

From the standpoint o f patristic exegesis, Cain and his descendants also introduce another strand into the complex pattern of exile, pilgrimage and homeland: they build an earthly city (1057). F or Augustine this was an action charged with significance: Now Cain was the first son bom to those two parents o f mankind, and he belonged to the city o f man; the later son, Abel, belonged to the City of G o d — When those two cities started on their course through the succession o f birth and death, the first to be born was a citizen o f this world, and later appeared one who was a pilgrim and stranger to the world, belonging as he did to the City of God. . . by grace a pilgrim below, and by grace a citizen a b o v e . . . . Scripture tells us that Cain founded a city, whereas Abel, as a pilgrim, did not fo u n d one [my italics]. (City o f God, X V . \)

This model of exile as punishment was an important element in the administration of penance. The Irish Penitential o f Columban (c. 600) states that a murderer who after ten years in exile fails to make reparation to the parents of his victim, kshall never be admitted to his own country but shall be like Cain a vagabond and a fugitive on the earth'. McNeill and Gamer (1965), 252. M Whitelock (1951),13 points out that in Felix's Life ofGuthhc, the saint addresses as the seed 〇r Cain the devils who torment him. Andy Orchard comments: *Of all the monsters, it is Grendel who is most consistently depicted in human terms, particularly in the constant evocation of exile imagery to describe his plight/ Orchard (1995). 30. IA On the use of agimea (monster, demon, Hcnd) of Orendel we Orchard (1995), 33. See below on Christ and Sutun.

18 '[GrendePs] dwelling-place is described by a bewildering number of terms (mearc, moras.fen, /aw泣/!, and ww■めwhich have 沾 their common feature their remoteness from human habitation.* Orchard (1995), 59. Hugh Magennis comments: *The wilderness is a dimly madeout place of threat and exile: it was to the wilderness that Cain was consigned - "westen warode** - and the dragon which afflicts Beowulf’s people lives “on |?aere westenne’’.’ Magennis (1996), 130. 19 See Chapters 1 and 2. 30 See below on Guthlac. 31 See Newton (1993), 142-4, on similarities. » Orchard (1995). 61.

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horror of this sentence is made clear in the speech which the Old English poet supplies to Cain:

dwelling place 18 given to Grendel may well have more Christian elements than have been recognised, for it seems to have much in common with the m onster-haunted wilderness places o f Jewish tradition and the battlegrounds of Christian ascetics . 19 The unknown wastelands where Grendel prowls are the same fenlands in which G uthlac fights the fiends20 and they stand in the same relationship to normal hum an habitations as the fallen world does to the lost delights o f Eden. Andy Orchard, in his discussion o f the m onsters o f the Beowulfmanuscript, sets Grendel in the broader context o f patristic commentary on the fate o f Cain:

)du to daege )?issum ademest me fram duguöe and adrifest from

earde minum. (Genesis, 1031-3)

Cain departs, 'wineleas wrecca' (1051): an exile without hope of return, bereft o f homeland, kinsmen and spiritual hope . 13 The figure o f Cain cast a dark shadow over Old English literature: to understand the theological and sociological significance o f his ‘double exile’ is also to recognise the implications o f the lineage attributed to Grendel in Beowulf\XA, wonsaeli wer weardode hwile, si}>6an him scyppend forscrifan htefde in Caines cynne. J^one cwealm gewrxc ece drihten, J?aes \>e he Abel slog; ne gefeah he }?aere fehöe, ac he hine feor fonvrsec, m etod for ]>y mane, mancynne fram. J>anon untydras ealle onwocon, eotenas ond ylfe ond orcneas. (Beowulf, 104-12)

Grendel is placed here in a long line o f exiles, human and supernatural, whose sentence offers no prospect of reprieve. By linking Grendel with Cain, the poet not only endows his m onster with cosmic stature as a player in the age-long dram atic conflict between good and evil, but also clothes him with the bitter characteristics o f the outcast, the exile without hope of restoration. By suggesting not only hum an 15 but also dem onic 16 attributes the poet also evokes the brooding envy which characterises Satan and his followers elsewhere in Old English poetry . 17 G rendel's attack on H eorot is motivated by anger and resentment and it is significant that H rothgar's scop is portrayed singing the story of the creation of mankind and o f the perfect world which Adam and Eve were to lose. Grendel, we may infer, hates Heorot because it represents the home which he will never have and because there is heard the song o f that earlier home which all have lost. Moreover the

Grendel is a true heir o f Cain, who, as the Beowulf-poct tells us (lines 109-10), was exiled for his crime *far from mankind* (feor . . . mancynne fram ), and both Stanley Greenfield and Joseph Baird have stressed the im portance of such exile imagery in the poet’s depiction o f Grendel. Such a view was fully sanctioned by patristic commentary: according to the Septuagint (Genesis IV .16) Cain was driven from the face o f G od into the land of N od (Naid), where the Vulgate simply makes him an ^xile* (profugus). In his interpretation of the passage Bede addresses both readings, and reconciles them through the traditional Hebrew etymology o f Naid, enshrined by Jerome, as M ovem ent or fluctuation* (motus siue fluctuatio).2i Bede goes on to conclude, following Isidore, that *Cain was to be for ever unstable and wandering o f uncertain abode’ (Cain instabilis semper et fluctuans atque incetarum sedium esset fucturus).11

From the standpoint o f patristic exegesis, Cain and his descendants also introduce another strand into the complex pattern of exile, pilgrimage and homeland: they build an earthly city (1057). F or Augustine this was an action charged with significance: Now Cain was the first son bom to those two parents o f mankind, and he belonged to the city o f man; the later son, Abel, belonged to the City of G o d — When those two cities started on their course through the succession o f birth and death, the first to be born was a citizen o f this world, and later appeared one who was a pilgrim and stranger to the world, belonging as he did to the City of God. . . by grace a pilgrim below, and by grace a citizen a b o v e . . . . Scripture tells us that Cain founded a city, whereas Abel, as a pilgrim, did not fo u n d one [my italics]. (City o f God, X V . \)

This model of exile as punishment was an important element in the administration of penance. The Irish Penitential o f Columban (c. 600) states that a murderer who after ten years in exile fails to make reparation to the parents of his victim, kshall never be admitted to his own country but shall be like Cain a vagabond and a fugitive on the earth'. McNeill and Gamer (1965), 252. M Whitelock (1951),13 points out that in Felix's Life ofGuthhc, the saint addresses as the seed 〇r Cain the devils who torment him. Andy Orchard comments: *Of all the monsters, it is Grendel who is most consistently depicted in human terms, particularly in the constant evocation of exile imagery to describe his plight/ Orchard (1995). 30. IA On the use of agimea (monster, demon, Hcnd) of Orendel we Orchard (1995), 33. See below on Christ and Sutun.

18 '[GrendePs] dwelling-place is described by a bewildering number of terms (mearc, moras.fen, /aw泣/!, and ww■めwhich have 沾 their common feature their remoteness from human habitation.* Orchard (1995), 59. Hugh Magennis comments: *The wilderness is a dimly madeout place of threat and exile: it was to the wilderness that Cain was consigned - "westen warode** - and the dragon which afflicts Beowulf’s people lives “on |?aere westenne’’.’ Magennis (1996), 130. 19 See Chapters 1 and 2. 30 See below on Guthlac. 31 See Newton (1993), 142-4, on similarities. » Orchard (1995). 61.

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THE PILGRIMAGE MOTIF IN OLD ENGLISH

Cain and his line, therefore, also represent those unspiritual men and women who refuse to live as pilgrims in the world and choose instead to invest in earthly security.

The broader theological perspective of life pilgrimage may, however, help to elucidate this hitherto puzzling phrase. Viewed in this context, heaven is the first hom eland from which Satan was expelled (and which Christian pilgrims are exhorted to seek) ; 26 the second hom eland is Paradise, from which Adam, Eve and their descendants have been excluded through sin; and the *J>riddan eöyl’ is earth, the ‘oöerne eöel’ to which Adam and Eve were despatched in lines 927 and 962. H um ankind may still aspire to heaven, or be condemned to hell;27 meanwhile earth is their place o f exile, a tem porary homeland which m ust be renounced if they are to reach the perm anent joys o f heaven, the hom eland for which they have been intended since before the Fall. A braham , the prototype pilgrim described in Chapter l , 28 is also called to leave his native land and travel in faith:

Scriptural poetry: strangers and pilgrims Noah and Abraham In the later part o f Genesis^ the poet focuses on two outstanding examples of positive exile, N oah and A braham , whose lives model both the obedience and the ultim ate reward of the pilgrim. Each leaves the apparent security of home at G od’s com m and in order to reach a place of greater blessing. Noah heeded the warning that his community lay under judgem ent and entered the Ark (later adopted as a symbol o f the C hurch ) , 23 leaving the seeming safety o f dry land to em bark on a hazardous journey which would eventually bring him to rest in a restored hom eland : 24 J^e is eöelstol eft gerymed, lisse on lande, lagosiöa rest fseger on foldan. Gewit on freSo gangan ut o f earce, and on eorSan bearm o f )?ain hean hofe hiwan lasd \>\x and ealle J?a wocre J?e ic waegj>rea on liSe nerede jen d en lago haefde l?rymme ge)?eahtne priddan edyl (Genesis, 1485-92)

The phrase ‘Jjriddan eöyl’ has proved difficult to interpret. In his edition of the poem Doane comments: pridda edyl is the big problem, since what it might be referring to is unknown. But grammatically, if it is nom., it m ust be appositive to lago and refer to the sea; however this leaves no object for hasfde^ implying the necessity o f emending prymme to acc. pi. It is simpler to accept G rein'spriddan, making edyl the object o f hmfde. In this version, the *third hom e' must be the earth, which the sea now covers, but why it is the third home is difficult to tell. Holthausen suggested a series, *heavcn, earth and heir, Kock, P P P 15, *heaven (air), earth and ocean (water)*, but these are arbitrary. M arckwardt-Rosier call attention to two quotations in B-T， p 1069: ‘Heofonwaru and eoröwaru， helwaru J?ridde;’ ‘On nanum heolstrum heofenan, o)?J?e eor}>an, oJ?J?e sae priddan.' if the reading ^ridda edylt 4the sea' could be accepted, the problem would be resolved: the first home was the Paradise o f Adam, the second the E arth o f Seth, the third the Sea that bore up Noe. In any case the poet had something quite specific in mind and it is wrong to dismiss イ/jノas ‘meaningless’ （ K rapp) or attem pt to amend it aw ay .253 45

Gewit )?u nu feran and )?ine fare laedan, ceapas to cnosle. C arran ofgif, faeder eöelstol. F a r， swa ie )?e hate ， m onna leofost, and \>n minum wel larum hyre, and J?set land gesec J?e ic j?e aelgrene ywan wille, brade foldan. (Genesis, 1746-52)

The journey from Egypt to the Promised Land Abraham and N oah both appear again in the Old English Exodus but here the main focus is on another positive example o f exile: the people o f Israel en route from Egypt to the Promised Land. From the opening lines onwards the poet signals clearly that the journey to be described is capable of more than one level of interpretation. The poem opens with a confident statement about the reward to be enjoyed by the blessed in heaven after their bealusWe (journey o f sorrow): Hwset! we feor ond neah gefrigen habaö ofer middangeard Moyses domas, w raclico w ordriht, wera cneorissum in uprodor eadigra gehwam aefter bealusiöe bote lifes, lifigendra gehwam langsumne rjed haeleöum seegan. {Exodus, 1-7)

Lucas, following Sedgefield, interprets this as (a double reference ( 1 ) to the journey o f the Israelites through the wilderness to the promised land, and (2) to the journey of m an through life to the heavenly hom e , . 29 This dual

33 See 1 Peter 3: 20-1. Augustine commented: *Without doubt this is a symbol of the City of God on pilgrimage in this world' Augustine of Hippo, City o f God, XV.26. 34 Jarvis (1993), 63, comments: 4Noah's exile is a mirror image of Cain's exile; the positive to its negative. Cain's exile is bleak, unending, isolated and sinful; Noah's exile is God-given and for a significant purpose.' 35 Genesis At 273-4.

See for example Vercelli Homilies^ XI.55-7. Bückling Homily II comments ^orjjan gylte we waeron on }>ysne wraec-sij? sende, nu eft sceolon operne éBe! secan' (my italics). Bückling Homilies, 23. 31 Chapter 1 above. 29 Exodus p. 7S n. See also Helder (1994), who also explores the typological connections between the Promised Land of the Israelites and the heavenly homeland of Christians.

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THE PILGRIMAGE MOTIF IN OLD ENGLISH

Cain and his line, therefore, also represent those unspiritual men and women who refuse to live as pilgrims in the world and choose instead to invest in earthly security.

The broader theological perspective of life pilgrimage may, however, help to elucidate this hitherto puzzling phrase. Viewed in this context, heaven is the first hom eland from which Satan was expelled (and which Christian pilgrims are exhorted to seek) ; 26 the second hom eland is Paradise, from which Adam, Eve and their descendants have been excluded through sin; and the *J>riddan eöyl’ is earth, the ‘oöerne eöel’ to which Adam and Eve were despatched in lines 927 and 962. H um ankind may still aspire to heaven, or be condemned to hell;27 meanwhile earth is their place o f exile, a tem porary homeland which m ust be renounced if they are to reach the perm anent joys o f heaven, the hom eland for which they have been intended since before the Fall. A braham , the prototype pilgrim described in Chapter l , 28 is also called to leave his native land and travel in faith:

Scriptural poetry: strangers and pilgrims Noah and Abraham In the later part o f Genesis^ the poet focuses on two outstanding examples of positive exile, N oah and A braham , whose lives model both the obedience and the ultim ate reward of the pilgrim. Each leaves the apparent security of home at G od’s com m and in order to reach a place of greater blessing. Noah heeded the warning that his community lay under judgem ent and entered the Ark (later adopted as a symbol o f the C hurch ) , 23 leaving the seeming safety o f dry land to em bark on a hazardous journey which would eventually bring him to rest in a restored hom eland : 24 J^e is eöelstol eft gerymed, lisse on lande, lagosiöa rest fseger on foldan. Gewit on freSo gangan ut o f earce, and on eorSan bearm o f )?ain hean hofe hiwan lasd \>\x and ealle J?a wocre J?e ic waegj>rea on liSe nerede jen d en lago haefde l?rymme ge)?eahtne priddan edyl (Genesis, 1485-92)

The phrase ‘Jjriddan eöyl’ has proved difficult to interpret. In his edition of the poem Doane comments: pridda edyl is the big problem, since what it might be referring to is unknown. But grammatically, if it is nom., it m ust be appositive to lago and refer to the sea; however this leaves no object for hasfde^ implying the necessity o f emending prymme to acc. pi. It is simpler to accept G rein'spriddan, making edyl the object o f hmfde. In this version, the *third hom e' must be the earth, which the sea now covers, but why it is the third home is difficult to tell. Holthausen suggested a series, *heavcn, earth and heir, Kock, P P P 15, *heaven (air), earth and ocean (water)*, but these are arbitrary. M arckwardt-Rosier call attention to two quotations in B-T， p 1069: ‘Heofonwaru and eoröwaru， helwaru J?ridde;’ ‘On nanum heolstrum heofenan, o)?J?e eor}>an, oJ?J?e sae priddan.' if the reading ^ridda edylt 4the sea' could be accepted, the problem would be resolved: the first home was the Paradise o f Adam, the second the E arth o f Seth, the third the Sea that bore up Noe. In any case the poet had something quite specific in mind and it is wrong to dismiss イ/jノas ‘meaningless’ （ K rapp) or attem pt to amend it aw ay .253 45

Gewit )?u nu feran and )?ine fare laedan, ceapas to cnosle. C arran ofgif, faeder eöelstol. F a r， swa ie )?e hate ， m onna leofost, and \>n minum wel larum hyre, and J?set land gesec J?e ic j?e aelgrene ywan wille, brade foldan. (Genesis, 1746-52)

The journey from Egypt to the Promised Land Abraham and N oah both appear again in the Old English Exodus but here the main focus is on another positive example o f exile: the people o f Israel en route from Egypt to the Promised Land. From the opening lines onwards the poet signals clearly that the journey to be described is capable of more than one level of interpretation. The poem opens with a confident statement about the reward to be enjoyed by the blessed in heaven after their bealusWe (journey o f sorrow): Hwset! we feor ond neah gefrigen habaö ofer middangeard Moyses domas, w raclico w ordriht, wera cneorissum in uprodor eadigra gehwam aefter bealusiöe bote lifes, lifigendra gehwam langsumne rjed haeleöum seegan. {Exodus, 1-7)

Lucas, following Sedgefield, interprets this as (a double reference ( 1 ) to the journey o f the Israelites through the wilderness to the promised land, and (2) to the journey of m an through life to the heavenly hom e , . 29 This dual

33 See 1 Peter 3: 20-1. Augustine commented: *Without doubt this is a symbol of the City of God on pilgrimage in this world' Augustine of Hippo, City o f God, XV.26. 34 Jarvis (1993), 63, comments: 4Noah's exile is a mirror image of Cain's exile; the positive to its negative. Cain's exile is bleak, unending, isolated and sinful; Noah's exile is God-given and for a significant purpose.' 35 Genesis At 273-4.

See for example Vercelli Homilies^ XI.55-7. Bückling Homily II comments ^orjjan gylte we waeron on }>ysne wraec-sij? sende, nu eft sceolon operne éBe! secan' (my italics). Bückling Homilies, 23. 31 Chapter 1 above. 29 Exodus p. 7S n. See also Helder (1994), who also explores the typological connections between the Promised Land of the Israelites and the heavenly homeland of Christians.

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perspective is reinforced throughout the poem . 30 The Israelites are exiles (137b) and travellers, both literally and m etaphorically .31 They arc leaving the alien land o f the Egyptians, which in so much patristic teaching represented the pagan world ,32 and setting out at G o d ^ comm and to seek their true hom eland . 33 As William Helder points out, the poet repeatedly highlights this theme: When he adds that Moses was instrum ental in restoring the sons o f A braham to their homeland ^onwist edles Abrahames sunum ,' 1.18), the author m aintains the typological perspective he has established (cf. G alatians 3: 7-29). He does the same subsequently whenever he m entions A braham o r alludes to the concept o f the homeward journey .34 Abraham too is characterised as an exile: 6He on wraece lifde' (383), and the poet subsequently extends the analogy to include his audience in a passage of commentary v/hich also incorporates the associated elements of earthly transience, future judgem ent and the eternal joys o f heaven :35 pis is dream wommum awyrged, wreccum alyfed, earm ra anbid. Edellease )?ysne gystsele gihöum healdaö m urnaö on mode … Eftwyrd cymö, m®genj?rymma maest, ofer middangeard, d x g d sd u m fah. Drihten sylfa on J>am mcöelstede manegum demed )?onne he sodfxstra sawla lyded ， eadige gastas, on uprodor, biÖ leoht and lif, eac 卜on lissa blaed. (Exodus, 532-6, 540-6)

Abraham, Moses and the people of Israel en route for the Promised Land thus become figures o f encouragement and challenge for all Christian pilgrims who seek the way to the eternal homeland.

w Lucas, in Exodus^ p. 92 n., compares the use of lifweg in this poem with the use of the same t*rm, which he links with Chrises statement *1 am the Way, the Truth and the Life' (John 14: 16), in the Dream of the Rood, 88-9. ' ' On the use of sea-imagery to describe the journey see Chapter 7. See for example Augustine of Hippo, De Doctrina Christiana, 11.15. n 'The one general allegory that would cover the events of the poem is the equation of the Israelites* journey from Egypt to the Promised Land with the journey from earthly exile to the heavenly home.* Cross and Tucker (1960), 123. w Helder (1994),195. ” 'The audience is encouraged to recaU the transitory nature of joys in the world, the superior rewards in heaven to be granted to the Christian Taithful, and the accompanying day of universal judgement.. . . In contrast to the mHterial prosperity promised to (and attained by) Israel at 564b, as Christians w« w«nd«r anxiouily, mourning our spiritual exile in a world that is a lodging-house in miMry.* Oardt (1991), 48.

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Scriptural poetry: temporary exile (penance) Woven into the narrative o f Daniel are two accounts of tem porary involuntary exile, each o f which is interpreted as a punishm ent from u o d but not as perm anent rejection. The opening lines of the poem, which have no parallel in the Vulgate, make plain the link between obedience to God and possession o f the Promised Land: as long as the people m aintain 'hiera faeder waere* (10) (presumably the covenant made with A braham in Genesis 15) then they will remain secure in G od's affection and protection. The audience are also reminded that it was G od who guided these telSeodigum, (38) to take possession o f the city o f Jerusalem and their 'eSelland' (39). Now apostasy leads to mass deportations into exile in Babylon and aliens govern their erstwhile homeland, 4eSne eSel' (78). The poet does not labour the point at this stage; evidently he can assume sufficient familiarity with these concepts for the audience to draw its own conclusions about the spiritual connections between obedience and hom eland, apostasy and exile. Later in the poem the Prayer o f Azarias reiterates the connection between exile and failure to follow a holy way o f life. This, once more, is a connection not m ade in the Vulgate; We Öaes lifgende w orhton on worulde, eac Son worn dyde user yldran; for oferhygdum bnecon bebodo burhsittende, had oferhogedon halgan lifes. Siendon we towrecene geond widne grund, heapum tohworfene, hyldelease; is user lif geond landa fela fracoö and gefraege folca manegum, |?a usic bewraecon to J?aes wyrrestan eoröcyninga £ehta gewealde, on hasft heorugrimra, and we nu haeöenra peowned J^oliaÖ. J?e pane sie, wereda wuldorcyning, p x t J?u us )?as wrace teodest. (Daniel, 295-308)

Tem porary exile, therefore, is viewed as a tool employed by G od in order to bring his recalcitrant people to their senses, a discipline for which Azarias is able to give thanks. With the exile o f Nebuchadnezzar we see the pattern repeated, this time in the life o f an individual suffering from overweening pride, strongly reminis­ cent o fth a t shown by Lucifer. N ebuchadnezzar's dream is, according to the interpretation offered by D a n ie l,a warning that his sin will cause G od to send him ‘wineleasne on wraec’ （ 568)， a phrase which the poet adds to the Vulgate account. Significantly it is the king's pride in the city which he has created and which he views as his place o f security which provokes G od's judgement. The Vulgate description o f the city, 'quam ego aedificavi in

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

perspective is reinforced throughout the poem . 30 The Israelites are exiles (137b) and travellers, both literally and m etaphorically .31 They arc leaving the alien land o f the Egyptians, which in so much patristic teaching represented the pagan world ,32 and setting out at G o d ^ comm and to seek their true hom eland . 33 As William Helder points out, the poet repeatedly highlights this theme: When he adds that Moses was instrum ental in restoring the sons o f A braham to their homeland ^onwist edles Abrahames sunum ,' 1.18), the author m aintains the typological perspective he has established (cf. G alatians 3: 7-29). He does the same subsequently whenever he m entions A braham o r alludes to the concept o f the homeward journey .34 Abraham too is characterised as an exile: 6He on wraece lifde' (383), and the poet subsequently extends the analogy to include his audience in a passage of commentary v/hich also incorporates the associated elements of earthly transience, future judgem ent and the eternal joys o f heaven :35 pis is dream wommum awyrged, wreccum alyfed, earm ra anbid. Edellease )?ysne gystsele gihöum healdaö m urnaö on mode … Eftwyrd cymö, m®genj?rymma maest, ofer middangeard, d x g d sd u m fah. Drihten sylfa on J>am mcöelstede manegum demed )?onne he sodfxstra sawla lyded ， eadige gastas, on uprodor, biÖ leoht and lif, eac 卜on lissa blaed. (Exodus, 532-6, 540-6)

Abraham, Moses and the people of Israel en route for the Promised Land thus become figures o f encouragement and challenge for all Christian pilgrims who seek the way to the eternal homeland.

w Lucas, in Exodus^ p. 92 n., compares the use of lifweg in this poem with the use of the same t*rm, which he links with Chrises statement *1 am the Way, the Truth and the Life' (John 14: 16), in the Dream of the Rood, 88-9. ' ' On the use of sea-imagery to describe the journey see Chapter 7. See for example Augustine of Hippo, De Doctrina Christiana, 11.15. n 'The one general allegory that would cover the events of the poem is the equation of the Israelites* journey from Egypt to the Promised Land with the journey from earthly exile to the heavenly home.* Cross and Tucker (1960), 123. w Helder (1994),195. ” 'The audience is encouraged to recaU the transitory nature of joys in the world, the superior rewards in heaven to be granted to the Christian Taithful, and the accompanying day of universal judgement.. . . In contrast to the mHterial prosperity promised to (and attained by) Israel at 564b, as Christians w« w«nd«r anxiouily, mourning our spiritual exile in a world that is a lodging-house in miMry.* Oardt (1991), 48.

78

THE PILGRIMAGE MOTIF IN OLD ENGLISH

Scriptural poetry: temporary exile (penance) Woven into the narrative o f Daniel are two accounts of tem porary involuntary exile, each o f which is interpreted as a punishm ent from u o d but not as perm anent rejection. The opening lines of the poem, which have no parallel in the Vulgate, make plain the link between obedience to God and possession o f the Promised Land: as long as the people m aintain 'hiera faeder waere* (10) (presumably the covenant made with A braham in Genesis 15) then they will remain secure in G od's affection and protection. The audience are also reminded that it was G od who guided these telSeodigum, (38) to take possession o f the city o f Jerusalem and their 'eSelland' (39). Now apostasy leads to mass deportations into exile in Babylon and aliens govern their erstwhile homeland, 4eSne eSel' (78). The poet does not labour the point at this stage; evidently he can assume sufficient familiarity with these concepts for the audience to draw its own conclusions about the spiritual connections between obedience and hom eland, apostasy and exile. Later in the poem the Prayer o f Azarias reiterates the connection between exile and failure to follow a holy way o f life. This, once more, is a connection not m ade in the Vulgate; We Öaes lifgende w orhton on worulde, eac Son worn dyde user yldran; for oferhygdum bnecon bebodo burhsittende, had oferhogedon halgan lifes. Siendon we towrecene geond widne grund, heapum tohworfene, hyldelease; is user lif geond landa fela fracoö and gefraege folca manegum, |?a usic bewraecon to J?aes wyrrestan eoröcyninga £ehta gewealde, on hasft heorugrimra, and we nu haeöenra peowned J^oliaÖ. J?e pane sie, wereda wuldorcyning, p x t J?u us )?as wrace teodest. (Daniel, 295-308)

Tem porary exile, therefore, is viewed as a tool employed by G od in order to bring his recalcitrant people to their senses, a discipline for which Azarias is able to give thanks. With the exile o f Nebuchadnezzar we see the pattern repeated, this time in the life o f an individual suffering from overweening pride, strongly reminis­ cent o fth a t shown by Lucifer. N ebuchadnezzar's dream is, according to the interpretation offered by D a n ie l,a warning that his sin will cause G od to send him ‘wineleasne on wraec’ （ 568)， a phrase which the poet adds to the Vulgate account. Significantly it is the king's pride in the city which he has created and which he views as his place o f security which provokes G od's judgement. The Vulgate description o f the city, 'quam ego aedificavi in

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

THE PILGRIMAGE MOTIF IN OLD ENGLISH

domum regni’， becomes in the Old English poem Nebuchadnezzar’s ‘eard and e6 e r, a phrase which is reminiscent of the ambitious plan responsible for Lucifer's expulsion from heaven. The punishm ent visited upon Nebuchad­ nezzar is insanity, a condition which doubly alienates him from hum an society. F o r seven years he wanders in the wilderness， the ‘winburge cyning’ (621) reduced to the status o f 'wundorlic wraecca5 (633). The word susl, used three times (520, 620,653) o f the punishment meted out to Nebuchadnezzar, can also carry the connotation o f penance 36 and this would appear to be the light in which the poet views the tem porary states of exiles suffered by the nation o f Israel and the Babylonian king.

scattering o f the flock after the Crucifixion; 5) m an's present (i.e., eighthcentury) state of spiritual exile .38

Devotional poetry The poems in this section, though varying considerably in subject m atter and style, are all designed to enhance the spiritual experience and responsiveness o f their audience. As with the scriptural poems examined in the previous section, there is an underlying dependence upon and frequent reference to the concept o f life pilgrimage. Again and again poets employ the cluster of associated ideas described at the beginning of this chapter to move and motivate their audience, highlighting the glories o f the heavenly home, underlining the bitter misery of spiritual exile and exhorting all who hear to abandon transient earthly pleasures and follow the pathway to eternal

j 〇yChrist The series o f Exeter Book poems collectively known as Christ offer interesting examples o f the m anner in which the theological understanding o f the world as a place o f exile and pilgrimage can be seen to shape both poetic form and content. In a study of Christ /, the Advent, Greenfield observes that a minor theme runs through the poem, a theme reflecting the Christian tradition of man's life as a spiritual exile from Heaven, Eden, and the natural bond with his Creator. And it is this theme which harmonises the separate lyrics of the poem; for it provides, in the bass as it were, a commentary on the necessity for Christ’s incarnation.37 Greenfield suggests that the poem presents a num ber of phases of exile, each related to a period o f salvation history: 1)the expulsion of man from Paradise - man's initial exile from his heavenly and earthly home; 2 ) mankind in a state of despair after the Fall, crying for salvation; 3) the exiles in Limbo awaiting the Harrowing of Hell; 4) the

The last o f these images, expressing as it does the voices o f the poet and his contemporaries, demonstrates incontrovertibly th at the doctrine of exile was not only known to the Anglo-Saxon Church but had also become a m atter o f deep-rooted spiritual experience: HabbaÖ wergan gasstas， hetlen helscea^a, hearde genyrwad, gebunden bealorapum . Is seo bot gelong eall aet anum , ece dryhten. Hreowcearigum help, J>in hidercyme afrefre feasceafte ， j?eah we fahj^o wiè J?ec )?urh ftrena lust gefremed haebben. A ra nu onbehtum ond usse yrmj^a generic, hu we tealtrigaö tydran mode, hwearfiaö heanlice. (Christ, 363-72)

It is also noticeable th at the poet carefully alternates expressions o f the miseries o f exile with glimpses o f hope in the form o f references to the heavenly homeland. Thus, in his elaboration of the second antiphon, he speaks o f God as the one who opens the *eadga upwegas* which lead to life, before turning to a description of the unhappiness o f those cut off from heaven: gedo usic J?aes wyröe, pc he to wuldre forlet, J?a we heanlice hweorfan sceoldan to enge lond, eSle bescyrede. (30-2)

The third antiphon provides a reminder o f the joys to be experienced in ‘sancta Hierusalem . . . Cristes burglond’ （ 50-1 ) . 39 Later the poet returns to the plea o f the exiles; For}?on we, nergend, \>c biddaö geornlice breostgehygdum l?aet )?u hraedlice heipe gefremme

wergum wreccan. Heaven is identified, in the account of Isaiah's vision, as fcecan ham , (305) and in the subsequent section as Christ’s ‘aepelan ham ’ （ 350). Such glimpses o f glory make more poignant the sufferings o f those wandering ‘heanlice’ （ 372). The poem concludes with an exhortation to seek the reward which awaits the faithful, entrance at last 'in f>am e8le J?aer he acr ne cwom 5 (436). The twin » Greenfield (1989),198. ]9 'The earthly city of Jerusalem, freed by Christ, is also a symbol of the heavenly Jerusalem, the reward 丨 iven to man by Christ, the longing of the patriarchs and prophets for the coming of the Meuiah ii made one with the longing of the Christian for hit home in heaven.' Raw (1991), 233.

See Frantzen (1983) and Chapter 6 below, Greenfield (1989),197. 80

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

THE PILGRIMAGE MOTIF IN OLD ENGLISH

domum regni’， becomes in the Old English poem Nebuchadnezzar’s ‘eard and e6 e r, a phrase which is reminiscent of the ambitious plan responsible for Lucifer's expulsion from heaven. The punishm ent visited upon Nebuchad­ nezzar is insanity, a condition which doubly alienates him from hum an society. F o r seven years he wanders in the wilderness， the ‘winburge cyning’ (621) reduced to the status o f 'wundorlic wraecca5 (633). The word susl, used three times (520, 620,653) o f the punishment meted out to Nebuchadnezzar, can also carry the connotation o f penance 36 and this would appear to be the light in which the poet views the tem porary states of exiles suffered by the nation o f Israel and the Babylonian king.

scattering o f the flock after the Crucifixion; 5) m an's present (i.e., eighthcentury) state of spiritual exile .38

Devotional poetry The poems in this section, though varying considerably in subject m atter and style, are all designed to enhance the spiritual experience and responsiveness o f their audience. As with the scriptural poems examined in the previous section, there is an underlying dependence upon and frequent reference to the concept o f life pilgrimage. Again and again poets employ the cluster of associated ideas described at the beginning of this chapter to move and motivate their audience, highlighting the glories o f the heavenly home, underlining the bitter misery of spiritual exile and exhorting all who hear to abandon transient earthly pleasures and follow the pathway to eternal

j 〇yChrist The series o f Exeter Book poems collectively known as Christ offer interesting examples o f the m anner in which the theological understanding o f the world as a place o f exile and pilgrimage can be seen to shape both poetic form and content. In a study of Christ /, the Advent, Greenfield observes that a minor theme runs through the poem, a theme reflecting the Christian tradition of man's life as a spiritual exile from Heaven, Eden, and the natural bond with his Creator. And it is this theme which harmonises the separate lyrics of the poem; for it provides, in the bass as it were, a commentary on the necessity for Christ’s incarnation.37 Greenfield suggests that the poem presents a num ber of phases of exile, each related to a period o f salvation history: 1)the expulsion of man from Paradise - man's initial exile from his heavenly and earthly home; 2 ) mankind in a state of despair after the Fall, crying for salvation; 3) the exiles in Limbo awaiting the Harrowing of Hell; 4) the

The last o f these images, expressing as it does the voices o f the poet and his contemporaries, demonstrates incontrovertibly th at the doctrine of exile was not only known to the Anglo-Saxon Church but had also become a m atter o f deep-rooted spiritual experience: HabbaÖ wergan gasstas， hetlen helscea^a, hearde genyrwad, gebunden bealorapum . Is seo bot gelong eall aet anum , ece dryhten. Hreowcearigum help, J>in hidercyme afrefre feasceafte ， j?eah we fahj^o wiè J?ec )?urh ftrena lust gefremed haebben. A ra nu onbehtum ond usse yrmj^a generic, hu we tealtrigaö tydran mode, hwearfiaö heanlice. (Christ, 363-72)

It is also noticeable th at the poet carefully alternates expressions o f the miseries o f exile with glimpses o f hope in the form o f references to the heavenly homeland. Thus, in his elaboration of the second antiphon, he speaks o f God as the one who opens the *eadga upwegas* which lead to life, before turning to a description of the unhappiness o f those cut off from heaven: gedo usic J?aes wyröe, pc he to wuldre forlet, J?a we heanlice hweorfan sceoldan to enge lond, eSle bescyrede. (30-2)

The third antiphon provides a reminder o f the joys to be experienced in ‘sancta Hierusalem . . . Cristes burglond’ （ 50-1 ) . 39 Later the poet returns to the plea o f the exiles; For}?on we, nergend, \>c biddaö geornlice breostgehygdum l?aet )?u hraedlice heipe gefremme

wergum wreccan. Heaven is identified, in the account of Isaiah's vision, as fcecan ham , (305) and in the subsequent section as Christ’s ‘aepelan ham ’ （ 350). Such glimpses o f glory make more poignant the sufferings o f those wandering ‘heanlice’ （ 372). The poem concludes with an exhortation to seek the reward which awaits the faithful, entrance at last 'in f>am e8le J?aer he acr ne cwom 5 (436). The twin » Greenfield (1989),198. ]9 'The earthly city of Jerusalem, freed by Christ, is also a symbol of the heavenly Jerusalem, the reward 丨 iven to man by Christ, the longing of the patriarchs and prophets for the coming of the Meuiah ii made one with the longing of the Christian for hit home in heaven.' Raw (1991), 233.

See Frantzen (1983) and Chapter 6 below, Greenfield (1989),197. 80

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

THE PILGRIMAGE MOTIF IN OLD ENGLISH

concepts of exile and heavenly homeland can be seen, therefore, to undergird the structure o f the first part o f the Christ sequence. Even more striking, in my view, is the fact that throughout the sequence it is possible for the poet(s) to draw upon the cluster o f images associated with life-pilgrimage in order to explain key doctrines. This is particularly apparent in Christ III {The Judgement). The lost Paradise is described as 'gaesta tp tV and m ankind's present ‘hom e’ as ‘uncuöne eard’. Both the rationale and the cost of Christ’s Incarnation are explained in terms o f an exchange o f ‘hom elands’: Christ has partaken o f the suffering which prevails in m ankind's hom eland in order that hum an beings should be able to share the joys o f heaven:

punishm ent meted out to the sinner is contrasted sharply with the fact that the Holy Spirit has been lost to him through sins comm itted (on J?as laenan tid 5 (1558). This phrase is repeated in line 1588 where it is contrasted with halgan tid* when the righteous will receive their reward.

Ic waes on worulde waedla J?aet ]>u w urde welig in heofonum, earm ic waes on edle j>inum J?aet \>u wurde eadig on minum. (Christ, 1496)

Christ has died upon the Cross forJ?on )?e he wolde J^aet we wuldres eard in ecnesse agan mosten (1202-3)

an explanation which is echoed in a later passage: Ic onfeng {>in sar \>xt \>u moste gesaelig mines e}?elrices eadig neotan. (1460-1)

The Judgement itself is presented in terms o f determining the eternal home o f those who stand before God. Angels and devils are differentiated: 4swa him is ham sceapen' (897). It is also emphasised that after death the spirits of hum ankind will have to remain hamfasst, dwelling in their appointed homes, that is the places to which their actions have decreed that they should belong: J^aet we magon eahtan ond on an cwe)?an, lifes wisdom, foloren haebbe, se \>c nu ne giemeö hwaej>er his gaest sie earm pe eadig, J?aer he ece sceal a fte r hingonge hamfaest wesan. (1549-53)

Heaven is, quite simply, a homeland without end, without suffering or sorrow: Daet is se epel \>e no geendad weorJ?e9, ac J?aer symle forö synna lease dream w eard iaö . . . Nis hungor ne >urst. (1639*41 ，1660)

In both Christ 7/(797-849) and Christ ///(1555-90) the themes o f transience and judgement are interwoven. In particular the eternal nature o f the

82

Christ and Satan Although this is sometimes classed as a scriptural poem, I have chosen to highlight its devotional intention, which relies heavily upon the twin images of home and homeland. Indeed the poem could as well be entitled Heaven and Hell since Christ is essentially presented as the victor who leads m ankind to the heavenly home and Satan as the defeated rebel who condemns his followers to eternal exile. Christ and Satan contains three passages designed to warn would-be spiritual pilgrims against the sins o f presum ption and rebellion. The first consists o f a long, bitter tirade from the fallen Satan (3650, 81-188). These speeches present Satan not primarily as the enemy of m ankind, but as an exile, a dreadful example of the fate of those whom G od rejects .40 Satan is portrayed lamenting lost status and pleasures: Hwaer com engla Srym, )?e we on heofunum habban sceoldan? Jjis is Seostrse ham. {Christ and Satan, 36-8)

and bewailing the glories o f heaven from which he is forever excluded: Eala drihtenes J?rym! Eala duguda helm! Eala meotudes miht! Eala middaneard! Eala daeg leohta! Eala dream godes!41 (Christ and Satan, 163-5)

Viewed in the wider context of the exile/pilgrimage m otif these passages can be seen to bear a curious and complex relationship to the laments expressed in the Wanderer (34-44; 92-109) and the Seafarer (80-102). All are exiles; all are deprived of form er joys and allegiances. In the two 'elegies', however, the speakers bewail both the comforts which they have lost and the essential transience o f those comforts. Satan’s grief, in contrast, is intensified by a partial inversion o f the ubi sunt topos: the joys which he has forfeited 40 Compare the characterisation of the demons in Old English saints* Lives; see below. Johnson (1994)，168-74, sees a ‘potential vagary’ in the poet’s description of Satan as at once bound in chains and wandering in exile. He attributes the imagery of captivity to Christian teaching (e.g. Revelation 20:1-3) and the idea of Satan and his followers wandering the paths of exile to Germanic tradition. There is, however, as we have seen, a strong Christian tradition of demons wandering the desolate places of this world and assailing God's people. It is also noteworthy that in the Book of Job 1:7 Satan is presented as 'going round about the earth' and 'walking through it’. 41 Commenting on the ^hopeless exile1to which Lucifer and his followers are condemned, Hugh Magennis notes the way in which the poem contrasts 4the desolation of Satan's hell with the perfection of heaven. Heaven is a splendid city. . . set in a wide and pleasant kingdom___It is lurrounded by bright walls, . . suggesting both splendour and security.* Magennis (1996), 40.

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

THE PILGRIMAGE MOTIF IN OLD ENGLISH

concepts of exile and heavenly homeland can be seen, therefore, to undergird the structure o f the first part o f the Christ sequence. Even more striking, in my view, is the fact that throughout the sequence it is possible for the poet(s) to draw upon the cluster o f images associated with life-pilgrimage in order to explain key doctrines. This is particularly apparent in Christ III {The Judgement). The lost Paradise is described as 'gaesta tp tV and m ankind's present ‘hom e’ as ‘uncuöne eard’. Both the rationale and the cost of Christ’s Incarnation are explained in terms o f an exchange o f ‘hom elands’: Christ has partaken o f the suffering which prevails in m ankind's hom eland in order that hum an beings should be able to share the joys o f heaven:

punishm ent meted out to the sinner is contrasted sharply with the fact that the Holy Spirit has been lost to him through sins comm itted (on J?as laenan tid 5 (1558). This phrase is repeated in line 1588 where it is contrasted with halgan tid* when the righteous will receive their reward.

Ic waes on worulde waedla J?aet ]>u w urde welig in heofonum, earm ic waes on edle j>inum J?aet \>u wurde eadig on minum. (Christ, 1496)

Christ has died upon the Cross forJ?on )?e he wolde J^aet we wuldres eard in ecnesse agan mosten (1202-3)

an explanation which is echoed in a later passage: Ic onfeng {>in sar \>xt \>u moste gesaelig mines e}?elrices eadig neotan. (1460-1)

The Judgement itself is presented in terms o f determining the eternal home o f those who stand before God. Angels and devils are differentiated: 4swa him is ham sceapen' (897). It is also emphasised that after death the spirits of hum ankind will have to remain hamfasst, dwelling in their appointed homes, that is the places to which their actions have decreed that they should belong: J^aet we magon eahtan ond on an cwe)?an, lifes wisdom, foloren haebbe, se \>c nu ne giemeö hwaej>er his gaest sie earm pe eadig, J?aer he ece sceal a fte r hingonge hamfaest wesan. (1549-53)

Heaven is, quite simply, a homeland without end, without suffering or sorrow: Daet is se epel \>e no geendad weorJ?e9, ac J?aer symle forö synna lease dream w eard iaö . . . Nis hungor ne >urst. (1639*41 ，1660)

In both Christ 7/(797-849) and Christ ///(1555-90) the themes o f transience and judgement are interwoven. In particular the eternal nature o f the

82

Christ and Satan Although this is sometimes classed as a scriptural poem, I have chosen to highlight its devotional intention, which relies heavily upon the twin images of home and homeland. Indeed the poem could as well be entitled Heaven and Hell since Christ is essentially presented as the victor who leads m ankind to the heavenly home and Satan as the defeated rebel who condemns his followers to eternal exile. Christ and Satan contains three passages designed to warn would-be spiritual pilgrims against the sins o f presum ption and rebellion. The first consists o f a long, bitter tirade from the fallen Satan (3650, 81-188). These speeches present Satan not primarily as the enemy of m ankind, but as an exile, a dreadful example of the fate of those whom G od rejects .40 Satan is portrayed lamenting lost status and pleasures: Hwaer com engla Srym, )?e we on heofunum habban sceoldan? Jjis is Seostrse ham. {Christ and Satan, 36-8)

and bewailing the glories o f heaven from which he is forever excluded: Eala drihtenes J?rym! Eala duguda helm! Eala meotudes miht! Eala middaneard! Eala daeg leohta! Eala dream godes!41 (Christ and Satan, 163-5)

Viewed in the wider context of the exile/pilgrimage m otif these passages can be seen to bear a curious and complex relationship to the laments expressed in the Wanderer (34-44; 92-109) and the Seafarer (80-102). All are exiles; all are deprived of form er joys and allegiances. In the two 'elegies', however, the speakers bewail both the comforts which they have lost and the essential transience o f those comforts. Satan’s grief, in contrast, is intensified by a partial inversion o f the ubi sunt topos: the joys which he has forfeited 40 Compare the characterisation of the demons in Old English saints* Lives; see below. Johnson (1994)，168-74, sees a ‘potential vagary’ in the poet’s description of Satan as at once bound in chains and wandering in exile. He attributes the imagery of captivity to Christian teaching (e.g. Revelation 20:1-3) and the idea of Satan and his followers wandering the paths of exile to Germanic tradition. There is, however, as we have seen, a strong Christian tradition of demons wandering the desolate places of this world and assailing God's people. It is also noteworthy that in the Book of Job 1:7 Satan is presented as 'going round about the earth' and 'walking through it’. 41 Commenting on the ^hopeless exile1to which Lucifer and his followers are condemned, Hugh Magennis notes the way in which the poem contrasts 4the desolation of Satan's hell with the perfection of heaven. Heaven is a splendid city. . . set in a wide and pleasant kingdom___It is lurrounded by bright walls, . . suggesting both splendour and security.* Magennis (1996), 40.

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

THE PILGRIMAGE MOTIF IN OLD ENGLISH

are not transient but eternal ;42 it is in fact not the joys which are lost, it is Satan himself. The poet constantly reinforces this perspective, peppering the whole section with references to home, hom eland and exile: J?is is Öeostrae ham me bxttran ham for oferhygdum aefre ne wene 6eos earme heap )?e ic hebbe to helle ham geledde N u ic eow hebbe to hxftum han\ gefaerde alle o f earde. Is Öes atola ham fyre on$Ied. Is Öaes waiica ham wites afylled ic moste in Öeossum atolan aeSele gebidan hwaet me drihten god dem an wille, fagum on f l o r a . l S u ic feran com deofla menego to Sissum diman ham. N e Öurfon we 6es wenan, J?aet us wuldorcyning s f re wille eard alefan, sedel to aehte, swa he aer dyde. ForÖon ic sceal hean and earm hweorfan 9y widor, w adan wrxclastas. alaeded fram leohte in >one latkm ham sceal nu wreclastas settan sorhgcearig, sidas wide.

(38)

(91-2)

(119-20) (177) (187-8)

)?aer is brade lond,

hyhtlicra ham in heofonrice,

This lament is brought to a close in an extremely affective (and potentially unorthodox) way when Satan wonders:

42 Frey (1963), 301,commentr. The paisionate regret here is not, like the wanderer's, for winecup or warrior, byt for the condltloni of heaven. This, after 饞 ll_ I» 丨 h« _iMnce of Satan's exile condition: total alienation fVom Iht lublinwit ipiritualitiei >nd conituit rtcollMtion of them.'

(398-401)

Once again the stress is on heaven as the longed-for home (502-4), which Christ has made available (551-/) and for wmch redeemed souls eternally give thanks (657-8). The Phoenix A comparison o f the Old English Phoenix with the Latin poem by Lactantius reveals that the Anglo-Saxon poet significantly develops the idea of the return o f the phoenix to his homeland, making it a key element in the allegorical interpretation o f the original legend. A single use of patria in the Latin poem is expanded to provide a network o f references to eard and eSellond. o » £ e t fyrngesetu 46 agenne eard, eft geseceS. D onne afysed bi6 agenne eard eft to secan. seceS on wynnum,

(203-4, 214-18)

This com bination o f exemplum and exhortation is repeated in lines 224-314. The fallen angels review their doomed attem pt to usurp G o d 5s kingdom and express their longing for the homeland they have lost. Significantly they comment th at the fact o f their exile is known far and wide (256-7). As David Johnson observes:

84

H wearf ]?a to helle haeleSa bearnum , meotod )?urh mihte; wolde m anna rim, fela }?usenda， forS gelaedan

up to eöle.45 (114-16)

(286-7, 293-4)

A third example of exile through disobedience is provided by the souls rescued by Christ in the Harrowing o f Hell, an event defined by the poet as the restoration of hum ankind to their heavenly homeland:

(107-10)

mid ealra cyning cyninge,

Criste gecwemra U ta cerran |?ider Jjser he sylfa sit, sigora waldend, drihten h slend, in 3xm deoran ham.

gearwian us togenes grene straete up to englum . . . raceS us se to rh ta trumlicne ham beorhte burhweallas.

(87-8)

(95- 6) (99)

(277-9)43

Once again the audience, who know well that the fallen angels are indeed doomed to eternal exile, are urged to take a different p ath :44

(49—50)

The point o f this long catalogue of vain regrets and recrimination becomes clear in lines 193-223 when the poet exhorts his audience: ceosan us eard in wuldre se is Crist genemmed . . .

Hwseder us se Eca aefre wille on heofona rice ham alefan e5el to aehte, swa he aer dyde?

(263-4) (274-5)

Johnson (1994), 165. Raw (1991),232, comments: 'Before [man] lies a choice: on the one hand the misery of hell, presented in terms of exile from the joys of God's court in heaven - an image with powerful associations for a society of which the centre was the lord's hall- on the other, the bright city of God with its royal throne (285-97). Again and again the reader is reminded that he should learn from Satan's fate (193-208) and that he should thank Christ for freeing him from prison and leading him back to his true home (549-54).' 45 This phrase is repeated (551-2). 46 *The poet had the allegorical interpretation in mind - man regaining his old home from which he had been expelled at the time of Adam and Eve; e.g. ealdcyffm (435). Thefyrngesetu are to be contrasted with the sorgflilran gtsitu (417), the home of Adam and Eve in this world after they had been expelled From parftdiw.' Photnix, p. 75 n.

43

44

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

THE PILGRIMAGE MOTIF IN OLD ENGLISH

are not transient but eternal ;42 it is in fact not the joys which are lost, it is Satan himself. The poet constantly reinforces this perspective, peppering the whole section with references to home, hom eland and exile: J?is is Öeostrae ham me bxttran ham for oferhygdum aefre ne wene 6eos earme heap )?e ic hebbe to helle ham geledde N u ic eow hebbe to hxftum han\ gefaerde alle o f earde. Is Öes atola ham fyre on$Ied. Is Öaes waiica ham wites afylled ic moste in Öeossum atolan aeSele gebidan hwaet me drihten god dem an wille, fagum on f l o r a . l S u ic feran com deofla menego to Sissum diman ham. N e Öurfon we 6es wenan, J?aet us wuldorcyning s f re wille eard alefan, sedel to aehte, swa he aer dyde. ForÖon ic sceal hean and earm hweorfan 9y widor, w adan wrxclastas. alaeded fram leohte in >one latkm ham sceal nu wreclastas settan sorhgcearig, sidas wide.

(38)

(91-2)

(119-20) (177) (187-8)

)?aer is brade lond,

hyhtlicra ham in heofonrice,

This lament is brought to a close in an extremely affective (and potentially unorthodox) way when Satan wonders:

42 Frey (1963), 301,commentr. The paisionate regret here is not, like the wanderer's, for winecup or warrior, byt for the condltloni of heaven. This, after 饞 ll_ I» 丨 h« _iMnce of Satan's exile condition: total alienation fVom Iht lublinwit ipiritualitiei >nd conituit rtcollMtion of them.'

(398-401)

Once again the stress is on heaven as the longed-for home (502-4), which Christ has made available (551-/) and for wmch redeemed souls eternally give thanks (657-8). The Phoenix A comparison o f the Old English Phoenix with the Latin poem by Lactantius reveals that the Anglo-Saxon poet significantly develops the idea of the return o f the phoenix to his homeland, making it a key element in the allegorical interpretation o f the original legend. A single use of patria in the Latin poem is expanded to provide a network o f references to eard and eSellond. o » £ e t fyrngesetu 46 agenne eard, eft geseceS. D onne afysed bi6 agenne eard eft to secan. seceS on wynnum,

(203-4, 214-18)

This com bination o f exemplum and exhortation is repeated in lines 224-314. The fallen angels review their doomed attem pt to usurp G o d 5s kingdom and express their longing for the homeland they have lost. Significantly they comment th at the fact o f their exile is known far and wide (256-7). As David Johnson observes:

84

H wearf ]?a to helle haeleSa bearnum , meotod )?urh mihte; wolde m anna rim, fela }?usenda， forS gelaedan

up to eöle.45 (114-16)

(286-7, 293-4)

A third example of exile through disobedience is provided by the souls rescued by Christ in the Harrowing o f Hell, an event defined by the poet as the restoration of hum ankind to their heavenly homeland:

(107-10)

mid ealra cyning cyninge,

Criste gecwemra U ta cerran |?ider Jjser he sylfa sit, sigora waldend, drihten h slend, in 3xm deoran ham.

gearwian us togenes grene straete up to englum . . . raceS us se to rh ta trumlicne ham beorhte burhweallas.

(87-8)

(95- 6) (99)

(277-9)43

Once again the audience, who know well that the fallen angels are indeed doomed to eternal exile, are urged to take a different p ath :44

(49—50)

The point o f this long catalogue of vain regrets and recrimination becomes clear in lines 193-223 when the poet exhorts his audience: ceosan us eard in wuldre se is Crist genemmed . . .

Hwseder us se Eca aefre wille on heofona rice ham alefan e5el to aehte, swa he aer dyde?

(263-4) (274-5)

Johnson (1994), 165. Raw (1991),232, comments: 'Before [man] lies a choice: on the one hand the misery of hell, presented in terms of exile from the joys of God's court in heaven - an image with powerful associations for a society of which the centre was the lord's hall- on the other, the bright city of God with its royal throne (285-97). Again and again the reader is reminded that he should learn from Satan's fate (193-208) and that he should thank Christ for freeing him from prison and leading him back to his true home (549-54).' 45 This phrase is repeated (551-2). 46 *The poet had the allegorical interpretation in mind - man regaining his old home from which he had been expelled at the time of Adam and Eve; e.g. ealdcyffm (435). Thefyrngesetu are to be contrasted with the sorgflilran gtsitu (417), the home of Adam and Eve in this world after they had been expelled From parftdiw.' Photnix, p. 75 n.

43

44

THE PILGRIMAGE MOTIF IN OLD ENGLISH

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

eadig e)?ellond. Jxmne duguöa wyn o f J?isse eor^an ty rf ej?el seceö.

(278-9) (348-9)

T hat this pattern o f imagery is not accidental is made clear by the interpretation of the allegory which the poet himself supplies: Swa J?aet ece lif eadigra gehwylc x fte r sarwrmce sylf geceoseS 卜urh deorcne deaè, )?aet he dryhtnes mot aefter geardagum geofona neotari on sindreamum, ond si)?J?an a w unian in wuldre weorca to leane. Jsisses fugles gecynd feal gelices bi J?am gecornum Cristes >egnum beacnaö in burgum , hu hi beorhtne gefean }?urh faeder fultum on f?as frecnan tid healda}? under heofonum, ond him heanne blaed in fmm uplican edle gestrynaj?.

(381-92)

As in Guthlac B, the loss o f homeland which Adam and Eve endured (411-13) is set against the prospect o f restoration made possible by Christ (417-23). As in Christ and Satan the vision o f the heavenly home is used as an inducement to men and women to make the right choice and take up their pilgrimage. The righteous, because they have chosen obedience to God above the joys o f ‘)?is Isenes lif ， （ 481) are assured o f a place ‘in wuldres byrig’ (475): Jjus eadig eorl

heofana hames earnaS on eine.

ecan dreames, mid Heahcyning (482-4)

Their use o f the enforced period o f exile, twraechwile, (527), on earth will ensure their vindication on the Day o f Judgement. Once again we see the elements o f the ‘pilgrimage d u ste r’ being used as a devotional tool: the enforced exile o f Adam and Eve, the theme o f earthly transience and the inevitability o f the Day o f Judgement are set against the bright vision o f the city on high where security and unfading joys await the faithful traveller. Dream o f the Rood At first sight the Dream o f the Rood may seem to have more in common with place pilgrimage and the cult o f relics than with the concept of life pilgrim­ age. Yet the focus ultimately is not on the Cross itself but on the salvation whicn it has made possible. The climax o f the poem makes it d e a r that the poet has the vision o f the celestial hom eland strongly in mind and that the role of the cross is to open to mankind the ‘lifes weg’ （ 8 8 ) which will lead them to heaven .47 Compare Exodus.

86

Fleming has suggested that lines 131-3 portray the dream er as a 'lordless man, a traditional elegaic exile, . 48 W hether or not this is the case, the conclusion o f the poem unm istakably moves the emotional focus from earth to heaven, from ‘J?ysson laenan life’ （ 138) to the joys o f the ‘heofonlicne ham , (148) which Christ won for m ankind on the Cross and to which he led those rescued from Limbo (150-6).49 The poem concludes with the Son of G od returning trium phant sJ?aer his eöel wass' (156). As Michael Swanton comments in his introduction to the poem: T h e theological structure is therefore brought to a rapid and trium phal conclusion as Christ together with the visionary and the whole company o f saints ascend to tneir heavenly edel in a final eschatological conclusion / 50 Once again therefore the devo­ tional intent o f the poem can be seen to be undergirded by the vision o f the heavenly homeland and its inspirational strategy as the arousal of the sense of spiritual exile on earth, the recognition o f the transience o f earthly life and the willingness to em bark upon the journey to heaven. As in each o f the devotional poems examined here, the message， implicit and explicit, is clear: if men and women are to avoid perm anent exile from the presence o f G od then they m ust choose to become citizens o f heaven and faithfully walk the pilgrim way to the celestial city. Saints9 Lives

Old English Saints’ Lives clearly dem onstrate the adoption of the concept of life pilgrimage into Anglo-Saxon Christian thought. The treatm ent of physical and spiritual exile in these poems operates at several levels but the prim ary view o f exile which they present is not negative but positive, as individuals willingly renounce their eartniy homes and security as part o f the process o f journeying towards the heavenly hom eland . 51 Ranged against these imitators o f A braham 52 are spiritual opponents, who also function as negative exempla, such as the banished, rootless demons who torm ent Guthlac and attem pt to divert m artyrs such as Andrew and Juliana from their path to heaven. O f particular interest to this survey, since they deal with a local saint and thus dem onstrate the way in wmch biblical and patristic ideas were integrated into Anglo-Saxon Christian culture, are the two Old English poems which deal with the life of the Anglo-Saxon saint Guthlac (b. 673). These reveal an undergirding framework o f linked pilgrimage-related Fleming (1960), 45. Huppé (1970),112, comments: *It is toward the vision of the native land of heaven that the poem has moved from the beginning.' *° Dream o f the Rood (ed. Swanton), p. 78. 31 Jarvis (1993)t 87, comment! on thii distinctive approach to exile in the genre, observing that ‘those who devote their IIvm to Ood welcome their exile rather than lamenting it，. 11 On Abraham tee Chapter I.

48

49

87

THE PILGRIMAGE MOTIF IN OLD ENGLISH

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

eadig e)?ellond. Jxmne duguöa wyn o f J?isse eor^an ty rf ej?el seceö.

(278-9) (348-9)

T hat this pattern o f imagery is not accidental is made clear by the interpretation of the allegory which the poet himself supplies: Swa J?aet ece lif eadigra gehwylc x fte r sarwrmce sylf geceoseS 卜urh deorcne deaè, )?aet he dryhtnes mot aefter geardagum geofona neotari on sindreamum, ond si)?J?an a w unian in wuldre weorca to leane. Jsisses fugles gecynd feal gelices bi J?am gecornum Cristes >egnum beacnaö in burgum , hu hi beorhtne gefean }?urh faeder fultum on f?as frecnan tid healda}? under heofonum, ond him heanne blaed in fmm uplican edle gestrynaj?.

(381-92)

As in Guthlac B, the loss o f homeland which Adam and Eve endured (411-13) is set against the prospect o f restoration made possible by Christ (417-23). As in Christ and Satan the vision o f the heavenly home is used as an inducement to men and women to make the right choice and take up their pilgrimage. The righteous, because they have chosen obedience to God above the joys o f ‘)?is Isenes lif ， （ 481) are assured o f a place ‘in wuldres byrig’ (475): Jjus eadig eorl

heofana hames earnaS on eine.

ecan dreames, mid Heahcyning (482-4)

Their use o f the enforced period o f exile, twraechwile, (527), on earth will ensure their vindication on the Day o f Judgement. Once again we see the elements o f the ‘pilgrimage d u ste r’ being used as a devotional tool: the enforced exile o f Adam and Eve, the theme o f earthly transience and the inevitability o f the Day o f Judgement are set against the bright vision o f the city on high where security and unfading joys await the faithful traveller. Dream o f the Rood At first sight the Dream o f the Rood may seem to have more in common with place pilgrimage and the cult o f relics than with the concept of life pilgrim­ age. Yet the focus ultimately is not on the Cross itself but on the salvation whicn it has made possible. The climax o f the poem makes it d e a r that the poet has the vision o f the celestial hom eland strongly in mind and that the role of the cross is to open to mankind the ‘lifes weg’ （ 8 8 ) which will lead them to heaven .47 Compare Exodus.

86

Fleming has suggested that lines 131-3 portray the dream er as a 'lordless man, a traditional elegaic exile, . 48 W hether or not this is the case, the conclusion o f the poem unm istakably moves the emotional focus from earth to heaven, from ‘J?ysson laenan life’ （ 138) to the joys o f the ‘heofonlicne ham , (148) which Christ won for m ankind on the Cross and to which he led those rescued from Limbo (150-6).49 The poem concludes with the Son of G od returning trium phant sJ?aer his eöel wass' (156). As Michael Swanton comments in his introduction to the poem: T h e theological structure is therefore brought to a rapid and trium phal conclusion as Christ together with the visionary and the whole company o f saints ascend to tneir heavenly edel in a final eschatological conclusion / 50 Once again therefore the devo­ tional intent o f the poem can be seen to be undergirded by the vision o f the heavenly homeland and its inspirational strategy as the arousal of the sense of spiritual exile on earth, the recognition o f the transience o f earthly life and the willingness to em bark upon the journey to heaven. As in each o f the devotional poems examined here, the message， implicit and explicit, is clear: if men and women are to avoid perm anent exile from the presence o f G od then they m ust choose to become citizens o f heaven and faithfully walk the pilgrim way to the celestial city. Saints9 Lives

Old English Saints’ Lives clearly dem onstrate the adoption of the concept of life pilgrimage into Anglo-Saxon Christian thought. The treatm ent of physical and spiritual exile in these poems operates at several levels but the prim ary view o f exile which they present is not negative but positive, as individuals willingly renounce their eartniy homes and security as part o f the process o f journeying towards the heavenly hom eland . 51 Ranged against these imitators o f A braham 52 are spiritual opponents, who also function as negative exempla, such as the banished, rootless demons who torm ent Guthlac and attem pt to divert m artyrs such as Andrew and Juliana from their path to heaven. O f particular interest to this survey, since they deal with a local saint and thus dem onstrate the way in wmch biblical and patristic ideas were integrated into Anglo-Saxon Christian culture, are the two Old English poems which deal with the life of the Anglo-Saxon saint Guthlac (b. 673). These reveal an undergirding framework o f linked pilgrimage-related Fleming (1960), 45. Huppé (1970),112, comments: *It is toward the vision of the native land of heaven that the poem has moved from the beginning.' *° Dream o f the Rood (ed. Swanton), p. 78. 31 Jarvis (1993)t 87, comment! on thii distinctive approach to exile in the genre, observing that ‘those who devote their IIvm to Ood welcome their exile rather than lamenting it，. 11 On Abraham tee Chapter I.

48

49

87

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

elements which provide both the context and the motivation for the saint's battle of faith. G uthlac is a voluntary exile, in the line o f Abraham and Noah; his fenland refuge is the Anglo-Saxon equivalent o f the Judaean wilderness53 or the Egyptian desert ; 54 his demonic assailants 55 are involuntary exiles, homeless wanderers, whose strategy focuses upon persuading him to return to his earthly home and thus to lose the joys o f heaven. Here we see a clear example o f the need to recognise the presence o f the underlying cluster o f pilgrimage-related images, since unless the particular significance o f home and homeland is acknowledged, the whole thrust of the spiritual conflict will be missed. The opening section o f Guthlac A is constructed upon the essential contrast between the abiding glories o f the ‘halgan ham ’ （ 1 0 )， the heavenly home where the blessed soul, having experienced the final ‘journey， through death, will dwell in cities which never decay, and the waning beauties o f a world moving steadily towards dissolution (37ff.). The poet sets the stage for Guthlac*s own battle of faith by establishing the gulf between those for whom earthly wealth is o f param ount im portance (62-3) and the saints who choose to work towards citizenship o f an eternal homeland, knowing

THE PILGRIMAGE MOTIF IN OLD ENGLISH

si)?J?an hine inlyhte gaestum gearwaö.

GefeoÖ in firenum, frofre ne wenaö, pxt ge wraecsiSa wyrpe gebiden. Sindon ge waerlogan, longe lifdon.

(Guthlac, 67, 69b)

hu Gudlac his in godes willan mod gerehte, man eall forseah, eorOlic x)>elu, upp gemunde ham in heofonum. Him waes hyht to J?a, Guthlac A (333, 356) places Guthlac on pam amde (*in the desert*). In Felix's Life of Guthlac the saint is said to have been inspired to seek the desert (eremus) by reading of the early solitaries: Cum enim proscorum monachorum solUariam vitam legebat, turn inluminato cordis gremio avida cupidine hm mum quaenrtfervibat (*For when he read about the 14

solitary life of monks of former days, then hli hurt w«i enlightened and burned with an eager deiire to make his way to the deurt*) (XXIV) and dtmoni attempting to deceive him cite the ex篡mplei of the Desert F&theri of ’hmoiHH丨 momich丨 habitant» Äegyptum* (XXX}. See Magennii (1996), Chapter 8 . 91 On the link between the wildtrMU and dMIonlfl moniters tee Chapter 1 above.

(95-101)

G uthlac's choice o f the wilderness, together with the accounts o f his battles with the forces of evil, places him in the direct line o f descent from the Desert Fathers and the account by Felix is evidently influenced by the Life o f St Anthony.56 Here again we see the concept o f 6exile within exile\ The whole of the fallen world represents exile from heaven but within the world are desolate places to which outcasts are expelled or to which saints choose to go in order to do battle with the forces o f evil and pray for their fellow men and women . 57 The fens in which G uthlac and Grendel dwell are to the normal seats o f hum an habitation what earth is to the lost Paradise: places of banishment and deprivation. It is noteworthy that, as in Christ and Satan,5%the demons are repeatedly defined in terms of their exiled state, which for them is a negative spiritual m arker. They are described as wrsectmecgas (231, 558) and G uthlac himself constantly uses the fact o f their irreversible banishm ent against them :59

}?aet se eöel ece bideö . . . l?aes deoran ham. In particular he cites the example o f those ‘anbuendra’ （ 8 8 )， hermits or anchorites， who choose to live ‘on westennum，， in desolate places (81)， braving the assaults o f evil spirits. According to Felix^ Latin prose Life o f Guthlac, upon which both poems draw to varying degrees, the former M ercian noble was converted through reflecting on the deaths of his ancestors, first entering the m onastery of Repton and subsequently withdrawing to the wilderness o f the Lincolnshire fens. The Guthlac ^4-poet presents the saint's transition from secular life to monasticism as an entering into life pilgrimage as earthly power is renounced in favour o f a home in heaven:

se pe lifes weg

(508-9)

swa ge in wrsecside (623-4)

The fens have been their tem porary resting-place, a refuge which G uthlac is determined to wrest from them: Her sceal min wesan eorölic e)?el, nales eower leng.

(260-1)

F or their part the demons dearly recognise the spiritual journey represented by G uthlac’s move to the fens, ‘ana fram e}?ele’ （ 277)， and their attacks are focused on hope that the desire for hum an love will make him renounce his calling and return to his earthly home (353-5). G uthlac's whole m otivation however is based on a revelation o f the earth’s transience (119—20) and a passionate commitment to seeking a ‘ham in heofonum ’ （ 98)， and it is this perspective which is seen to sustain him in times o f temptation:

56 *It is certain that Felix knew the Life o f St Anthony and there is no reason why Guthlac himself should not have known i t . . . . Felix's Life o f Guthlac. . . is a remarkable instance of the absorption of Christianity into Anglo-Saxon society. It is created out of the worlds of Germanic heroes and East Mediterranean hermits. Without either it is inconceivable.* Mayr-Harting (1991),239. On Anthony and the Desert Fathers see Chapter 2 above. 57 Compare Bückling Homily 111.29, which argues that Christ himself voluntarily faced temptation in the Judaean wilderness in order to deliver Adam from exile: 'for^on he wolde . . . Adam gefreolsian of )>am langan wrsece*. See also Guthlac B where they are described as those who Vraecsid wepan1(1074). MAlso true of spiritual battlei in two other Old English Saints' Lives. See Andreas,1380, and

31

Juliana, 260«, 351a.

89

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

elements which provide both the context and the motivation for the saint's battle of faith. G uthlac is a voluntary exile, in the line o f Abraham and Noah; his fenland refuge is the Anglo-Saxon equivalent o f the Judaean wilderness53 or the Egyptian desert ; 54 his demonic assailants 55 are involuntary exiles, homeless wanderers, whose strategy focuses upon persuading him to return to his earthly home and thus to lose the joys o f heaven. Here we see a clear example o f the need to recognise the presence o f the underlying cluster o f pilgrimage-related images, since unless the particular significance o f home and homeland is acknowledged, the whole thrust of the spiritual conflict will be missed. The opening section o f Guthlac A is constructed upon the essential contrast between the abiding glories o f the ‘halgan ham ’ （ 1 0 )， the heavenly home where the blessed soul, having experienced the final ‘journey， through death, will dwell in cities which never decay, and the waning beauties o f a world moving steadily towards dissolution (37ff.). The poet sets the stage for Guthlac*s own battle of faith by establishing the gulf between those for whom earthly wealth is o f param ount im portance (62-3) and the saints who choose to work towards citizenship o f an eternal homeland, knowing

THE PILGRIMAGE MOTIF IN OLD ENGLISH

si)?J?an hine inlyhte gaestum gearwaö.

GefeoÖ in firenum, frofre ne wenaö, pxt ge wraecsiSa wyrpe gebiden. Sindon ge waerlogan, longe lifdon.

(Guthlac, 67, 69b)

hu Gudlac his in godes willan mod gerehte, man eall forseah, eorOlic x)>elu, upp gemunde ham in heofonum. Him waes hyht to J?a, Guthlac A (333, 356) places Guthlac on pam amde (*in the desert*). In Felix's Life of Guthlac the saint is said to have been inspired to seek the desert (eremus) by reading of the early solitaries: Cum enim proscorum monachorum solUariam vitam legebat, turn inluminato cordis gremio avida cupidine hm mum quaenrtfervibat (*For when he read about the 14

solitary life of monks of former days, then hli hurt w«i enlightened and burned with an eager deiire to make his way to the deurt*) (XXIV) and dtmoni attempting to deceive him cite the ex篡mplei of the Desert F&theri of ’hmoiHH丨 momich丨 habitant» Äegyptum* (XXX}. See Magennii (1996), Chapter 8 . 91 On the link between the wildtrMU and dMIonlfl moniters tee Chapter 1 above.

(95-101)

G uthlac's choice o f the wilderness, together with the accounts o f his battles with the forces of evil, places him in the direct line o f descent from the Desert Fathers and the account by Felix is evidently influenced by the Life o f St Anthony.56 Here again we see the concept o f 6exile within exile\ The whole of the fallen world represents exile from heaven but within the world are desolate places to which outcasts are expelled or to which saints choose to go in order to do battle with the forces o f evil and pray for their fellow men and women . 57 The fens in which G uthlac and Grendel dwell are to the normal seats o f hum an habitation what earth is to the lost Paradise: places of banishment and deprivation. It is noteworthy that, as in Christ and Satan,5%the demons are repeatedly defined in terms of their exiled state, which for them is a negative spiritual m arker. They are described as wrsectmecgas (231, 558) and G uthlac himself constantly uses the fact o f their irreversible banishm ent against them :59

}?aet se eöel ece bideö . . . l?aes deoran ham. In particular he cites the example o f those ‘anbuendra’ （ 8 8 )， hermits or anchorites， who choose to live ‘on westennum，， in desolate places (81)， braving the assaults o f evil spirits. According to Felix^ Latin prose Life o f Guthlac, upon which both poems draw to varying degrees, the former M ercian noble was converted through reflecting on the deaths of his ancestors, first entering the m onastery of Repton and subsequently withdrawing to the wilderness o f the Lincolnshire fens. The Guthlac ^4-poet presents the saint's transition from secular life to monasticism as an entering into life pilgrimage as earthly power is renounced in favour o f a home in heaven:

se pe lifes weg

(508-9)

swa ge in wrsecside (623-4)

The fens have been their tem porary resting-place, a refuge which G uthlac is determined to wrest from them: Her sceal min wesan eorölic e)?el, nales eower leng.

(260-1)

F or their part the demons dearly recognise the spiritual journey represented by G uthlac’s move to the fens, ‘ana fram e}?ele’ （ 277)， and their attacks are focused on hope that the desire for hum an love will make him renounce his calling and return to his earthly home (353-5). G uthlac's whole m otivation however is based on a revelation o f the earth’s transience (119—20) and a passionate commitment to seeking a ‘ham in heofonum ’ （ 98)， and it is this perspective which is seen to sustain him in times o f temptation:

56 *It is certain that Felix knew the Life o f St Anthony and there is no reason why Guthlac himself should not have known i t . . . . Felix's Life o f Guthlac. . . is a remarkable instance of the absorption of Christianity into Anglo-Saxon society. It is created out of the worlds of Germanic heroes and East Mediterranean hermits. Without either it is inconceivable.* Mayr-Harting (1991),239. On Anthony and the Desert Fathers see Chapter 2 above. 57 Compare Bückling Homily 111.29, which argues that Christ himself voluntarily faced temptation in the Judaean wilderness in order to deliver Adam from exile: 'for^on he wolde . . . Adam gefreolsian of )>am langan wrsece*. See also Guthlac B where they are described as those who Vraecsid wepan1(1074). MAlso true of spiritual battlei in two other Old English Saints' Lives. See Andreas,1380, and

31

Juliana, 260«, 351a.

89

THE PILGRIMAGE MOTIF IN OLD ENGLISH

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

to f>am betran ham leomum inlyhted to fmm leofestan ecan earde, f?aer is e卜 e 丨丨ond.

(654-6)

Fittingly, the poem concludes with a description o f the joys which await faithful souls, such as G uthlac, when they reach the heavenly Jerusalem, a passage clearly designed to encourage the audience to follow the sainfs example: Him J?aet ne hreoweö sefter hingonge, Sonne hy hwcorfaS in >a halgan burg, gongad genunga to Hierusalem, ^£er hi to worulde wynnum motum godes onsyne georne bihaldan .60

(811—15)

Guthlac B, a poem largely concerned with the death o f the saint, is structured around the contrast between A dam 's expulsion from Paradise (852-70), th at Meohtan ham ' (834), which resulted in the exile of hum ankind, and G uthiac's journey towards the glories o f heaven: on longne weg to J?am faegran gefean forsiö minne, on eene eard

fenland retreat . 63 M oreover, although there are only occasional references to exile o r homeland in other Old English poetic versions o f saints* lives, there is an underlying perception linked with their status as pilgrims which affects the dynamic o f the dram as portrayed. In Andreas and Juliana, for example, the saints concerned may, through their poverty (Andreas) or their exposure to persecution (Juliana) appear to the outside world as outcasts and strangers, deprived o f the protection o f kin and all too vulnerable to attack. The underlying reality of which the saints themselves are fully aware is that they are in fact the ones who enjoy true security as children o f G od and citizens of an enduring homeland. From this position o f strength they are able to ward off the demonic adversaries who would divert them from their journey to the heavenly home which awaits them.

The theme of life pilgrimage in Anglo-Saxon Prose Further evidence o f the deep-rooted influence of the concept of life pilgrim­ age upon Anglo-Saxon thought is to be found in both Anglo-Latin and Old English prose writings o f the period.

(1180-2)

The final section of the extant poem offers an insight into the relationship between Christian doctrine and hum an grief, which is o f relevance to both the Wanderer and the Seafarer.b[ Rosemary W oolf comments: the final elegiac effect derives from the fact that the poem seems to end, not with the joyful description o f G uthlac's body being borne to heaven by angels, but with the lament o f his servant, who speaks in the role o f the bereaved retainer. . . . W ithout Guthlac B we might well have assumed that the AngloSaxon melancholy sensitivity to transience and the Christian confidence in the Resurrection were at least poetically irreconcilable. But Guthlac B shows that, on the contrary, the ideas did not need to be kept separate lest they should obscure or diminish one another, but could be combined in such a way that each served to make the other more poignant .62

The Old English poetic accounts of G uthlac reveal an Anglo-Saxon saint consciously acting out in his life the transform ation o f exile into pilgrimage, a process which also characterised many others of the period. The Latin Lives o f C uthbert and Columba, o f Boniface, Willibald and others show how widespread were the convictions which motivated G uthlac in his

H, The first part of Guthlac, Guthlac A, ends with an image of the heavenly Jerusalem to which the saint goes after his eremitic life on earth . . . paradoxically, however, Guthlac A also employs the image of the city in connection with Outhlic'i fenlund retreat-----Guthlac's dwelling place becomes a reflection of the heuvenly glory on which the »Hint's mind is fixed.' Magennis Sm alio

Blickling Homily X.

92

THE PILGRIMAGE MOTIF IN OLD ENGLISH

we witon J?aet aelc wlite 7 aelc f^gem es to ende efste}? 7 onettej? }?ise weorlde lifes. Cu)?lice \>xt wuldor )?ysses middangeardes is sceort 7 gewitende; D rihtnes wuldor }?onne, 7 his rice J?urhwunaJ? on ecnesse .79

Vercelli Homily XÏ is based on a sermon by Caesarius o f Arles (c. 470-542).80 It is, however, noteworthy that the Anglo-Saxon writer omits the military imagery which Caesarius uses in the middle o f this passage, choosing to highlight only the pilgrimage motif. The homily offers a concise summary of the pilgrimage topos, encompassing the reasons for m ankind's exile, 81 the life of pilgrimage, the vision o f the eternal homeland and the heavenly city of Jerusalem: F o r J>aes aerestan mannes synnum, Adam[e]s, we w urdon aworpene of neorxnawanges 础 ぞ 7 on /»os HTienvorw/ゴ senäe, 7 we swa syndon on Jpyssum middangearde swa we her naenig edel habbad. Be Son Paulus se apostol cwaeS: lDum sumus in corpore peregrinamu[r] a domino*. He cwaeS, sanctus Paulus: ‘J>ended we bioS on lichom an , 府 が ば fram G o d e ' We magon lieemon us geearnian /w ie e c a /i 淡 / 7 >one so 8an gefean. N e magon we )?aera aegSer her on worulde agan, ac we sculdon on J?aere tow eardan gesittan pBt us is 0« gehealdan___ U tan we nu forö tilian }?aet we geearnian J?aet we becuman m oton gesaeliglice to )?am ecan 7 to pam ealdorlican edle . . . )?aer ure bidal> ure ceasterliode . . . p xr is sio wundorlice ceaster Hierusalem. . . . F o r )?an, men )?a leofestan, pa hwile J?e we her lifigende [sien], utan we us biddan Godes mildheortnesse . . . )?aet we m a lufien pone ecan eüel J>onne )?is andwearde lif .82

Tms passage, coupling as it does an evocation of the lasting joys o f heaven with the exhortation ‘U tan we nu forth tilian’ bears a m arked resemblance to the concluding lines o f the Sea fa rer^ U ton we hyegan hwaer we ham agen, ond }?onne ge)?encan hu we J?ider cumen, ond we j^onne eac tilien, ]?aet we to moten in ecan eadignesse, J?aer is lif gelong in lufan dryhtnes, hyht in heofonum. {Seafarer, 117-22)

Like the Blickling Homilies, those contained in the Vercelli m anuscript contain frequent allusions to the transience o f life: Homily X contains a version o f the ubi sunt topos adapted from Isidore o f Seville^ Synonyma,

79 Blickling Homiliesy 57, 65. 80 Sermo CCXV. See Chapter 2 above. 81 A similar account appears in Vercelli Homily XÏV, where the homilist continues: 'Hwaet [is Ö]is deadlice lif elcor nymtfe hit is se weg \>e we sculon [on] fa[ra]n. . . swa to [ecum life] 7 to ecum gefean, swa to ecum deaÖc to ecre forw[yrde]/ Vercelli Homilies, XIV.26-7, 29-30. « Vercelli Homilies, Xl.46-54, 55-7, 59-60, 82-5. BS Compare also the exhortation of Öregory the Great translated in King Alfred’s rendering of Gregory's Pastoral Carr. 'Oylsa hie lufigen 0as elOiodignesse ofer hiora agenne eSel, 7 hior[a] mod eal ahon on 0«t 0e him her gfll«ned biS.1 Gregory the Great, King Alfreds West-Saxon Version, Chapter L.

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

reigning with him already in heaven ’. 68 Bede writes o f believers struggling to achieve eternal joys: *As long as they are in their body they recognise that they are on a journey and [absent] from their fatherland . ' 69 The First Epistle o f Peter is seen as relevant to all those who, like the Psalmist , 70 can describe themselves as ‘dwellers on earth and travellers like our fathers ’ .71 Bede also draws the traditional parallel between the journey o f the Israelites from Egypt to the Promised Land and the journey of Christians to 'the dwellingplace on high 5 (11.9). Latin saints* Lives similarly reveal a profound understanding of life as pilgrimage and, as in Bede's Death Song, death is frequently presented as the Anal journey which leads to the longed-for hom eland .72 Thus Alcuin wrote o f Willibrord passing 4from this place o f pilgrimage to the eternal country 5, 73 a phrase echoed by A dom nan in his account o f the death of Columba, •crossing over to the heavenly country from this weary pilgrimage ’ .74 Similarly, W illibald^ Life o f St Boniface depicts the m artyr, (his pilgrimage accomplished with mighty effort, sitting “ in the heavenly Jerusalem ’” .75 Old English Extant Old English Homilies, dating from later 76 in the Anglo-Saxon period, also draw freely on the cluster o f images associated with the theme o f life pilgrimage. Bückling Homily II warns: 'we habbaS ned}?earfe J?set we ongyton blindnesse ure aeIJ?eodignesse, , 77 adding a reminder of the traditional explanation for m ankind's present state:

we send on J?isse worlde ael}>eodigiiesse; we synd on pysse worlde ael)?eodige， 7 swa waeron siJ>J?on se sresta ealdor J?isses menniscan cynnes Godes bebodu abrsec; 7 for}?on gylte we waeron on J?ysne wracsij? sende, 7 nu eft sceolon operne edel secan. Homily V emphasises the contrast between the transitory pleasures o f life on earth 78 and the eternal joys o f heaven:*• *• Commentary on Ezra and Nehemiah, 241-2. Cited Ward (1990), 73. Bede is drawing here on the image of the Church on pilgrimage as developed by Augustine of Hippo. See City o f God, XV, and Chapter 2 above. Benedicta Ward comments that (the ideal of the two cities, inextricably linked until the end of all things, the completing of the city of God, fill these treatises'. Ward (1990), 74. ** Bede, Homilies on the Gospels I, Homily 11.15. 70 Psalm 38:12. 71 Bcdc, Commentary on the Seven Catholic Epistles, 69. 7J *Fore thaem nedifaerae naenig uuiurthit\ Bede's Death Song,1. n Anglo-Saxon Missionaries,18. M Adomnan's Life o f Columba, 528. 7J Anglo-Saxon Missionaries, 148. The actual journeys made by these saints are addressed in the following section. 7é Both the Bückling and Vercelli collections of homilies are usually assigned to the tenth century.

r Bückling Homiltes, 23. T> Sm alio

Blickling Homily X.

92

THE PILGRIMAGE MOTIF IN OLD ENGLISH

we witon J?aet aelc wlite 7 aelc f^gem es to ende efste}? 7 onettej? }?ise weorlde lifes. Cu)?lice \>xt wuldor )?ysses middangeardes is sceort 7 gewitende; D rihtnes wuldor }?onne, 7 his rice J?urhwunaJ? on ecnesse .79

Vercelli Homily XÏ is based on a sermon by Caesarius o f Arles (c. 470-542).80 It is, however, noteworthy that the Anglo-Saxon writer omits the military imagery which Caesarius uses in the middle o f this passage, choosing to highlight only the pilgrimage motif. The homily offers a concise summary of the pilgrimage topos, encompassing the reasons for m ankind's exile, 81 the life of pilgrimage, the vision o f the eternal homeland and the heavenly city of Jerusalem: F o r J>aes aerestan mannes synnum, Adam[e]s, we w urdon aworpene of neorxnawanges 础 ぞ 7 on /»os HTienvorw/ゴ senäe, 7 we swa syndon on Jpyssum middangearde swa we her naenig edel habbad. Be Son Paulus se apostol cwaeS: lDum sumus in corpore peregrinamu[r] a domino*. He cwaeS, sanctus Paulus: ‘J>ended we bioS on lichom an , 府 が ば fram G o d e ' We magon lieemon us geearnian /w ie e c a /i 淡 / 7 >one so 8an gefean. N e magon we )?aera aegSer her on worulde agan, ac we sculdon on J?aere tow eardan gesittan pBt us is 0« gehealdan___ U tan we nu forö tilian }?aet we geearnian J?aet we becuman m oton gesaeliglice to )?am ecan 7 to pam ealdorlican edle . . . )?aer ure bidal> ure ceasterliode . . . p xr is sio wundorlice ceaster Hierusalem. . . . F o r )?an, men )?a leofestan, pa hwile J?e we her lifigende [sien], utan we us biddan Godes mildheortnesse . . . )?aet we m a lufien pone ecan eüel J>onne )?is andwearde lif .82

Tms passage, coupling as it does an evocation of the lasting joys o f heaven with the exhortation ‘U tan we nu forth tilian’ bears a m arked resemblance to the concluding lines o f the Sea fa rer^ U ton we hyegan hwaer we ham agen, ond }?onne ge)?encan hu we J?ider cumen, ond we j^onne eac tilien, ]?aet we to moten in ecan eadignesse, J?aer is lif gelong in lufan dryhtnes, hyht in heofonum. {Seafarer, 117-22)

Like the Blickling Homilies, those contained in the Vercelli m anuscript contain frequent allusions to the transience o f life: Homily X contains a version o f the ubi sunt topos adapted from Isidore o f Seville^ Synonyma,

79 Blickling Homiliesy 57, 65. 80 Sermo CCXV. See Chapter 2 above. 81 A similar account appears in Vercelli Homily XÏV, where the homilist continues: 'Hwaet [is Ö]is deadlice lif elcor nymtfe hit is se weg \>e we sculon [on] fa[ra]n. . . swa to [ecum life] 7 to ecum gefean, swa to ecum deaÖc to ecre forw[yrde]/ Vercelli Homilies, XIV.26-7, 29-30. « Vercelli Homilies, Xl.46-54, 55-7, 59-60, 82-5. BS Compare also the exhortation of Öregory the Great translated in King Alfred’s rendering of Gregory's Pastoral Carr. 'Oylsa hie lufigen 0as elOiodignesse ofer hiora agenne eSel, 7 hior[a] mod eal ahon on 0«t 0e him her gfll«ned biS.1 Gregory the Great, King Alfreds West-Saxon Version, Chapter L.

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

II ， 84 and includes a promise by Christ to reveal the ‘heofonlicne weg ’85 and provide eternal rewards to those who turn to him: For J>am iorölicum ic sylle \>a heofonlican, for J?yssum [hjwilendlicum \>a ecan, for }?yssum Isnan life \>xt unlsene, for )?yssum uncorenan life \>xt gecorene, for j?yssum earmlican life pxt eadige.86

6

Place Pilgrimage in the Anglo-Saxon Church

889. In this year no journey was made to Rome. (Angio-Saxon Chronicle

)、

In addition to a strong emphasis on life as pilgrimage, the Anglo-Saxon Church also inherited a complex set o f attitudes towards geographical or place pilgrimage. The Celtic and R om an traditions to which Anglo-Saxon Christianity was indebted had much in comm on 2 but also differed consider­ ably in their organisation and practice . 3 Both revered the relics o f saints and counted certain places holy on the grounds o f their associations with people and events; both used geographical pilgrimage as a form o f penance. The Celtic Church, however, stressed the value of exile for its own sake, emphasising the spiritual significance o f leaving home and homeland and journeying with G od into the unknown; while the R om an Church placed greater emphasis on ゾ 夕 iWg to specific destinations for specific reasons: to learn, to visit the shrines o f saints, to do penance o r to evangelise .4 These twin strands, gradually woven into the life o f the emerging Anglo-Saxon Church, resulted in attitudes and practice which would significantly influ­ ence the spirituality and literature o f succeeding centuries. S tran g ers: P eregrinatio p ro A m o re D ei In both Rom an and Celtic Christianity the monastic life was viewed as a form o f pilgrimage, involving as it did the leaving o f home, kindred and earthly possessions . 5 In the Rom an Church it was, however, usually a ‘stationary’ pilgrimage, in which the m onk, mm or anchorite， once having left their home, essentially remained fixed in their chosen community or 1 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. 2 See Hughes (1987). M See also the exhortation in Verceili Homily XXI: *uton gan J?urh Godes wegas. }5at synt 8001ice Godes wegas: riht geleafa ■ . ■ forhogung hwilwendys wutdres 7 gelustfullung heofonlican cölcs/ Verceili Homilies, XXI.48-9, 53 4. 1,5 Verceili Homilies, X.253. w Vercelti Homilie^ X.245 6.

1 'Monasticism did not come to the British from Rome. On present evidence, it seems most likely that it reached the Celtic world from the eastern Mediterranean via Gaul.' Evans (1985), 79. On hermits in Anglo-Saxon England, see Clayton (1996). 4 Thus Boniface (d. 754), who became Archbishop to the Germans, described himself as an exile in Germany ('exulum Germanicum') and gave 'timor Christi* and (amor peregrinationis' as the motivations for his minion, Bonifiice, Utters 30 and 94. 5

See Chapter 2.

95

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

II ， 84 and includes a promise by Christ to reveal the ‘heofonlicne weg ’85 and provide eternal rewards to those who turn to him: For J>am iorölicum ic sylle \>a heofonlican, for J?yssum [hjwilendlicum \>a ecan, for }?yssum Isnan life \>xt unlsene, for )?yssum uncorenan life \>xt gecorene, for j?yssum earmlican life pxt eadige.86

6

Place Pilgrimage in the Anglo-Saxon Church

889. In this year no journey was made to Rome. (Angio-Saxon Chronicle

)、

In addition to a strong emphasis on life as pilgrimage, the Anglo-Saxon Church also inherited a complex set o f attitudes towards geographical or place pilgrimage. The Celtic and R om an traditions to which Anglo-Saxon Christianity was indebted had much in comm on 2 but also differed consider­ ably in their organisation and practice . 3 Both revered the relics o f saints and counted certain places holy on the grounds o f their associations with people and events; both used geographical pilgrimage as a form o f penance. The Celtic Church, however, stressed the value of exile for its own sake, emphasising the spiritual significance o f leaving home and homeland and journeying with G od into the unknown; while the R om an Church placed greater emphasis on ゾ 夕 iWg to specific destinations for specific reasons: to learn, to visit the shrines o f saints, to do penance o r to evangelise .4 These twin strands, gradually woven into the life o f the emerging Anglo-Saxon Church, resulted in attitudes and practice which would significantly influ­ ence the spirituality and literature o f succeeding centuries. S tran g ers: P eregrinatio p ro A m o re D ei In both Rom an and Celtic Christianity the monastic life was viewed as a form o f pilgrimage, involving as it did the leaving o f home, kindred and earthly possessions . 5 In the Rom an Church it was, however, usually a ‘stationary’ pilgrimage, in which the m onk, mm or anchorite， once having left their home, essentially remained fixed in their chosen community or 1 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. 2 See Hughes (1987). M See also the exhortation in Verceili Homily XXI: *uton gan J?urh Godes wegas. }5at synt 8001ice Godes wegas: riht geleafa ■ . ■ forhogung hwilwendys wutdres 7 gelustfullung heofonlican cölcs/ Verceili Homilies, XXI.48-9, 53 4. 1,5 Verceili Homilies, X.253. w Vercelti Homilie^ X.245 6.

1 'Monasticism did not come to the British from Rome. On present evidence, it seems most likely that it reached the Celtic world from the eastern Mediterranean via Gaul.' Evans (1985), 79. On hermits in Anglo-Saxon England, see Clayton (1996). 4 Thus Boniface (d. 754), who became Archbishop to the Germans, described himself as an exile in Germany ('exulum Germanicum') and gave 'timor Christi* and (amor peregrinationis' as the motivations for his minion, Bonifiice, Utters 30 and 94. 5

See Chapter 2.

95

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

hermitage in order to focus upon their interior spiritual journey .6 The Rule of Benedict o f Nursia, which was addressed to those 'hastening to the heavenly country, (ad patriam festinans) (Chapter 73), stressed the value of stability and condemned the Gyrovagues, monks who *spend their whole lives wandering from province to province' (C hapterl). The form of monasticism which Irish missionaries brought to England was, in contrast, less structured and more mobile in character. Strongly influenced by the example of the Desert Fathers ,7 Irish m onks sought out desolate places in which to pray and do battle against the forces o f evil. Ireland denied them the deserts to which the hermits o f Egypt and Palestine had retreated, so they launched forth in small boats to seek 'deserts in the ocean , .8 The AngloSaxon Chronicle records that in 891: Three Irishmen came to King Alfred in a boat without any oars, from Ireland whence they had stolen away because they wished for the love o f G od to be on pilgrimage (hi woldon fo r Codes lufan on elpiodignesse beon), they cared not where. The boat in which they set out was made o f two and a half hides, and they had taken with them provisions for a week. (Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 891)

This was 'perfect pilgrimage* as explained by a tenth-century Irish writer, departure without hope o f return, following the example of A braham :9 The L ord Himself gave this friendly counsel . . . unto A braham . . . that he should leave his own country . . . and that he should go for his pilgrimage into the land which G od would show him, to wit, the Land o f Promise___ Now the good counsel which G od enjoined here on the father of the faithful is incum bent . . . on all the faithful; that is to leave their country and their land, their wealth and their worldly delight for the sake o f the Lord o f the Elements, and to go into perfect pilgrimage in im itation o f him .10

Early Irish monasticism was characterised by this mobility, a characteristic which D orothy W hitdock 11 saw as the driving force behind the Seafarer’s statement: gielleö anfloga, hweteS on hwaelweg hre}?er unwearnum ofer holma gelagu. For^on me hatran sind drytnes dream as J?onne J?is deade lif, laene on londe. {Seafarer, 62-6)

6 See Chapter 11 on stationary or interior pilgrimage in later medieval spirituality. 7 See Mayr-Harting (1991), 78-93 and Hughes (1959), 321. * 'Herimum in ociano laboriose quaesivit1, Adomnans Life o f Columba^ 1.6. The beehive huts in which they lived and prayed can still be seen clinging to the rocky islands, such as Skellig Michael, which lie off the west coast of Ireland. * See Chapter 1. 10 Old Irish Life of St Coiumba. Cited Henry (1966), 30. " Whitelock (1950).

96

PLACE PILGRIMAGE IN THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH

Kathleen Hughes also writes o f the 'typical restlessness o f the early Irish saint, constantly moving from place to place, reminding himself (hat here he had no continuing city1(my italics ) . 12 Irish pilgrims were to be found scattered throughout Europe, many such as Colum banus exercising a considerable evangelistic influence in the process . 13 Given the widespread influence of Irish Christianity in the seventh century and early eighth century , 14 it is not surprising that a considerable num ber of Anglo-Saxon Christians seem to have followed their example, Bede records a num ber of English converts who lived lives of literal exile and it is notew orthy th at the m otivating force was the leaving of home in search o f salvation; their subsequent choice of occupation, whether as hermit, traveller to a shrine or missionary, was a secondary m atter . 15 This is evident in Bede’s acccm ntof Egbert, an Englishman who had taken a vow 6that he would live in exile (peregrinus uiuere) and never return to his native island, Britain , . 16 While living as an exile in Ireland (so that he might reach his heavenly fatherland' [pro adipiscenda in caelis patria retulimus),11 Egbert considered whether he should preach the Gospel to unreached areas of Germ any or journey to Rom e 'there to visit and worship at the shrines of the blessed apostles and m artyrs o f Christ’. In the event divine intervention caused him to stay in Ireland but it is clear that once the principle o f exile had been adopted, the actual place o f exile could be varied. Ironically Bede's expressions of approval were being offered at a time when wandering Irish peregrini were already becoming less welcome abroad. Kathleen Hughes suggests that the English may in fact 4have had an im portant influence in changing the continental attitude to Irish pilgrims *,18 particularly as Boniface and others sought increasingly to apply Rom an m ethods o f diocesan organisation both in England and on the Continent. As Church authorities sought to check the activities o f these self-determining wanderers, the force o f Irish monasticism gradually flowed into different channels. By the ninth century the nature and consequences of pilgrimage had altered. The perpetual pilgrim to the continent was now usually the am bitious scholar with a definite object in view. . . . The old-style religious, ascetic conception of pilgrimage finds its clearest historic expression during this period in the hermit poetry: *A11alone in my cell', sings a ninth-century poet, *such a pilgrimage would be dear to my heart'. The motive o f pilgrimage overseas had always been the complete

12 Hughes (1960)，143. 11 See for example Bede's account of the two Hewalds, Ecclesiastical History, V.10. 14 4lt is apparent from Bede, H.E. Ill, 27, that for seventh-century England Ireland was the land of instruction and spiritual guidance . . . the two nations formed a kind of religious and cultural commonwealth.' Henry (1966), 37. 15 'Their object in leaving their own country had not been to be missionaries but pilgrims.1 Lcclercq, Vandcnbrouke, and Bouyer (1968), 35. 16 Bede, Ecclesiastical History, HI,27. 17 Bede, Ecclesiastical History, V,9,

,a Hughes (I960), 145.

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

hermitage in order to focus upon their interior spiritual journey .6 The Rule of Benedict o f Nursia, which was addressed to those 'hastening to the heavenly country, (ad patriam festinans) (Chapter 73), stressed the value of stability and condemned the Gyrovagues, monks who *spend their whole lives wandering from province to province' (C hapterl). The form of monasticism which Irish missionaries brought to England was, in contrast, less structured and more mobile in character. Strongly influenced by the example of the Desert Fathers ,7 Irish m onks sought out desolate places in which to pray and do battle against the forces o f evil. Ireland denied them the deserts to which the hermits o f Egypt and Palestine had retreated, so they launched forth in small boats to seek 'deserts in the ocean , .8 The AngloSaxon Chronicle records that in 891: Three Irishmen came to King Alfred in a boat without any oars, from Ireland whence they had stolen away because they wished for the love o f G od to be on pilgrimage (hi woldon fo r Codes lufan on elpiodignesse beon), they cared not where. The boat in which they set out was made o f two and a half hides, and they had taken with them provisions for a week. (Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 891)

This was 'perfect pilgrimage* as explained by a tenth-century Irish writer, departure without hope o f return, following the example of A braham :9 The L ord Himself gave this friendly counsel . . . unto A braham . . . that he should leave his own country . . . and that he should go for his pilgrimage into the land which G od would show him, to wit, the Land o f Promise___ Now the good counsel which G od enjoined here on the father of the faithful is incum bent . . . on all the faithful; that is to leave their country and their land, their wealth and their worldly delight for the sake o f the Lord o f the Elements, and to go into perfect pilgrimage in im itation o f him .10

Early Irish monasticism was characterised by this mobility, a characteristic which D orothy W hitdock 11 saw as the driving force behind the Seafarer’s statement: gielleö anfloga, hweteS on hwaelweg hre}?er unwearnum ofer holma gelagu. For^on me hatran sind drytnes dream as J?onne J?is deade lif, laene on londe. {Seafarer, 62-6)

6 See Chapter 11 on stationary or interior pilgrimage in later medieval spirituality. 7 See Mayr-Harting (1991), 78-93 and Hughes (1959), 321. * 'Herimum in ociano laboriose quaesivit1, Adomnans Life o f Columba^ 1.6. The beehive huts in which they lived and prayed can still be seen clinging to the rocky islands, such as Skellig Michael, which lie off the west coast of Ireland. * See Chapter 1. 10 Old Irish Life of St Coiumba. Cited Henry (1966), 30. " Whitelock (1950).

96

PLACE PILGRIMAGE IN THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH

Kathleen Hughes also writes o f the 'typical restlessness o f the early Irish saint, constantly moving from place to place, reminding himself (hat here he had no continuing city1(my italics ) . 12 Irish pilgrims were to be found scattered throughout Europe, many such as Colum banus exercising a considerable evangelistic influence in the process . 13 Given the widespread influence of Irish Christianity in the seventh century and early eighth century , 14 it is not surprising that a considerable num ber of Anglo-Saxon Christians seem to have followed their example, Bede records a num ber of English converts who lived lives of literal exile and it is notew orthy th at the m otivating force was the leaving of home in search o f salvation; their subsequent choice of occupation, whether as hermit, traveller to a shrine or missionary, was a secondary m atter . 15 This is evident in Bede’s acccm ntof Egbert, an Englishman who had taken a vow 6that he would live in exile (peregrinus uiuere) and never return to his native island, Britain , . 16 While living as an exile in Ireland (so that he might reach his heavenly fatherland' [pro adipiscenda in caelis patria retulimus),11 Egbert considered whether he should preach the Gospel to unreached areas of Germ any or journey to Rom e 'there to visit and worship at the shrines of the blessed apostles and m artyrs o f Christ’. In the event divine intervention caused him to stay in Ireland but it is clear that once the principle o f exile had been adopted, the actual place o f exile could be varied. Ironically Bede's expressions of approval were being offered at a time when wandering Irish peregrini were already becoming less welcome abroad. Kathleen Hughes suggests that the English may in fact 4have had an im portant influence in changing the continental attitude to Irish pilgrims *,18 particularly as Boniface and others sought increasingly to apply Rom an m ethods o f diocesan organisation both in England and on the Continent. As Church authorities sought to check the activities o f these self-determining wanderers, the force o f Irish monasticism gradually flowed into different channels. By the ninth century the nature and consequences of pilgrimage had altered. The perpetual pilgrim to the continent was now usually the am bitious scholar with a definite object in view. . . . The old-style religious, ascetic conception of pilgrimage finds its clearest historic expression during this period in the hermit poetry: *A11alone in my cell', sings a ninth-century poet, *such a pilgrimage would be dear to my heart'. The motive o f pilgrimage overseas had always been the complete

12 Hughes (1960)，143. 11 See for example Bede's account of the two Hewalds, Ecclesiastical History, V.10. 14 4lt is apparent from Bede, H.E. Ill, 27, that for seventh-century England Ireland was the land of instruction and spiritual guidance . . . the two nations formed a kind of religious and cultural commonwealth.' Henry (1966), 37. 15 'Their object in leaving their own country had not been to be missionaries but pilgrims.1 Lcclercq, Vandcnbrouke, and Bouyer (1968), 35. 16 Bede, Ecclesiastical History, HI,27. 17 Bede, Ecclesiastical History, V,9,

,a Hughes (I960), 145.

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

abandonm ent o f earthly ties in pursuit o f heaven, and when this ascetic ideal became difficult to realise abroad, men turned to a life o f religion at h o m e . . . . It is the anchorites who are, in fact, the spiritual heirs o f the seventh-century pilgrims .192 01

In the history o f Irish and English practice of peregrinatio pro amore Dei we see a particularly close interchange between the concepts o f life and place pilgrimage. F or the Celtic Church total commitment to a life-long pilgrim­ age to heaven was, as we have seen, frequently equated with a literal life of exile, modelled on the anchoritic experience of the Desert Fathers who left hom e and community to contem plate eternity in their tiny cells. At its most disciplined, this peripatetic life possessed a certain quality o f constant comm itm ent, which Jean Leclercq has described as 'stabilitas in peregrina20 W hen physical travel became more difficult, Celtic monks retained the essence of the pilgrimage ideal: detachm ent from this world in order to pursue an inner spiritual journey. It was this latter expression o f pilgrimage which was to characterise the monasticism o f the later Middle Ages and which D om Jean Leclercq characterises in its turn as ^peregrinatio in stabilitaté ? x Exiles: th e p ractice o f penance Although in a broad sense all expressions o f Celtic peregrinatio can be said to have had a general penitential connotation, as responses to the sinfulness which characterised the descendants of Adam, some voyages and journeys into exile were undertaken specifically as penance .22 A dom nan's Life o f Columba notes the example of a homicide and oath-breaker who visited the saint and declared that he had made the long journey in order to expiate his sins in pilgrimage, 4ad delenda in peregrinatione peccamina longo fatigatum itinere , .23 Tradition holds that the saint himself left Ireland for the journey which took him to Iona on the orders of his confessor following an unseemly battle .24 The Celtic system of private confession and penance was highly developed. F or the use o f the priest-confessors, handbooks were compiled which pre­ scribed the appropriate penance for every conceivable sin. The most usual penalties were fasting, vigils, prayers, tears and almsgiving, al! o f which could be perform ed in private, though for the graver sins, especially homicide, the penalty would involve exclusion from the community - in effect, exile.25

19 Hughes (1960), 148. 20 Leclercq (1961),51. 21 Leclercq (1961),51. 22 'Irish lives of saints and popular tales make numerous references to penitential pilgrimages__ The Penitential o f Columban in prescribing perpetual pilgrimage likens the penitent to Cain who became a 4tvagabond and a fugitive upon (he carth,,\ McNeill and Gamer (1965), 34. a' Adomnan's Life of Columba, 420. 34 Henry (1966, 32-3). » Hopkins (1990K 41.

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The Penitential o f Cummean (c. 650) orders that 5. He who commits murder through nursing hatred in his mind, shall give up his arms until his death, and dead unto the world, shall live unto God. 6 . But if it is after taking vows of perfection, he shall die unto the world with perpetual pilgrimage.26

A set o f Irish Canons from a W orcester Collection ( c . 1000) condemns the m urderer of anyone attached to a bishop: to go on perpetual pilgrimage, or, more mildly, on a pilgrimage of thirty years; he shall live without flesh and wife and horse, on dry bread, and with meagre clothing and shall not stay for two nights in one house save only in the principal festivals or if sickness lays hold of him.27 Here indeed is the m ark of Cain, the homicide, perpetual outcast and wanderer. Irish penitential practice was highly influential in the English Church 28 and it is evident from the m anner in which Old English literature interpreted the stories o f Satan, Adam , Cain and Nebuchadnezzar, how firmly established was the link between sin and exile. English law codes, such as those o f iEthelred and Cnut, also use exile as a punishm ent for serious crimes: Gyf hwa weofodj?en afylle, sy he utlah [outlaw] wiÖ God y wiÖ men, butan he J?urh wraecsiö J?e deppor gebete. (Laws o f Cnut)29 One significant effect of the decrease in the practice o f literal exile, described by Kathleen Hughes , 30 appears to have been th at the penitential aspect o f exile came to supersede the ascetic m otivation which had char­ acterised the early Celtic peregrini. Literal exile, for the later medieval Church, therefore, tended to carry m ore negative connotations .31

Pilgrims: the cult of the saints A letter written by Jerom e， urging friends to visit the ‘holy， land of Palestine ， asserts: ‘The Briton “ sundered from our w orld’，， no sooner makes progress in religion than he leaves the setting sun in quest o f a spot o f which he knows only through Scripture and com m on report / 32 However adventurous the journeyings o f Christian Britons may have been (and there is only fragm ent­ ary evidence on this point), it is undeniable that, through the work of Augustine o f Canterbury, Theodore of Tarsus and other missionaries sent 26 McNeill and Gamer (1965)，107. 27 McNeill and Gamer (1965), 426. 28 See Mayr-Harting (1991), 257-60. 29 Councils and Synods, 491. w Hughes (I960), 148. See Jotiichky( 1995). ' 3 Jerome, L tttm , 46.

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abandonm ent o f earthly ties in pursuit o f heaven, and when this ascetic ideal became difficult to realise abroad, men turned to a life o f religion at h o m e . . . . It is the anchorites who are, in fact, the spiritual heirs o f the seventh-century pilgrims .192 01

In the history o f Irish and English practice of peregrinatio pro amore Dei we see a particularly close interchange between the concepts o f life and place pilgrimage. F or the Celtic Church total commitment to a life-long pilgrim­ age to heaven was, as we have seen, frequently equated with a literal life of exile, modelled on the anchoritic experience of the Desert Fathers who left hom e and community to contem plate eternity in their tiny cells. At its most disciplined, this peripatetic life possessed a certain quality o f constant comm itm ent, which Jean Leclercq has described as 'stabilitas in peregrina20 W hen physical travel became more difficult, Celtic monks retained the essence of the pilgrimage ideal: detachm ent from this world in order to pursue an inner spiritual journey. It was this latter expression o f pilgrimage which was to characterise the monasticism o f the later Middle Ages and which D om Jean Leclercq characterises in its turn as ^peregrinatio in stabilitaté ? x Exiles: th e p ractice o f penance Although in a broad sense all expressions o f Celtic peregrinatio can be said to have had a general penitential connotation, as responses to the sinfulness which characterised the descendants of Adam, some voyages and journeys into exile were undertaken specifically as penance .22 A dom nan's Life o f Columba notes the example of a homicide and oath-breaker who visited the saint and declared that he had made the long journey in order to expiate his sins in pilgrimage, 4ad delenda in peregrinatione peccamina longo fatigatum itinere , .23 Tradition holds that the saint himself left Ireland for the journey which took him to Iona on the orders of his confessor following an unseemly battle .24 The Celtic system of private confession and penance was highly developed. F or the use o f the priest-confessors, handbooks were compiled which pre­ scribed the appropriate penance for every conceivable sin. The most usual penalties were fasting, vigils, prayers, tears and almsgiving, al! o f which could be perform ed in private, though for the graver sins, especially homicide, the penalty would involve exclusion from the community - in effect, exile.25

19 Hughes (1960), 148. 20 Leclercq (1961),51. 21 Leclercq (1961),51. 22 'Irish lives of saints and popular tales make numerous references to penitential pilgrimages__ The Penitential o f Columban in prescribing perpetual pilgrimage likens the penitent to Cain who became a 4tvagabond and a fugitive upon (he carth,,\ McNeill and Gamer (1965), 34. a' Adomnan's Life of Columba, 420. 34 Henry (1966, 32-3). » Hopkins (1990K 41.

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The Penitential o f Cummean (c. 650) orders that 5. He who commits murder through nursing hatred in his mind, shall give up his arms until his death, and dead unto the world, shall live unto God. 6 . But if it is after taking vows of perfection, he shall die unto the world with perpetual pilgrimage.26

A set o f Irish Canons from a W orcester Collection ( c . 1000) condemns the m urderer of anyone attached to a bishop: to go on perpetual pilgrimage, or, more mildly, on a pilgrimage of thirty years; he shall live without flesh and wife and horse, on dry bread, and with meagre clothing and shall not stay for two nights in one house save only in the principal festivals or if sickness lays hold of him.27 Here indeed is the m ark of Cain, the homicide, perpetual outcast and wanderer. Irish penitential practice was highly influential in the English Church 28 and it is evident from the m anner in which Old English literature interpreted the stories o f Satan, Adam , Cain and Nebuchadnezzar, how firmly established was the link between sin and exile. English law codes, such as those o f iEthelred and Cnut, also use exile as a punishm ent for serious crimes: Gyf hwa weofodj?en afylle, sy he utlah [outlaw] wiÖ God y wiÖ men, butan he J?urh wraecsiö J?e deppor gebete. (Laws o f Cnut)29 One significant effect of the decrease in the practice o f literal exile, described by Kathleen Hughes , 30 appears to have been th at the penitential aspect o f exile came to supersede the ascetic m otivation which had char­ acterised the early Celtic peregrini. Literal exile, for the later medieval Church, therefore, tended to carry m ore negative connotations .31

Pilgrims: the cult of the saints A letter written by Jerom e， urging friends to visit the ‘holy， land of Palestine ， asserts: ‘The Briton “ sundered from our w orld’，， no sooner makes progress in religion than he leaves the setting sun in quest o f a spot o f which he knows only through Scripture and com m on report / 32 However adventurous the journeyings o f Christian Britons may have been (and there is only fragm ent­ ary evidence on this point), it is undeniable that, through the work of Augustine o f Canterbury, Theodore of Tarsus and other missionaries sent 26 McNeill and Gamer (1965)，107. 27 McNeill and Gamer (1965), 426. 28 See Mayr-Harting (1991), 257-60. 29 Councils and Synods, 491. w Hughes (I960), 148. See Jotiichky( 1995). ' 3 Jerome, L tttm , 46.

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from Rome, the Anglo-Saxon Church developed a strong sense o f belonging to the wider Christian world. Moreover, Anglo-Saxon Christians dem on­ strated a remarkable commitment to visiting the holy places o f Christen­ dom .33 They travelled in order to learn, to do penance, to visit the shrines of the saints and often to die in their sacred neighbourhood. These geographical pilgrimages and the convictions which inspired them exercised a considerable influence upon Old English poetry and prose. Firstly, pilgrims travelling to Rome and other places on the Continent acted as a crucial conduit for classical culture and learning . 34 Eddius Stephanus* Life o f Wilfrid provides an interesting example o f the range of benefits which were to be derived from such journeys. The *youthful W ilfrid', associated at the time with the Celtic monastery at Lindisfarne, is said to have been inspired to visit the See of St Peter 'believing that he would wash away every trace o f sin thereby and receive a great blessing \ 35 On his journey to Rome, Wilfrid refused an invitation to remain in Lyons, stating: ‘I have made my vows to the Lord . . . leaving, like A braham , my kinsfolk and my father's house to visit the Apostolic See, there to learn the laws o f ecclesiastical discipline so that our nation may grow in the service of G od’ （C hapter 4). Once in Rome, Wilfrid ‘passed m any m onths in visits to the shrines o f the saints ’, 36 acquired a teacher in the person of Boniface the Archdeacon, and eventually returned to England laden with 'the holy relics he had collected in Rom e， （ C hapter 5). Benedict Biscop， founder of the monasteries o f W earm outh and Jarrow where Bede would develop his rem arkable life of scholarship, made no fewer than five visits to Rome and Bede, in his Lives o f the Abbots, relates that Benedict Biscop effected a remarkable transfer o f knowledge and skills to his homeland. The ‘spiritual treasures’ with which he returned included ‘a great mass of books o f every sort* and (an abundant supply o f the relics o f the blessed apostles and Christian m artyrs *37 (Chapter 6 ), the chief cantor of St Peter’s, who ‘taught the m onks at first hand how things were done in Rom e’ (Chapter 6 )， ‘m any holy pictures o f the saints’ （ C hapter 6 )， and ‘a set of

pictures . . . to show how the Old Testam ent foreshadowed the New’ (Chapter 9). Wilfrid and Benedict Biscop were only two o f many English pilgrims who made their way to the city whose streets were (made sacred by the presence of St Peter's body 5. 38 The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle relates that a num ber of Anglo-Saxon kings left their thrones and went to Rom e to die there: 688. In this year king Caedwalla went to Rom e and received baptism at the hands o f Sergius the p o p e . . . ■ Ine succeeded to the kingdom o f Wessex after him, and reigned twenty-seven years: afterwards he went to Rom e and remained there until the day o f his death. 702. In this year Coenred succeeded to the Mercian kingdom. 709. Coenred went to Rom e and Offa with him: Coenred was there until his life’s end. 726. In this year Ine went to Rome.

Bede comments th at Ine travelled: ad limina beatorum apostolorum . . . cupiens in uicinia sanctorum locorum ad tempus peregrinari in terris, quo familiarius a sanctis recipi m ereretur in caelis to the threshold o f the blessed apostles . . . desiring to spend some o f his time upon earth in the neighbourhood o f the holy places, so that he might be thought worthy to receive a greater welcome from the saints in heaven 39

a statement which dem onstrates his own conviction o f the sanctity which the presence o f the saints conferred on particular places ,40 even though David Rollason has questioned the pious motives o f the kings involved, suggesting that their abdications may in fact have been imposed by political enemies .41 Bede's comment that 'a t this time m any Englishmen, nobles and commons, layfolk and clergy, men and women, were eager to do the same thing 542 indicates the popular enthusiasm which led to the establishment o f the Schola Saxonum43 a place where pilgrims could live a life of perpetual exile near the tom bs o f the saints, which was sufficiently im portant to give its name to the area where it was situated. Some of the m any pilgrims to Rom e also ventured even further afield. In an account o f the life o f Willibald, written by Huneberc, an Anglo-Saxon nun o f Heidenheim, the saint is said to have persuaded his father to

H Illustrated by the entry in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for 889 which records the (clearly unusual) circumstance that *in this year no journey was made to Rome*. For examples of the many pilgrims who made their way to Rome see Moore (1937), Colgrave (1969) and O Carragain (1994). 34 The Anglo-Saxon pilgrimages to Rome undoubtedly exercised a potent influence upon the cultural development of Britain . . . Bede was able to quote from such classical authors as Virgil, Ovid, Pliny the Younger and Horace, thanks to the many pilgrimages of the indefatigable Benedict Biscop.* Moore (1937), 84-5. 15 Life o f Wilfrid^ Chapter 3 in Age of Bede. w Colgrave (1969),160, identifies two mid-seventh century pilgrim itineraries which outline the route Wilfrid would probably have taken. 37 0 Carragain (1994), 5, notes that kthe relics themselves, at this period, would not have been actual parts of bodies but cloths or other objects which had touched the shrines of the saints, or oil from the lamps before the 塞hrinei’.

38 Lives o f the Abbots, Chapter 2 in Age o f Bede. On pilgrimage to Rome see also Birch (1998), Chapter 2. 39 Bede, Ecclesiastical History^ V.7. 40 Bede also uses the phrase loca sancta* in his description of pilgrimages for example in his Ecclesiastical History, IV.5; V.19 and in De Locis Sanctis Libellus, where he describes the journey of Arculph, a bishop of Gaul, who *from a desire to see the holy places, left his native country, and went to the Land of Promise1 yaesiderio locorum sanctorum patriam deferens, tenant repromissionis adiit). Bede, Complete Works, IV.442. 41 Rollason (1989),124-5. Moore ¢1937), 46, notes that Wilfrid had also hoped to end his days in Rome. 42 Bede, Eccksiasttcal History, V.7. 41 Documented by Moore (1937). Mentioned twice in the Chronide.

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from Rome, the Anglo-Saxon Church developed a strong sense o f belonging to the wider Christian world. Moreover, Anglo-Saxon Christians dem on­ strated a remarkable commitment to visiting the holy places o f Christen­ dom .33 They travelled in order to learn, to do penance, to visit the shrines of the saints and often to die in their sacred neighbourhood. These geographical pilgrimages and the convictions which inspired them exercised a considerable influence upon Old English poetry and prose. Firstly, pilgrims travelling to Rome and other places on the Continent acted as a crucial conduit for classical culture and learning . 34 Eddius Stephanus* Life o f Wilfrid provides an interesting example o f the range of benefits which were to be derived from such journeys. The *youthful W ilfrid', associated at the time with the Celtic monastery at Lindisfarne, is said to have been inspired to visit the See of St Peter 'believing that he would wash away every trace o f sin thereby and receive a great blessing \ 35 On his journey to Rome, Wilfrid refused an invitation to remain in Lyons, stating: ‘I have made my vows to the Lord . . . leaving, like A braham , my kinsfolk and my father's house to visit the Apostolic See, there to learn the laws o f ecclesiastical discipline so that our nation may grow in the service of G od’ （C hapter 4). Once in Rome, Wilfrid ‘passed m any m onths in visits to the shrines o f the saints ’, 36 acquired a teacher in the person of Boniface the Archdeacon, and eventually returned to England laden with 'the holy relics he had collected in Rom e， （ C hapter 5). Benedict Biscop， founder of the monasteries o f W earm outh and Jarrow where Bede would develop his rem arkable life of scholarship, made no fewer than five visits to Rome and Bede, in his Lives o f the Abbots, relates that Benedict Biscop effected a remarkable transfer o f knowledge and skills to his homeland. The ‘spiritual treasures’ with which he returned included ‘a great mass of books o f every sort* and (an abundant supply o f the relics o f the blessed apostles and Christian m artyrs *37 (Chapter 6 ), the chief cantor of St Peter’s, who ‘taught the m onks at first hand how things were done in Rom e’ (Chapter 6 )， ‘m any holy pictures o f the saints’ （ C hapter 6 )， and ‘a set of

pictures . . . to show how the Old Testam ent foreshadowed the New’ (Chapter 9). Wilfrid and Benedict Biscop were only two o f many English pilgrims who made their way to the city whose streets were (made sacred by the presence of St Peter's body 5. 38 The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle relates that a num ber of Anglo-Saxon kings left their thrones and went to Rom e to die there: 688. In this year king Caedwalla went to Rom e and received baptism at the hands o f Sergius the p o p e . . . ■ Ine succeeded to the kingdom o f Wessex after him, and reigned twenty-seven years: afterwards he went to Rom e and remained there until the day o f his death. 702. In this year Coenred succeeded to the Mercian kingdom. 709. Coenred went to Rom e and Offa with him: Coenred was there until his life’s end. 726. In this year Ine went to Rome.

Bede comments th at Ine travelled: ad limina beatorum apostolorum . . . cupiens in uicinia sanctorum locorum ad tempus peregrinari in terris, quo familiarius a sanctis recipi m ereretur in caelis to the threshold o f the blessed apostles . . . desiring to spend some o f his time upon earth in the neighbourhood o f the holy places, so that he might be thought worthy to receive a greater welcome from the saints in heaven 39

a statement which dem onstrates his own conviction o f the sanctity which the presence o f the saints conferred on particular places ,40 even though David Rollason has questioned the pious motives o f the kings involved, suggesting that their abdications may in fact have been imposed by political enemies .41 Bede's comment that 'a t this time m any Englishmen, nobles and commons, layfolk and clergy, men and women, were eager to do the same thing 542 indicates the popular enthusiasm which led to the establishment o f the Schola Saxonum43 a place where pilgrims could live a life of perpetual exile near the tom bs o f the saints, which was sufficiently im portant to give its name to the area where it was situated. Some of the m any pilgrims to Rom e also ventured even further afield. In an account o f the life o f Willibald, written by Huneberc, an Anglo-Saxon nun o f Heidenheim, the saint is said to have persuaded his father to

H Illustrated by the entry in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for 889 which records the (clearly unusual) circumstance that *in this year no journey was made to Rome*. For examples of the many pilgrims who made their way to Rome see Moore (1937), Colgrave (1969) and O Carragain (1994). 34 The Anglo-Saxon pilgrimages to Rome undoubtedly exercised a potent influence upon the cultural development of Britain . . . Bede was able to quote from such classical authors as Virgil, Ovid, Pliny the Younger and Horace, thanks to the many pilgrimages of the indefatigable Benedict Biscop.* Moore (1937), 84-5. 15 Life o f Wilfrid^ Chapter 3 in Age of Bede. w Colgrave (1969),160, identifies two mid-seventh century pilgrim itineraries which outline the route Wilfrid would probably have taken. 37 0 Carragain (1994), 5, notes that kthe relics themselves, at this period, would not have been actual parts of bodies but cloths or other objects which had touched the shrines of the saints, or oil from the lamps before the 塞hrinei’.

38 Lives o f the Abbots, Chapter 2 in Age o f Bede. On pilgrimage to Rome see also Birch (1998), Chapter 2. 39 Bede, Ecclesiastical History^ V.7. 40 Bede also uses the phrase loca sancta* in his description of pilgrimages for example in his Ecclesiastical History, IV.5; V.19 and in De Locis Sanctis Libellus, where he describes the journey of Arculph, a bishop of Gaul, who *from a desire to see the holy places, left his native country, and went to the Land of Promise1 yaesiderio locorum sanctorum patriam deferens, tenant repromissionis adiit). Bede, Complete Works, IV.442. 41 Rollason (1989),124-5. Moore ¢1937), 46, notes that Wilfrid had also hoped to end his days in Rome. 42 Bede, Eccksiasttcal History, V.7. 41 Documented by Moore (1937). Mentioned twice in the Chronide.

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‘abandon his native country and to accompany him as a pilgrim to foreign parts ' . 44 W illibald's motive was to detach his father Trom the pleasures o f the world, from the delights o f earth and from the false prosperity o f wealth*. After a year in Rome, Willibald desired to go on pilgrimage (to a more remote and less well-known place ' . 45 The detailed account which he appears to have dictated to Huneberc is the only extant eighth-century narrative o f a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, packed with geographical, historical and devotional information. The introduction stresses that Willibald saw the ‘very spot where the holy cross of our Lord was found’ （ 165) and the ‘very hill whence our Lord ascended into heaven’ （ 167). N ot only did the English adopt with enthusiasm the cults o f foreign saints, visiting their shrines and acquiring their relics; they also lost little time in establishing saints and m artyrs o f their own .46 The tomb o f Alban, a British m artyr o f the Rom an period, was venerated in the time o f Bede and the cult o f Oswald, a prototypical Anglo-Saxon saint and hero, developed rapidly, with healings reported from places sanctified by association with him .47 Healings were expected of saints, both before and after their deaths: healings from sickness and release from the penalties o f sin. Colum ba is said to have brought healing to a m an who touched the hem o f his cloak .48 Bede's Life o f Cuthbert relates a number o f healings brought about through contact with the sa in ts relics (Chapters 43-6) and A lcuin^ Life o f Willibrord tells how penitents, chains were broken at the sa in ts tom b .49 As part o f the propaga­ tion o f such cults, saints 5 Lives were produced both in poetry and prose . 50 The cult o f the Cross, stimulated by A rculf's De Locis Sanctis, by the *discovery, o f a fragment o f the true cross in Rome in 701 and by later gifts o f relics to Alfred and iö th e lsta n , 51 was influential in the creation o f Elene and the 〇 ƒ 认ど ベ Fierce/// アXII urges its audience:

holiness ’ . 53 N or were pilgrimages always considered wise or profitable, especially those which involved long and dangerous journeys. Although Boniface himself encouraged Abbess Bugga to consider the time for contem plation which a pilgrimage to Rome would bring , 54 he also wrote to C uthbert, Archbishop o f Canterbury, advising the English Church authorities

we sculon beran usse reliquias ymb ure land, J?a medeman Cristes rodetacen ]>e we Cristes mael nemnaö. . . . Eac we sculon heran oSre halige reliquias, J?aet syndon haligra manna lafe, hyra feaxes oÖÖe hyra lices dal o60e hrsegles.52 and Homily XX encourages visits to snrines.

N ot all relics, however, were accepted at face value. The correspondence o f Boniface includes a letter which he wrote to the pope, alerting him to the character o f a purveyor o f *relics o f extraordinary but rather suspect u Anglo-Saxon Missionaries, 157. 4S Anglo-Saxon Missionaries, 159. ** Sec Rollason (1989). For examples of collections of relics see the Athelstan and Leofric Donations in Anglo-Saxon Prose, 14-21. 4T Bede, Ecclesiastical History, 1H.9-13. 41 Adomnans Life o f Columba, 314. 49 Anglo-Saxon Missionaries,19. *° Colgravc (1969), 55« suggests that Felix's Hfe o/Gtithlac formed part of an attempt to make his ahrine into a place of pilgrimage. ** See Dream o f the Rood, 42-52. » VerceHi HomUies%XIM6-I7. 28 30.

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to forbid matrons and nuns to make their frequent journeys back and forth to Rome. A great part o f them perish and few keep their virtue. There are many towns in Lom bardy and G aul where there is not a courtesan or a harlot but is oi English stock. It is a scandal and disgrace to your whole C hurch .55

Pilgrimage had always held considerable physical dangers for men and women 56 but the moral dangers outlined here were a particular threat to those religious who had renounced the world. Church councils made a num ber of attem pts to ban such journeys, especially when made by nuns. A ruling by the Synod o f Friuli, c. 795, echoes the fears voiced by Gregory of Nyssa in the fourth century :57 c . 12 . . . And at no time whatsoever shall it be permitted to any abbess or nun to go to Rome or to tour other holy places, if Satan should transform himself into an angel o f light and suggest it to them as if for the purpose o f prayer. N o one is so obtuse or stupid as to be unaw are how irreligious and reprehensible it is [for them] to have dealings with men on account o f the necessities of travel .58

Similar questions about the propriety of pilgrimages would surface again in the fourteenth century. Alongside such practical objections there were also well-worn spiritual questions which required consideration. Did geograph­ ical pilgrimage necessarily confer spiritual benefits and were the potential benefits worth the possible risks entailed? A ninth-century marginal note on an Irish m anuscript summarised the dilemma succinctly: T o go to Rome Is much trouble, little profit; The King [of heaven] whom thou seekest there, Unless thou bring Him with thee, thou wilt not find .59

How could members o f monastic orders, in particular, reconcile journey­ ing to Rome with the stabilitas required by their calling? Aobess Eangyth, 53 Anglo-Saxon Missionaries, 109. 54 Boniface's reasoning recalls the flight from the world expressed in the movement to the desert which began in the fourth century: *It would seem to me better, if you can in no wise have freedom and a quiet mind at home on account of worldly men that you should obtain freedom of contemplation by means of a pilgrimage.，Boniface, XI乂■ 55 Anglo-Saxon Missionaries, 133. 36 See the Life o f Boniface in Anglo-Saxon Missionaries, 38, and the Hodoeporicon o f St Willibald which speaks of the 'grievous perils of the sea and the manifold difficulties of travel in a foreign land'. Anglo-Saxon Missionaries, 158. 57 See Chapter 3. Cited Webb (1999), 31. M W. Stokei and J. StrHchiin, Thmmrun Paltohtbernicus, 11.296. Cited Hughes (1959), 316.

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‘abandon his native country and to accompany him as a pilgrim to foreign parts ' . 44 W illibald's motive was to detach his father Trom the pleasures o f the world, from the delights o f earth and from the false prosperity o f wealth*. After a year in Rome, Willibald desired to go on pilgrimage (to a more remote and less well-known place ' . 45 The detailed account which he appears to have dictated to Huneberc is the only extant eighth-century narrative o f a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, packed with geographical, historical and devotional information. The introduction stresses that Willibald saw the ‘very spot where the holy cross of our Lord was found’ （ 165) and the ‘very hill whence our Lord ascended into heaven’ （ 167). N ot only did the English adopt with enthusiasm the cults o f foreign saints, visiting their shrines and acquiring their relics; they also lost little time in establishing saints and m artyrs o f their own .46 The tomb o f Alban, a British m artyr o f the Rom an period, was venerated in the time o f Bede and the cult o f Oswald, a prototypical Anglo-Saxon saint and hero, developed rapidly, with healings reported from places sanctified by association with him .47 Healings were expected of saints, both before and after their deaths: healings from sickness and release from the penalties o f sin. Colum ba is said to have brought healing to a m an who touched the hem o f his cloak .48 Bede's Life o f Cuthbert relates a number o f healings brought about through contact with the sa in ts relics (Chapters 43-6) and A lcuin^ Life o f Willibrord tells how penitents, chains were broken at the sa in ts tom b .49 As part o f the propaga­ tion o f such cults, saints 5 Lives were produced both in poetry and prose . 50 The cult o f the Cross, stimulated by A rculf's De Locis Sanctis, by the *discovery, o f a fragment o f the true cross in Rome in 701 and by later gifts o f relics to Alfred and iö th e lsta n , 51 was influential in the creation o f Elene and the 〇 ƒ 认ど ベ Fierce/// アXII urges its audience:

holiness ’ . 53 N or were pilgrimages always considered wise or profitable, especially those which involved long and dangerous journeys. Although Boniface himself encouraged Abbess Bugga to consider the time for contem plation which a pilgrimage to Rome would bring , 54 he also wrote to C uthbert, Archbishop o f Canterbury, advising the English Church authorities

we sculon beran usse reliquias ymb ure land, J?a medeman Cristes rodetacen ]>e we Cristes mael nemnaö. . . . Eac we sculon heran oSre halige reliquias, J?aet syndon haligra manna lafe, hyra feaxes oÖÖe hyra lices dal o60e hrsegles.52 and Homily XX encourages visits to snrines.

N ot all relics, however, were accepted at face value. The correspondence o f Boniface includes a letter which he wrote to the pope, alerting him to the character o f a purveyor o f *relics o f extraordinary but rather suspect u Anglo-Saxon Missionaries, 157. 4S Anglo-Saxon Missionaries, 159. ** Sec Rollason (1989). For examples of collections of relics see the Athelstan and Leofric Donations in Anglo-Saxon Prose, 14-21. 4T Bede, Ecclesiastical History, 1H.9-13. 41 Adomnans Life o f Columba, 314. 49 Anglo-Saxon Missionaries,19. *° Colgravc (1969), 55« suggests that Felix's Hfe o/Gtithlac formed part of an attempt to make his ahrine into a place of pilgrimage. ** See Dream o f the Rood, 42-52. » VerceHi HomUies%XIM6-I7. 28 30.

102

to forbid matrons and nuns to make their frequent journeys back and forth to Rome. A great part o f them perish and few keep their virtue. There are many towns in Lom bardy and G aul where there is not a courtesan or a harlot but is oi English stock. It is a scandal and disgrace to your whole C hurch .55

Pilgrimage had always held considerable physical dangers for men and women 56 but the moral dangers outlined here were a particular threat to those religious who had renounced the world. Church councils made a num ber of attem pts to ban such journeys, especially when made by nuns. A ruling by the Synod o f Friuli, c. 795, echoes the fears voiced by Gregory of Nyssa in the fourth century :57 c . 12 . . . And at no time whatsoever shall it be permitted to any abbess or nun to go to Rome or to tour other holy places, if Satan should transform himself into an angel o f light and suggest it to them as if for the purpose o f prayer. N o one is so obtuse or stupid as to be unaw are how irreligious and reprehensible it is [for them] to have dealings with men on account o f the necessities of travel .58

Similar questions about the propriety of pilgrimages would surface again in the fourteenth century. Alongside such practical objections there were also well-worn spiritual questions which required consideration. Did geograph­ ical pilgrimage necessarily confer spiritual benefits and were the potential benefits worth the possible risks entailed? A ninth-century marginal note on an Irish m anuscript summarised the dilemma succinctly: T o go to Rome Is much trouble, little profit; The King [of heaven] whom thou seekest there, Unless thou bring Him with thee, thou wilt not find .59

How could members o f monastic orders, in particular, reconcile journey­ ing to Rome with the stabilitas required by their calling? Aobess Eangyth, 53 Anglo-Saxon Missionaries, 109. 54 Boniface's reasoning recalls the flight from the world expressed in the movement to the desert which began in the fourth century: *It would seem to me better, if you can in no wise have freedom and a quiet mind at home on account of worldly men that you should obtain freedom of contemplation by means of a pilgrimage.，Boniface, XI乂■ 55 Anglo-Saxon Missionaries, 133. 36 See the Life o f Boniface in Anglo-Saxon Missionaries, 38, and the Hodoeporicon o f St Willibald which speaks of the 'grievous perils of the sea and the manifold difficulties of travel in a foreign land'. Anglo-Saxon Missionaries, 158. 57 See Chapter 3. Cited Webb (1999), 31. M W. Stokei and J. StrHchiin, Thmmrun Paltohtbernicus, 11.296. Cited Hughes (1959), 316.

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PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

who wrote to Boniface c. 719-22 to ask whether he would advise her to travel to Rom e with her daughter Bugga ,60 acknowledged that such journeys were seen by m any as dereliction o f duty for enclosed religious:

7

We are aware that there are many who disapprove o f this am bition and discourage this form o f devotion. They support their opinion by the argument that the canons o f the councils prescribe that everyone shall remain where he is placed; and where he has taken his vows, there he shall fulfill them before G o d .61

The Wanderer and the Seafarer Reconsidered

Éam onn O Carragäin suggests that ohe of the functions o f the Ruthwell Cross 62 (on which was inscribed lines from the Dream o f the Rood) may have been to serve as a kind o f substitute for the Rome-pilgrimage and the knowledge o f the wider Church which it conferred on those who undertook \i.6i Bede himself, living in a period when journeys to Rome were not uncomm on, takes, in O C arragain's opinion,

U ton we hyegan hwaer we ham agen (Seafarer, 122)

a balanced view o f Rome pilgrimage. He thought that journeys to Rome were necessary for some so that others could stay at home in peace and get on with the life o f contem plation . . . that foretaste o f heaven celebrated in the Canon of the M ass .64

Bede, then, seems to have considered that pilgrimage to holy places, while valuable for the knowledge which it could contribute, was essentially secondary to the interior pilgrimage to which he and other monks were committed. The survey of Old English poetry and prose which I have presented indicates that the extant literature embodies a similar set of priorities, valuing pilgrimage to holy places but above all communicating the importance of the concept o f life pilgrimage to the heavenly home. The idea o f life as a pilgrimage had been absorbed deep into the spiritual consciousness o f the English: how that pilgrimage was to be expressed in terms o f time and space would prove fruitful m atter for preachers and poets to debate for centuries to come.

The theme of exile has long been recognised as an im portant component o f a num ber o f the poems usually classed as Old English (elegies,.' W hat has become clear, however, from the survey above, is the extraordinary extent to which the concepts of exile and hom eland rapidly became associated in Anglo-Saxon thought with Christian concepts of spiritual exile and the life o f pilgrimage, and the profound spiritual resonance which words such as exile, stranger, home, homeland, city and journey would have therefore contained for a contem porary audience. Setting individual poems against the usage o f the pilgrimage motif, which can be observed in other writing of the period, brings into focus aspects o f their intention and construction which may otherwise remain obscure. In the Wanderer and the Seafarer in particular it is possible to observe the creative interaction between secular and spiritual understandings of exile, the nature o f security, and the priorities which hum an beings should observe as they navigate the trials o f this world. The Wanderer and the Seafarer are similar in terms of situation, in so far as both are presented as personal accounts o f lonely exile, and in terms of resolution, in that both ultimately point to the security o f the heavenly homeland as the proper goal for hum ankind: Wei biS )?am pe him are seceS, frofre to faeder on heofonum, us eal seo faestnung stondeö. (Wanderer, 114-15)

^ On the identity of the various women named Eadburg (Bugga) who took part in correspond­ ence with Boniface see Smith (1999), 52. 61 Boniface, Letters, p. 39. M Which he dates to the second quarter of the eighth century. O Carragain (1994), 31. 6>1'So that members of a small isolated monastery would always be reminded, as long as they lived under its protecting shadow, that physical pilgrimage was unnecessary; that the best preparation for the last pilgrimage [death] was to soldier on faithful to their vow of stabilitas' O Carragéin (1994), 38. See also O Carragain (1991) and O Carragain (1997). 64 O Carragain cites Bede's comments on the labours of Benedict Biscop: he travelled to so many places beyond the sea, so that we, feasting on the all riches of saving knowledge* can remain quiet within the enclosure of the monastery and can serve Christ in confident freedom (Homilies on the Gospels, 1.132). O Carragäin (1994). 39.

104

U ton we hyegan hwaer we ham agen, ond J?onne gej?encan hu we }>ider cumen, ond we )?onne eac tilien, p xt we to moten in )?a ecan eadignesse, j?aer is lif gelong in lufan dryhtnes, hyht in heofonum. (Seafarer y 117-22)

See Frey (1963). Ooldman (1979), Old Englhh Elegies, Introduction, and Morgan (1990).

105

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

who wrote to Boniface c. 719-22 to ask whether he would advise her to travel to Rom e with her daughter Bugga ,60 acknowledged that such journeys were seen by m any as dereliction o f duty for enclosed religious:

7

We are aware that there are many who disapprove o f this am bition and discourage this form o f devotion. They support their opinion by the argument that the canons o f the councils prescribe that everyone shall remain where he is placed; and where he has taken his vows, there he shall fulfill them before G o d .61

The Wanderer and the Seafarer Reconsidered

Éam onn O Carragäin suggests that ohe of the functions o f the Ruthwell Cross 62 (on which was inscribed lines from the Dream o f the Rood) may have been to serve as a kind o f substitute for the Rome-pilgrimage and the knowledge o f the wider Church which it conferred on those who undertook \i.6i Bede himself, living in a period when journeys to Rome were not uncomm on, takes, in O C arragain's opinion,

U ton we hyegan hwaer we ham agen (Seafarer, 122)

a balanced view o f Rome pilgrimage. He thought that journeys to Rome were necessary for some so that others could stay at home in peace and get on with the life o f contem plation . . . that foretaste o f heaven celebrated in the Canon of the M ass .64

Bede, then, seems to have considered that pilgrimage to holy places, while valuable for the knowledge which it could contribute, was essentially secondary to the interior pilgrimage to which he and other monks were committed. The survey of Old English poetry and prose which I have presented indicates that the extant literature embodies a similar set of priorities, valuing pilgrimage to holy places but above all communicating the importance of the concept o f life pilgrimage to the heavenly home. The idea o f life as a pilgrimage had been absorbed deep into the spiritual consciousness o f the English: how that pilgrimage was to be expressed in terms o f time and space would prove fruitful m atter for preachers and poets to debate for centuries to come.

The theme of exile has long been recognised as an im portant component o f a num ber o f the poems usually classed as Old English (elegies,.' W hat has become clear, however, from the survey above, is the extraordinary extent to which the concepts of exile and hom eland rapidly became associated in Anglo-Saxon thought with Christian concepts of spiritual exile and the life o f pilgrimage, and the profound spiritual resonance which words such as exile, stranger, home, homeland, city and journey would have therefore contained for a contem porary audience. Setting individual poems against the usage o f the pilgrimage motif, which can be observed in other writing of the period, brings into focus aspects o f their intention and construction which may otherwise remain obscure. In the Wanderer and the Seafarer in particular it is possible to observe the creative interaction between secular and spiritual understandings of exile, the nature o f security, and the priorities which hum an beings should observe as they navigate the trials o f this world. The Wanderer and the Seafarer are similar in terms of situation, in so far as both are presented as personal accounts o f lonely exile, and in terms of resolution, in that both ultimately point to the security o f the heavenly homeland as the proper goal for hum ankind: Wei biS )?am pe him are seceS, frofre to faeder on heofonum, us eal seo faestnung stondeö. (Wanderer, 114-15)

^ On the identity of the various women named Eadburg (Bugga) who took part in correspond­ ence with Boniface see Smith (1999), 52. 61 Boniface, Letters, p. 39. M Which he dates to the second quarter of the eighth century. O Carragain (1994), 31. 6>1'So that members of a small isolated monastery would always be reminded, as long as they lived under its protecting shadow, that physical pilgrimage was unnecessary; that the best preparation for the last pilgrimage [death] was to soldier on faithful to their vow of stabilitas' O Carragéin (1994), 38. See also O Carragain (1991) and O Carragain (1997). 64 O Carragain cites Bede's comments on the labours of Benedict Biscop: he travelled to so many places beyond the sea, so that we, feasting on the all riches of saving knowledge* can remain quiet within the enclosure of the monastery and can serve Christ in confident freedom (Homilies on the Gospels, 1.132). O Carragäin (1994). 39.

104

U ton we hyegan hwaer we ham agen, ond J?onne gej?encan hu we }>ider cumen, ond we )?onne eac tilien, p xt we to moten in )?a ecan eadignesse, j?aer is lif gelong in lufan dryhtnes, hyht in heofonum. (Seafarer y 117-22)

See Frey (1963). Ooldman (1979), Old Englhh Elegies, Introduction, and Morgan (1990).

105

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

THE WANDERER AND THE SEAFARER RECONSIDERED

Both poems, therefore can be seen to tap into the essential understanding of earth as exile, life as pilgrimage, and heaven as m ankind's true home. Viewed against the rich complexity o f the pilgrimage motif, however, the chief difference in the orientation and purpose o f the two poems becomes clear: the W anderer is an involuntary exile whose story offers a perspective on life to those enduring the enforced vicissitudes of hum an experience, whereas the Seafarer provides encouragement for those who have already chosen G od’s path o f self-sacrifice, but are finding the going tough.

the companionship o f kinsmen, are all revealed in the light o f history as being tragically vulnerable to forces beyond m an's control. Even if he were to succeed in his search, such things could not in reality offer any lasting security. All earthly comforts are transient and his experience is but one example o f the greater truth that the whole world is steadily declining. His gaze therefore shifts from the horizontal to the vertical plane. While there may be no security, no lasting home on earth, there is however the prospect of com fort laid up in heaven. There, as the homilies and other poems make clear, hum an beings who turn their hearts to G od will find all the comforts which they have learned to value on earth; a sense o f belonging as citizens of heaven, a home which is eternally secure, fellow citizens with whom to share promised joys and a lord who will never forsake them. The W anderer, therefore, has faced the spiritual challenge which Adam and Eve, those first hum an exiles, have bequeathed to all their descendants: like A braham he has converted involuntary exile into a purposeful pilgrimage towards heaven .2 As has already been observed , 3 there are strong similarities between the Wanderer and the final section of Guthlac B, in which the servant laments his lost lord:

T h e W anderer a n d life pilgrim age The W anderer is presented as a m an who has lost both his lord and his place within the community and whose wanderings are caused by what are essentially hum an factors: bereavement and the desire to seek a new hum an relationship to replace that which has been lost. This could be described as purely horizontal exile as the W anderer moves across the face of the earth in search o f hum an society (23-7). Although his exile is involun­ tary, it does not appear to have any particular overtones o f penance; his experience is a reflection o f that of Adam , forced to endure the harsh tribulations o f a post-Paradisal world, rather than that of Cain the outcast, whose descendants hate the community they have forfeited. The poem lays great emphasis on the value of wisdom and the importance o f a m an containing his griefs until he has discovered a remedy. This is not simply an example o f a secular stoical approach to life but an established theme in Christian teaching. The Apostle James suggested that Christians should be slow to speak in anger or complaint (James 1:9) and the Psalmist refused to express his anger at the unfairness o f life until he had reached an understanding o f G od's purposes (Psalm 72). The clear implication, there­ fore, o f the revelation o f suffering embodied in the first part of the poem is that the speaker has resolved the problem of hum an suffering and is thus able to communicate both his own predicament and the spiritual perspective which now enables him to endure it. T hat perspective is founded upon the dual perception of the transience o f life (a key element o f the pilgrimage cluster) contained in lines 89-109 and the contrasting security to be found on heofonum,

p xr us eal seo fastnung stondeö. ( W anderer,115)

It is evident from the ubi sunt passage and the lines H er biö feoh laene, her biS freond laene, H er biS mon lane, her biS maeg lsene, eal )?is eorJ?an gesteal idel weor)?eö! (108-10)

that the objects o f his horizontal quest, a generous lord, the joys o f the hall,

106

Ellen bij? selast f?am \>t oftost sceal dreogaa dryhtenbealu, deope behyegan }>roht J^eodengedal, {?onne seo }?rag cymeö, wefen wyrdstafum. wat se )?e sceal aswaeman sarigferö, w at his sinegiefan holdne biheledne. He sceal hean )?onan geomor hweorfan. J?am bi3 gomenes wana Öe J7a earfeöa oftost dreogeö on sargum sefan. (Guthlac^ 1348-56)

The saint's servant is, so to speak, a (W anderer in the m aking5, whose final speech (though the text is incomplete at this point) hints at a life of desolation during which he will have to go through the process dem on­ strated by the Wanderer if he is at last to join his earthly lord in the heavenly home which Guthlac has entered. In this brief episode we see that it is possible for hum an grief and knowledge o f Christian life-perspectives to coexist in the same poenig U uthlac's servant is well instructed in the concept o f life pilgrimage (1076-93) and the heavenly hope to which his m aster has attained; yet his grief, at least initially, dom inates his life alone. It is, therefore, perfectly consistent for the speaker in the Wanderer to have embarked upon his enforced lonely exile with such mixed feelings and to have come to a resolution o f his situation through reflection on the world and the truths revealed by its Creator. See Chapter 1. ' See Chapter 5. 4 Woolf (1966), 38. 3

107

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

THE WANDERER AND THE SEAFARER RECONSIDERED

Both poems, therefore can be seen to tap into the essential understanding of earth as exile, life as pilgrimage, and heaven as m ankind's true home. Viewed against the rich complexity o f the pilgrimage motif, however, the chief difference in the orientation and purpose o f the two poems becomes clear: the W anderer is an involuntary exile whose story offers a perspective on life to those enduring the enforced vicissitudes of hum an experience, whereas the Seafarer provides encouragement for those who have already chosen G od’s path o f self-sacrifice, but are finding the going tough.

the companionship o f kinsmen, are all revealed in the light o f history as being tragically vulnerable to forces beyond m an's control. Even if he were to succeed in his search, such things could not in reality offer any lasting security. All earthly comforts are transient and his experience is but one example o f the greater truth that the whole world is steadily declining. His gaze therefore shifts from the horizontal to the vertical plane. While there may be no security, no lasting home on earth, there is however the prospect of com fort laid up in heaven. There, as the homilies and other poems make clear, hum an beings who turn their hearts to G od will find all the comforts which they have learned to value on earth; a sense o f belonging as citizens of heaven, a home which is eternally secure, fellow citizens with whom to share promised joys and a lord who will never forsake them. The W anderer, therefore, has faced the spiritual challenge which Adam and Eve, those first hum an exiles, have bequeathed to all their descendants: like A braham he has converted involuntary exile into a purposeful pilgrimage towards heaven .2 As has already been observed , 3 there are strong similarities between the Wanderer and the final section of Guthlac B, in which the servant laments his lost lord:

T h e W anderer a n d life pilgrim age The W anderer is presented as a m an who has lost both his lord and his place within the community and whose wanderings are caused by what are essentially hum an factors: bereavement and the desire to seek a new hum an relationship to replace that which has been lost. This could be described as purely horizontal exile as the W anderer moves across the face of the earth in search o f hum an society (23-7). Although his exile is involun­ tary, it does not appear to have any particular overtones o f penance; his experience is a reflection o f that of Adam , forced to endure the harsh tribulations o f a post-Paradisal world, rather than that of Cain the outcast, whose descendants hate the community they have forfeited. The poem lays great emphasis on the value of wisdom and the importance o f a m an containing his griefs until he has discovered a remedy. This is not simply an example o f a secular stoical approach to life but an established theme in Christian teaching. The Apostle James suggested that Christians should be slow to speak in anger or complaint (James 1:9) and the Psalmist refused to express his anger at the unfairness o f life until he had reached an understanding o f G od's purposes (Psalm 72). The clear implication, there­ fore, o f the revelation o f suffering embodied in the first part of the poem is that the speaker has resolved the problem of hum an suffering and is thus able to communicate both his own predicament and the spiritual perspective which now enables him to endure it. T hat perspective is founded upon the dual perception of the transience o f life (a key element o f the pilgrimage cluster) contained in lines 89-109 and the contrasting security to be found on heofonum,

p xr us eal seo fastnung stondeö. ( W anderer,115)

It is evident from the ubi sunt passage and the lines H er biö feoh laene, her biS freond laene, H er biS mon lane, her biS maeg lsene, eal )?is eorJ?an gesteal idel weor)?eö! (108-10)

that the objects o f his horizontal quest, a generous lord, the joys o f the hall,

106

Ellen bij? selast f?am \>t oftost sceal dreogaa dryhtenbealu, deope behyegan }>roht J^eodengedal, {?onne seo }?rag cymeö, wefen wyrdstafum. wat se )?e sceal aswaeman sarigferö, w at his sinegiefan holdne biheledne. He sceal hean )?onan geomor hweorfan. J?am bi3 gomenes wana Öe J7a earfeöa oftost dreogeö on sargum sefan. (Guthlac^ 1348-56)

The saint's servant is, so to speak, a (W anderer in the m aking5, whose final speech (though the text is incomplete at this point) hints at a life of desolation during which he will have to go through the process dem on­ strated by the Wanderer if he is at last to join his earthly lord in the heavenly home which Guthlac has entered. In this brief episode we see that it is possible for hum an grief and knowledge o f Christian life-perspectives to coexist in the same poenig U uthlac's servant is well instructed in the concept o f life pilgrimage (1076-93) and the heavenly hope to which his m aster has attained; yet his grief, at least initially, dom inates his life alone. It is, therefore, perfectly consistent for the speaker in the Wanderer to have embarked upon his enforced lonely exile with such mixed feelings and to have come to a resolution o f his situation through reflection on the world and the truths revealed by its Creator. See Chapter 1. ' See Chapter 5. 4 Woolf (1966), 38. 3

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PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

L a n d a n d sea in th e pilgrim life: th e Seafarer a n d th e O ld E nglish Exodus^ Scholars who argue for an allegorical interpretation o f the Seafarer frequently cite patristic and homiletic references to the sea in order to support their case. The fact that the conclusions which they draw from such allusions vary considerably 567 is hardly surprising, given the vast elemental character o f the image concerned and the fertile exegetical imaginations of the Fathers and subsequent preachers. M ore im portant for the study o f the Seafarer is the fact that none o f the parallels adduced corresponds closely to the p o e m / since they all equate the sea with the world in general, often focusing on the necessity o f being safe within the ship o f the Church, and identifying waves and storms with the tem ptations and uncertainties which beset the Christian. These interpretations cannot fit the context of the Seafarer where there is no particular emphasis upon the vessel in which the Seafarer voyages and the contrast is not between safety within the ship and perils without, but between a supposedly carefree existence on land and a far from com fortable life of sea-travel. The ^ o r l d 5 in the Seafarer is made up o f both land and sea and the clearest statement o f m otivation in the poem implies a profound contrast between the two states of spiritual being which they represent: gielleö anfloga,

hweteö on hwaelweg hrej?er unweamum ofer holma gelagu. For)?on me hatran sind dryhtnes dreamas ponne J?is deade lif, laene on londe. (Seafarer^ 62-6)

Here the paradoxical phrase 4deade lif' recalls the reminder given by Paul to the church at Ephesus: et vos cum essetis m ortui delictis et peccatis vestris in quibus aliquando am bulastis secundum saeculum mundi huius And you, when you were dead in your ofTences and sins wherein in time past you walked according to the course o f this world (Ephesians 2 :1 -2 )

Why, however, should spiritual death and transience be associated with the land in particular? A striking parallel to this apparent use o f land and sea to indicate spiritual status is to be found in the Old English Exodus. As Peter Lucas observes in his edition o f the poem, the Egyptians, the enemies o f 5 This section appeared in English Language Notes, XXXV (2), December 1997: 1-9. 6 See for example Smithers (1957), Smithcrs (1959); Osborn (1978); Vickre> (\982); Holton (1982).

7 This point is recognised by Anne Klinck in the introduction to her edition of the elegies, Old English Elegies^ 38.

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THE WANDERER AND THE SEAFARER RECONSIDERED

God, are referred to as Uandmenn* (179) whereas the Israelites, on their way through the desert to the Promised Land are called tsaemen, (105).8 Indeed the central section o f the poem is dom inated by what Irving calls an ‘extraordinary extended m etaphor ’， 9 which portrays the Israelites ‘sailing ， across the desert. A key to the interpretation of this unlikely image is provided by the parallel use of ^ngefolc* (142) to describe the Egyptians and ‘wrseemon’ （ 137) and ‘eöellease’ （ 139)， for the people o f Israel. The Egyptians remain in their native land; the Israelites become wanderers. The contrast, comments Lucas, im plies that the Egyptians will never em bark on the voyage to the heavenly hom e but will be confined in h e ir . 10 This implication is certainly borne out by events. In the first part o f the poem the Egyptian landm enn are apparently m ore powerful and secure than the Israelite ssemen who are on the move, facing unknown perils in obedience to the call of G od. However, the m om ent o f judgem ent (in this case the crossing o f the Red Sea) reveals who is approved by G od and who will perish. Thus the story o f the Exodus is placed firmly in the context o f the pilgrim calling o f the people of God by the Anglo-Saxon poet. Exile from Eden and alienation from G od was the common punishm ent for sin visited upon Adam, Eve and all their descendants ; 11 pilgrimage, that is a voluntary leaving of one's home, was the response subsequently required o f A braham 12 and his descendants 13 if a new relationship with G od was to be established. As we have seen, the imagery and vocabulary o f exile and pilgrimage subsequently adopted by New Testam ent writers 14 became a commonplace in patristic and homiletic m aterial , 15 and was one of the dom inant images of the Christian life used within the Anglo-Saxon C hurch . 16 O f particular interest to students of the S ea fa rer, however, is the apparently eccentric use o f sea-imagery to describe the progress o f the Israelite exiles across the desert. The fact that the people o f Israel are here identified not merely as wrasemen but as saemen, argues a strong link in the m ind o f the E x o d u s-p 〇 Qt between the concept o f being G od's obedient people on the move and seatravel. As far as I am aware, no clear patristic source for this particular 8 Exodus (1994),104. See also Cross and Tucker (1960), 125. 9 The Old English Exodus， 14.

10 Exodus, 104. 11 Genesis 3: 23-4. 12 Genesis 1 2 :1 :*And the Lord said to Abram: Go forth out of thy country, and from thy kinsmen, and out of thy father^ house, and come into the land which I shall show thee.' 13 The Apostle Paul regards Christians as spiritual descendants of Abraham. See Romans 9: 68.

14 For example 1 Peter 2: 11:*1 beseech you, as strangers and pilgrims {advenas et peregrinos), to refrain yourselves from carnal desires which war against the sou!\ which links the pilgrimage of life with moral obedience. Also Hebrews 11:8-16. 13 As in Cyprian, On Mortality^ Chapter 26: *We should reflect constantly that we have renounced the world and as strangers and foreigners {hospites et peregrinos) we sojourn here for a while.’ Cyprian, >ASee for example Bede, Ecchsiastical Historyt V.21; Blickling Homilies, XXIII; Vercelli Homilies^ XIV.

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L a n d a n d sea in th e pilgrim life: th e Seafarer a n d th e O ld E nglish Exodus^ Scholars who argue for an allegorical interpretation o f the Seafarer frequently cite patristic and homiletic references to the sea in order to support their case. The fact that the conclusions which they draw from such allusions vary considerably 567 is hardly surprising, given the vast elemental character o f the image concerned and the fertile exegetical imaginations of the Fathers and subsequent preachers. M ore im portant for the study o f the Seafarer is the fact that none o f the parallels adduced corresponds closely to the p o e m / since they all equate the sea with the world in general, often focusing on the necessity o f being safe within the ship o f the Church, and identifying waves and storms with the tem ptations and uncertainties which beset the Christian. These interpretations cannot fit the context of the Seafarer where there is no particular emphasis upon the vessel in which the Seafarer voyages and the contrast is not between safety within the ship and perils without, but between a supposedly carefree existence on land and a far from com fortable life of sea-travel. The ^ o r l d 5 in the Seafarer is made up o f both land and sea and the clearest statement o f m otivation in the poem implies a profound contrast between the two states of spiritual being which they represent: gielleö anfloga,

hweteö on hwaelweg hrej?er unweamum ofer holma gelagu. For)?on me hatran sind dryhtnes dreamas ponne J?is deade lif, laene on londe. (Seafarer^ 62-6)

Here the paradoxical phrase 4deade lif' recalls the reminder given by Paul to the church at Ephesus: et vos cum essetis m ortui delictis et peccatis vestris in quibus aliquando am bulastis secundum saeculum mundi huius And you, when you were dead in your ofTences and sins wherein in time past you walked according to the course o f this world (Ephesians 2 :1 -2 )

Why, however, should spiritual death and transience be associated with the land in particular? A striking parallel to this apparent use o f land and sea to indicate spiritual status is to be found in the Old English Exodus. As Peter Lucas observes in his edition o f the poem, the Egyptians, the enemies o f 5 This section appeared in English Language Notes, XXXV (2), December 1997: 1-9. 6 See for example Smithers (1957), Smithcrs (1959); Osborn (1978); Vickre> (\982); Holton (1982).

7 This point is recognised by Anne Klinck in the introduction to her edition of the elegies, Old English Elegies^ 38.

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God, are referred to as Uandmenn* (179) whereas the Israelites, on their way through the desert to the Promised Land are called tsaemen, (105).8 Indeed the central section o f the poem is dom inated by what Irving calls an ‘extraordinary extended m etaphor ’， 9 which portrays the Israelites ‘sailing ， across the desert. A key to the interpretation of this unlikely image is provided by the parallel use of ^ngefolc* (142) to describe the Egyptians and ‘wrseemon’ （ 137) and ‘eöellease’ （ 139)， for the people o f Israel. The Egyptians remain in their native land; the Israelites become wanderers. The contrast, comments Lucas, im plies that the Egyptians will never em bark on the voyage to the heavenly hom e but will be confined in h e ir . 10 This implication is certainly borne out by events. In the first part o f the poem the Egyptian landm enn are apparently m ore powerful and secure than the Israelite ssemen who are on the move, facing unknown perils in obedience to the call of G od. However, the m om ent o f judgem ent (in this case the crossing o f the Red Sea) reveals who is approved by G od and who will perish. Thus the story o f the Exodus is placed firmly in the context o f the pilgrim calling o f the people of God by the Anglo-Saxon poet. Exile from Eden and alienation from G od was the common punishm ent for sin visited upon Adam, Eve and all their descendants ; 11 pilgrimage, that is a voluntary leaving of one's home, was the response subsequently required o f A braham 12 and his descendants 13 if a new relationship with G od was to be established. As we have seen, the imagery and vocabulary o f exile and pilgrimage subsequently adopted by New Testam ent writers 14 became a commonplace in patristic and homiletic m aterial , 15 and was one of the dom inant images of the Christian life used within the Anglo-Saxon C hurch . 16 O f particular interest to students of the S ea fa rer, however, is the apparently eccentric use o f sea-imagery to describe the progress o f the Israelite exiles across the desert. The fact that the people o f Israel are here identified not merely as wrasemen but as saemen, argues a strong link in the m ind o f the E x o d u s-p 〇 Qt between the concept o f being G od's obedient people on the move and seatravel. As far as I am aware, no clear patristic source for this particular 8 Exodus (1994),104. See also Cross and Tucker (1960), 125. 9 The Old English Exodus， 14.

10 Exodus, 104. 11 Genesis 3: 23-4. 12 Genesis 1 2 :1 :*And the Lord said to Abram: Go forth out of thy country, and from thy kinsmen, and out of thy father^ house, and come into the land which I shall show thee.' 13 The Apostle Paul regards Christians as spiritual descendants of Abraham. See Romans 9: 68.

14 For example 1 Peter 2: 11:*1 beseech you, as strangers and pilgrims {advenas et peregrinos), to refrain yourselves from carnal desires which war against the sou!\ which links the pilgrimage of life with moral obedience. Also Hebrews 11:8-16. 13 As in Cyprian, On Mortality^ Chapter 26: *We should reflect constantly that we have renounced the world and as strangers and foreigners {hospites et peregrinos) we sojourn here for a while.’ Cyprian, >ASee for example Bede, Ecchsiastical Historyt V.21; Blickling Homilies, XXIII; Vercelli Homilies^ XIV.

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equation has been identified . 17 Its use, both in Exodus and the Seafarer could, however, be a logical development o f the broader concept of pilgrim­ age expressed in the Letter to the Hebrews, in which the patriarchs are described as dwelling in tents, symbols o f impermanence, in order that they may eventually dwell in an eternal city 'whose builder and m aker is G o d *.18 John Chrysostom saw in A braham , Isaac and Jacob models o f detachm ent from the present world:

The land and the city, therefore, can be seen to represent worldly security, com fort and enjoyment; the sea, that m ost unpredictable o f elements, symbolises commitment to travel and abandonm ent to the will of G od. This contrast is further reinforced in the Seafarer by the description o f the land-dweller as 4wlonc ond wingal 5 (29). Anne Kiinck, in her edition o f The Old English Elegies, points out that

Prim a est virtus, atque adeo universa virtus, esse in hoc m undo hospitem et peregrinum, et cum iis quae hie sunt rebus et negotiis nihil habere commune, sed ab eis pendere tam quam ab externis. The first virtue, yea the whole o f virtue is to be a stranger to this world, and a sojourner, and to have nothing in common with things here but to hang loose from them, as from things strange to us .19*

Those who have given their allegiance to this world dwell in cities, symbols o f earthly security, and enjoy all that earth has to offer; those who follow G od live in tents, symbols of impermanence, and suffer deprivation. It is possible that this understanding informs the description of the land-dweller in the Seafarer, 27-9: se J?e ah lifes wyn gebiden in burgum 严 bealosi)?a hwon, wlonc ond wingal.

The other two allusions in the Seafarer to those who live on land are also concerned with ease and comfort: Jjaet se mon ne wat him on foldan faegrost limpeS, hu ic earmcearig iscealdne sae winter wunade wrseccan lastum. (Seafarer, 12-15) J?aet se beorn ne wat, esteadig secg, hwaet \?a sume dreogaS J>e )?a wrseclastas widost leegaö. (Seafarer, 55-7)

On each occasion the point o f the reference is that the land-dweller does not comprehend the life of the seafarer. Scholars have often been reluctant to assume th at these allusions to life on land contain an element of criticism 21 yet the comparisons with Exodus would suggest that this is in fact the case. 17 See The Old English Exodus, 74. 18 Hebrews 11:8-10. See Chapter 1. John Chrysostom, Homilies on Hebrews, 473-4. See Chapter 1. 3U Burg (city, fortress) is used to translate civitas in the prose versions of the psalms in the Paris Psalter. 21 Thus Campbell (1973), 239, commenti: 'There is nothing pejorative in the picture of the man on land.' See O rton,(1991), 39-40. See slio The Seafarer, 37 n.

the word wingal, 'flushed with wine5, occurs also in Daniel 116 (pa onwoc w'ulfheort [Nebuchadnezzar], se s r wingal swaej), where it is clearly pejorative. . . . The second element, gal, ‘w anton, lascivious* certainly has a bad connotation. C f . ザ 所 如 細 / (ふ 处 洲 洲 Day ƒ 79)，meゴwgß/ (DflmW 702 and Judith 26), meodugal, -gales (Fortunes o f M en 52 and 57). In all these examples the -gal words indicate w anton self-indulgence. . . . In Seafarer, the word wingal suggests a heedless delight in earthly pleasures .22

Such ‘heedless delight in earthly pleasures’ would precisely describe the hum an being concerned only with the present transient world and hence deaf to the call to follow the pilgrim route to the heavenly city. The use o f wlonc, ‘proud ，splendid’， also probably carries negative connotations， since pride 23 has never been considered a Christian virtue. Lines 106-7 carry twin concepts, tneir message reinforced by the parallelism o f form, which summarise the contrast between believer and unbeliever. D ol bi)? se )?e him his dryhten ne ondraede]?; cymeö him se deaÖ un)?inged. Eadig biS se J?e eaJ?mod leofa)?; cymeS him seo a r o f heofonum (Seafarer, 106-7)

Urace is for the humble and true humility grows from a recognition o f the truth about God and oneself. If *the fear o f the Lord is the beginning of wisdom’ （ Psalm 1 1 0 :10)， then lack o f spiritual understanding is not only unfortunate but dangerous. Viewed from the perspective of the Scriptures and the teachings o f the Fathers, the land-dweller, in his comfortable ignorance, is not a neutral figure, but one who risks eternal condemnation. The choices represented by the seafarer and the land-dweller form part of the tradition inherited by the Anglo-Saxon Church, which can be traced from the Letter to the Hebrews, through the writings o f Augustine, Caesarius of Arles and Gregory the G reat and which saw the Christian, like the Israelite before him, as the viator,24 the one who has no continuing city, no obvious security in this world. Thus Augustine wrote: Scriptum est itaque de Cain, quod condiderit civitatem (Gen. i v . 17): Abel autem tanquam peregrinus non condidit .25

22 Old English Eiegies, 131. See also Woolf (1975), 204. 33 As in these verses from the Magnificat: '[God] hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart. He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble.* Luke 1: 51,52. Alto relevant ii Jamei 4: 6: *Ood resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble.' 34 See Ladner ¢1967), 233-9. 3, /»L, 41.437-8.

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equation has been identified . 17 Its use, both in Exodus and the Seafarer could, however, be a logical development o f the broader concept of pilgrim­ age expressed in the Letter to the Hebrews, in which the patriarchs are described as dwelling in tents, symbols o f impermanence, in order that they may eventually dwell in an eternal city 'whose builder and m aker is G o d *.18 John Chrysostom saw in A braham , Isaac and Jacob models o f detachm ent from the present world:

The land and the city, therefore, can be seen to represent worldly security, com fort and enjoyment; the sea, that m ost unpredictable o f elements, symbolises commitment to travel and abandonm ent to the will of G od. This contrast is further reinforced in the Seafarer by the description o f the land-dweller as 4wlonc ond wingal 5 (29). Anne Kiinck, in her edition o f The Old English Elegies, points out that

Prim a est virtus, atque adeo universa virtus, esse in hoc m undo hospitem et peregrinum, et cum iis quae hie sunt rebus et negotiis nihil habere commune, sed ab eis pendere tam quam ab externis. The first virtue, yea the whole o f virtue is to be a stranger to this world, and a sojourner, and to have nothing in common with things here but to hang loose from them, as from things strange to us .19*

Those who have given their allegiance to this world dwell in cities, symbols o f earthly security, and enjoy all that earth has to offer; those who follow G od live in tents, symbols of impermanence, and suffer deprivation. It is possible that this understanding informs the description of the land-dweller in the Seafarer, 27-9: se J?e ah lifes wyn gebiden in burgum 严 bealosi)?a hwon, wlonc ond wingal.

The other two allusions in the Seafarer to those who live on land are also concerned with ease and comfort: Jjaet se mon ne wat him on foldan faegrost limpeS, hu ic earmcearig iscealdne sae winter wunade wrseccan lastum. (Seafarer, 12-15) J?aet se beorn ne wat, esteadig secg, hwaet \?a sume dreogaS J>e )?a wrseclastas widost leegaö. (Seafarer, 55-7)

On each occasion the point o f the reference is that the land-dweller does not comprehend the life of the seafarer. Scholars have often been reluctant to assume th at these allusions to life on land contain an element of criticism 21 yet the comparisons with Exodus would suggest that this is in fact the case. 17 See The Old English Exodus, 74. 18 Hebrews 11:8-10. See Chapter 1. John Chrysostom, Homilies on Hebrews, 473-4. See Chapter 1. 3U Burg (city, fortress) is used to translate civitas in the prose versions of the psalms in the Paris Psalter. 21 Thus Campbell (1973), 239, commenti: 'There is nothing pejorative in the picture of the man on land.' See O rton,(1991), 39-40. See slio The Seafarer, 37 n.

the word wingal, 'flushed with wine5, occurs also in Daniel 116 (pa onwoc w'ulfheort [Nebuchadnezzar], se s r wingal swaej), where it is clearly pejorative. . . . The second element, gal, ‘w anton, lascivious* certainly has a bad connotation. C f . ザ 所 如 細 / (ふ 处 洲 洲 Day ƒ 79)，meゴwgß/ (DflmW 702 and Judith 26), meodugal, -gales (Fortunes o f M en 52 and 57). In all these examples the -gal words indicate w anton self-indulgence. . . . In Seafarer, the word wingal suggests a heedless delight in earthly pleasures .22

Such ‘heedless delight in earthly pleasures’ would precisely describe the hum an being concerned only with the present transient world and hence deaf to the call to follow the pilgrim route to the heavenly city. The use o f wlonc, ‘proud ，splendid’， also probably carries negative connotations， since pride 23 has never been considered a Christian virtue. Lines 106-7 carry twin concepts, tneir message reinforced by the parallelism o f form, which summarise the contrast between believer and unbeliever. D ol bi)? se )?e him his dryhten ne ondraede]?; cymeö him se deaÖ un)?inged. Eadig biS se J?e eaJ?mod leofa)?; cymeS him seo a r o f heofonum (Seafarer, 106-7)

Urace is for the humble and true humility grows from a recognition o f the truth about God and oneself. If *the fear o f the Lord is the beginning of wisdom’ （ Psalm 1 1 0 :10)， then lack o f spiritual understanding is not only unfortunate but dangerous. Viewed from the perspective of the Scriptures and the teachings o f the Fathers, the land-dweller, in his comfortable ignorance, is not a neutral figure, but one who risks eternal condemnation. The choices represented by the seafarer and the land-dweller form part of the tradition inherited by the Anglo-Saxon Church, which can be traced from the Letter to the Hebrews, through the writings o f Augustine, Caesarius of Arles and Gregory the G reat and which saw the Christian, like the Israelite before him, as the viator,24 the one who has no continuing city, no obvious security in this world. Thus Augustine wrote: Scriptum est itaque de Cain, quod condiderit civitatem (Gen. i v . 17): Abel autem tanquam peregrinus non condidit .25

22 Old English Eiegies, 131. See also Woolf (1975), 204. 33 As in these verses from the Magnificat: '[God] hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart. He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble.* Luke 1: 51,52. Alto relevant ii Jamei 4: 6: *Ood resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble.' 34 See Ladner ¢1967), 233-9. 3, /»L, 41.437-8.

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Scripture tells us that Cain founded a city, whereas Abel, as a pilgrim, did not found one. (City o f God, X V .1)

Christian viator became in Anglo-Saxon thought a Christian seafarer. Such an allegorical interpretation does not exclude the possibility that this particular pilgrim through life may also have been a literal peregrinus in the Irish tradition , 31 who chose to live out the m etaphor by placing himself literally at the disposal o f G od and the currents o f the sea.

The message was reiterated by Caesarius o f Arles:26 Peregrini esse debemus in hoc saeculo, ut cives esse mereamur in caelo. Qui am at m undum , et civis esse vult in mundo, partem non habet in caelo; in hoc enim probam us, quod peregrini sumus, si patriam desideram us .26 We ought to be pilgrims in this world, in order that we may deserve to be citizens in heaven. He who loves the world and wishes to be a citizen in the world has no place in heaven; for by this we prove that we are pilgrims, if we long for our hom eland .27

Gregory the Great, whose writings profoundly influenced the Anglo-Saxon Church, wrote: Quis autem in hoc m undo peregrinatur populus, nisi qui ad sortem electorum currens, habere se patriam novit in coelestibus; et tanto magis se illic sperat invenire propria, quanto hie cuncta quae praetereunt esse a se deputat aliena ?28 But w hat People is 4on travel* in this world, but that which hastening to the inheritance o f the Elect knows well that it has its native country in the heavenly world, and expects that it will there find its own the more, in proportion as here it reckons all things that pass away to be unconnected with itself?29

This is the view o f life held by the speaker in the Seafarer. He is aware o f the delights o f creation but knows that they can become distractions. Signs of spring are for him also signs o f the world's progress towards final dissolu­ tion: Bearwas blostmum nimaS, byrig faegriaö, wongas wlitigiaS, woruld onetteS. (Seafarer, 48-9)

He m ust renounce the transient joys o f life on land in order to seek the eternal joys o f heaven: U ton we hyegan hwaer we ham agen, and J?onne gej?encan hu we J?ider cumen. (Seafarer, 117-18)

In both the Old English Exodus and the Seafarer^ therefore, land and sea can be seen to be imbued with considerable spiritual significance, the former representing worldly joys and security, the latter signifying abandonm ent to the will o f God. Such, according to the Fathers, was the choice facing all who would follow the way o f Christ.30 In allegorical terms it seems that the Sermones, p. 618. See Chapter 2. 27 Caesarius of Arles, Sermons, p. 328. PLt 76.577. n Gregory the Great, Morals in Job%XVIII. w For example, Caesarius of Arles; *lf a man seeks happiness in the world he will not possess it in heaven.1StTmon^ 1S1. 112

T o be a p ilg rim ,: th e S ea fa rer a n d th e psalm ist M ost recent scholarship has concluded that the Old English poem known as the Seafarer describes the experience of a pilgrim, though opinions remain divided on the question o f whether th at pilgrimage is to be understood literally ,32 figuratively ,33 or on both levels a t once . 34 This consensus, however, still leaves a num ber o f the poem ’s difficulties unresolved, particularly those o f its structure, genre and tone. Is the structure o f the Seafarer th at of a homily, with exemplum followed by exhortation? Do the apparently sudden shifts in m ood reflect different speakers, as was once suggested , 35 or a single speaker reflecting on past emotions? Can the expressions o f misery and of apparent envy of those whose life is less arduous really be consistent with the life o f a Christian pilgrim committed to serving God? O r is the speaker perhaps a reluctant traveller, a penitent sentenced to compulsory exile as a consequence o f committing a particular sin ? 36 Various attem pts have been made to fit the Seafarer into a genre which would make sense o f its apparent inconsistencies. Thus, for example, two editors o f the poem, Ida G ordon 37 and Anne L. Klinck , 38 regard it as an elegy; Rosemary W oolf argues that it belongs to the genre o f planctus^9 and John C. Shields considers it a m editation Yet, although they may have contributed to the content o f the poem, none of these forms entirely solves the problems of structure and tone outlined above. There is, however, another possible source, curiously neglected in Seafarer scholarship, which would at once supply a model for the pattern o f experience described in the poem and demonstrate how such varied emotions could be consistent with the life o f one living as a spiritual pilgrim in the world. T hat source is the Book of Psalms, that m ost familiar and pervasive o f influences in the life of 31 Thus the Irish peregrinU described in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle entry for 891, who came to King Alfred in a boat without any oars: forponpe hi woldonfor Godes lufan on elpiodignesse beon, hi ne rohton hwmr ('they wished for the love of God to be on pilgrimage, they cared not where)*. Two Saxon Chronicles Parallel^ Ï-82. 32 Whitelock(1950). 33 Ehrismann (1909); Amgart (Anderson) (1937); Smithers (1957), (1959). 34 Pope (1974). 35 Suggested by (among others) Pope (1965) who later withdrew the theory in Pope (1974). 36 Vickrey (1982).

37 The Seafarer. 31 The Old Engiish Eitgits. M Woolf (1973). MShield« (1980),

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

THE WANDERER AND THE SEAFARER RECONSIDERED

Scripture tells us that Cain founded a city, whereas Abel, as a pilgrim, did not found one. (City o f God, X V .1)

Christian viator became in Anglo-Saxon thought a Christian seafarer. Such an allegorical interpretation does not exclude the possibility that this particular pilgrim through life may also have been a literal peregrinus in the Irish tradition , 31 who chose to live out the m etaphor by placing himself literally at the disposal o f G od and the currents o f the sea.

The message was reiterated by Caesarius o f Arles:26 Peregrini esse debemus in hoc saeculo, ut cives esse mereamur in caelo. Qui am at m undum , et civis esse vult in mundo, partem non habet in caelo; in hoc enim probam us, quod peregrini sumus, si patriam desideram us .26 We ought to be pilgrims in this world, in order that we may deserve to be citizens in heaven. He who loves the world and wishes to be a citizen in the world has no place in heaven; for by this we prove that we are pilgrims, if we long for our hom eland .27

Gregory the Great, whose writings profoundly influenced the Anglo-Saxon Church, wrote: Quis autem in hoc m undo peregrinatur populus, nisi qui ad sortem electorum currens, habere se patriam novit in coelestibus; et tanto magis se illic sperat invenire propria, quanto hie cuncta quae praetereunt esse a se deputat aliena ?28 But w hat People is 4on travel* in this world, but that which hastening to the inheritance o f the Elect knows well that it has its native country in the heavenly world, and expects that it will there find its own the more, in proportion as here it reckons all things that pass away to be unconnected with itself?29

This is the view o f life held by the speaker in the Seafarer. He is aware o f the delights o f creation but knows that they can become distractions. Signs of spring are for him also signs o f the world's progress towards final dissolu­ tion: Bearwas blostmum nimaS, byrig faegriaö, wongas wlitigiaS, woruld onetteS. (Seafarer, 48-9)

He m ust renounce the transient joys o f life on land in order to seek the eternal joys o f heaven: U ton we hyegan hwaer we ham agen, and J?onne gej?encan hu we J?ider cumen. (Seafarer, 117-18)

In both the Old English Exodus and the Seafarer^ therefore, land and sea can be seen to be imbued with considerable spiritual significance, the former representing worldly joys and security, the latter signifying abandonm ent to the will o f God. Such, according to the Fathers, was the choice facing all who would follow the way o f Christ.30 In allegorical terms it seems that the Sermones, p. 618. See Chapter 2. 27 Caesarius of Arles, Sermons, p. 328. PLt 76.577. n Gregory the Great, Morals in Job%XVIII. w For example, Caesarius of Arles; *lf a man seeks happiness in the world he will not possess it in heaven.1StTmon^ 1S1. 112

T o be a p ilg rim ,: th e S ea fa rer a n d th e psalm ist M ost recent scholarship has concluded that the Old English poem known as the Seafarer describes the experience of a pilgrim, though opinions remain divided on the question o f whether th at pilgrimage is to be understood literally ,32 figuratively ,33 or on both levels a t once . 34 This consensus, however, still leaves a num ber o f the poem ’s difficulties unresolved, particularly those o f its structure, genre and tone. Is the structure o f the Seafarer th at of a homily, with exemplum followed by exhortation? Do the apparently sudden shifts in m ood reflect different speakers, as was once suggested , 35 or a single speaker reflecting on past emotions? Can the expressions o f misery and of apparent envy of those whose life is less arduous really be consistent with the life o f a Christian pilgrim committed to serving God? O r is the speaker perhaps a reluctant traveller, a penitent sentenced to compulsory exile as a consequence o f committing a particular sin ? 36 Various attem pts have been made to fit the Seafarer into a genre which would make sense o f its apparent inconsistencies. Thus, for example, two editors o f the poem, Ida G ordon 37 and Anne L. Klinck , 38 regard it as an elegy; Rosemary W oolf argues that it belongs to the genre o f planctus^9 and John C. Shields considers it a m editation Yet, although they may have contributed to the content o f the poem, none of these forms entirely solves the problems of structure and tone outlined above. There is, however, another possible source, curiously neglected in Seafarer scholarship, which would at once supply a model for the pattern o f experience described in the poem and demonstrate how such varied emotions could be consistent with the life o f one living as a spiritual pilgrim in the world. T hat source is the Book of Psalms, that m ost familiar and pervasive o f influences in the life of 31 Thus the Irish peregrinU described in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle entry for 891, who came to King Alfred in a boat without any oars: forponpe hi woldonfor Godes lufan on elpiodignesse beon, hi ne rohton hwmr ('they wished for the love of God to be on pilgrimage, they cared not where)*. Two Saxon Chronicles Parallel^ Ï-82. 32 Whitelock(1950). 33 Ehrismann (1909); Amgart (Anderson) (1937); Smithers (1957), (1959). 34 Pope (1974). 35 Suggested by (among others) Pope (1965) who later withdrew the theory in Pope (1974). 36 Vickrey (1982).

37 The Seafarer. 31 The Old Engiish Eitgits. M Woolf (1973). MShield« (1980),

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THE WANDERER AND THE SEAFARER RECONSIDERED

the medieval Christian, used constantly in worship and alm ost certainly memorised in part or as a whole by anyone possessed o f the degree o f Christian instruction dem onstrated in this poem.41 Deeply woven into Anglo-Saxon spirituality, the Psalms not only offer a model more funda­ mental and accessible than some o f those suggested elsewhere, but contain patterns o f spiritual and emotional expression markedly similar to that found in the Seafarer. It is to the Psalms, I would therefore suggest, that the Seafarer owes much o f its structure, tone and content and it is in the Psalms that answers to some o f its problems may be found. The Psalms have long been associated in Christian tradition with both literal and m etaphorical pilgrimage.42 The Psalms of Ascent (119-33) were originally designed to provide com fort and inspiration for Jewish pilgrims bound for Jerusalem, and the whole Psalter was adopted as a channel o f expression for the Christian believer bent on seeking heaven. Thus the words o f Psalm 119: 5 -6:43

life of spiritual pilgrimage and thus constantly seeking to interpret and endure the tribulations o f daily life in a fallen world. During the early centuries o f the Church the Psalms came to hold a unique place in individual and corporate devotion, an emphasis handed on to the Anglo-Saxon Church by both Rom an and Celtic missionaries .46 A round the end of the fourth century John Chrysostom had testified to the pre-eminent role of the Psalms in Christian education: *0 marvellous wonder! M any who have made but little progress in literature, m any who have scarcely mastered its first principles, have the Psalter by h eart / 47 The early m onks o f Egypt had practised constant repetition o f and m editation upon the Psalms , 48 a custom imitated by Celtic Christianity and dem onstrated, according to Bede, in the lives o f both Aidan 49 and C uthbert . 50 Bede also notes the priority accorded to the use o f the Psalter by Augustine o f C anterbury and Gregory the G reat 51 and Benedicta W ard comments that for Bede himself *the knowledge o f the Psalter by heart was natural, one psalm learned and repeated after another: in this he and Ceolfrith were typical rather than exceptional ’ . 52 The Psalter was, moreover, not only a devotional but also an educational tool; memoris­ ing the psalms was one of the early tasks set for pupils in Anglo-Saxon monastic schools . 53 The Christian Latin poems with which the Seafarer and other Old English elegies are com pared could have been accessed only by using a knowledge o f Latin gained by first memorising the Psalms. It is also noteworthy th at the Psalms have transferred successfully from culture to culture precisely because they not only express praise to G od but also give a voice to the individual believer oppressed by trouble, doubt, fear and frustration. In his Enarrationes in Psalmos, a comm entary known to Bede, 54 Augustine o f Hippo encouraged his audience to enter into such expressions of feeling:

heu me quod incolatus meus prolongus est habitaui cum habitantibus Caedar m ultum incola fuit anim a mea W oe is me, that my sojourning is prolonged! I have dwelt with the inhabitants o f Cedar, my soul long hath been a sojourner.

were interpreted by Jerome as the cry o f the metaphorical pilgrim, ready to turn from earthly pleasures in search o f God: ‘ “Woe is me that my sojourn is prolonged!” This is the plaint of the lover o f Christ who wants nothing of the body, who is detached from the world and longs for heaven.'44 The Psalter, therefore, was a book eminently suited to pilgrims. It is noteworthy that Bede’s account o f the conversion o f Egbert to a life of literal exile couples his commitment to peregrinatio pro amore Dei with a second vow to recite the entire Psalter every day.45 If the Psalms were an essential tool for the literal exile, they were also an indispensable guide for the Christian committed to a

Si orat Psalmus, orate; et si gemit, gemite; et si gratulatur, gaudete; et si sperat, sperate; et si timet, timete. Omnia enim quae hie conscripta sunt, speculum nostra sunt .55 If the Psalm prays, you pray; and if it laments, you lament; if it rejoices, you rejoice, and if it hopes, you hope; if it fears, you fear. F or all things written Gere are our m irror .56

41 *The Psalter served not only as the daily text in the recital of the monastic hours and in the liturgy but, because of that central position, also became both the educational primer and the most studied text of the Middle Ages.' Brown (1999), 3. 42 It is interesting to note that the First Epistle of Peter, another book of the Bible particularly associated with the concept of life as a pilgrimage, also contains in its fifth chapter a number of ideas which appear in conjunction in the Seafarer: exhortation to resist the devil(9, Seafarer, 76) and exercise humility (6, Seafarer, 107); acknowledgement of the suffering required of Christians and the promise that God will provide grace (9-10, Seafarer, 107) and steadfastness (10, Seafarer, 108). Andrew Galloway (1988) notes that this passage is found in two tenthcentury English manuscripts of the Rule o f St Benedict but does not relate it to the references to these virtues in the Seafarer. 41 The text used in this section is that of the Roman Psalter (1953), that most likely to have been used in England at the time in question. I am grateful to Dr Richard Marsden for advice on this point. 44 Jerome« Homilies, vol. II. 4!, Bede, Ecclesiastical History, 111,27.

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46 See Lamb (1962). 47 De Poenit. Hom.V\. Cited Lamb (1962), 30. 48 Chitty (1966), 73, cites the exhortation of the Palestinian monk Epiphanius (367-403): The true monk should have prayer and psalmody in his heart without ceasing.' See also McKinnon (1999). w Bede, Ecclesiastical History,111.5. 50 Life o f Cuthbert, Chapters 5,16 in Age o f Bede. s, Bede, Ecclesiastical History^ 1.26, 27. 52 Ward (1991),5. 51 See Lapidge (1986b), 5-6. 54 Laistncr (1935). 237 -66. S) PL, 36. Enarratlo tn P,wlmum XXX, Sermo III. M

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On the Psalms, vol.

11.44.

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the medieval Christian, used constantly in worship and alm ost certainly memorised in part or as a whole by anyone possessed o f the degree o f Christian instruction dem onstrated in this poem.41 Deeply woven into Anglo-Saxon spirituality, the Psalms not only offer a model more funda­ mental and accessible than some o f those suggested elsewhere, but contain patterns o f spiritual and emotional expression markedly similar to that found in the Seafarer. It is to the Psalms, I would therefore suggest, that the Seafarer owes much o f its structure, tone and content and it is in the Psalms that answers to some o f its problems may be found. The Psalms have long been associated in Christian tradition with both literal and m etaphorical pilgrimage.42 The Psalms of Ascent (119-33) were originally designed to provide com fort and inspiration for Jewish pilgrims bound for Jerusalem, and the whole Psalter was adopted as a channel o f expression for the Christian believer bent on seeking heaven. Thus the words o f Psalm 119: 5 -6:43

life of spiritual pilgrimage and thus constantly seeking to interpret and endure the tribulations o f daily life in a fallen world. During the early centuries o f the Church the Psalms came to hold a unique place in individual and corporate devotion, an emphasis handed on to the Anglo-Saxon Church by both Rom an and Celtic missionaries .46 A round the end of the fourth century John Chrysostom had testified to the pre-eminent role of the Psalms in Christian education: *0 marvellous wonder! M any who have made but little progress in literature, m any who have scarcely mastered its first principles, have the Psalter by h eart / 47 The early m onks o f Egypt had practised constant repetition o f and m editation upon the Psalms , 48 a custom imitated by Celtic Christianity and dem onstrated, according to Bede, in the lives o f both Aidan 49 and C uthbert . 50 Bede also notes the priority accorded to the use o f the Psalter by Augustine o f C anterbury and Gregory the G reat 51 and Benedicta W ard comments that for Bede himself *the knowledge o f the Psalter by heart was natural, one psalm learned and repeated after another: in this he and Ceolfrith were typical rather than exceptional ’ . 52 The Psalter was, moreover, not only a devotional but also an educational tool; memoris­ ing the psalms was one of the early tasks set for pupils in Anglo-Saxon monastic schools . 53 The Christian Latin poems with which the Seafarer and other Old English elegies are com pared could have been accessed only by using a knowledge o f Latin gained by first memorising the Psalms. It is also noteworthy th at the Psalms have transferred successfully from culture to culture precisely because they not only express praise to G od but also give a voice to the individual believer oppressed by trouble, doubt, fear and frustration. In his Enarrationes in Psalmos, a comm entary known to Bede, 54 Augustine o f Hippo encouraged his audience to enter into such expressions of feeling:

heu me quod incolatus meus prolongus est habitaui cum habitantibus Caedar m ultum incola fuit anim a mea W oe is me, that my sojourning is prolonged! I have dwelt with the inhabitants o f Cedar, my soul long hath been a sojourner.

were interpreted by Jerome as the cry o f the metaphorical pilgrim, ready to turn from earthly pleasures in search o f God: ‘ “Woe is me that my sojourn is prolonged!” This is the plaint of the lover o f Christ who wants nothing of the body, who is detached from the world and longs for heaven.'44 The Psalter, therefore, was a book eminently suited to pilgrims. It is noteworthy that Bede’s account o f the conversion o f Egbert to a life of literal exile couples his commitment to peregrinatio pro amore Dei with a second vow to recite the entire Psalter every day.45 If the Psalms were an essential tool for the literal exile, they were also an indispensable guide for the Christian committed to a

Si orat Psalmus, orate; et si gemit, gemite; et si gratulatur, gaudete; et si sperat, sperate; et si timet, timete. Omnia enim quae hie conscripta sunt, speculum nostra sunt .55 If the Psalm prays, you pray; and if it laments, you lament; if it rejoices, you rejoice, and if it hopes, you hope; if it fears, you fear. F or all things written Gere are our m irror .56

41 *The Psalter served not only as the daily text in the recital of the monastic hours and in the liturgy but, because of that central position, also became both the educational primer and the most studied text of the Middle Ages.' Brown (1999), 3. 42 It is interesting to note that the First Epistle of Peter, another book of the Bible particularly associated with the concept of life as a pilgrimage, also contains in its fifth chapter a number of ideas which appear in conjunction in the Seafarer: exhortation to resist the devil(9, Seafarer, 76) and exercise humility (6, Seafarer, 107); acknowledgement of the suffering required of Christians and the promise that God will provide grace (9-10, Seafarer, 107) and steadfastness (10, Seafarer, 108). Andrew Galloway (1988) notes that this passage is found in two tenthcentury English manuscripts of the Rule o f St Benedict but does not relate it to the references to these virtues in the Seafarer. 41 The text used in this section is that of the Roman Psalter (1953), that most likely to have been used in England at the time in question. I am grateful to Dr Richard Marsden for advice on this point. 44 Jerome« Homilies, vol. II. 4!, Bede, Ecclesiastical History, 111,27.

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46 See Lamb (1962). 47 De Poenit. Hom.V\. Cited Lamb (1962), 30. 48 Chitty (1966), 73, cites the exhortation of the Palestinian monk Epiphanius (367-403): The true monk should have prayer and psalmody in his heart without ceasing.' See also McKinnon (1999). w Bede, Ecclesiastical History,111.5. 50 Life o f Cuthbert, Chapters 5,16 in Age o f Bede. s, Bede, Ecclesiastical History^ 1.26, 27. 52 Ward (1991),5. 51 See Lapidge (1986b), 5-6. 54 Laistncr (1935). 237 -66. S) PL, 36. Enarratlo tn P,wlmum XXX, Sermo III. M

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On the Psalms, vol.

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Bede responded to this approach to the Psalms in a comm entary o f his own:

arguments to motivate G od's intervention, declarations and vows o f thanks and praise . . . the oracle o f salvation, or affirmation of answered prayer causing the worshipper's sudden change o f mood in the middle o f the psalm-prayer. The num ber o f possible com binations of these elements is inevitably large, since in the m ajority of cases it is not a question o f stereotyped prayer formulae, but of biographical (i.e. contemporary) testimonies [my italics].63

If any oppressive sorrow has come upon you, either by an injury brought on by others . . . or by an overwhelming domestic loss, or if you grieve for any reason at a l l . . . pray with psalms to the Lord lest the sadness of the world which is death swallow you up .57

Bede not only used the words of the Psalms himself in this intensely personal way but also encouraged others to do the same. H e popularised their use by composing a new kind o f prayer from them in his abbreviated psalter. . . he selected verses from each psalm which could be used as direct prayer or praise, as food for m editation, pleas for mercy, protest, contrition, or adoration and exultation .58

A similar sense o f personal identification with the experiences described in the Psalms is reflected in the introductions to the Old English prose translations o f the Paris Psalter :59 Dysne Jjriddan sealm D auid sang J?a he fleah Absalon his sunu, and seofode yrmöe to Drihtne. Swa dej> aelc pxra m anna \>c }?isne sealm singd; his sylfes earfoSu, aegSer ge modes ge lichaman, he seofaö to D rihtne .60 D avid sang this third psalm when he was lamenting Absalom his son, and he bewailed his misery to the Lord. Everyone who sings this psalm does likewise: he laments his tribulations, o f either mind or body, to the Lord [my italics ].61

N ot only in patristic writings therefore, but also in Anglo-Saxon England, the Psalms were viewed as offering a forthright, and often dram atic channel for the expression o f intensely personal experience o f the kind presented in the Seafarer. The Anglo-Saxon Church can thus be seen to have inherited and practised an approach to the Psalms which made familiarity with their content and identification with their perspectives extremely likely for anyone with the degree o f Christian understanding revealed in the Seafarer. Moreover, many psalms reveal a common sequence o f thought which is o f particular relev­ ance to the poem. M odern form criticism has identified a group of psalms, comprising a substantial proportion o f the whole, which have been desig­ nated T salm s o f Individual Lam ent , .62 Klaus Seybold describes the char­ acteristics o f this group thus: Among the com ponents o f these prayers are the invocation, the representation o f se lf (depiction o f m isery), requests, com bined with expressions o f confidence,37*4

37 Bede, Commentary on the Seven Catholic Epistles, 60-1. » Ward (1991),10. 59 These introductions are based on In Psalmorum Librum Exegesis, a work mistakenly attributed to Bede, which may be a product of seventh-century Ireland. See Bright and Ramsay (1912). 60 Liber Psalmorum^ p. 4. Alfred the Great, 54. 43 Gunkel (1967); Mowinckel (1992); Woitermann (1981).

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As Seybold indicates, not every psalm in this category follows an identical pattern but the common elements are clear and the resemblance to the Seafarer striking, particularly since it too is presented in the form o f a biographical testimony: (M 3eg ic be me sylfum soSgied wrecan*. It is useful, therefore, to compare the structure of the Seafarer with that o f the considerable num ber o f these psalms in which the speaker outlines his suffering (often commenting on the fact that those who do not fear God appear to be prospering), reminds himself o f G od's goodness, and comes to the point o f reaffirming a spiritual perspective which he then encourages himself and others to follow .64 This sequence can be observed in Psalm 72: Quam bonus deus Israhel his qui recto sunt corde mei autem paene moti sunt pedes paene effusi sunt gressus mei quia zelaui in peccatoribus pacem peccatorum uidens quia non est declinatio m orti eorum … in laboribus hominum non sunt et cum hominibus non flagellabuntur . . . et dixi ergo sine causa iustificaui cor meum et laui inter innocentes m anus meas et fui flagellatus tota die . . . existimabam ut cognoscerem hoc labor est ante me donee intrem in sanctuarium Dei et intellegam in nouissima eorum . . . in uoluntate tua deduxisti me et cum gloria adsumpsisti me quid enim mihi restat in caelo et a te quid uolui super terram . Surely G od is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. But as for me my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had almost slipped. F or I was envious o f the unrighteous, when I saw the tranquillity o f the ungodly, for they do not consider their death . . . They do not share the distress o f men nor will they be scourged like other men... Therefore in vain have I cleansed my heart and washed my hands in innocence and have been chastised all the day . . . I have thought to understand this b ut it was hard in my eyes until I went into the sanctuary o f G od, then I understood their end . . . You lead me in your counsels and afterwards receive me in glory. W hom have I in heaven but you, and with you I desire nothing [else] on earth. (Psalm 7 2 :1 -5 ,1 3 ,1 6 -1 7 , 24-5)

Here the Psalmist is addressing precisely the questions which must inevitably trouble any pilgrim: is my journey, are my sacrifices worthwhile? Why do 63 Seybold ¢1990),116. M See for example Pwlmi 3, 5 . 6, 21,24,27, 30, 31,37, 38,41,42, 50, 54, 55, 58, 60, 63,68,69, 70, 72, 76. 101,129, 142,

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

THE WANDERER AND THE SEAFARER RECONSIDERED

Bede responded to this approach to the Psalms in a comm entary o f his own:

arguments to motivate G od's intervention, declarations and vows o f thanks and praise . . . the oracle o f salvation, or affirmation of answered prayer causing the worshipper's sudden change o f mood in the middle o f the psalm-prayer. The num ber o f possible com binations of these elements is inevitably large, since in the m ajority of cases it is not a question o f stereotyped prayer formulae, but of biographical (i.e. contemporary) testimonies [my italics].63

If any oppressive sorrow has come upon you, either by an injury brought on by others . . . or by an overwhelming domestic loss, or if you grieve for any reason at a l l . . . pray with psalms to the Lord lest the sadness of the world which is death swallow you up .57

Bede not only used the words of the Psalms himself in this intensely personal way but also encouraged others to do the same. H e popularised their use by composing a new kind o f prayer from them in his abbreviated psalter. . . he selected verses from each psalm which could be used as direct prayer or praise, as food for m editation, pleas for mercy, protest, contrition, or adoration and exultation .58

A similar sense o f personal identification with the experiences described in the Psalms is reflected in the introductions to the Old English prose translations o f the Paris Psalter :59 Dysne Jjriddan sealm D auid sang J?a he fleah Absalon his sunu, and seofode yrmöe to Drihtne. Swa dej> aelc pxra m anna \>c }?isne sealm singd; his sylfes earfoSu, aegSer ge modes ge lichaman, he seofaö to D rihtne .60 D avid sang this third psalm when he was lamenting Absalom his son, and he bewailed his misery to the Lord. Everyone who sings this psalm does likewise: he laments his tribulations, o f either mind or body, to the Lord [my italics ].61

N ot only in patristic writings therefore, but also in Anglo-Saxon England, the Psalms were viewed as offering a forthright, and often dram atic channel for the expression o f intensely personal experience o f the kind presented in the Seafarer. The Anglo-Saxon Church can thus be seen to have inherited and practised an approach to the Psalms which made familiarity with their content and identification with their perspectives extremely likely for anyone with the degree o f Christian understanding revealed in the Seafarer. Moreover, many psalms reveal a common sequence o f thought which is o f particular relev­ ance to the poem. M odern form criticism has identified a group of psalms, comprising a substantial proportion o f the whole, which have been desig­ nated T salm s o f Individual Lam ent , .62 Klaus Seybold describes the char­ acteristics o f this group thus: Among the com ponents o f these prayers are the invocation, the representation o f se lf (depiction o f m isery), requests, com bined with expressions o f confidence,37*4

37 Bede, Commentary on the Seven Catholic Epistles, 60-1. » Ward (1991),10. 59 These introductions are based on In Psalmorum Librum Exegesis, a work mistakenly attributed to Bede, which may be a product of seventh-century Ireland. See Bright and Ramsay (1912). 60 Liber Psalmorum^ p. 4. Alfred the Great, 54. 43 Gunkel (1967); Mowinckel (1992); Woitermann (1981).

116

As Seybold indicates, not every psalm in this category follows an identical pattern but the common elements are clear and the resemblance to the Seafarer striking, particularly since it too is presented in the form o f a biographical testimony: (M 3eg ic be me sylfum soSgied wrecan*. It is useful, therefore, to compare the structure of the Seafarer with that o f the considerable num ber o f these psalms in which the speaker outlines his suffering (often commenting on the fact that those who do not fear God appear to be prospering), reminds himself o f G od's goodness, and comes to the point o f reaffirming a spiritual perspective which he then encourages himself and others to follow .64 This sequence can be observed in Psalm 72: Quam bonus deus Israhel his qui recto sunt corde mei autem paene moti sunt pedes paene effusi sunt gressus mei quia zelaui in peccatoribus pacem peccatorum uidens quia non est declinatio m orti eorum … in laboribus hominum non sunt et cum hominibus non flagellabuntur . . . et dixi ergo sine causa iustificaui cor meum et laui inter innocentes m anus meas et fui flagellatus tota die . . . existimabam ut cognoscerem hoc labor est ante me donee intrem in sanctuarium Dei et intellegam in nouissima eorum . . . in uoluntate tua deduxisti me et cum gloria adsumpsisti me quid enim mihi restat in caelo et a te quid uolui super terram . Surely G od is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. But as for me my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had almost slipped. F or I was envious o f the unrighteous, when I saw the tranquillity o f the ungodly, for they do not consider their death . . . They do not share the distress o f men nor will they be scourged like other men... Therefore in vain have I cleansed my heart and washed my hands in innocence and have been chastised all the day . . . I have thought to understand this b ut it was hard in my eyes until I went into the sanctuary o f G od, then I understood their end . . . You lead me in your counsels and afterwards receive me in glory. W hom have I in heaven but you, and with you I desire nothing [else] on earth. (Psalm 7 2 :1 -5 ,1 3 ,1 6 -1 7 , 24-5)

Here the Psalmist is addressing precisely the questions which must inevitably trouble any pilgrim: is my journey, are my sacrifices worthwhile? Why do 63 Seybold ¢1990),116. M See for example Pwlmi 3, 5 . 6, 21,24,27, 30, 31,37, 38,41,42, 50, 54, 55, 58, 60, 63,68,69, 70, 72, 76. 101,129, 142,

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

those who invest in this world (such as the land-dweller in Seafarer 28-9 etc.) appear to prosper, while those who obey God endure suffering? The answer comes through adopting the perspective of eternity and weighing earthly trials against the prospect of eternal security. Similarly, Psalm 101 opens with a dram atic first-person account of suffering and ends with a confident assertion o f the security to be found in God: defecerunt sicut fumus dies mei et ossa mea sicut in frixorio confrixa s u n t . . . similis factus sum pelicano in solitudine factus sum sicut nocticorax in domicilio . . . dies mei sicut um bra declinauerunt et ego sicut faenum arui tu autem Domine in aeternum permanes et memoriale tuum in saeculum sa cul i . . . initio terram tu fundasti Domine et opera manuum tuarum sunt caeli ipsi peribunt tu autem permanes et omnia sicut uestimentum ueterescent et sicut opertorium m utabis et m utabuntur tu autem idem ipse es et anni tui non deficient filii seruorum tuorum inhabitabunt ibi et semen eorum in saeculum saeculi diregetur. My days are vanished like smoke: and my bones are grown dry like fuel for the fire . . . I am become like to a pelican of the wilderness: I am like a night-raven in the house … M y days have declined like a shadow, and I am withered like grass. But thou, O Lord, endurest for ever: and thy memorial to all generations. . . In the beginning, O Lord, thou foundedst the earth: and the heavens are the works o f thy hands. They shall perish but thou remainest: and all of them shall grow old like a garment. And as a vesture thou shalt change them, and they shall be changed. But thou art always the self-same, and thy years shall not fail. The children o f thy servants shall continue to dwell here: and their seed shall be directed for ever. (Psalm 101:4, 7 ,1 2 -1 3 , 26-28, 29)

This progression from suffering to reflection on G od’s eternal attributes to reaffirmation o f faith is also markedly similar to that seen in the Seafarer. The apparent contradictions and sudden shifts of m ood which have long perplexed m odern readers o f the poem may, therefore, be explicable as the reworking o f a pattern o f spiritual reflection made familiar through constant repetition o f the Psalms in worship, public or private. I would suggest that the Seafarer is, like many o f the psalms, composed not o f two but of three sections: the statement of a problem ， a re-examination o f the speaker’s dilemma in the light o f certain spiritual perspectives, and a resolution o f his internal conflict. Thus the Seafarer opens (lines l-33a) with a vivid account o f the afflictions suffered by the speaker (the cost o f a life of obedience to God), including a sideways glance at those on land who do not share his plight. He then (lines 33b-102) voices his desire to go on journeying and examines the factors which make the prospect both fearsome and desirable,

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observing the essential transience of the world, the weakness of man, and the powerlessness of riches to help the soul. Finally (lines 103-24) he asserts the greatness o f the C reator and exhorts his audience to join him in seeking the heavenly home. In addition to providing a possible model lor the Seafarer, the Psalms may also help to explain the tone o f the poem. John Vickrey comments th at in lines 1-33 the Seafarer 'implies unm istakably th at he was weary not only in body but also in spirit' and argues that if the speaker was a pilgrim 6he might be expected to think not of his miseries but o f his joys o f the spirit 5.65 This, however, is to ignore the evidence o f the Psalms. Like those who produced the Psalms, the Seafarer is comm itted to following G od but, like them and many a believer since, he has m oments when the path o f obedience seems unbearably painful and the apparent prosperity o f the spiritually heedless hard to bear. These inevitable fluctuations in spiritual confidence help to account for the tone o f the poem without necessarily calling into question the underlying commitment of the speaker. In the Psalms, the overall context in which the doubts and fears of the speaker are voiced is one of faith and commitment. W ithin this framework it is permissible to question G od's actions and rail against present suffering and apparent injustice. The object of the exercise is to examine problems and to work towards a resolution or internal spiritual conflict in the light of G od's goodness and long-term purposes. If the Seafarer is in fact the expression o f a spiritual crisis resolved, following the model of the Psalms, then the apparently sudden and contradictory changes o f m ood become more intelligible. N o one could guess from the early verses o f Psalms 3^ 6 or 2 1 that the speaker will conclude with wholehearted expressions of confid­ ence in God, but such is their outcome. N or are expressions o f sorrow and pain confined to the seven Penitential Psalms .66 Suffering in the life o f the servant o f G od can be a consequence o f obedience as well as a punishment for sin since ‘many are the afflictions o f the righteous’ （ Psalm 33:19). It is not therefore necessary to conclude with Vickrey that the Seafarer must be 6a sinner not a pilgrim ’ .67 Thus the Psalms have a claim to be considered as a m ajor influence on the otherwise problematical sequences o f thought ,68 swift m ood changes and emotional intensity of the Seafarer. They can also, I believe, be shown to underlie much of the content o f the poem. Following Kenneth Sisam , 69 Psalm 48; 7-8 is usually cited in order to explain lines 97-102 but there 65 Vickrey (1982), 60. 66 Psalms 6, 31，37, 5 0 ,101,129, 143. 67 Vickrey (1982), 59. 68 In view of the attention devoted to the use of the connective forpon in the Seafarer, it is interesting to note its frequenl use in the prose and verse paraphrases of the Psalms contained in the Paris Psalttr (Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records, V). Sec for example Psalms 72 and 101.

w Siaam(l945).

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those who invest in this world (such as the land-dweller in Seafarer 28-9 etc.) appear to prosper, while those who obey God endure suffering? The answer comes through adopting the perspective of eternity and weighing earthly trials against the prospect of eternal security. Similarly, Psalm 101 opens with a dram atic first-person account of suffering and ends with a confident assertion o f the security to be found in God: defecerunt sicut fumus dies mei et ossa mea sicut in frixorio confrixa s u n t . . . similis factus sum pelicano in solitudine factus sum sicut nocticorax in domicilio . . . dies mei sicut um bra declinauerunt et ego sicut faenum arui tu autem Domine in aeternum permanes et memoriale tuum in saeculum sa cul i . . . initio terram tu fundasti Domine et opera manuum tuarum sunt caeli ipsi peribunt tu autem permanes et omnia sicut uestimentum ueterescent et sicut opertorium m utabis et m utabuntur tu autem idem ipse es et anni tui non deficient filii seruorum tuorum inhabitabunt ibi et semen eorum in saeculum saeculi diregetur. My days are vanished like smoke: and my bones are grown dry like fuel for the fire . . . I am become like to a pelican of the wilderness: I am like a night-raven in the house … M y days have declined like a shadow, and I am withered like grass. But thou, O Lord, endurest for ever: and thy memorial to all generations. . . In the beginning, O Lord, thou foundedst the earth: and the heavens are the works o f thy hands. They shall perish but thou remainest: and all of them shall grow old like a garment. And as a vesture thou shalt change them, and they shall be changed. But thou art always the self-same, and thy years shall not fail. The children o f thy servants shall continue to dwell here: and their seed shall be directed for ever. (Psalm 101:4, 7 ,1 2 -1 3 , 26-28, 29)

This progression from suffering to reflection on G od’s eternal attributes to reaffirmation o f faith is also markedly similar to that seen in the Seafarer. The apparent contradictions and sudden shifts of m ood which have long perplexed m odern readers o f the poem may, therefore, be explicable as the reworking o f a pattern o f spiritual reflection made familiar through constant repetition o f the Psalms in worship, public or private. I would suggest that the Seafarer is, like many o f the psalms, composed not o f two but of three sections: the statement of a problem ， a re-examination o f the speaker’s dilemma in the light o f certain spiritual perspectives, and a resolution o f his internal conflict. Thus the Seafarer opens (lines l-33a) with a vivid account o f the afflictions suffered by the speaker (the cost o f a life of obedience to God), including a sideways glance at those on land who do not share his plight. He then (lines 33b-102) voices his desire to go on journeying and examines the factors which make the prospect both fearsome and desirable,

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observing the essential transience of the world, the weakness of man, and the powerlessness of riches to help the soul. Finally (lines 103-24) he asserts the greatness o f the C reator and exhorts his audience to join him in seeking the heavenly home. In addition to providing a possible model lor the Seafarer, the Psalms may also help to explain the tone o f the poem. John Vickrey comments th at in lines 1-33 the Seafarer 'implies unm istakably th at he was weary not only in body but also in spirit' and argues that if the speaker was a pilgrim 6he might be expected to think not of his miseries but o f his joys o f the spirit 5.65 This, however, is to ignore the evidence o f the Psalms. Like those who produced the Psalms, the Seafarer is comm itted to following G od but, like them and many a believer since, he has m oments when the path o f obedience seems unbearably painful and the apparent prosperity o f the spiritually heedless hard to bear. These inevitable fluctuations in spiritual confidence help to account for the tone o f the poem without necessarily calling into question the underlying commitment of the speaker. In the Psalms, the overall context in which the doubts and fears of the speaker are voiced is one of faith and commitment. W ithin this framework it is permissible to question G od's actions and rail against present suffering and apparent injustice. The object of the exercise is to examine problems and to work towards a resolution or internal spiritual conflict in the light of G od's goodness and long-term purposes. If the Seafarer is in fact the expression o f a spiritual crisis resolved, following the model of the Psalms, then the apparently sudden and contradictory changes o f m ood become more intelligible. N o one could guess from the early verses o f Psalms 3^ 6 or 2 1 that the speaker will conclude with wholehearted expressions of confid­ ence in God, but such is their outcome. N or are expressions o f sorrow and pain confined to the seven Penitential Psalms .66 Suffering in the life o f the servant o f G od can be a consequence o f obedience as well as a punishment for sin since ‘many are the afflictions o f the righteous’ （ Psalm 33:19). It is not therefore necessary to conclude with Vickrey that the Seafarer must be 6a sinner not a pilgrim ’ .67 Thus the Psalms have a claim to be considered as a m ajor influence on the otherwise problematical sequences o f thought ,68 swift m ood changes and emotional intensity of the Seafarer. They can also, I believe, be shown to underlie much of the content o f the poem. Following Kenneth Sisam , 69 Psalm 48; 7-8 is usually cited in order to explain lines 97-102 but there 65 Vickrey (1982), 60. 66 Psalms 6, 31，37, 5 0 ,101,129, 143. 67 Vickrey (1982), 59. 68 In view of the attention devoted to the use of the connective forpon in the Seafarer, it is interesting to note its frequenl use in the prose and verse paraphrases of the Psalms contained in the Paris Psalttr (Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records, V). Sec for example Psalms 72 and 101.

w Siaam(l945).

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are many other possible echoes which, through the constant repetition o f the Psalter in Christian worship, could have become part o f the thought patterns o f the poet. As has already been indicated, a considerable num ber o f psalms contain intensely personal expressions o f anxiety, hardship and complaint similar to those voiced in the opening section o f the Seafarer. Thus the Psalmist states (Psalm 6 8 : 9):

The Psalms contain num erous reflections on the transience of life and the limitations of earthly wealth， cautionary statements which the Psalmists use to reinforce their commitment to G od. Such statements as these may well undergird 6 フー71:

alienus factus sum fratribus meis et peregrinus filiis matris meae I am become a stranger to my brethren: and an alien to the sons of my mother while the Seafarer portrays himself as ‘winemaegen bidroren’ （ 16a) and ‘ne aenig hleomaega, (25b). The Psalmist describes the pride and prosperity of those who ignore G od (Psalm 72: 3-12; 9: 4-6); the Seafarer comments (27-9): him gelyfeS lyt, se pe ah lifes wyn gebiden in burgum, bealosi)?a hwon, wlonc ond wingal, hu ic werig oft in brimlade bidan sceolde. If the desire expressed in lines 33-8, Forjjon cnyssaS nu heortan ge}?ohtas, ic hean streamas, scalty)?a gelac sylf cunnige; monaö modes lust masla gehwylce ferS to feran, }>aet ic feor heonan elJ?eodigra eard gesece. represents the speaker's reaffirmation of his commitment to G od's will, then line 47 ac a hafad longunge70 se )?e on lagu fundad may be nothing more than a description o f spiritual m otivation. Those who undertake such a voyage, aware o f the tribulations it will bring, m ust be possessed by a profound yearning for G od of the kind voiced in Psalm 83: 3: concupiuit et defecit anima mea in atria Domini cor meum et caro mea exultauerunt in Deum uiuum my soul longeth and fainteth for the courts of the Lord my heart and my flesh have rejoiced in the living God. A similar expression of desire for G od may be implicit in lines 58-62a and F. N. M. Diekstra cites Psalm 54: 7 in his discussion o f this passage :71

ne aemulatus fueris eum qui prosperatur in uia sua . . . pusillum adhuc et non erit peccator Envy not the man who prospereth in his way . . . For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be. (Psalm 36: 7,10) quis est homo qui uiuet et non uidebit mortem Who is the man that shall live, and not see death? (Psalm 8 8 : 49) In addition to the verses from Psalm 48 cited by Sisam in elucidation of the Seafarer, 97-102, there are further verses from the same psalm, reflections on the inevitability o f death even for the great and powerful, which may lie behind lines 80-96: uiderit sapientes morientes simul insipiens et stultus peribunt et relinquent alienis diuitias suas et sepulchra eorum domus eorum in aeternum tabernacula eorum in generatione et progenie inuocabunt nomina eorum in terris ipsorum he shall see the wise dying: the senseless and the fool shall perish together. And they shall leave their riches to strangers And their sepulchres shall be their houses forever. Their dwelling places to all generations: they have called their lands by their names. (Psalm 48:11,12) Significantly, a num ber o f ideas appear in similar com bination in both the Psalms and the Seafarer. Thus m editation on suffering in Psalm 76 drives the speaker to reflect on form er days, much as in the Seafarer 80ff. Again, in Psalm 145 the warning not to put one's trust in princes (3) is followed by this assertion: Beatus cuius Deus Jacob adiutor eius spes eius in Domino Deo ipsius qui fecit caelum et terram mare et omnia quae in eis sunt Blessed is he who hath the God of Jacob for his helper whose hope is in the Lord his God, who made heaven and earth and ail that things that are in them. (Psalm 145: 5, 6 ) Similarly in the Seafarer the statement

quis dabit mihi pinnas sicut columbae et uolabo et requiescam Who will give me the wings like a dove, and I will fly away and rest.

eor|?aa indryhto ealdaO and searaff, swa nu monna gehwylc geond middangeard. {Seafarer, 89-90)

70 See Swanton {Dream o f the Rood, 136 n . 126) on the spiritual significance of longunge. ” Diekstra (1971)，440.

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are many other possible echoes which, through the constant repetition o f the Psalter in Christian worship, could have become part o f the thought patterns o f the poet. As has already been indicated, a considerable num ber o f psalms contain intensely personal expressions o f anxiety, hardship and complaint similar to those voiced in the opening section o f the Seafarer. Thus the Psalmist states (Psalm 6 8 : 9):

The Psalms contain num erous reflections on the transience of life and the limitations of earthly wealth， cautionary statements which the Psalmists use to reinforce their commitment to G od. Such statements as these may well undergird 6 フー71:

alienus factus sum fratribus meis et peregrinus filiis matris meae I am become a stranger to my brethren: and an alien to the sons of my mother while the Seafarer portrays himself as ‘winemaegen bidroren’ （ 16a) and ‘ne aenig hleomaega, (25b). The Psalmist describes the pride and prosperity of those who ignore G od (Psalm 72: 3-12; 9: 4-6); the Seafarer comments (27-9): him gelyfeS lyt, se pe ah lifes wyn gebiden in burgum, bealosi)?a hwon, wlonc ond wingal, hu ic werig oft in brimlade bidan sceolde. If the desire expressed in lines 33-8, Forjjon cnyssaS nu heortan ge}?ohtas, ic hean streamas, scalty)?a gelac sylf cunnige; monaö modes lust masla gehwylce ferS to feran, }>aet ic feor heonan elJ?eodigra eard gesece. represents the speaker's reaffirmation of his commitment to G od's will, then line 47 ac a hafad longunge70 se )?e on lagu fundad may be nothing more than a description o f spiritual m otivation. Those who undertake such a voyage, aware o f the tribulations it will bring, m ust be possessed by a profound yearning for G od of the kind voiced in Psalm 83: 3: concupiuit et defecit anima mea in atria Domini cor meum et caro mea exultauerunt in Deum uiuum my soul longeth and fainteth for the courts of the Lord my heart and my flesh have rejoiced in the living God. A similar expression of desire for G od may be implicit in lines 58-62a and F. N. M. Diekstra cites Psalm 54: 7 in his discussion o f this passage :71

ne aemulatus fueris eum qui prosperatur in uia sua . . . pusillum adhuc et non erit peccator Envy not the man who prospereth in his way . . . For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be. (Psalm 36: 7,10) quis est homo qui uiuet et non uidebit mortem Who is the man that shall live, and not see death? (Psalm 8 8 : 49) In addition to the verses from Psalm 48 cited by Sisam in elucidation of the Seafarer, 97-102, there are further verses from the same psalm, reflections on the inevitability o f death even for the great and powerful, which may lie behind lines 80-96: uiderit sapientes morientes simul insipiens et stultus peribunt et relinquent alienis diuitias suas et sepulchra eorum domus eorum in aeternum tabernacula eorum in generatione et progenie inuocabunt nomina eorum in terris ipsorum he shall see the wise dying: the senseless and the fool shall perish together. And they shall leave their riches to strangers And their sepulchres shall be their houses forever. Their dwelling places to all generations: they have called their lands by their names. (Psalm 48:11,12) Significantly, a num ber o f ideas appear in similar com bination in both the Psalms and the Seafarer. Thus m editation on suffering in Psalm 76 drives the speaker to reflect on form er days, much as in the Seafarer 80ff. Again, in Psalm 145 the warning not to put one's trust in princes (3) is followed by this assertion: Beatus cuius Deus Jacob adiutor eius spes eius in Domino Deo ipsius qui fecit caelum et terram mare et omnia quae in eis sunt Blessed is he who hath the God of Jacob for his helper whose hope is in the Lord his God, who made heaven and earth and ail that things that are in them. (Psalm 145: 5, 6 ) Similarly in the Seafarer the statement

quis dabit mihi pinnas sicut columbae et uolabo et requiescam Who will give me the wings like a dove, and I will fly away and rest.

eor|?aa indryhto ealdaO and searaff, swa nu monna gehwylc geond middangeard. {Seafarer, 89-90)

70 See Swanton {Dream o f the Rood, 136 n . 126) on the spiritual significance of longunge. ” Diekstra (1971)，440.

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Micel bij? se meotudes egsa, for)>on hi seo molde oncyrreÖ; se gesta^elade sti)?e grundas, eor)>an sceatas ond uprodor. (Seafarer, 103-5)

Condem nation in line 106 of the folly o f the man who does not fear G od (com pare Psalm 5 2:1: D ixit insipiens in corde suo non est Deus, T h e fool said in his heart “There is no G od” ’） is succeeded 72 by a section which makes reference to a num ber o f Christian virtues including humility, steadfastness, faith, self-control, faithfulness to vows and purity: D ol bij> se J?e him his dryhten ne ondraedej?; cymeS him se 3ea9 unhinged. Eadig biö se >e ea]>mod leofa)?; cymeS him seo ar o f heofonum; meotod him J?aet mod gesta)7elad, for)?on he in his meahte gelyfeS. Stieran mon sceal strongum mode, ond on sta>elum healdan ， ond gewis werum wisum claene. (Seafarer^ 106-10)

THE WANDERER AND THE SEAFARER RECONSIDERED

Anglo-Saxon Church make it not only an appropriate but also a credible source for the Seafarer. Recognition o f the evident influence of the Psalms upon the poem, both in shaping m any aspects of vocabulary and content and in supplying a model of spiritual reflection and submission, makes possible the resolution o f a num ber o f the poem's difficulties, particularly those o f structure and tone. If the thought-patterns o f the Seafarer echo those o f the psalmist, then the integrity o f the surviving text is vindicated and the content of the poem established as entirely consistent with the life of a Christian pilgrim, whether the pilgrimage concerned is literal, m etaphorical or both.

These are all qualities held up for emulation in the Psalms: cor m undum crea in me Deus et spiritum rectum innoua in uisceribus meis create a clean heart in me, O G od and renew a steadfast spirit within me (Psalm 50: 12)

and commended to those who would seek G od’s presence: quis ascendit in montem Domini aut quis stabit in loco sancto eius innocens manibus et m undo corde qui non accepit in uano anim am suam nec iurauit in dolo proximo suo W ho shall ascend unto the m ountain o f the Lord; or who shall stand in his holy place? The innocent in hands and clean o f heart; who hath not taken his his soul in vain nor sworn deceitfully to his neighbour. (Psalm 23: 3-6)

Is it n o t possible that the presence o f these many verses o f different psalms carefully woven into the text o f the Seafarer owes something to the abbreviated form o f the Psalter, initiated by Bede, which contained a selection o f verses designed to express the needs of the hum an heart? Benedicta W ard in her discussion o f Bede and the Psalter has noted that Godric, the hermit o f Finchale, used a copy o f the abbreviated Psalter and that a note attached to a D urham copy o f the Psalter suggests that it should also be used by lay people 6who have worldly business, who lie in sickness, who undertake long journeys, sail in ships or go to war; they sing this psalter assiduously and they gain thereby the heavenly kingdom *.73 The Psalter, therefore, was a book eminently suited to pilgrims. Moreover, its constant use in the liturgy and its role in shaping the spirituality o f the 72 The parallelism of form in lines 106 and 107 is strongly reminiscent of that used in the Psalms. T, Ward (1991),14.

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Micel bij? se meotudes egsa, for)>on hi seo molde oncyrreÖ; se gesta^elade sti)?e grundas, eor)>an sceatas ond uprodor. (Seafarer, 103-5)

Condem nation in line 106 of the folly o f the man who does not fear G od (com pare Psalm 5 2:1: D ixit insipiens in corde suo non est Deus, T h e fool said in his heart “There is no G od” ’） is succeeded 72 by a section which makes reference to a num ber o f Christian virtues including humility, steadfastness, faith, self-control, faithfulness to vows and purity: D ol bij> se J?e him his dryhten ne ondraedej?; cymeS him se 3ea9 unhinged. Eadig biö se >e ea]>mod leofa)?; cymeS him seo ar o f heofonum; meotod him J?aet mod gesta)7elad, for)?on he in his meahte gelyfeS. Stieran mon sceal strongum mode, ond on sta>elum healdan ， ond gewis werum wisum claene. (Seafarer^ 106-10)

THE WANDERER AND THE SEAFARER RECONSIDERED

Anglo-Saxon Church make it not only an appropriate but also a credible source for the Seafarer. Recognition o f the evident influence of the Psalms upon the poem, both in shaping m any aspects of vocabulary and content and in supplying a model of spiritual reflection and submission, makes possible the resolution o f a num ber o f the poem's difficulties, particularly those o f structure and tone. If the thought-patterns o f the Seafarer echo those o f the psalmist, then the integrity o f the surviving text is vindicated and the content of the poem established as entirely consistent with the life of a Christian pilgrim, whether the pilgrimage concerned is literal, m etaphorical or both.

These are all qualities held up for emulation in the Psalms: cor m undum crea in me Deus et spiritum rectum innoua in uisceribus meis create a clean heart in me, O G od and renew a steadfast spirit within me (Psalm 50: 12)

and commended to those who would seek G od’s presence: quis ascendit in montem Domini aut quis stabit in loco sancto eius innocens manibus et m undo corde qui non accepit in uano anim am suam nec iurauit in dolo proximo suo W ho shall ascend unto the m ountain o f the Lord; or who shall stand in his holy place? The innocent in hands and clean o f heart; who hath not taken his his soul in vain nor sworn deceitfully to his neighbour. (Psalm 23: 3-6)

Is it n o t possible that the presence o f these many verses o f different psalms carefully woven into the text o f the Seafarer owes something to the abbreviated form o f the Psalter, initiated by Bede, which contained a selection o f verses designed to express the needs of the hum an heart? Benedicta W ard in her discussion o f Bede and the Psalter has noted that Godric, the hermit o f Finchale, used a copy o f the abbreviated Psalter and that a note attached to a D urham copy o f the Psalter suggests that it should also be used by lay people 6who have worldly business, who lie in sickness, who undertake long journeys, sail in ships or go to war; they sing this psalter assiduously and they gain thereby the heavenly kingdom *.73 The Psalter, therefore, was a book eminently suited to pilgrims. Moreover, its constant use in the liturgy and its role in shaping the spirituality o f the 72 The parallelism of form in lines 106 and 107 is strongly reminiscent of that used in the Psalms. T, Ward (1991),14.

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Conclusion T hroughout this survey o f Old English poetry and prose I have sought to dem onstrate that the Anglo-Saxon Church inherited from its Rom an and Celtic roots a rich and complex range o f attitudes towards life and place pilgrimage. The understanding of life as pilgrimage, in particular, can be seen to have exercised a profound influence on the literature o f the period. The practice o f place pilgrimage strengthened bonds with other areas of the Christian world and, through the journeys o f Wilfrid, Benedict Bishop and m any others, greatly enriched the culture o f Anglo-Saxon England. Through their willingness to undertake exile as a literal interpretation of the idea o f life pilgrimage, Celtic monks and Anglo-Saxon missionaries spread the news o f the Christian faith. The cult o f the saints grew substantially and English shrines began to appear. Sometimes place pilgrimage was seen to enhance that longer journey to heaven; sometimes it was condemned as dangerous and distracting. The tensions which manifested themselves in the Bible and in the early Church can therefore also be seen to have been transferred to the Anglo-Saxon Church; in due course, they would form a vital element of the attitudes to pilgrimage manifested in Middle English literature.

P a r t I II

'Parfit Pilgrymage 5 or Merely 'Wanderyng by the Weye?? Literal and Metaphorical Pilgrimage in Middle English Literature 1

Pilgrymes and palmeres plighten hem togidere To seken Seint Jame and seintes in Rome; W enten forth in hire wey with many wise tales, And hadden leve to lyen al hire lif after. (Piers Plowman, Prologue, 46~9)23 And Jhesu, for his grace, wit me sende To shewe yow the wey, in this viage O f thilke parfit glorious pilgrymage T hat highte Jerusalem celestial. (Canterbury Tales, P arsons Prologue^ 48-51)

1 Some of the material included in the following chapters formed part of a paper read to the third Congreso International de Estudios Jacobeos - Santiago, Jerusalèn, Roma (Compostela, 1997) and published in the proceedings of the conference; Dyas (1999). 3 All quotations taken from William Langland, The Vision o f Piers Plowman. A Critical Edition of the B-text unleu othcrwlK indicated.

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Conclusion T hroughout this survey o f Old English poetry and prose I have sought to dem onstrate that the Anglo-Saxon Church inherited from its Rom an and Celtic roots a rich and complex range o f attitudes towards life and place pilgrimage. The understanding of life as pilgrimage, in particular, can be seen to have exercised a profound influence on the literature o f the period. The practice o f place pilgrimage strengthened bonds with other areas of the Christian world and, through the journeys o f Wilfrid, Benedict Bishop and m any others, greatly enriched the culture o f Anglo-Saxon England. Through their willingness to undertake exile as a literal interpretation of the idea o f life pilgrimage, Celtic monks and Anglo-Saxon missionaries spread the news o f the Christian faith. The cult o f the saints grew substantially and English shrines began to appear. Sometimes place pilgrimage was seen to enhance that longer journey to heaven; sometimes it was condemned as dangerous and distracting. The tensions which manifested themselves in the Bible and in the early Church can therefore also be seen to have been transferred to the Anglo-Saxon Church; in due course, they would form a vital element of the attitudes to pilgrimage manifested in Middle English literature.

P a r t I II

'Parfit Pilgrymage 5 or Merely 'Wanderyng by the Weye?? Literal and Metaphorical Pilgrimage in Middle English Literature 1

Pilgrymes and palmeres plighten hem togidere To seken Seint Jame and seintes in Rome; W enten forth in hire wey with many wise tales, And hadden leve to lyen al hire lif after. (Piers Plowman, Prologue, 46~9)23 And Jhesu, for his grace, wit me sende To shewe yow the wey, in this viage O f thilke parfit glorious pilgrymage T hat highte Jerusalem celestial. (Canterbury Tales, P arsons Prologue^ 48-51)

1 Some of the material included in the following chapters formed part of a paper read to the third Congreso International de Estudios Jacobeos - Santiago, Jerusalèn, Roma (Compostela, 1997) and published in the proceedings of the conference; Dyas (1999). 3 All quotations taken from William Langland, The Vision o f Piers Plowman. A Critical Edition of the B-text unleu othcrwlK indicated.

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Introduction: Continuity and Controversy Unravelling the precise significance of pilgrimage in texts such as Piers Plowman and the Canterbury Tales has long been a problem for readers of M iddle English literature. AH attem pts at interpretation have, moreover, been significantly impeded by the lack o f any thoroughgoing analysis o f the various understandings o f pilgrimage transm itted to late medieval spiritu­ ality. M y approach, therefore, has been based upon the fundamental requirement to establish the concepts inherited by medieval writers before attem pting to assess the way in which such writers chose to use them. The preceding chapters have dem onstrated that the attitudes towards pilgrimage developed during the early centuries o f the Church were subsequently incorporated into Anglo-Saxon spirituality and exercised considerable influence on the tone and content of Old English literature. These attitudes, more complex in nature and more profoundly riven by inherent tensions than literary critics have generally acknowledged, in turn formed a signific­ ant element in the spiritual inheritance o f the later Middle Ages. The concept o f the pilgrimage o f life, so clearly manifested in the writings of the early C hurch 1 and the poetry and prose o f Anglo-Saxon England , 2 surfaced in the later Middle Ages with a new vigour and, I would suggest, with a particular relevance. The Christian practice o f place pilgrimage, criticised from its very inception , 3 once again became the subject o f fierce debate. Here was a controversy which powerfully focused the spiritual concerns o f a rapidly growing pious laity, intent not only on finding a sure route to heaven but also on experiencing the presence of G od in this w orld .4 N ot only Wycliffite but also orthodox 5 voices raised doubts about the value o f place pilgrimage when set against a life o f devotion to God in the place o f one's calling. At issue here were the vexed relationship between physical and spiritual journeying, the tenuous connection o f the tangible to the eternal and the elusive link between holy places and the holy person of G od. Monastic orders, anchorites and mystics generally regarded stability , 6 not mobility, as the essential prerequisite for spiritual progress; the relics which multiplied (and travelled) throughout Christendom were often o f doubtful provenance and disputed spiritual value ;7 and, m ost telling point o f all, was not G od

equally available to those who sought him wherever they might be? These concerns inform the writings and fuel the creativity o f Middle English writers such as Langland, Chaucer, Hilton and the Pearl-poet. The aims of the chapters which follow are twofold. Firstly, there is a need to recognise th at the tensions and contradictions apparent in the use o f the pilgrimage m otif in Middle English literature are not primarily attributable to the idiosyncrasy, heterodoxy or originality o f individual writers but to factors which have always threatened the precarious harm ony between life and place pilgrimage .8 Pilgrimage in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries was not, as many com m entators tend to assume, a single universally approved religious activity comprising the visiting o f holy places, but a series o f inherited concepts, some complementary, some contradictory, with which preachers, pious lay people and poets alike wrestled. It was this rich and diverse heritage which informed the choices made by medieval writers as they selected and shaped their material and which needs to be acknowledged if we are to appreciate their work m ore fully. Secondly, I hope to dem on­ strate that an understanding of these widely varying interpretations of pilgrimage can not only offer fresh perspectives on well-known Middle English texts but also shed new light upon particular problems o f interpreta­ tion, such as the relevance of the Parsons Tale and the apparently contra­ dictory approaches to pilgrimage in Piers Plowman.

1 See Chapter 2. 2 See Chapters 5, 6, 7. ' Sec Chapter 3.

4 Sec for example Hilton, Mixed Life. See also Zacher (1976), 53ff. and Constable (1976). 5 See Owst (1961). 6 See Constable (1976). 7 See Geary (1978).

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1

See Chapter 3,

CONTINUITY AND CONTROVERSY

Introduction: Continuity and Controversy Unravelling the precise significance of pilgrimage in texts such as Piers Plowman and the Canterbury Tales has long been a problem for readers of M iddle English literature. AH attem pts at interpretation have, moreover, been significantly impeded by the lack o f any thoroughgoing analysis o f the various understandings o f pilgrimage transm itted to late medieval spiritu­ ality. M y approach, therefore, has been based upon the fundamental requirement to establish the concepts inherited by medieval writers before attem pting to assess the way in which such writers chose to use them. The preceding chapters have dem onstrated that the attitudes towards pilgrimage developed during the early centuries o f the Church were subsequently incorporated into Anglo-Saxon spirituality and exercised considerable influence on the tone and content of Old English literature. These attitudes, more complex in nature and more profoundly riven by inherent tensions than literary critics have generally acknowledged, in turn formed a signific­ ant element in the spiritual inheritance o f the later Middle Ages. The concept o f the pilgrimage o f life, so clearly manifested in the writings of the early C hurch 1 and the poetry and prose o f Anglo-Saxon England , 2 surfaced in the later Middle Ages with a new vigour and, I would suggest, with a particular relevance. The Christian practice o f place pilgrimage, criticised from its very inception , 3 once again became the subject o f fierce debate. Here was a controversy which powerfully focused the spiritual concerns o f a rapidly growing pious laity, intent not only on finding a sure route to heaven but also on experiencing the presence of G od in this w orld .4 N ot only Wycliffite but also orthodox 5 voices raised doubts about the value o f place pilgrimage when set against a life o f devotion to God in the place o f one's calling. At issue here were the vexed relationship between physical and spiritual journeying, the tenuous connection o f the tangible to the eternal and the elusive link between holy places and the holy person of G od. Monastic orders, anchorites and mystics generally regarded stability , 6 not mobility, as the essential prerequisite for spiritual progress; the relics which multiplied (and travelled) throughout Christendom were often o f doubtful provenance and disputed spiritual value ;7 and, m ost telling point o f all, was not G od

equally available to those who sought him wherever they might be? These concerns inform the writings and fuel the creativity o f Middle English writers such as Langland, Chaucer, Hilton and the Pearl-poet. The aims of the chapters which follow are twofold. Firstly, there is a need to recognise th at the tensions and contradictions apparent in the use o f the pilgrimage m otif in Middle English literature are not primarily attributable to the idiosyncrasy, heterodoxy or originality o f individual writers but to factors which have always threatened the precarious harm ony between life and place pilgrimage .8 Pilgrimage in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries was not, as many com m entators tend to assume, a single universally approved religious activity comprising the visiting o f holy places, but a series o f inherited concepts, some complementary, some contradictory, with which preachers, pious lay people and poets alike wrestled. It was this rich and diverse heritage which informed the choices made by medieval writers as they selected and shaped their material and which needs to be acknowledged if we are to appreciate their work m ore fully. Secondly, I hope to dem on­ strate that an understanding of these widely varying interpretations of pilgrimage can not only offer fresh perspectives on well-known Middle English texts but also shed new light upon particular problems o f interpreta­ tion, such as the relevance of the Parsons Tale and the apparently contra­ dictory approaches to pilgrimage in Piers Plowman.

1 See Chapter 2. 2 See Chapters 5, 6, 7. ' Sec Chapter 3.

4 Sec for example Hilton, Mixed Life. See also Zacher (1976), 53ff. and Constable (1976). 5 See Owst (1961). 6 See Constable (1976). 7 See Geary (1978).

126

1

See Chapter 3,

PLACE PILGRIMAGE IN THE LATER MIDDLE AGES

8

‘Place’ Pilgrimage in the Later Middle Ages

And thries hadde she been at Jerusalem; She hadde passed many a straunge strem; A t Rom e hadde she been, and at Boloigne, In Galice at Seint Jame, and at Coloigne. She koude muchel o f wanderynge by the weye. (Canterbury Tales, General Prologue, 463-7)1 A nd ye that seke Seynt James and seyntes o f Rome, Seketh Seynt Truthe, for he may save yow alle. (Piers Plowman, V.56-7)

The N orm an Conquest may have m arked an abrupt (if tem porary) hiatus in the development o f English as a literary language; it did not, however, materially alter the spirituality of the English Church. In the centuries following the Conquest the practice o f journeying to saints* shrines and to the Holy Land, already so well-established in Anglo-Saxon England, grew steadily in popularity , 2 fuelled by the introduction o f indulgences, the growing interest in the hum anity o f Christ and a very hum an desire to see the w orld .3 Indulgences, introduced in 1095 by Pope U rban as an incentive to prospective crusaders, had, by the late fourteenth century, became an integral p art o f place pilgrimage. Pilgrim narratives recorded the precise am ount o f remission from punishment offered in each holy place, carefully noted by conscientious pilgrims such as M argery Kempe and William W ey .4 Saints* cults blossomed and relics multiplied, partly it would seem, in response to consumer dem and . 5 A desire to understand more o f the biblical narrative and to experience, even at the remove of centuries, the events o f Christ’s N ativity， Passion and Resurrection, drew many to the Holy Land, despite the hazards of the long and difficult journey. Popular commitment to 1 For a discussion of Chaucer's presentation of the Wife of Bath see Chapter 12. 2 See Grabois (1985) on Anglo-Norman pilgrimage to the Holy Land and the growth of interest in the Holy Land during the reign of Henry I. See also Hamilton (1994), who describes the development and influence of Western pilgrimage to the Holy Land in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, Sumption (1975) and Brooke and Brooke (1984). 3 See Zacher (1976). 4 See also Capgrave, Ye Solace o f Pilgrimes, on indulgences to be gained in Rome and Fabri, Book o f the Wanderings, on thoie iivailable in Jerusalem. s See Geary (1978) and Brooke (1984).

128

place pilgrimage reached new heights and remained a central part of medieval Christianity until the very eve o f the Reform ation. Eamon Duffy notes 6plenty of evidence th at regional and local shrines, as well as the classic pilgrimages to Rome, Jerusalem and Compostela, remained the focus of devotion up to the very m om ent when they were outlawed ' . 6 Yet questions remained about the desirability, even the validity, of this practice. In this chapter I wish, therefore, not only to consider the shrines to which pilgrims travelled and the reasons which drew them there but also to examine the concerns about the practice o f place pilgrimage voiced by orthodox and heterodox Christians alike. Inform ation about pilgrimage in the period from the twelfth to the fifteenth century is derived from a num ber o f sources, direct and indirect, including itineraries, personal narratives, guidebooks, lists o f indulgences, records kept at shrines, sermons and wills, as well as government, ecclesias­ tical and legal records .7 All are necessary if a rounded picture of the practice of pilgrimage is to be obtained. Some sources, such as shrine records and collections of miracle stories, have a particular agenda and need to be interpreted with caution. There are a small number o f surviving accounts which focus on the trials and blessings experienced by particular pilgrims. These include Friar Fitzsimons from Ireland (1322-3),8 a 'Certain English­ man* (1344-5),9 Thom as Brygg (1392),10 an anonymous pilgrim who trav­ elled in the 1420s,11 M argery Kempe of Lynn, whose narrative covers the period from 1413 to 1433,12 John Capgrave, an Augustinian friar of King's Lynn who probably travelled to Rome for the Jubilee o f 1450,13 and William Wey o f Eton, who travelled to the Holy Land in 1458 and 1462.14These can be supplemented with inform ation from the accounts provided by the German nobleman Arnold von H a r ff 5 (1496-9), the Dominican friar Felix Fabri of U lm 16 and Canon Pietro Casola who travelled to Jerusalem in 1494.17 These accounts are mostly concerned with m ajor pilgrimages which involved a considerable investment o f time and resources. They need to be set alongside the more ‘everyday’ picture o f pilgrim activity, which emerges from documents, such as the legal records below, where reference to pilgrimage is usually incidental to the main task in hand yet provides valuable insights into the motives and experiences o f medieval pilgrims: 6 DufTy (1992)，191. 7 On sources see Davies (1988), Davies (1992) and Webb (1999). 8 Western Pilgrims. 9 Western Pilgrims. 10 Western Pilgrims. " See Two Pilgrim Itineraries. 12 See the Book o f Margery Kempe (cd. Windcatt). 11 Capgrave, Ye Solace o f Pilgrimes. 14 Wey, Itineraries, 15 Arnold von HarfT, Pilgrimage. 16 Fabri, Book o f the Wand^ringjt, 17 Caiolu, Pllgrtmgt to M u m m ,

PLACE PILGRIMAGE IN THE LATER MIDDLE AGES

8

‘Place’ Pilgrimage in the Later Middle Ages

And thries hadde she been at Jerusalem; She hadde passed many a straunge strem; A t Rom e hadde she been, and at Boloigne, In Galice at Seint Jame, and at Coloigne. She koude muchel o f wanderynge by the weye. (Canterbury Tales, General Prologue, 463-7)1 A nd ye that seke Seynt James and seyntes o f Rome, Seketh Seynt Truthe, for he may save yow alle. (Piers Plowman, V.56-7)

The N orm an Conquest may have m arked an abrupt (if tem porary) hiatus in the development o f English as a literary language; it did not, however, materially alter the spirituality of the English Church. In the centuries following the Conquest the practice o f journeying to saints* shrines and to the Holy Land, already so well-established in Anglo-Saxon England, grew steadily in popularity , 2 fuelled by the introduction o f indulgences, the growing interest in the hum anity o f Christ and a very hum an desire to see the w orld .3 Indulgences, introduced in 1095 by Pope U rban as an incentive to prospective crusaders, had, by the late fourteenth century, became an integral p art o f place pilgrimage. Pilgrim narratives recorded the precise am ount o f remission from punishment offered in each holy place, carefully noted by conscientious pilgrims such as M argery Kempe and William W ey .4 Saints* cults blossomed and relics multiplied, partly it would seem, in response to consumer dem and . 5 A desire to understand more o f the biblical narrative and to experience, even at the remove of centuries, the events o f Christ’s N ativity， Passion and Resurrection, drew many to the Holy Land, despite the hazards of the long and difficult journey. Popular commitment to 1 For a discussion of Chaucer's presentation of the Wife of Bath see Chapter 12. 2 See Grabois (1985) on Anglo-Norman pilgrimage to the Holy Land and the growth of interest in the Holy Land during the reign of Henry I. See also Hamilton (1994), who describes the development and influence of Western pilgrimage to the Holy Land in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, Sumption (1975) and Brooke and Brooke (1984). 3 See Zacher (1976). 4 See also Capgrave, Ye Solace o f Pilgrimes, on indulgences to be gained in Rome and Fabri, Book o f the Wanderings, on thoie iivailable in Jerusalem. s See Geary (1978) and Brooke (1984).

128

place pilgrimage reached new heights and remained a central part of medieval Christianity until the very eve o f the Reform ation. Eamon Duffy notes 6plenty of evidence th at regional and local shrines, as well as the classic pilgrimages to Rome, Jerusalem and Compostela, remained the focus of devotion up to the very m om ent when they were outlawed ' . 6 Yet questions remained about the desirability, even the validity, of this practice. In this chapter I wish, therefore, not only to consider the shrines to which pilgrims travelled and the reasons which drew them there but also to examine the concerns about the practice o f place pilgrimage voiced by orthodox and heterodox Christians alike. Inform ation about pilgrimage in the period from the twelfth to the fifteenth century is derived from a num ber o f sources, direct and indirect, including itineraries, personal narratives, guidebooks, lists o f indulgences, records kept at shrines, sermons and wills, as well as government, ecclesias­ tical and legal records .7 All are necessary if a rounded picture of the practice of pilgrimage is to be obtained. Some sources, such as shrine records and collections of miracle stories, have a particular agenda and need to be interpreted with caution. There are a small number o f surviving accounts which focus on the trials and blessings experienced by particular pilgrims. These include Friar Fitzsimons from Ireland (1322-3),8 a 'Certain English­ man* (1344-5),9 Thom as Brygg (1392),10 an anonymous pilgrim who trav­ elled in the 1420s,11 M argery Kempe of Lynn, whose narrative covers the period from 1413 to 1433,12 John Capgrave, an Augustinian friar of King's Lynn who probably travelled to Rome for the Jubilee o f 1450,13 and William Wey o f Eton, who travelled to the Holy Land in 1458 and 1462.14These can be supplemented with inform ation from the accounts provided by the German nobleman Arnold von H a r ff 5 (1496-9), the Dominican friar Felix Fabri of U lm 16 and Canon Pietro Casola who travelled to Jerusalem in 1494.17 These accounts are mostly concerned with m ajor pilgrimages which involved a considerable investment o f time and resources. They need to be set alongside the more ‘everyday’ picture o f pilgrim activity, which emerges from documents, such as the legal records below, where reference to pilgrimage is usually incidental to the main task in hand yet provides valuable insights into the motives and experiences o f medieval pilgrims: 6 DufTy (1992)，191. 7 On sources see Davies (1988), Davies (1992) and Webb (1999). 8 Western Pilgrims. 9 Western Pilgrims. 10 Western Pilgrims. " See Two Pilgrim Itineraries. 12 See the Book o f Margery Kempe (cd. Windcatt). 11 Capgrave, Ye Solace o f Pilgrimes. 14 Wey, Itineraries, 15 Arnold von HarfT, Pilgrimage. 16 Fabri, Book o f the Wand^ringjt, 17 Caiolu, Pllgrtmgt to M u m m ,

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

York: Liberty o f Holderness: proof o f age o f William de Ros, taken M arch 7th 1358. Born February 14th 10 Edward III. John de Sprotte, aged 60 or more, says that at Easter after the birth o f the said William he began his journey to Canterbury on pilgrimage by reason o f his devotion to St Thom as the M artyr, having made a vow on the occasion o f an illness.18 Stratford on Avon: pro o f o f age o f W alter Boteraux, taken 10th O ctober 1353. 21 on 12th M arch last. Hugh le H arpour, aged 46 years, John le Clerk, aged 53 years, and A dam la N otte, aged 46 years and more, say that in Easter week following the said W alter's birth they began their journey together to St Thom as o f C anterbury and in going thither they fell am ong thieves on 4la Bleo '19 and were there robbed and badly wounded. 1 4 7 ],15th September: Sir John Paston to John Paston I heard yesterday, that a worsted man o f N orfolk, that sold worsteds at Winchester, said th at my Lord o f N orfolk and my Lady were on pilgrimage at our Lady [of Walsingham] on foot, and so they went to Caster.

The picture which emerges is extraordinarily varied and warns us against oversimplification o f this highly complex m anifestation o f medieval spiritu­ ality. Pilgrims came from all social classes and they travelled for all kinds of reasons, to all m anner o f holy places, near and far. D e stin a tio n s W here did English pilgrims go on pilgrimage? Despite the high profile often given to the three great pilgrimage goals o f Jerusalem, Rome and Com pos­ tela in studies o f this topic, most medieval pilgrimages were in fact made to nearby shrines. M argery Kempe, whose travels took her to Jerusalem ， Assisi, Rome, Wilsnack and Aachen was equally committed to visiting shrines within England. Intention rather than distance seems to have been the defining characteristic and M argery’s concept o f a pilgrimage seems to have encompassed anything from the long and arduous journey to the Holy Land to a day trip to a nearby church: On a day the preistys cam to hir and askyd yyf sehe wolde gon too myle fro then sehe dwellyd on pilgrimage to a cherch stod in the feld . . . whech was dedicate in the honow r of G od and Seynt Michael Archawngyl.20

England boasted at least one top-ranking pilgrimage destination, the shrine o f Thom as Becket in Canterbury, together with other m ajor centres such as the shrines o f Bede and C uthbert at D urham , Edm und at Bury St Edmunds, Hugh at Lincoln and the home o f the Holy Family at Walsing­ ham. Even these shrines, however, seem to have been largely patronised by pilgrims from their own region. Diana W ebb comments:

"* Webb (1999), 204. "* Probably Blean Forest ne*r Ciintfrbury. See Webb (1999), 270 n . 15. Book o f Margery K m p r M ，Wlndtalt), 1.83.

130

4p l a c e ?

p il g r im a g e in t h e l a t e r m id d l e a g e s

Analyses o f the places o f origin o f pilgrims as revealed in miracle collections have repeatedly shown w hat reflection and com mon sense might suggest, especially given medieval conditions o f travel, that the catchm ent-areas of virtually all shrines were predom inantly local or at least regional .21

There was, in addition, a profusion o f smaller centres o f devotion. Some of these were dedicated to local saints, unofficially canonised by a popular movement of devotion and unrecognised by the papacy .22 Others were secondary shrines of m ajor figures. Given the ability o f saints to be present in their relics wherever those relics might be , 23 it was possible for pilgrims to have access to saints whose principal resting place was far away. Thus, though the prim ary shrine o f James the G reat was the splendid cathedral in Com postela in north-west Spain, to which his body had been miraculously transferred following his m artyrdom in Jerusalem, the gift of the Apostle^s arm to Reading Abbey by Henry I created a subsidiary shrine where English pilgrims might seek his intercession. O ther saints whose cults produced multiple centres o f devotion include Oswald, Guthlac, Edm und and Thom as Becket. 24 The growing focus on the Passion o f Christ ensured the popularity of relics such as the Holy Blood of Hailes Abbey in Worcestershire, visited by Margery Kempe on her return from Compostela (113),25 and the Holy Rood of Bromholm which Covetise promises to seek in Piers Plowman (V.227).26 There were also, as both the accounts o f M argery Kempe and the fictional exploits o f the Wife of Bath demonstrate, many shrines in Europe and beyond which drew English pilgrims to honour the relics o f the saints and to reflect upon the Nativity and Passion o f Christ. M argery visited Wilsnack (wher is worschepyd the Precyows Blod o f owr Lord Jhesu Crist whech be miracle cam o f thre oostys, the sacrament o f the awter* (Book 2, Chapter 4) and Aachen where the relics included ‘owr Ladys smokke’ （ Book 2, C hapter 7) and Jo sep h s stockings, believed to have used to swaddle the Christ-child against the cold .27 Cologne, on the Rhine, held the shrine o f the Three Kings, whose journey from the East to see the infant Christ made them ideal role models for pilgrims. The shrine o f James in Com postela drew large numbers of English pilgrims attracted by the saint's status as one o f the Apostles to

21 Webb (2000), 61. 22 For example the description of the cult of Walfstan of Bawburgh in Norfolk. See Duffy (1992), 200ff. 23 See Chapter 4 above. 24 See Ward (1987), 101-4. 25 This act of devotion is a sign of Margery’s orthodoxy. Chaucer offers a less edifying reference in the gamblers oath cited by the Pardoner: *By the blood of Crist that is in Hayles,/ Sevene is my chauncc* (Pardoner's Taiet 652-3). 26 Chaucer has the miller's wife call out to the Rood of Bromholm when suddenly awoken after her unintentionaJ night of illicit pusion {Reeve's Tale, 4286). 37 See the Book o f Margery K m p^ (ed, Windeatt), 407 n. 7999. Windeatt points out Margery's consilient devotion to th« Nativity (78 n. 389).

131

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

York: Liberty o f Holderness: proof o f age o f William de Ros, taken M arch 7th 1358. Born February 14th 10 Edward III. John de Sprotte, aged 60 or more, says that at Easter after the birth o f the said William he began his journey to Canterbury on pilgrimage by reason o f his devotion to St Thom as the M artyr, having made a vow on the occasion o f an illness.18 Stratford on Avon: pro o f o f age o f W alter Boteraux, taken 10th O ctober 1353. 21 on 12th M arch last. Hugh le H arpour, aged 46 years, John le Clerk, aged 53 years, and A dam la N otte, aged 46 years and more, say that in Easter week following the said W alter's birth they began their journey together to St Thom as o f C anterbury and in going thither they fell am ong thieves on 4la Bleo '19 and were there robbed and badly wounded. 1 4 7 ],15th September: Sir John Paston to John Paston I heard yesterday, that a worsted man o f N orfolk, that sold worsteds at Winchester, said th at my Lord o f N orfolk and my Lady were on pilgrimage at our Lady [of Walsingham] on foot, and so they went to Caster.

The picture which emerges is extraordinarily varied and warns us against oversimplification o f this highly complex m anifestation o f medieval spiritu­ ality. Pilgrims came from all social classes and they travelled for all kinds of reasons, to all m anner o f holy places, near and far. D e stin a tio n s W here did English pilgrims go on pilgrimage? Despite the high profile often given to the three great pilgrimage goals o f Jerusalem, Rome and Com pos­ tela in studies o f this topic, most medieval pilgrimages were in fact made to nearby shrines. M argery Kempe, whose travels took her to Jerusalem ， Assisi, Rome, Wilsnack and Aachen was equally committed to visiting shrines within England. Intention rather than distance seems to have been the defining characteristic and M argery’s concept o f a pilgrimage seems to have encompassed anything from the long and arduous journey to the Holy Land to a day trip to a nearby church: On a day the preistys cam to hir and askyd yyf sehe wolde gon too myle fro then sehe dwellyd on pilgrimage to a cherch stod in the feld . . . whech was dedicate in the honow r of G od and Seynt Michael Archawngyl.20

England boasted at least one top-ranking pilgrimage destination, the shrine o f Thom as Becket in Canterbury, together with other m ajor centres such as the shrines o f Bede and C uthbert at D urham , Edm und at Bury St Edmunds, Hugh at Lincoln and the home o f the Holy Family at Walsing­ ham. Even these shrines, however, seem to have been largely patronised by pilgrims from their own region. Diana W ebb comments:

"* Webb (1999), 204. "* Probably Blean Forest ne*r Ciintfrbury. See Webb (1999), 270 n . 15. Book o f Margery K m p r M ，Wlndtalt), 1.83.

130

4p l a c e ?

p il g r im a g e in t h e l a t e r m id d l e a g e s

Analyses o f the places o f origin o f pilgrims as revealed in miracle collections have repeatedly shown w hat reflection and com mon sense might suggest, especially given medieval conditions o f travel, that the catchm ent-areas of virtually all shrines were predom inantly local or at least regional .21

There was, in addition, a profusion o f smaller centres o f devotion. Some of these were dedicated to local saints, unofficially canonised by a popular movement of devotion and unrecognised by the papacy .22 Others were secondary shrines of m ajor figures. Given the ability o f saints to be present in their relics wherever those relics might be , 23 it was possible for pilgrims to have access to saints whose principal resting place was far away. Thus, though the prim ary shrine o f James the G reat was the splendid cathedral in Com postela in north-west Spain, to which his body had been miraculously transferred following his m artyrdom in Jerusalem, the gift of the Apostle^s arm to Reading Abbey by Henry I created a subsidiary shrine where English pilgrims might seek his intercession. O ther saints whose cults produced multiple centres o f devotion include Oswald, Guthlac, Edm und and Thom as Becket. 24 The growing focus on the Passion o f Christ ensured the popularity of relics such as the Holy Blood of Hailes Abbey in Worcestershire, visited by Margery Kempe on her return from Compostela (113),25 and the Holy Rood of Bromholm which Covetise promises to seek in Piers Plowman (V.227).26 There were also, as both the accounts o f M argery Kempe and the fictional exploits o f the Wife of Bath demonstrate, many shrines in Europe and beyond which drew English pilgrims to honour the relics o f the saints and to reflect upon the Nativity and Passion o f Christ. M argery visited Wilsnack (wher is worschepyd the Precyows Blod o f owr Lord Jhesu Crist whech be miracle cam o f thre oostys, the sacrament o f the awter* (Book 2, Chapter 4) and Aachen where the relics included ‘owr Ladys smokke’ （ Book 2, C hapter 7) and Jo sep h s stockings, believed to have used to swaddle the Christ-child against the cold .27 Cologne, on the Rhine, held the shrine o f the Three Kings, whose journey from the East to see the infant Christ made them ideal role models for pilgrims. The shrine o f James in Com postela drew large numbers of English pilgrims attracted by the saint's status as one o f the Apostles to

21 Webb (2000), 61. 22 For example the description of the cult of Walfstan of Bawburgh in Norfolk. See Duffy (1992), 200ff. 23 See Chapter 4 above. 24 See Ward (1987), 101-4. 25 This act of devotion is a sign of Margery’s orthodoxy. Chaucer offers a less edifying reference in the gamblers oath cited by the Pardoner: *By the blood of Crist that is in Hayles,/ Sevene is my chauncc* (Pardoner's Taiet 652-3). 26 Chaucer has the miller's wife call out to the Rood of Bromholm when suddenly awoken after her unintentionaJ night of illicit pusion {Reeve's Tale, 4286). 37 See the Book o f Margery K m p^ (ed, Windeatt), 407 n. 7999. Windeatt points out Margery's consilient devotion to th« Nativity (78 n. 389).

131

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

whom Christ had given the power o f absolving sin. The sermon Veneranda Dies, p art of the Liber Sancti Jacobi, a collection of texts relating to the cult o f James, emphasises the benefits for the pilgrim: It is believed, in fact, that whoever goes to the venerable altar o f Blessed James in G alicia for the sake o f pure and worthy prayer, if truly penitent, will obtain absolution from the apostle and pardon from the Lord for his sins. For the Lord did not take away from him after his death that gift and power that He had given him before His passion. It was in fact granted to him by the Lord th at whoever's sins he would forgive, would have their sins forgiven .28

Along the great pilgrim routes to Com postela through France and Spain, there were m any other significant shrines for the pilgrim to visit, including those of M ary Magdalene at Vézelay, Benedict at Fleury, M artin at Tours, Foy at Conques and Isidore at Léon . 29 There were also M arian shrines at Chartres and at Boulogne, where a boat containing an image of the Virgin was held to have arrived by miraculous means. Assisi held not only the relics o f Francis but also the veil o f the Virgin M ary, with which she was believed to have swaddled the infant Jesus. Rom e still drew many visitors especially in Jubilee years when special indulgences were offered . 30 The Romipetae or (Rome-seekers, included those who sought the papal court as well as those draw n ad liminarum apostolorum, to the tombs of Peter and Paul. John Capgrave describes seeing a grete auter ouyr whech auter be )>e hedes o f petir and paule whech be schewid ofte sith in }?e weke be for estern openly on to )?e puple. The hed of petir is a brood face with mech her on his berd and |?at is o f grey colour be twix whit and blak. T he hed o f paule is a long face balled with red her both berd and hed. On eithir side o f yis auter stand too grete piieres o f brasse hoi ful o f seyntes bones .31

C apgrave^ account shows that Rome was valued for its antiquarian interest as well as for the many relics which it possessed and the abundance o f indulgences to be obtained. From Rome m any went on to Venice to take ship for the Holy Land, braving the dangers o f storms and pirates in order to reach the supreme pilgrimage destination: the city and the land which had witnessed the life, death and resurrection o f the Saviour.

' p l a c e 5 p il g r im a g e

destination and m otivation are intimately bound together, for shrines offered different benefits and were visited for different reasons. These benefits ranged from the spiritual to the m aterial. The former included the desire to identify with the life and sufferings o f Christ, to obtain forgiveness, or to grow in understanding; the latter often focusing on issues of physical well-being, such as recovery from injury o r disease, the ability to conceive a child o r liberation from captivity . 32 The appeal of the Holy Land seems to have centred on spiritual benefits. Felix Fabri cites the example o f Jerome and the theological insights gained even by laymen who have visited Palestine， in explaining his own ‘fever of longing’ to visit the Holy Land: If the great St. Jerome . . . thought it right that he should visit the holy places, th at he might better understand the Holy Scriptures, w hat wonder is there if I . . . should try by the same means to gain some little knowledge o f the Holy Scriptures-----Since unlearned laymen return theologians from the holy places, there can be no doubt th a t clerks in orders and men o f some small learning will return learned to no small degree .33

Jerusalem, above all, offered the chance to walk in the footsteps o f C hrist . 34 Fabri explains the purpose o f official tours in which 'Pilgrims are led through the localities o f Christ’s passion in such an order th at they meet their Lord, and go to meet him as he comes towards them *.35 Thom as Brygg describes undertaking this kind o f ‘Holy Circuit’， which included places of both biblical and apocryphal origin: The first in the middle o f the parvis where Christ rested carrying his cross. Also where they forced Simon o f Cyrene to carry the cross after Jesus . . . Also the school where the Blessed Virgin learned her letters. Also the house of Pilate, where Christ was scourged, crowned with thorns and condem ned to death . . . Also the house o f Simon the leper, where Christ forgave M ary M agdalen her sins. Also the house of St. Anne, the M other o f the Blessed Virgin M ary .36

Similarly, William Wey records details o f holy places within the church of the Holy Sepulchre, stressing that this is indeed the spiritual centre, the navel of the w orld :37 In th at chapel vndyr the grownde Ther was the holy cross fownde. Ther ys full remyssioun in th at place Too all men that thedyr goo for grace. The nexte ys o f xv. stappys hhye ，

M o tiv a tio n W hat then was the alm ost universal appeal o f pilgrimage to holy places? Why did men and women of all callings and classes invest what were often substantial quantities o f time and money and subject themselves to the inevitable discomforts and frequent dangers of the pilgrim roads? Here 21 21 Miracles of St James^ 20. 39 See Davies and Davies (1982), 84-9. M See Birch (1998) and Champ (2000). Jl Capgrave, Ye Soiace of PilgrimiS, 73.

in t h e l a t e r m id d l e a g e s

32 Webb suggests that local shrines may be have been used for more mundane, practical matters Webb (2000), xiii. M Fabri, Book of the Wanderings, 2-3. 34 On Jerusalem see Dbvics (1988), 55ff. Also see Chapter 12 below. iS Fabri, Book o f tht Wandtringst 1.472. M W iste rn P ilg rim s 17

132

See French (1992).

133

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

whom Christ had given the power o f absolving sin. The sermon Veneranda Dies, p art of the Liber Sancti Jacobi, a collection of texts relating to the cult o f James, emphasises the benefits for the pilgrim: It is believed, in fact, that whoever goes to the venerable altar o f Blessed James in G alicia for the sake o f pure and worthy prayer, if truly penitent, will obtain absolution from the apostle and pardon from the Lord for his sins. For the Lord did not take away from him after his death that gift and power that He had given him before His passion. It was in fact granted to him by the Lord th at whoever's sins he would forgive, would have their sins forgiven .28

Along the great pilgrim routes to Com postela through France and Spain, there were m any other significant shrines for the pilgrim to visit, including those of M ary Magdalene at Vézelay, Benedict at Fleury, M artin at Tours, Foy at Conques and Isidore at Léon . 29 There were also M arian shrines at Chartres and at Boulogne, where a boat containing an image of the Virgin was held to have arrived by miraculous means. Assisi held not only the relics o f Francis but also the veil o f the Virgin M ary, with which she was believed to have swaddled the infant Jesus. Rom e still drew many visitors especially in Jubilee years when special indulgences were offered . 30 The Romipetae or (Rome-seekers, included those who sought the papal court as well as those draw n ad liminarum apostolorum, to the tombs of Peter and Paul. John Capgrave describes seeing a grete auter ouyr whech auter be )>e hedes o f petir and paule whech be schewid ofte sith in }?e weke be for estern openly on to )?e puple. The hed of petir is a brood face with mech her on his berd and |?at is o f grey colour be twix whit and blak. T he hed o f paule is a long face balled with red her both berd and hed. On eithir side o f yis auter stand too grete piieres o f brasse hoi ful o f seyntes bones .31

C apgrave^ account shows that Rome was valued for its antiquarian interest as well as for the many relics which it possessed and the abundance o f indulgences to be obtained. From Rome m any went on to Venice to take ship for the Holy Land, braving the dangers o f storms and pirates in order to reach the supreme pilgrimage destination: the city and the land which had witnessed the life, death and resurrection o f the Saviour.

' p l a c e 5 p il g r im a g e

destination and m otivation are intimately bound together, for shrines offered different benefits and were visited for different reasons. These benefits ranged from the spiritual to the m aterial. The former included the desire to identify with the life and sufferings o f Christ, to obtain forgiveness, or to grow in understanding; the latter often focusing on issues of physical well-being, such as recovery from injury o r disease, the ability to conceive a child o r liberation from captivity . 32 The appeal of the Holy Land seems to have centred on spiritual benefits. Felix Fabri cites the example o f Jerome and the theological insights gained even by laymen who have visited Palestine， in explaining his own ‘fever of longing’ to visit the Holy Land: If the great St. Jerome . . . thought it right that he should visit the holy places, th at he might better understand the Holy Scriptures, w hat wonder is there if I . . . should try by the same means to gain some little knowledge o f the Holy Scriptures-----Since unlearned laymen return theologians from the holy places, there can be no doubt th a t clerks in orders and men o f some small learning will return learned to no small degree .33

Jerusalem, above all, offered the chance to walk in the footsteps o f C hrist . 34 Fabri explains the purpose o f official tours in which 'Pilgrims are led through the localities o f Christ’s passion in such an order th at they meet their Lord, and go to meet him as he comes towards them *.35 Thom as Brygg describes undertaking this kind o f ‘Holy Circuit’， which included places of both biblical and apocryphal origin: The first in the middle o f the parvis where Christ rested carrying his cross. Also where they forced Simon o f Cyrene to carry the cross after Jesus . . . Also the school where the Blessed Virgin learned her letters. Also the house of Pilate, where Christ was scourged, crowned with thorns and condem ned to death . . . Also the house o f Simon the leper, where Christ forgave M ary M agdalen her sins. Also the house of St. Anne, the M other o f the Blessed Virgin M ary .36

Similarly, William Wey records details o f holy places within the church of the Holy Sepulchre, stressing that this is indeed the spiritual centre, the navel of the w orld :37 In th at chapel vndyr the grownde Ther was the holy cross fownde. Ther ys full remyssioun in th at place Too all men that thedyr goo for grace. The nexte ys o f xv. stappys hhye ，

M o tiv a tio n W hat then was the alm ost universal appeal o f pilgrimage to holy places? Why did men and women of all callings and classes invest what were often substantial quantities o f time and money and subject themselves to the inevitable discomforts and frequent dangers of the pilgrim roads? Here 21 21 Miracles of St James^ 20. 39 See Davies and Davies (1982), 84-9. M See Birch (1998) and Champ (2000). Jl Capgrave, Ye Soiace of PilgrimiS, 73.

in t h e l a t e r m id d l e a g e s

32 Webb suggests that local shrines may be have been used for more mundane, practical matters Webb (2000), xiii. M Fabri, Book of the Wanderings, 2-3. 34 On Jerusalem see Dbvics (1988), 55ff. Also see Chapter 12 below. iS Fabri, Book o f tht Wandtringst 1.472. M W iste rn P ilg rim s 17

132

See French (1992).

133

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

Is callyd the M ownte o f Caluerye. There ys m ore pardon in that hylle T han eny Crysten man can telle; F o r all the pardon that ys at Rome T her is the well, and thens hytt com e .38

Here, doctrine became concrete, tangible. Theological truths, such as the teaching that the redem ption wrought by Christ had reversed the damage inflicted by the Fall, were clearly set forth in visual form. At Calvary the sin o f the first Adam was "seen* to have been literally cleansed by the sacrifice o f the Second Adam: As ou r Lord was dying on the c ro s s . . . the rock in which the cross was fixed was split through the midst, in the place where it was touched by his blood; through which rent the blood flowed to the lower parts wherein A dam is said to have been buried, and who was thus baptised in the blood o f Christ. It is said to be in com m em oration o f this that a skull is always represented in paintings at the foot o f the Cross .19

Forgiveness was always high on the list of mercies sought. In a general sense all pilgrimage had a penitential element, since all were sinners and in need o f G o d 's grace. The use o f indulgences to formalise the remission of penance grew from the twelfth century onwards and played a vital part in establishing and m aintaining the attraction o f shrines. There were, however, some pilgrims for whom pilgrimage was not a voluntary act but an imposed judicial penalty .40 M urderers were sometimes sent into enforced exile, in im itation o f the punishment imposed upon Cain. William o f Malmesbury recounts the story o f an involuntary homicide. The penitent was compelled to go on pilgrimage bound with the arm our with which he had slain his kinsman and was miraculously freed from his bonds through visits to Jerusalem (and M almesbury) in a fashion which clearly dem onstrated divine forgiveness .41 It has been argued that, like Jerusalem, Rome and Com postela were also viewed primarily as sources of* forgiveness, mediated by the presence o f the Apostles .42 Like the pilgrims o f classical Greece and Rom e ,43 however, medieval pilgrims were also motivated by the desire for m aterial benefits. The sermon Veneranda Dies offers a useful catalogue o f the benefits available through the good offices o f St James: H e gives back former health to the sick, liberation to the bound, fecundity to those barren o f offspring, delivery to those bearing children, a port o f safety to *

‘PLACE5 P I し GR1MAGE IN THE IATER MIDDLE AGES

those at risk on the sea, guaranteed return to the homeland for pilgrims, and food to the needy. He often accords life to those placed in agony and solace to the poor; he breaks bonds quickly; he opens prisons rapidly; he represses an overabundance o f rain; he brings serenity to the air; he repels the winds o f the storms; he suppresses the conflagrations o f evil fires with the prayers o f men; he restrains the thieves, robbers and mischievous and treacherous people so that they may not harm the peoples o f the faithful however much they may desire to do so; he placates w rath and malice, and he grants tranquillity .44

The sermon makes it plain th at the Apostle did not confine his interventions to those who visited his Galician shrine: The great James is quick with divine miracles in Galicia, and he also quick in other places if the faith o f the petitioners requires. . . . F or he is always and everywhere at land, w ithout delay, for helping those at risk and those in tribulation calling to him whether on sea o r land .45

Visits to Compostela, as to the shrines o f other saints, were often acts of thanksgiving for blessings already received. Wendy Childs notes that bailors and merchants caught in severe storms, not infrequently swore to undertake pilgrimages if God or the saints brought the ship hom e ’.46 This could help to account for the presence of Chaucer's Shipman and M erchant among the Canterbury pilgrims. Sometimes one pilgrimage gave rise to another, vows made during one journey requiring further visits to give thanks for deliverance from danger. Thus John Holdernesse of Dannebury *in return­ ing from a pilgrimage to the Lord's Sepulchre, which grievously threatened him on a stormy sea, vowed to visit in pilgrimage all the shrines of the saints in the king’s realm .47 All m anner o f deliverances from sickness and even death prompted journeys to the shrines o f saints who had responded to appeals for help. The Miracles o f St Osmund tells o f the restoration to life o f a stonemason who had fallen from a scaffold, an event wnich brought his parish priest to Salisbury to recount the miracle .48 The parents o f a child revived after drowning came annually to Hereford Cathedral, the shrine o f Ethelbert and of Thom as Cantilupe, to give thanks for her restoration. Sometimes, as in the stories of the pagan gods of classical times , 49 the saints grew peevisn if proper thanks were not forthcoming. Thom as Becket, a saint who frequently cured at a distance , 50 was one who liked his actions to be acknowledged, a characteristic illustrated in the windows o f the Trinity Chapel o f Canterbury Cathedral, where even his friend Jordan Fitz-eisulf is shown suffering the m artyr's displeasure after failing to deliver a thank-offering o f money

** Wey, Itineraries,10.

39 John of Wurtzburg, Description of the Holy Land, 1-72, 32. 40 See Webb (2000), Chapter 10. 41 Webb (1999), 36. 42 See Ward (1987), Chapter 6. Debra Birch points out that there are lno miracle books

44 Miracles o f St James, 21. 45 Miracles o f St James, 21. 46 Childs (1999), 126. 47 Calendars o f Patent Rolls. Ed I I I .13, p. 375. Cited Webb (1999), 206-7.

associated with either the tomb of Peter or with that of Paul, nor is there any evidence that their tombs were places where cures were granted*. Birch ¢1998), 39. 43 See Chapter 3 above.

4HCited Swanson (1993), 196.

134

49 See Chapter 3, 5l> See Ward (1987),101IT,

133

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

Is callyd the M ownte o f Caluerye. There ys m ore pardon in that hylle T han eny Crysten man can telle; F o r all the pardon that ys at Rome T her is the well, and thens hytt com e .38

Here, doctrine became concrete, tangible. Theological truths, such as the teaching that the redem ption wrought by Christ had reversed the damage inflicted by the Fall, were clearly set forth in visual form. At Calvary the sin o f the first Adam was "seen* to have been literally cleansed by the sacrifice o f the Second Adam: As ou r Lord was dying on the c ro s s . . . the rock in which the cross was fixed was split through the midst, in the place where it was touched by his blood; through which rent the blood flowed to the lower parts wherein A dam is said to have been buried, and who was thus baptised in the blood o f Christ. It is said to be in com m em oration o f this that a skull is always represented in paintings at the foot o f the Cross .19

Forgiveness was always high on the list of mercies sought. In a general sense all pilgrimage had a penitential element, since all were sinners and in need o f G o d 's grace. The use o f indulgences to formalise the remission of penance grew from the twelfth century onwards and played a vital part in establishing and m aintaining the attraction o f shrines. There were, however, some pilgrims for whom pilgrimage was not a voluntary act but an imposed judicial penalty .40 M urderers were sometimes sent into enforced exile, in im itation o f the punishment imposed upon Cain. William o f Malmesbury recounts the story o f an involuntary homicide. The penitent was compelled to go on pilgrimage bound with the arm our with which he had slain his kinsman and was miraculously freed from his bonds through visits to Jerusalem (and M almesbury) in a fashion which clearly dem onstrated divine forgiveness .41 It has been argued that, like Jerusalem, Rome and Com postela were also viewed primarily as sources of* forgiveness, mediated by the presence o f the Apostles .42 Like the pilgrims o f classical Greece and Rom e ,43 however, medieval pilgrims were also motivated by the desire for m aterial benefits. The sermon Veneranda Dies offers a useful catalogue o f the benefits available through the good offices o f St James: H e gives back former health to the sick, liberation to the bound, fecundity to those barren o f offspring, delivery to those bearing children, a port o f safety to *

‘PLACE5 P I し GR1MAGE IN THE IATER MIDDLE AGES

those at risk on the sea, guaranteed return to the homeland for pilgrims, and food to the needy. He often accords life to those placed in agony and solace to the poor; he breaks bonds quickly; he opens prisons rapidly; he represses an overabundance o f rain; he brings serenity to the air; he repels the winds o f the storms; he suppresses the conflagrations o f evil fires with the prayers o f men; he restrains the thieves, robbers and mischievous and treacherous people so that they may not harm the peoples o f the faithful however much they may desire to do so; he placates w rath and malice, and he grants tranquillity .44

The sermon makes it plain th at the Apostle did not confine his interventions to those who visited his Galician shrine: The great James is quick with divine miracles in Galicia, and he also quick in other places if the faith o f the petitioners requires. . . . F or he is always and everywhere at land, w ithout delay, for helping those at risk and those in tribulation calling to him whether on sea o r land .45

Visits to Compostela, as to the shrines o f other saints, were often acts of thanksgiving for blessings already received. Wendy Childs notes that bailors and merchants caught in severe storms, not infrequently swore to undertake pilgrimages if God or the saints brought the ship hom e ’.46 This could help to account for the presence of Chaucer's Shipman and M erchant among the Canterbury pilgrims. Sometimes one pilgrimage gave rise to another, vows made during one journey requiring further visits to give thanks for deliverance from danger. Thus John Holdernesse of Dannebury *in return­ ing from a pilgrimage to the Lord's Sepulchre, which grievously threatened him on a stormy sea, vowed to visit in pilgrimage all the shrines of the saints in the king’s realm .47 All m anner o f deliverances from sickness and even death prompted journeys to the shrines o f saints who had responded to appeals for help. The Miracles o f St Osmund tells o f the restoration to life o f a stonemason who had fallen from a scaffold, an event wnich brought his parish priest to Salisbury to recount the miracle .48 The parents o f a child revived after drowning came annually to Hereford Cathedral, the shrine o f Ethelbert and of Thom as Cantilupe, to give thanks for her restoration. Sometimes, as in the stories of the pagan gods of classical times , 49 the saints grew peevisn if proper thanks were not forthcoming. Thom as Becket, a saint who frequently cured at a distance , 50 was one who liked his actions to be acknowledged, a characteristic illustrated in the windows o f the Trinity Chapel o f Canterbury Cathedral, where even his friend Jordan Fitz-eisulf is shown suffering the m artyr's displeasure after failing to deliver a thank-offering o f money

** Wey, Itineraries,10.

39 John of Wurtzburg, Description of the Holy Land, 1-72, 32. 40 See Webb (2000), Chapter 10. 41 Webb (1999), 36. 42 See Ward (1987), Chapter 6. Debra Birch points out that there are lno miracle books

44 Miracles o f St James, 21. 45 Miracles o f St James, 21. 46 Childs (1999), 126. 47 Calendars o f Patent Rolls. Ed I I I .13, p. 375. Cited Webb (1999), 206-7.

associated with either the tomb of Peter or with that of Paul, nor is there any evidence that their tombs were places where cures were granted*. Birch ¢1998), 39. 43 See Chapter 3 above.

4HCited Swanson (1993), 196.

134

49 See Chapter 3, 5l> See Ward (1987),101IT,

133

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

PLACE PILGRIMAGE IN THE LATER MIDDLE AGES

following his son's recovery from the plague. Brought to his senses by the death of a second son, Fitz-eisulf apparently hastily fulfilled his vow. Collections of miracle stories were o f course designed to testify to the power o f the local saint and thus to increase the faith (and numbers) of visiting pilgrims . 51 Inevitably a note o f competition creeps into these accounts, especially as new cults came into being. N ot only do saints appear to have ‘specialised’ in certain com plaints， but miracle stories show them trium phantly answering petitions which rival saints have failed to meet. There are also more complex interactions which apparently reveal attem pts to depict m utual respect and cooperation which reflect well upon the local saint. D iana W ebb has pointed out that the hagiographical writings o f Reginald o f D urham deal with the relationship between the cults of C uthbert and Godric o f Finchale in the north-east and the immensely powerful shrine o f Thom as in Canterbury . 52 N ot only are the two northern saints seen dividing cures among them, Godric thoughtfully taking on the women pilgrims to whom C uthbert was known to be averse, but Thom as himself is shown diplomatically, if somewhat unfeelingly, redirecting a male pilgrim who had dragged himself from the borders o f N orthum bria to Canterbury:

1415 m il o f Thomas, earl o f Arundel Item, I ordain th at William Ryman, or another in my name, go with all possible haste after my passage from this light on foot from London in pilgrimage to St Thom as of Canterbury and th at two other pilgrimages be made by him, o r another, on foot from Arundel to Richard o f Chichester, on account o f various vows which I promised personally to fulfill.55

Why have you come here to me from N orthum bria, when you have St C uthbert, much more precious than me, and St G odric my com panion, in your neighbourhood. . . . Return therefore as fast as possible, because St Cuthbert and I will come there with St Godric and do more curing miracles there than here .53

T hat pilgrims should so frequently seek cures for themselves, their friends and family is hardly surprising. N ot only was there a perceived link between sickness and sin, but there was so much suffering which contem porary medicine could do little to cure or even alleviate. Eam on Duffy points out that the miracle stories o f the saints opened a window o f hope on a daunting world o f sickness, pain and natural calamity. M en and women fled to the protection o f the saints from a world in which children fall from trees or tumble down wells, crawl into fires, or jum p in play on to sharpened sticks or untended metal spits. W orkmen are crushed or ruptured by heavy loads or blinded by branches, women die in the agonies of prolonged childbirth. We catch a glimpse o f a whole gallery o f devastating diseases - bone cancer, gangrene, epilepsy, paralysis - o f homes wrecked by insanity, and whole villages decimated by plague or famine .54

Pilgrimages were frequently vicarious, made on behalf o f the living or the recently dead. Wills dem onstrate a deep belief in the efficacy o f pilgrimage and recognition of the need to fulfill vows: 51 Sec Ward (1987). 32 Webb (2000), 52(T. 51 Webb (2000), 56. 54 Duffy (1992), 196.

136

1385 Roger Crede, draper Also if he happen not to go to Rom e before he dies, he leaves ten m arks for some honest man to go there on his behalf and there remain performing the stations and praying for his soul throughout an entire L ent .56

For many pilgrims, the longer journeys would have been the adventure of a lifetime. Shorter, local pilgrimages m ust often have taken on the character o f a group outing, as a group o f villagers or townspeople made their way to a nearby shrine. The Wife of Bath provides an insight into the social dimension o f pilgrimage in listing ‘vigilies . . . processiouns . . . and these pilgrimages ’57 as occasions on which to see and be seen by prospective suitors. T h e experience o f pilgrim age Pilgrimage to shrines o f any distance was an enterprise which required preparation, both practical and spiritual, commensurate with the scale o f the enterprise . 58 The requisite money needed to be raised and provision made for ready money or letters o f credit. Guild members were obliged to share in the costs o f a member's pilgrimage and presumably also shared in the benefits. Poor pilgrims were forced to beg for their daily needs, others like M argery Kempe were given money in return for praying for the donor at the appointed goal . 59 Lengthy absences would require the settling o f debts, the making o f wills and arrangements for the protection of assets left behind. John Holderness whose desire to visit all the saints in the kingdom is cited above was assured th at the king 'approving o f his devotion in this m atter, has taken him and his goods into his protection for one year *.60 Attorneys were nom inated to act in the pilgrim's absence: J358, January 17th Thom as Roper, son and heir of Robert H am ond, citizen and roper (coriarius) o f London, going to Santiago on pilgrimage, nominates William le Bakere, a fishmonger, as his attorney until W hitsun .61

O utbreaks o f plague in the late 1340s, together with the state o f hostilities between England and France made the English government cautious about 55 Webb (1999). 56 Webb (1999). 57 Wife o f Bath's Prologue, 555-9. 51 Sec Utterback (2000) and Davies and Davies (1982), Chapter 3. )9 See for example Book o f Margery Kempe, 1.16. 60 Webb (1999), 207. Calendars o f Patent Hoik Ed ///, 10, p. 645. Cited Webb (1999). 184.

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

PLACE PILGRIMAGE IN THE LATER MIDDLE AGES

following his son's recovery from the plague. Brought to his senses by the death of a second son, Fitz-eisulf apparently hastily fulfilled his vow. Collections of miracle stories were o f course designed to testify to the power o f the local saint and thus to increase the faith (and numbers) of visiting pilgrims . 51 Inevitably a note o f competition creeps into these accounts, especially as new cults came into being. N ot only do saints appear to have ‘specialised’ in certain com plaints， but miracle stories show them trium phantly answering petitions which rival saints have failed to meet. There are also more complex interactions which apparently reveal attem pts to depict m utual respect and cooperation which reflect well upon the local saint. D iana W ebb has pointed out that the hagiographical writings o f Reginald o f D urham deal with the relationship between the cults of C uthbert and Godric o f Finchale in the north-east and the immensely powerful shrine o f Thom as in Canterbury . 52 N ot only are the two northern saints seen dividing cures among them, Godric thoughtfully taking on the women pilgrims to whom C uthbert was known to be averse, but Thom as himself is shown diplomatically, if somewhat unfeelingly, redirecting a male pilgrim who had dragged himself from the borders o f N orthum bria to Canterbury:

1415 m il o f Thomas, earl o f Arundel Item, I ordain th at William Ryman, or another in my name, go with all possible haste after my passage from this light on foot from London in pilgrimage to St Thom as of Canterbury and th at two other pilgrimages be made by him, o r another, on foot from Arundel to Richard o f Chichester, on account o f various vows which I promised personally to fulfill.55

Why have you come here to me from N orthum bria, when you have St C uthbert, much more precious than me, and St G odric my com panion, in your neighbourhood. . . . Return therefore as fast as possible, because St Cuthbert and I will come there with St Godric and do more curing miracles there than here .53

T hat pilgrims should so frequently seek cures for themselves, their friends and family is hardly surprising. N ot only was there a perceived link between sickness and sin, but there was so much suffering which contem porary medicine could do little to cure or even alleviate. Eam on Duffy points out that the miracle stories o f the saints opened a window o f hope on a daunting world o f sickness, pain and natural calamity. M en and women fled to the protection o f the saints from a world in which children fall from trees or tumble down wells, crawl into fires, or jum p in play on to sharpened sticks or untended metal spits. W orkmen are crushed or ruptured by heavy loads or blinded by branches, women die in the agonies of prolonged childbirth. We catch a glimpse o f a whole gallery o f devastating diseases - bone cancer, gangrene, epilepsy, paralysis - o f homes wrecked by insanity, and whole villages decimated by plague or famine .54

Pilgrimages were frequently vicarious, made on behalf o f the living or the recently dead. Wills dem onstrate a deep belief in the efficacy o f pilgrimage and recognition of the need to fulfill vows: 51 Sec Ward (1987). 32 Webb (2000), 52(T. 51 Webb (2000), 56. 54 Duffy (1992), 196.

136

1385 Roger Crede, draper Also if he happen not to go to Rom e before he dies, he leaves ten m arks for some honest man to go there on his behalf and there remain performing the stations and praying for his soul throughout an entire L ent .56

For many pilgrims, the longer journeys would have been the adventure of a lifetime. Shorter, local pilgrimages m ust often have taken on the character o f a group outing, as a group o f villagers or townspeople made their way to a nearby shrine. The Wife of Bath provides an insight into the social dimension o f pilgrimage in listing ‘vigilies . . . processiouns . . . and these pilgrimages ’57 as occasions on which to see and be seen by prospective suitors. T h e experience o f pilgrim age Pilgrimage to shrines o f any distance was an enterprise which required preparation, both practical and spiritual, commensurate with the scale o f the enterprise . 58 The requisite money needed to be raised and provision made for ready money or letters o f credit. Guild members were obliged to share in the costs o f a member's pilgrimage and presumably also shared in the benefits. Poor pilgrims were forced to beg for their daily needs, others like M argery Kempe were given money in return for praying for the donor at the appointed goal . 59 Lengthy absences would require the settling o f debts, the making o f wills and arrangements for the protection of assets left behind. John Holderness whose desire to visit all the saints in the kingdom is cited above was assured th at the king 'approving o f his devotion in this m atter, has taken him and his goods into his protection for one year *.60 Attorneys were nom inated to act in the pilgrim's absence: J358, January 17th Thom as Roper, son and heir of Robert H am ond, citizen and roper (coriarius) o f London, going to Santiago on pilgrimage, nominates William le Bakere, a fishmonger, as his attorney until W hitsun .61

O utbreaks o f plague in the late 1340s, together with the state o f hostilities between England and France made the English government cautious about 55 Webb (1999). 56 Webb (1999). 57 Wife o f Bath's Prologue, 555-9. 51 Sec Utterback (2000) and Davies and Davies (1982), Chapter 3. )9 See for example Book o f Margery Kempe, 1.16. 60 Webb (1999), 207. Calendars o f Patent Hoik Ed ///, 10, p. 645. Cited Webb (1999). 184.

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

the potential loss o f resources, in terms of men, valuables, currency and horses, represented by the flow o f pilgrims across the Channel. Licences were required both for pilgrims o f a certain status and for those who transported them: 1367, November 22nd Adam de Sancto Ivone permitted to cross on a pilgrim­ age from Dover with 2 yeoman, 3 hackneys under 40s, and 40 pounds expenses, provided he takes no [other] sum o f money or letters o r anything in w riting o r otherwise which could turn to the prejudice o f the king, the realm or any o f the king's subjects, and that none o f the king's hostages from France cross out o f the realm by virtue o f this m andate .62 1361, March 30th License for Richard Baddyng and Paul de Portesm utha to take pilgrims to Santiago in a ship o f theirs called la Nicholas o f La Rye . . . provided that the pilgrims do not take with them *sterlynges\ silver, arm our or horses .63

Equally im portant was spiritual preparation. The sermon Veneranda Dies compares the pilgrim with Adam, A braham , 64 Jacob, the children o f Israel, Jesus and the Apostles , 65 and makes it clear that the physical journey is to be accompanied by spiritual and moral reformation. It is in other words to be a microcosm o f the pilgrimage of life: The pilgrim route is for the righteous: lack of vices, mortification of the body, restitution o f virtues, remission of sins, penitence o f the penitent, journey o f the just, love o f the saints, faith in the resurrection . . . it tames lust, it suppresses carnal desires which militate against the soul. It purifies the spirit, it motivates man tow ards contemplation, it humbles the lofty, it beatifies the humble .66

This approach to pilgrimage is reflected in the liturgy for departing pilgrims, a formal service o f blessing which many pilgrims would have experienced, in which a scrip and staff are given and the pilgrim exhorted to arrive 'chastened and cleansed' at the shrine. The purse or scrip signifies 4the generosity o f alms and the mortification o f the flesh ' . 67 The staff 'which the pilgrim accepts alm ost as a third foot for his support, implies faith in the Holy Trinity ’68 and symbolises defence against the attacks o f the devil. The m oral and physical dangers of pilgrimage were very real. The sermon Veneranda Dies inveighs against cunning innkeepers who may even resort to m urder 69 and warns of the whores, false pardoners, thieves, counterfeit beggars, dishonest merchants and money-changers who lie in wait for the unwary pilgrim .70 There were clear advantages in belonging to or joining a 63 Webb (1999),186. Calendars of Potent Rolls, Ed ///,1 1 ,p. 586. Cited Webb (1999), 184. M Sec also the account of Simon Fitzsimons in Western Pilgrims, 2. M See Chapter 1 above. ** Miracles of St James, 23. Miracles o f St James, 24. M Miracles o f St James, 24. m Miracles o f St Jame^ 34-5. On the same subject see Chaucer's Nun's Priest's Tale, 2985fT. Miracles of St James^S-AZ.

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group, although even chosen companions could turn out to be disagreeable or dishonest, a truth reflected in Chaucer's pilgrim company. Pilgrims travelling to Rome faced not only the perilous task o f crossing the Alps but the possibility of succumbing to m alaria in the summer m onths .71 The journey time was probably at least six weeks . 72 Those wishing to journey to Compostela often chose to travel as far as possible by sea rather than to undertake the long and arduous overland route through France and Spain, though the sea held plenty o f perils o f its own, from shipwreck to piracy . 73 Pilgrims could sail from Bristol to Corunna, a port some forty miles from Compostela, in five to seven days , 74 if the weather was favourable, while the voyage made by Jerusalem pilgrims from Venice to Jaffa would have lasted at least a m onth, with poor food, cramped conditions, and the threat o f pirates and storms, a constant source of apprehension. The cost o f such journeys , 75 the length o f time taken, the discomforts endured, the dangers encountered, especially in the longer pilgrimages underline the magnitude o f the achievements claimed for the fictional Wife of Bath and actually accomplished by M argery Kempe. The dangers and hardships involved in pilgrimage were o f course regarded as an integral part of what was after all a penitential exercise and the author of Veneranda Dies was scathing in his attacks on those who sought too comfortable a journey: If our Lord rode to Jerusalem not on a horse o r a mule but on an ass, w hat will become o f those who go there with large and plum p horses and mules with saddle bags o f pleasant objects. If Blessed Peter went to Rom e w ithout footwear or money . . . why do many pilgrims go to him, riding with much money, eating delicious foods, drinking very strong wine, and sharing nothing with their needy brethren ?76

W hat happened when pilgrims finally reached their chosen destinations? To enter the great cathedral in Compostela or to approach the shrine o f Thom as Becket in Canterbury must have been an extraordinary experience, a strange blend o f the transcendent and the earthy. The shrines of the saints were places where heaven and earth were believed to intersect and the sense o f being at the very threshold o f heaven, in a place where G od’s power was demonstrably at work, was one which architects and shrine-keepers delib­ erately fostered. Pilgrims entering the cathedral at Com postela were greeted by the benevolent figure o f the Apostle and passed through the astonishing Portico o f Glory created in the twelfth century by M aster M atteo, in which the heavenly company o f angels, Apostles and Prophets surround the figure 71 See Birch (1998), 55-8. 7J Birch (1998), 68IT. 71 See Childs (1999), 124 ff. on the relative dangers and discomforts of journeys by land and sea. 74 See Childs (1999), I28»9. 7’ For dctftili of costs Me Storri , 129. 16 Miracles o f St Jamtst 29,

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the potential loss o f resources, in terms of men, valuables, currency and horses, represented by the flow o f pilgrims across the Channel. Licences were required both for pilgrims o f a certain status and for those who transported them: 1367, November 22nd Adam de Sancto Ivone permitted to cross on a pilgrim­ age from Dover with 2 yeoman, 3 hackneys under 40s, and 40 pounds expenses, provided he takes no [other] sum o f money or letters o r anything in w riting o r otherwise which could turn to the prejudice o f the king, the realm or any o f the king's subjects, and that none o f the king's hostages from France cross out o f the realm by virtue o f this m andate .62 1361, March 30th License for Richard Baddyng and Paul de Portesm utha to take pilgrims to Santiago in a ship o f theirs called la Nicholas o f La Rye . . . provided that the pilgrims do not take with them *sterlynges\ silver, arm our or horses .63

Equally im portant was spiritual preparation. The sermon Veneranda Dies compares the pilgrim with Adam, A braham , 64 Jacob, the children o f Israel, Jesus and the Apostles , 65 and makes it clear that the physical journey is to be accompanied by spiritual and moral reformation. It is in other words to be a microcosm o f the pilgrimage of life: The pilgrim route is for the righteous: lack of vices, mortification of the body, restitution o f virtues, remission of sins, penitence o f the penitent, journey o f the just, love o f the saints, faith in the resurrection . . . it tames lust, it suppresses carnal desires which militate against the soul. It purifies the spirit, it motivates man tow ards contemplation, it humbles the lofty, it beatifies the humble .66

This approach to pilgrimage is reflected in the liturgy for departing pilgrims, a formal service o f blessing which many pilgrims would have experienced, in which a scrip and staff are given and the pilgrim exhorted to arrive 'chastened and cleansed' at the shrine. The purse or scrip signifies 4the generosity o f alms and the mortification o f the flesh ' . 67 The staff 'which the pilgrim accepts alm ost as a third foot for his support, implies faith in the Holy Trinity ’68 and symbolises defence against the attacks o f the devil. The m oral and physical dangers of pilgrimage were very real. The sermon Veneranda Dies inveighs against cunning innkeepers who may even resort to m urder 69 and warns of the whores, false pardoners, thieves, counterfeit beggars, dishonest merchants and money-changers who lie in wait for the unwary pilgrim .70 There were clear advantages in belonging to or joining a 63 Webb (1999),186. Calendars of Potent Rolls, Ed ///,1 1 ,p. 586. Cited Webb (1999), 184. M Sec also the account of Simon Fitzsimons in Western Pilgrims, 2. M See Chapter 1 above. ** Miracles of St James, 23. Miracles o f St James, 24. M Miracles o f St James, 24. m Miracles o f St Jame^ 34-5. On the same subject see Chaucer's Nun's Priest's Tale, 2985fT. Miracles of St James^S-AZ.

138

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group, although even chosen companions could turn out to be disagreeable or dishonest, a truth reflected in Chaucer's pilgrim company. Pilgrims travelling to Rome faced not only the perilous task o f crossing the Alps but the possibility of succumbing to m alaria in the summer m onths .71 The journey time was probably at least six weeks . 72 Those wishing to journey to Compostela often chose to travel as far as possible by sea rather than to undertake the long and arduous overland route through France and Spain, though the sea held plenty o f perils o f its own, from shipwreck to piracy . 73 Pilgrims could sail from Bristol to Corunna, a port some forty miles from Compostela, in five to seven days , 74 if the weather was favourable, while the voyage made by Jerusalem pilgrims from Venice to Jaffa would have lasted at least a m onth, with poor food, cramped conditions, and the threat o f pirates and storms, a constant source of apprehension. The cost o f such journeys , 75 the length o f time taken, the discomforts endured, the dangers encountered, especially in the longer pilgrimages underline the magnitude o f the achievements claimed for the fictional Wife of Bath and actually accomplished by M argery Kempe. The dangers and hardships involved in pilgrimage were o f course regarded as an integral part of what was after all a penitential exercise and the author of Veneranda Dies was scathing in his attacks on those who sought too comfortable a journey: If our Lord rode to Jerusalem not on a horse o r a mule but on an ass, w hat will become o f those who go there with large and plum p horses and mules with saddle bags o f pleasant objects. If Blessed Peter went to Rom e w ithout footwear or money . . . why do many pilgrims go to him, riding with much money, eating delicious foods, drinking very strong wine, and sharing nothing with their needy brethren ?76

W hat happened when pilgrims finally reached their chosen destinations? To enter the great cathedral in Compostela or to approach the shrine o f Thom as Becket in Canterbury must have been an extraordinary experience, a strange blend o f the transcendent and the earthy. The shrines of the saints were places where heaven and earth were believed to intersect and the sense o f being at the very threshold o f heaven, in a place where G od’s power was demonstrably at work, was one which architects and shrine-keepers delib­ erately fostered. Pilgrims entering the cathedral at Com postela were greeted by the benevolent figure o f the Apostle and passed through the astonishing Portico o f Glory created in the twelfth century by M aster M atteo, in which the heavenly company o f angels, Apostles and Prophets surround the figure 71 See Birch (1998), 55-8. 7J Birch (1998), 68IT. 71 See Childs (1999), 124 ff. on the relative dangers and discomforts of journeys by land and sea. 74 See Childs (1999), I28»9. 7’ For dctftili of costs Me Storri , 129. 16 Miracles o f St Jamtst 29,

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o f Christ . 77 W riting o f his visit to C anterbury in 1322, Simon Fitzsimons describes seeing the body o f Becket 4in a case made o f m ost pure gold and adorned with innumerable precious stones, with shining pearls like unto the gates o f the [heavenly] Jerusalem, and sparkling . 78 The shrine would have been surrounded by ex voto offerings, providing eloquent testimony to the sa in ts power. Ben Nilson cites part o f an inventory of non-m onetary offerings compiled at Hereford in 1307 by commissioners investigating the canonisation o f Thom as Cantilupe. The contents included: 170 ships in silver and wax 129 images o f men or their limbs in silv e r,1424 in wax 77 images o f animals and birds o f diverse species 108 crutches 3 vehicles in wood and 1 in wax, left by cured cripples 97 nightgowns 116 gold and silver rings and brooches 38 garm ents o f golf thread and silk 79

Nilson points out that the type o f object symbolised either the miracle given or still sought: the nightgowns left by infertile women who had been granted a child, and wax limbs, heads, eyes, even whole bodies, representing the condition for which healing was needed. Even more common were candles ‘m easured’ to the size o f the one for whom aid was desired. Thus in 1443 M argaret Paston wrote to her convalescent husband: 4My m oder hat behested [promised] a-nodcr ymmage o f wax [th]e weytte of yow to Oyur Lady o f W alsyngham / 80 Such offerings echo those made at healing shrines in ancient Greece . 81 Contact with the shrine was vital for those in search of succour; some pilgrims seem to have touched it briefly, others to have stayed for days even m onths in expectation o f aid. Pilgrims who slept near the shrine sometimes received healing visions as they slept, though it is hard to imagine that there was much space for sleep, or even quiet contem plation, amongst the noisy crowds of the sick and the penitent who converged on popular shrines .82 Unsurprisingly, emotions often ran high among pilgrims, especially am ong those visiting the Holy Land. M argery Kempe was far from being the only pilgrim to be overcome by the experience of entering the church of the Holy Sepulchre. Felix Fabri records, with approval the reactions o f his fellow pilgrims: O my brother! hadst thou been with me in that court at that hour, thou wouldst have seen such plenteous tears, such bitter heartfelt groans, such sweet71*

71 See description in Davies and Davies (1982), 146-7. 71 Western Pilgrims, 3. 79 Nilson (1999), 105. 10 Paston Letters, 1.218. 11 Sec Chapter 3. ni On numbers see Nilson (1999), 116fT.

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wailings, such deep sighs, such sobs from the inmost breast___ Some knelt on the earth with their bare knees, holding their arms out in the form of a cross___ Others were shaken with such violent sobs th at they could n ot hold themselves up. . . . Above all our com panions and sisters the women pilgrims shrieked as though in labour, cried aloud and w ept .83

The 'C ertain Englishman 5 who travelled to the Holy Land in 1344-5, records seeing four great stone columns in the same church, which sweat moisture which he interprets as tears provoked by the death o f Christ, adding: (Who is not provoked to tears, on m editating on Christ weeping on the cross for our sins and teaching us th at our sins are wiped out by tears ? ' 84 On returning home pilgrims carried pilgrim badges and secondary relics, including ampullae filled with water or oil, which functioned not only as signs o f completed journeys but as channels through which the powerful properties of the shrine visited could continue to flow .85 Thus a French life o f Thom as Becket notes: People bring back a cross from Jerusalem ,86 a M ary cast in lead from Rocam adour, a leaden shell from St James; now G od has given St Thomas this phial which is loved and honoured all over the world, to save souls; in water and in phials he has the m artyr’s blood taken all over the world, to cure the sick. It is doubly honoured, for health and as a sign .87

O p p o sitio n to P ilgrim age Popular as the practice o f place pilgrimage undoubtedly was, it was not without its critics. Both the quotations with which this chapter begins contain, at the very least, an element o f ambivalence in their references to journeying to holy places. It is im portant to recognise th at this does not imply that either Chaucer or Langland were unorthodox in their views. In establishing the terms o f the medieval pilgrimage debate, there are, I suggest two m ajor pitfalls to avoid: the tendency to isolate Lollard opposition to such practices from the continuing orthodox discussion o f the nature o f spiritual journeying and an inclination to view both orthodox and heterodox questioning o f pilgrimage to holy places through the retrospective filter o f the English Reform ation. The questioning o f pilgrim­ age manifested in England in the centuries leading up to the Reform ation needs instead to be set in the context of the centuries-old debate about the relationship o f life and place pilgrimage, o f which Lollard concerns were simply the latest expression. As this study has shown, the practice of pilgrimage to 'holy places* had been criticised since its inception in the 83 Fabri. Book o f the Wanderings, 283. M Western Piigrtms, 67. 1,3 On badges we Nilton (1999). U5fr., Davies (1988), 75, and Koldeweij ¢1999),163. 16 Jerusalem pilgrlmi alio brought back palmi. See Davies (1988), 75. K, Garnier's Bicktt, tramlited by J, Shirley, 157. Cited Webb (1999).124.

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o f Christ . 77 W riting o f his visit to C anterbury in 1322, Simon Fitzsimons describes seeing the body o f Becket 4in a case made o f m ost pure gold and adorned with innumerable precious stones, with shining pearls like unto the gates o f the [heavenly] Jerusalem, and sparkling . 78 The shrine would have been surrounded by ex voto offerings, providing eloquent testimony to the sa in ts power. Ben Nilson cites part o f an inventory of non-m onetary offerings compiled at Hereford in 1307 by commissioners investigating the canonisation o f Thom as Cantilupe. The contents included: 170 ships in silver and wax 129 images o f men or their limbs in silv e r,1424 in wax 77 images o f animals and birds o f diverse species 108 crutches 3 vehicles in wood and 1 in wax, left by cured cripples 97 nightgowns 116 gold and silver rings and brooches 38 garm ents o f golf thread and silk 79

Nilson points out that the type o f object symbolised either the miracle given or still sought: the nightgowns left by infertile women who had been granted a child, and wax limbs, heads, eyes, even whole bodies, representing the condition for which healing was needed. Even more common were candles ‘m easured’ to the size o f the one for whom aid was desired. Thus in 1443 M argaret Paston wrote to her convalescent husband: 4My m oder hat behested [promised] a-nodcr ymmage o f wax [th]e weytte of yow to Oyur Lady o f W alsyngham / 80 Such offerings echo those made at healing shrines in ancient Greece . 81 Contact with the shrine was vital for those in search of succour; some pilgrims seem to have touched it briefly, others to have stayed for days even m onths in expectation o f aid. Pilgrims who slept near the shrine sometimes received healing visions as they slept, though it is hard to imagine that there was much space for sleep, or even quiet contem plation, amongst the noisy crowds of the sick and the penitent who converged on popular shrines .82 Unsurprisingly, emotions often ran high among pilgrims, especially am ong those visiting the Holy Land. M argery Kempe was far from being the only pilgrim to be overcome by the experience of entering the church of the Holy Sepulchre. Felix Fabri records, with approval the reactions o f his fellow pilgrims: O my brother! hadst thou been with me in that court at that hour, thou wouldst have seen such plenteous tears, such bitter heartfelt groans, such sweet71*

71 See description in Davies and Davies (1982), 146-7. 71 Western Pilgrims, 3. 79 Nilson (1999), 105. 10 Paston Letters, 1.218. 11 Sec Chapter 3. ni On numbers see Nilson (1999), 116fT.

140

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wailings, such deep sighs, such sobs from the inmost breast___ Some knelt on the earth with their bare knees, holding their arms out in the form of a cross___ Others were shaken with such violent sobs th at they could n ot hold themselves up. . . . Above all our com panions and sisters the women pilgrims shrieked as though in labour, cried aloud and w ept .83

The 'C ertain Englishman 5 who travelled to the Holy Land in 1344-5, records seeing four great stone columns in the same church, which sweat moisture which he interprets as tears provoked by the death o f Christ, adding: (Who is not provoked to tears, on m editating on Christ weeping on the cross for our sins and teaching us th at our sins are wiped out by tears ? ' 84 On returning home pilgrims carried pilgrim badges and secondary relics, including ampullae filled with water or oil, which functioned not only as signs o f completed journeys but as channels through which the powerful properties of the shrine visited could continue to flow .85 Thus a French life o f Thom as Becket notes: People bring back a cross from Jerusalem ,86 a M ary cast in lead from Rocam adour, a leaden shell from St James; now G od has given St Thomas this phial which is loved and honoured all over the world, to save souls; in water and in phials he has the m artyr’s blood taken all over the world, to cure the sick. It is doubly honoured, for health and as a sign .87

O p p o sitio n to P ilgrim age Popular as the practice o f place pilgrimage undoubtedly was, it was not without its critics. Both the quotations with which this chapter begins contain, at the very least, an element o f ambivalence in their references to journeying to holy places. It is im portant to recognise th at this does not imply that either Chaucer or Langland were unorthodox in their views. In establishing the terms o f the medieval pilgrimage debate, there are, I suggest two m ajor pitfalls to avoid: the tendency to isolate Lollard opposition to such practices from the continuing orthodox discussion o f the nature o f spiritual journeying and an inclination to view both orthodox and heterodox questioning o f pilgrimage to holy places through the retrospective filter o f the English Reform ation. The questioning o f pilgrim­ age manifested in England in the centuries leading up to the Reform ation needs instead to be set in the context of the centuries-old debate about the relationship o f life and place pilgrimage, o f which Lollard concerns were simply the latest expression. As this study has shown, the practice of pilgrimage to 'holy places* had been criticised since its inception in the 83 Fabri. Book o f the Wanderings, 283. M Western Piigrtms, 67. 1,3 On badges we Nilton (1999). U5fr., Davies (1988), 75, and Koldeweij ¢1999),163. 16 Jerusalem pilgrlmi alio brought back palmi. See Davies (1988), 75. K, Garnier's Bicktt, tramlited by J, Shirley, 157. Cited Webb (1999).124.

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fourth century and concern and opposition expressed on various grounds by Church leaders and councils. Standard objections included the problem o f the theological paradox o f believers journeying to encounter a God who was everywhere present, together with the practical issues o f possible abdication of responsibilities at home by both lay people and cloistered religious, waste o f resources and exposure to tem ptation. As I suggested in the first chapter o f this study, Adam, Eve and their descendants were viewed as exiles from Eden and hence involuntary wanderers upon the earth. R estoration could only come by willingly adopting the identity o f a pilgrim whose life of obedience was focused upon reaching the heavenly homeland. In theory, place pilgrimage was a valuable way o f expressing and resourcing the life pilgrimage o f an individual; in practice, it was often seen as a distraction from, or a substitute for, real devotion. Pilgrimage to holy places offered the prospect of escape from the m onotony o f daily life but did it also represent a dangerous relapse into wandering from the stability o f calling and service required not only of religious but also of those who served the wider community? Place pilgrimage carried an in­ built element o f physical and moral danger, thus exposing those who undertook journeys to holy places to linked accusations o f irresponsibility, instability and immorality. A letter from Hildebert o f Le M ans, written c. 1127 to the C ount o f Anjou, advises him to reconsider his decision to go on pilgrimage to Compostela: W hoever undertakes governance is bound to obedience, against which he offends if he abandons it___ Wherefore an unavoidable blame attaches to you, dearest son, in that you are putting the unnecessary before the necessary, non­ obligation before obligation. N o doctor, no scripture records that wandering around the globe (circuire vagum orbem terrarum) [my italics] was am ong the talents which the householder distributed to his servants [M atthew 2 5 :1 4 20].88 . . . Consider therefore whether the fruits of your journey are such that they can make up for the loss incurred by lost obedience .89

M any were the attem pts to keep religious within their cloisters and thus within their own specialised form of the pilgrimage of life.90 Again the m otif o f wandering is com m on .91 The bishop o f Ely is recorded issuing decrees against "the black m onks9, talking o f their P an d e rin g about on the pretext o f pilgrimage* {de vagacione eorum ad sanctum Thomam et ad sanctum Aedmumdum peregrinacionis optentu).92 The Legatine Council at York in the same y e a r ,1195, outlines the requirement o f monks, canons regular and nuns to live accordingly to rule, adding firmly: 'So therefore as to deprive them of the opportunity o f wandering about {Ut ergo eis adimatur oportunitas M A passage looking forward to the La»t Judgement. M PLy 171.161-2. Translated Webb 0999), 246-7. See Chapter 11 below. *_ On the importance of wtind睿rin丨 m I iplrltu羼 I indicator in /Vcrv Jocelin of Brakelond, Chronic^ 54.

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evagandi), we forbid them to . . . undertake pilgrimages / 93 Nuns seem to have been a cause of particular concern, partly due, no doubt, to more general concerns about women and pilgrimage .94 They also seem to have been unreceptive to attem pts to discipline them judging by the experience of a bishop of Lincoln who delivered a papal bull on this subject to a recalcitrant group of nuns only to be hit between the shoulders by the bull as he retreated from the enraged prioress . 95 Accusations o f immorality, wastefulness and ignorance among pilgrims came not only from Lollards such as William Thorpe, but also from orthodox preachers such as the Dominican John Bromyard who complained There are some who keep their pilgrimages not for G od but for the devil. Those who sin more freely when away from home or who go on pilgrimage to succeed in inordinate and foolish love, those who spend their time on the road in evil and uncharitable conversation . . . m ake their pilgrimage away from G od to the devil.96

The subject o f pilgrimage comes up frequently in Lollard testimonies and forced recantations , 97 though John W yclif ( c . 1330-84) wrote little himself on these topics .98 Their complaints were threefold. Firstly, there was no merit in so-called ‘holy places ， ： Alas what woodnes is }?is to boost o f hooli placis， and we ouresüf to be suche viciouse foolis. Lucifer was in heuene, and }?at is m oost hooli place but for his synne he fel to helle; J?e place my3t nat holde him ."

Secondly, travelling to such shrines was, Lollards alleged, a pretext for immoral behaviour and a misuse o f hum an energy and resources: Fore men cannot haunt hore leccherie at home as ]>ei wolden, for drede of lordis， o f maystris and fro clam our o f n q eb o ris ，j?ei casten many dayes byfore and gederen what )?ei may, sore pynyng hemsilf to spare it, to go out o f )?e cuntry in pilgrimage to fer ymagis, and lyuen in \>q goinge in leccherye, in glotenie, in drunkenesse . . . and veynly spenden hore good and leeue ]?e trewe labour J>at shulden do at home in help o f hemsilf and hore ne 3eboris .100

93 Webb (1999), 250. 94 On women pilgrims see Morrison (2000) and Chapter 12 below. 95 Power (1922), 352. 96 Summa Praedicanti Feriae^ 1.6. Cited Davies (1988), 83. Such accusations could well have been levelled at the Wife of Bath. 97 See for example Two Wycliffite Texts and Swanson (1993), 267ff. Hudson (1985),126 n. 2, comments that pilgrimages and images are probably the two topics on which most frequently unorthodox opinions were expressed by Lollard suspects'. 99 Aston (1984), 189, discusses the popularisation of Wyclif's concerns. Anne Hudson notes that 'the Lollards went further than Wyclif, in their rejection of priestly office, for instance, or in tneir opposition to images and pilgrimages; but the seed of their ideas can always be found in Wyclif\ Selections from English Wycliffite Writings, 9. w Selections from English WycHffite Writings 117. ,H0 Selections from English Wyct(ffite Writings, 86. Compare English Wyclij'fite Sermons, 355: *now pilgrimnge ii mene for to do Iwherye.'

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

' p l a c e 5 p il g r im a g e

fourth century and concern and opposition expressed on various grounds by Church leaders and councils. Standard objections included the problem o f the theological paradox o f believers journeying to encounter a God who was everywhere present, together with the practical issues o f possible abdication of responsibilities at home by both lay people and cloistered religious, waste o f resources and exposure to tem ptation. As I suggested in the first chapter o f this study, Adam, Eve and their descendants were viewed as exiles from Eden and hence involuntary wanderers upon the earth. R estoration could only come by willingly adopting the identity o f a pilgrim whose life of obedience was focused upon reaching the heavenly homeland. In theory, place pilgrimage was a valuable way o f expressing and resourcing the life pilgrimage o f an individual; in practice, it was often seen as a distraction from, or a substitute for, real devotion. Pilgrimage to holy places offered the prospect of escape from the m onotony o f daily life but did it also represent a dangerous relapse into wandering from the stability o f calling and service required not only of religious but also of those who served the wider community? Place pilgrimage carried an in­ built element o f physical and moral danger, thus exposing those who undertook journeys to holy places to linked accusations o f irresponsibility, instability and immorality. A letter from Hildebert o f Le M ans, written c. 1127 to the C ount o f Anjou, advises him to reconsider his decision to go on pilgrimage to Compostela: W hoever undertakes governance is bound to obedience, against which he offends if he abandons it___ Wherefore an unavoidable blame attaches to you, dearest son, in that you are putting the unnecessary before the necessary, non­ obligation before obligation. N o doctor, no scripture records that wandering around the globe (circuire vagum orbem terrarum) [my italics] was am ong the talents which the householder distributed to his servants [M atthew 2 5 :1 4 20].88 . . . Consider therefore whether the fruits of your journey are such that they can make up for the loss incurred by lost obedience .89

M any were the attem pts to keep religious within their cloisters and thus within their own specialised form of the pilgrimage of life.90 Again the m otif o f wandering is com m on .91 The bishop o f Ely is recorded issuing decrees against "the black m onks9, talking o f their P an d e rin g about on the pretext o f pilgrimage* {de vagacione eorum ad sanctum Thomam et ad sanctum Aedmumdum peregrinacionis optentu).92 The Legatine Council at York in the same y e a r ,1195, outlines the requirement o f monks, canons regular and nuns to live accordingly to rule, adding firmly: 'So therefore as to deprive them of the opportunity o f wandering about {Ut ergo eis adimatur oportunitas M A passage looking forward to the La»t Judgement. M PLy 171.161-2. Translated Webb 0999), 246-7. See Chapter 11 below. *_ On the importance of wtind睿rin丨 m I iplrltu羼 I indicator in /Vcrv Jocelin of Brakelond, Chronic^ 54.

142

see Chapter 9.

in t h e l a t e r m id d l e a g e s

evagandi), we forbid them to . . . undertake pilgrimages / 93 Nuns seem to have been a cause of particular concern, partly due, no doubt, to more general concerns about women and pilgrimage .94 They also seem to have been unreceptive to attem pts to discipline them judging by the experience of a bishop of Lincoln who delivered a papal bull on this subject to a recalcitrant group of nuns only to be hit between the shoulders by the bull as he retreated from the enraged prioress . 95 Accusations o f immorality, wastefulness and ignorance among pilgrims came not only from Lollards such as William Thorpe, but also from orthodox preachers such as the Dominican John Bromyard who complained There are some who keep their pilgrimages not for G od but for the devil. Those who sin more freely when away from home or who go on pilgrimage to succeed in inordinate and foolish love, those who spend their time on the road in evil and uncharitable conversation . . . m ake their pilgrimage away from G od to the devil.96

The subject o f pilgrimage comes up frequently in Lollard testimonies and forced recantations , 97 though John W yclif ( c . 1330-84) wrote little himself on these topics .98 Their complaints were threefold. Firstly, there was no merit in so-called ‘holy places ， ： Alas what woodnes is }?is to boost o f hooli placis， and we ouresüf to be suche viciouse foolis. Lucifer was in heuene, and }?at is m oost hooli place but for his synne he fel to helle; J?e place my3t nat holde him ."

Secondly, travelling to such shrines was, Lollards alleged, a pretext for immoral behaviour and a misuse o f hum an energy and resources: Fore men cannot haunt hore leccherie at home as ]>ei wolden, for drede of lordis， o f maystris and fro clam our o f n q eb o ris ，j?ei casten many dayes byfore and gederen what )?ei may, sore pynyng hemsilf to spare it, to go out o f )?e cuntry in pilgrimage to fer ymagis, and lyuen in \>q goinge in leccherye, in glotenie, in drunkenesse . . . and veynly spenden hore good and leeue ]?e trewe labour J>at shulden do at home in help o f hemsilf and hore ne 3eboris .100

93 Webb (1999), 250. 94 On women pilgrims see Morrison (2000) and Chapter 12 below. 95 Power (1922), 352. 96 Summa Praedicanti Feriae^ 1.6. Cited Davies (1988), 83. Such accusations could well have been levelled at the Wife of Bath. 97 See for example Two Wycliffite Texts and Swanson (1993), 267ff. Hudson (1985),126 n. 2, comments that pilgrimages and images are probably the two topics on which most frequently unorthodox opinions were expressed by Lollard suspects'. 99 Aston (1984), 189, discusses the popularisation of Wyclif's concerns. Anne Hudson notes that 'the Lollards went further than Wyclif, in their rejection of priestly office, for instance, or in tneir opposition to images and pilgrimages; but the seed of their ideas can always be found in Wyclif\ Selections from English Wycliffite Writings, 9. w Selections from English WycHffite Writings 117. ,H0 Selections from English Wyct(ffite Writings, 86. Compare English Wyclij'fite Sermons, 355: *now pilgrimnge ii mene for to do Iwherye.'

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

Thirdly, and most im portantly, in Lollard thought true pilgrimage was a moral journey of obedience, lived out day by day in the calling assigned by God: I clepe hem trewe pilgrymes trauelynge tow ard blis of heuene whiche, in J?e staat degree or ordre pat G od clepij? hem to, buisien hem fei}?fuli, for to occupie alle her wittis, bodili and goostli, to know treweli and to kepe feej?fulli \>e heestis o f G od, hatynge euere and fleynge alle )>t seuene dedli synnes___ O f >ese pilgrymes I seide whateuer good J?ou3t )?at \>d ony tyme )?enken, what vertues worde )?at )?ei speken, and what fructuouse werk }?at J?ei worchen， euery such J?ou3t, word and werk is a stap noum brid o f G od tow ard him into heuene.10'

Lollard concerns about pilgrimage were joined with other doctrinal issues which gave a wider significance to their preaching and teaching. It is evident, however, th at their treatm ent of this topic is not to be viewed purely as an isolated phenomenon. Their concerns resonated in significant respects with those expressed by orthodox men and women through the ages. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that those concerns, touching as they do the very heart o f medieval piety, should also surface in the writings of Langland and Chaucer.

Piers Plowman

(for pilgrymes are we alle’ (Piers Plowman^ X I.240)

M ost critics o f Piers Plowman would agree that pilgrimage motifs play a significant role in the poem . 1 There is, however, rather less agreement about the interpretation o f these motifs and about the m anner in which the poet chooses to employ them. Different modes o f pilgrimage appear to sit uncomfortably together and Will's apparently erratic pursuit of spiritual enlightenment can seem clumsily contrived and fraught with contradictions. In Piers Plowman: The Field and the Tower, Priscilla M artin comments that 'the sequence of pilgrimage, ploughing and pardon look less like progression than a series of false starts 9.2 Some readers have also found it deeply unsatisfactory that the poem ends not with a resolution of the C hurch’s woes but with yet another pilgrimage . 3 M any o f these difficulties, however, can be reduced, if not totally resolved, if it is accepted th at the whole poem is structured around the pilgrimage o f life , 4 a concept to which Langland 5 demonstrates a deep commitment. W ithin this framework, false starts, interruptions, distractions and tem ptations can be seen, not as evidence o f confused or ill-conceived literary strategies but as essential components o f the m etaphor o f journeying .6 Pilgrims travelling to Rome, Compostela and Jerusalem during this period were conscious that there would be many problems to be overcome before they reached their goal and th at they would in all probability take wrong turnings, experience attacks by thieves, and grow weary and discouraged . 7 Small wonder, then, if the lifelong pilgrimage

1 Salter (1969), 4, refers to the *many pilgrimages which we make throughout the poem\ 2 Martin (1979), 51-2. 3 See Muscatine (1972), Chapter 3 on criticisms of the structure and purposefulness of the poem. 4 Compare Wenzel (1973), who maintains that only Passus V depicts the pilgrimage of life.

Two WyvUffite Texts, 61 2.

Simpson recognises the biblical background of images such as the 4tour on a toft* (Prologue, 14) in which Truth lives but focuses on the social aspect of its setting. Simpson ¢1990), 33. 9 I accept here the usual identification of the poet. See Kane (1965). 6 'Such form as [the poem] hat mirrors life most closely - wandering, searching, progressing and then apparently retrogreulng - the life of a man continuously in search of living as God would wish him to llv«.' Evant (1969), 246. 7 See Fabri, Cuol« and Pilgrims,

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

Thirdly, and most im portantly, in Lollard thought true pilgrimage was a moral journey of obedience, lived out day by day in the calling assigned by God: I clepe hem trewe pilgrymes trauelynge tow ard blis of heuene whiche, in J?e staat degree or ordre pat G od clepij? hem to, buisien hem fei}?fuli, for to occupie alle her wittis, bodili and goostli, to know treweli and to kepe feej?fulli \>e heestis o f G od, hatynge euere and fleynge alle )>t seuene dedli synnes___ O f >ese pilgrymes I seide whateuer good J?ou3t )?at \>d ony tyme )?enken, what vertues worde )?at )?ei speken, and what fructuouse werk }?at J?ei worchen， euery such J?ou3t, word and werk is a stap noum brid o f G od tow ard him into heuene.10'

Lollard concerns about pilgrimage were joined with other doctrinal issues which gave a wider significance to their preaching and teaching. It is evident, however, th at their treatm ent of this topic is not to be viewed purely as an isolated phenomenon. Their concerns resonated in significant respects with those expressed by orthodox men and women through the ages. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that those concerns, touching as they do the very heart o f medieval piety, should also surface in the writings of Langland and Chaucer.

Piers Plowman

(for pilgrymes are we alle’ (Piers Plowman^ X I.240)

M ost critics o f Piers Plowman would agree that pilgrimage motifs play a significant role in the poem . 1 There is, however, rather less agreement about the interpretation o f these motifs and about the m anner in which the poet chooses to employ them. Different modes o f pilgrimage appear to sit uncomfortably together and Will's apparently erratic pursuit of spiritual enlightenment can seem clumsily contrived and fraught with contradictions. In Piers Plowman: The Field and the Tower, Priscilla M artin comments that 'the sequence of pilgrimage, ploughing and pardon look less like progression than a series of false starts 9.2 Some readers have also found it deeply unsatisfactory that the poem ends not with a resolution of the C hurch’s woes but with yet another pilgrimage . 3 M any o f these difficulties, however, can be reduced, if not totally resolved, if it is accepted th at the whole poem is structured around the pilgrimage o f life , 4 a concept to which Langland 5 demonstrates a deep commitment. W ithin this framework, false starts, interruptions, distractions and tem ptations can be seen, not as evidence o f confused or ill-conceived literary strategies but as essential components o f the m etaphor o f journeying .6 Pilgrims travelling to Rome, Compostela and Jerusalem during this period were conscious that there would be many problems to be overcome before they reached their goal and th at they would in all probability take wrong turnings, experience attacks by thieves, and grow weary and discouraged . 7 Small wonder, then, if the lifelong pilgrimage

1 Salter (1969), 4, refers to the *many pilgrimages which we make throughout the poem\ 2 Martin (1979), 51-2. 3 See Muscatine (1972), Chapter 3 on criticisms of the structure and purposefulness of the poem. 4 Compare Wenzel (1973), who maintains that only Passus V depicts the pilgrimage of life.

Two WyvUffite Texts, 61 2.

Simpson recognises the biblical background of images such as the 4tour on a toft* (Prologue, 14) in which Truth lives but focuses on the social aspect of its setting. Simpson ¢1990), 33. 9 I accept here the usual identification of the poet. See Kane (1965). 6 'Such form as [the poem] hat mirrors life most closely - wandering, searching, progressing and then apparently retrogreulng - the life of a man continuously in search of living as God would wish him to llv«.' Evant (1969), 246. 7 See Fabri, Cuol« and Pilgrims,

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

PIERS PLOWMAN

o f hum ankind were to be characterised in similar fashion . 8 Christian tradition has never depicted the pilgrimage o f life as a straightforward movement from Place A to Place B and we should not expect Langland to do so either. His reading, his observation and his own life-situation would all have taught him that it is one thing to determine to journey to heaven, quite another to find the way day by day. If Langland was indeed a cleric in m inor orders, with a wife and family, committed to praying for the souls o f others ,9 then he would have daily lived out in his own experience the conflicting demands o f the world and the spiritual realm. Neither celibate, nor safely confined within a m onastery or anchorite^ cell, he would nevertheless, if his claim in the C-text is to be taken seriously, have constantly spent time on his knees face to face with eternity. Such a m an would not have been inclined to produce a facile, oversimplified allegory of hum ankind’s journey through a fallen world. M oreover, Langland, like other medieval writers, had at his disposal a num ber o f theological interpretations o f the pilgrimage o f life, together with a series o f images in which those interpretations could be clothed. Since hum an exile on earth was the product o f disobedience, any desire to reach the heavenly hom eland must involve not only dealing with sin but also a comm itm ent to future obedience, worked out in the place of one's calling . 101 Life pilgrimage, therefore, could be expressed in terms o f playing one's ordained role in society as well as in moral living. In addition, hum an sin not only caused physical exile from the G arden o f Eden but also spiritual separation from G od. Journeying to heaven was, in essence, journeying back to G od. It was, however, also considered possible to achieve recon­ ciliation and (to a certain extent) union with God while still on this earth. ‘Interior pilgrimage’, journeying inwards to encounter G od within one’s own heart and soul, was also an objective o f the life pilgrim." The pilgrimage of life, therefore, could manifest itself in moral living, in faithfully discharging one^ vocation and in internal spiritual growth. In theory all these expres­ sions o f life pilgrimage could operate simultaneously as the Christian sought to travel through time towards the heavenly kingdom in a state o f moral readiness for judgem ent and also to move closer to God within the sanctuary o f his o r her own soul. In real life, however, the Christian pilgrim was still trapped in a fallen world, confronted by sin, vulnerable to tem ptation 12 and often unable to discern clearly the voice o f God. Progress therefore was frequently unsteady, even erratic, plagued by lapses, misunderstanding and

falls from grace - in fact much like that dem onstrated by Langland's Dreamer. The pilgrim's great enemies were the sins 13 which threatened to divert him from his chosen pathway, his great hope the grace of forgiveness, ministered in the M iddle Ages through the sacrament o f penance. Woven into Langland's narrative are constant reminders o f these truths. His Dream er is an example o f fallen hum an nature, who manifests genuine spiritual longing, coupled with an innate hum an tendency to stray from the straight and narrow. He, like the poem 's audience, is in constant need of restoration and redirection. The world portrayed by Langland is one which by its very nature obscures spiritual reality; it is also one in which the goal of life pilgrimage can never be completely realised. Inextricably entwined with the concept of life pilgrimage is the transience o f hum an society and o f the physical world in which we live . 14 Will cannot be completely enlightened within the scope of the poem, nor can the Church or society be totally restored, since these, according to the biblical narrative are matters which await the creation o f a new heaven and a new earth. If Will's quest remains unfinished it is because it cannot be otherwise while he remains in this imperfect world. M uddled Langland's poem may sometimes appear; theo­ logically incoherent it is not.

8 As in Ancrene Wisse and de Deguileville's The Pilgrimage o f the Lyfe o f the Manhode. 9 This is to adopt a straightforward reading of the 'autobiographical* passage in the C-text (V.45-8). 10 As in Piers Plowman, VII.234^5 and XÏX.224-50. 11 See Salter (1969), 85-90 on the connections between mystical writings, especially those of Walter Hilton, and Piers Plowman, 13 Even anchorites as the writer of the Ancrene Wisse points out» Ancrene Wisse (cd. Tolkien), IV.92/24-5: 'Se )>e hul is herre se |>e wind is mare |?ron.'

146

Pilgrims and wanderers15 In a somer seson， whan softe was the sonne, I shoop me into shroudes as I a sheep were, In habite as an heremite unholy o f werkes， Wente wide in this world wondres to here . . . I was wery [of]wandred and wente me to reste U nder a brood bank by a bournes syde; And as I lay and lenede and loked on the watres, I slombred into a slepyng, it sweyed so murye. Thanne gan [me] to meten a merveillous swevene T hat I was in a wildernesse, wiste I nevere where. As I biheeld into the eest an heigh to the sonne, I seigh a tour on a toft trieliche ymaked, A deep dale bynethe, a dongeon therinne, W ith depe diches and derke and dredfulle o f sighte. A fair feeld ful o f folk fond I ther bitwene O f alle manere o f men, the meene and the riche, Werchynge and wandrynge as the world asketh. (Piers Plowman^ Prologue^ 1-4, 7-20)

The last line of this fam iliar passage makes an assumption which has not, as far as I am aware, aroused critical com m ent . 16 Yet why should ‘the world’ 11 As in 1 Peter 2. See the section below on the pilgrimage of life and the seven deadly sins. 14 See Chapter! 2 and 3 above. 13 Much of the material in this lection will appear in an article in English Language Notes, 2001. 16 Jenkini (1969), 126, dncrtbn ih« inhabhantt of the field a» acting 'with regard only to the laws of thii world' but don not «xplain why wandering should be a reiponse to thou lawi.

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

PIERS PLOWMAN

o f hum ankind were to be characterised in similar fashion . 8 Christian tradition has never depicted the pilgrimage o f life as a straightforward movement from Place A to Place B and we should not expect Langland to do so either. His reading, his observation and his own life-situation would all have taught him that it is one thing to determine to journey to heaven, quite another to find the way day by day. If Langland was indeed a cleric in m inor orders, with a wife and family, committed to praying for the souls o f others ,9 then he would have daily lived out in his own experience the conflicting demands o f the world and the spiritual realm. Neither celibate, nor safely confined within a m onastery or anchorite^ cell, he would nevertheless, if his claim in the C-text is to be taken seriously, have constantly spent time on his knees face to face with eternity. Such a m an would not have been inclined to produce a facile, oversimplified allegory of hum ankind’s journey through a fallen world. M oreover, Langland, like other medieval writers, had at his disposal a num ber o f theological interpretations o f the pilgrimage o f life, together with a series o f images in which those interpretations could be clothed. Since hum an exile on earth was the product o f disobedience, any desire to reach the heavenly hom eland must involve not only dealing with sin but also a comm itm ent to future obedience, worked out in the place of one's calling . 101 Life pilgrimage, therefore, could be expressed in terms o f playing one's ordained role in society as well as in moral living. In addition, hum an sin not only caused physical exile from the G arden o f Eden but also spiritual separation from G od. Journeying to heaven was, in essence, journeying back to G od. It was, however, also considered possible to achieve recon­ ciliation and (to a certain extent) union with God while still on this earth. ‘Interior pilgrimage’, journeying inwards to encounter G od within one’s own heart and soul, was also an objective o f the life pilgrim." The pilgrimage of life, therefore, could manifest itself in moral living, in faithfully discharging one^ vocation and in internal spiritual growth. In theory all these expres­ sions o f life pilgrimage could operate simultaneously as the Christian sought to travel through time towards the heavenly kingdom in a state o f moral readiness for judgem ent and also to move closer to God within the sanctuary o f his o r her own soul. In real life, however, the Christian pilgrim was still trapped in a fallen world, confronted by sin, vulnerable to tem ptation 12 and often unable to discern clearly the voice o f God. Progress therefore was frequently unsteady, even erratic, plagued by lapses, misunderstanding and

falls from grace - in fact much like that dem onstrated by Langland's Dreamer. The pilgrim's great enemies were the sins 13 which threatened to divert him from his chosen pathway, his great hope the grace of forgiveness, ministered in the M iddle Ages through the sacrament o f penance. Woven into Langland's narrative are constant reminders o f these truths. His Dream er is an example o f fallen hum an nature, who manifests genuine spiritual longing, coupled with an innate hum an tendency to stray from the straight and narrow. He, like the poem 's audience, is in constant need of restoration and redirection. The world portrayed by Langland is one which by its very nature obscures spiritual reality; it is also one in which the goal of life pilgrimage can never be completely realised. Inextricably entwined with the concept of life pilgrimage is the transience o f hum an society and o f the physical world in which we live . 14 Will cannot be completely enlightened within the scope of the poem, nor can the Church or society be totally restored, since these, according to the biblical narrative are matters which await the creation o f a new heaven and a new earth. If Will's quest remains unfinished it is because it cannot be otherwise while he remains in this imperfect world. M uddled Langland's poem may sometimes appear; theo­ logically incoherent it is not.

8 As in Ancrene Wisse and de Deguileville's The Pilgrimage o f the Lyfe o f the Manhode. 9 This is to adopt a straightforward reading of the 'autobiographical* passage in the C-text (V.45-8). 10 As in Piers Plowman, VII.234^5 and XÏX.224-50. 11 See Salter (1969), 85-90 on the connections between mystical writings, especially those of Walter Hilton, and Piers Plowman, 13 Even anchorites as the writer of the Ancrene Wisse points out» Ancrene Wisse (cd. Tolkien), IV.92/24-5: 'Se )>e hul is herre se |>e wind is mare |?ron.'

146

Pilgrims and wanderers15 In a somer seson， whan softe was the sonne, I shoop me into shroudes as I a sheep were, In habite as an heremite unholy o f werkes， Wente wide in this world wondres to here . . . I was wery [of]wandred and wente me to reste U nder a brood bank by a bournes syde; And as I lay and lenede and loked on the watres, I slombred into a slepyng, it sweyed so murye. Thanne gan [me] to meten a merveillous swevene T hat I was in a wildernesse, wiste I nevere where. As I biheeld into the eest an heigh to the sonne, I seigh a tour on a toft trieliche ymaked, A deep dale bynethe, a dongeon therinne, W ith depe diches and derke and dredfulle o f sighte. A fair feeld ful o f folk fond I ther bitwene O f alle manere o f men, the meene and the riche, Werchynge and wandrynge as the world asketh. (Piers Plowman^ Prologue^ 1-4, 7-20)

The last line of this fam iliar passage makes an assumption which has not, as far as I am aware, aroused critical com m ent . 16 Yet why should ‘the world’ 11 As in 1 Peter 2. See the section below on the pilgrimage of life and the seven deadly sins. 14 See Chapter! 2 and 3 above. 13 Much of the material in this lection will appear in an article in English Language Notes, 2001. 16 Jenkini (1969), 126, dncrtbn ih« inhabhantt of the field a» acting 'with regard only to the laws of thii world' but don not «xplain why wandering should be a reiponse to thou lawi.

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

PIERS PLOWMAN

ask (require ) 17 men and women to wander ? 18 The need to work hard to earn daily bread was part o f the punishm ent visited upon Adam , Eve and their descendants following the Fall 19 but why should wandering also be con­ sidered an appropriate or necessary activity? The reason, I suggest, is also linked to the Fall and to the widely accepted concept (fundam ental to the idea of life pilgrimage) o f this present world as a place o f exile. W andering, in Langland’s analysis of hum an society, appears to function as a highly significant spiritual indicator. The inhabitants o f the ‘feeld ful of folk’ are frequently defined in terms o f their stability - or lack o f it .20 'Ancres and heremites th at holden hem in hire selles9 (29) are praiseworthy; those who Dairen aboute' (30) are not. Others characterised by mobility include deceitful, violent, gluttonous ‘bidderes and beggeres ，（ 40)， lying ‘pilgrymes and palmeres’ （ 46)， w anton ‘heremytes， and ‘hire wenches’ （5$-4)， and negligent, avaricious ‘parisshe preestes’ （83) and ‘bisshopes’ （87) who abandon their appointed responsibilities for more lucrative pursuits in L ondon .21 D u Boulay interprets the p o e fs apparent preference for stability as an illustration o f the medieval concern for social order 22 but the tone of L angland^ comments seems rather to focus on the existence of an under­ lying spiritual malaise . 23 W andering is presented here both as a manifesta­ tion o f m an k in d s lostness and as a product o f human sin .24 This becomes even m ore apparent if we examine the introduction of the narrator in the opening lines of the Prologue, which in the B-text reads:

explanation o f this puzzling phrase. Malcolm Godden acknowledges that 'some 28 manuscripts read scheep meaning sheep* but dismisses this as 6a less likely reading ’ .29 Referring to ‘the poet’s opening description of himself dressed as a shepherd and as a herm it *30 he comments:

I shoop me into shroudes as I a sheep were, In habite as an heremite unholy o f werkes ， W ente wide in this world wondres to here. (Piers Plowman, Prologue^ 2-4)

A num ber o f editors 25 and com m entators 26 have chosen to interpret ‘sheep’ as ‘shepherd’， less on etymological grounds 27 than for the lack of a logical 17 Asken v. 7. Of things: to require as appropriate or necessary; require, demand, call for MED. ,s Defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as *to roam, ramble, go idly or restlessly about; to have no fixed abode*. 19 Genesis 3. 20 Two versions of the Wycliffite Bible cited in the Middle English Dictionary bring out the instability of the wanderings to which Cain is condemned: a 1425 (c 1395) W. Bible (2) Gen.4: 14: Cayn seide to the Lord.1o! to dai thou castist me o u t. . . and Y schal be vnstable of dwellyng [WB(1): vagaunt] and fleynge aboute in erthe*. 21 Later in the poem Langland also attacks monks who leave the cloister. See Langland, Piers Plowman. A Parallel Edition, X.295-315. 22 ‘Langland’s mentality could only be happy with a society composed of ordered degrees and fixed numbers.* Du Boulay (1991),6. 2S These two explanations are not of course mutually exclusive. 24 This negative view of wandering anticipates the cancellation of the pilgrimage in Passus VI. 25 See The Vision o f Piers (he Plowman, 11.2. 26 Godden (1984), 129. Salter (1969),14 n. 4, accepts the shepherd reading without comment. See also Hill (1993), 68. 27 Schmidt chooses Sheep' not 'ihepherd', *for which no lexical support exists'; Langtand: The Vision o f Piers Plowman, 363. See alto Bennett'» comments (Piers Plowman (ed. Bennett), 80

148

To dress as a shepherd is to take on the role o f one of the w orld's workers (and this is perhaps even true if we take shepherd as a m etaphor for pastor, a spiritual teacher o f the flock); to take on the garb o f a herm it is to reject the world in favour o f a spiritual isolation and dedication .31

Will, however, is not a priest, nor a pastor nor an apostle 32 but, as we see in Passus I, someone who at this point needs to learn the truths which Holy Church imparts. M oreover he is not claiming the merits o f a hermit life as described by Godden. R ather he is equating his actions with those o f a heremite unholy o f werkes. If we examine Langland's criticisms of such people in the Prologue we see that their lack of holiness consists o f wandering away from the life o f sanctified stability (53-4) dem onstrated by true anchorites and hermits (25-31). Attem pts to m aintain the sheep reading have been tentative and not particularly satisfactory within the context o f the poem. The most thorough­ going examination o f this textual conundrum has been provided by David Mills: The physical com parison, as I a shepe were, is a grotesque and suggests the uneasy awareness o f the absurdity o f his position, considered objectively, which the D ream er shows elsew here.. . . But although the D ream er may often seem comic, there is a serious overtone in his absurdity. Here shepe suggests a num ber o f wider meanings: OED 2a in allusions to a) the sheep*s timidity, defencelessness, inoffensiveness, tendency to stray and get lost. b) the fabled assum ption by a wolf (or other beast o f prey) o f the skin o f a slaughtered sheep. c) the division into ‘sheep’ and goats’ at the Last Judgement. OED 4. In biblical and religious language (as collective plural) to persons, in expressed or implied correlation with shepherd.

n. 2). A further argument for the rejection of the ‘shepherd’ interpretation is the fact that later in the poem Langland speaks of *Shipmen and shepherdes, that with ship and sheep wenten* (XV.360). 2* In fact most manuscripts read sheeps shep, shepe. 19 Godden (1990), 25 n . 14. 30 The narrator only states that he is dressed as a sheep and as a hermit but a number of recent articles have taken the hermit identity literally. See Justice and Kerby-Fulton (1997). Godden (1990), 30. 12 Lawrence M. Clopper luggeiti that sheep signifies apostle, since Christ sent out his followers as 'Iambi among wolv«' (Mitthtw 10;16). but also questions whether Will is 'as false an apostle as he l i « hermit'. Clopper (1997), 156-7. It Is, however, inappropriate to see Wilt as any kind of apoitle, falie or otlurwlM.

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

PIERS PLOWMAN

ask (require ) 17 men and women to wander ? 18 The need to work hard to earn daily bread was part o f the punishm ent visited upon Adam , Eve and their descendants following the Fall 19 but why should wandering also be con­ sidered an appropriate or necessary activity? The reason, I suggest, is also linked to the Fall and to the widely accepted concept (fundam ental to the idea of life pilgrimage) o f this present world as a place o f exile. W andering, in Langland’s analysis of hum an society, appears to function as a highly significant spiritual indicator. The inhabitants o f the ‘feeld ful of folk’ are frequently defined in terms o f their stability - or lack o f it .20 'Ancres and heremites th at holden hem in hire selles9 (29) are praiseworthy; those who Dairen aboute' (30) are not. Others characterised by mobility include deceitful, violent, gluttonous ‘bidderes and beggeres ，（ 40)， lying ‘pilgrymes and palmeres’ （ 46)， w anton ‘heremytes， and ‘hire wenches’ （5$-4)， and negligent, avaricious ‘parisshe preestes’ （83) and ‘bisshopes’ （87) who abandon their appointed responsibilities for more lucrative pursuits in L ondon .21 D u Boulay interprets the p o e fs apparent preference for stability as an illustration o f the medieval concern for social order 22 but the tone of L angland^ comments seems rather to focus on the existence of an under­ lying spiritual malaise . 23 W andering is presented here both as a manifesta­ tion o f m an k in d s lostness and as a product o f human sin .24 This becomes even m ore apparent if we examine the introduction of the narrator in the opening lines of the Prologue, which in the B-text reads:

explanation o f this puzzling phrase. Malcolm Godden acknowledges that 'some 28 manuscripts read scheep meaning sheep* but dismisses this as 6a less likely reading ’ .29 Referring to ‘the poet’s opening description of himself dressed as a shepherd and as a herm it *30 he comments:

I shoop me into shroudes as I a sheep were, In habite as an heremite unholy o f werkes ， W ente wide in this world wondres to here. (Piers Plowman, Prologue^ 2-4)

A num ber o f editors 25 and com m entators 26 have chosen to interpret ‘sheep’ as ‘shepherd’， less on etymological grounds 27 than for the lack of a logical 17 Asken v. 7. Of things: to require as appropriate or necessary; require, demand, call for MED. ,s Defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as *to roam, ramble, go idly or restlessly about; to have no fixed abode*. 19 Genesis 3. 20 Two versions of the Wycliffite Bible cited in the Middle English Dictionary bring out the instability of the wanderings to which Cain is condemned: a 1425 (c 1395) W. Bible (2) Gen.4: 14: Cayn seide to the Lord.1o! to dai thou castist me o u t. . . and Y schal be vnstable of dwellyng [WB(1): vagaunt] and fleynge aboute in erthe*. 21 Later in the poem Langland also attacks monks who leave the cloister. See Langland, Piers Plowman. A Parallel Edition, X.295-315. 22 ‘Langland’s mentality could only be happy with a society composed of ordered degrees and fixed numbers.* Du Boulay (1991),6. 2S These two explanations are not of course mutually exclusive. 24 This negative view of wandering anticipates the cancellation of the pilgrimage in Passus VI. 25 See The Vision o f Piers (he Plowman, 11.2. 26 Godden (1984), 129. Salter (1969),14 n. 4, accepts the shepherd reading without comment. See also Hill (1993), 68. 27 Schmidt chooses Sheep' not 'ihepherd', *for which no lexical support exists'; Langtand: The Vision o f Piers Plowman, 363. See alto Bennett'» comments (Piers Plowman (ed. Bennett), 80

148

To dress as a shepherd is to take on the role o f one of the w orld's workers (and this is perhaps even true if we take shepherd as a m etaphor for pastor, a spiritual teacher o f the flock); to take on the garb o f a herm it is to reject the world in favour o f a spiritual isolation and dedication .31

Will, however, is not a priest, nor a pastor nor an apostle 32 but, as we see in Passus I, someone who at this point needs to learn the truths which Holy Church imparts. M oreover he is not claiming the merits o f a hermit life as described by Godden. R ather he is equating his actions with those o f a heremite unholy o f werkes. If we examine Langland's criticisms of such people in the Prologue we see that their lack of holiness consists o f wandering away from the life o f sanctified stability (53-4) dem onstrated by true anchorites and hermits (25-31). Attem pts to m aintain the sheep reading have been tentative and not particularly satisfactory within the context o f the poem. The most thorough­ going examination o f this textual conundrum has been provided by David Mills: The physical com parison, as I a shepe were, is a grotesque and suggests the uneasy awareness o f the absurdity o f his position, considered objectively, which the D ream er shows elsew here.. . . But although the D ream er may often seem comic, there is a serious overtone in his absurdity. Here shepe suggests a num ber o f wider meanings: OED 2a in allusions to a) the sheep*s timidity, defencelessness, inoffensiveness, tendency to stray and get lost. b) the fabled assum ption by a wolf (or other beast o f prey) o f the skin o f a slaughtered sheep. c) the division into ‘sheep’ and goats’ at the Last Judgement. OED 4. In biblical and religious language (as collective plural) to persons, in expressed or implied correlation with shepherd.

n. 2). A further argument for the rejection of the ‘shepherd’ interpretation is the fact that later in the poem Langland speaks of *Shipmen and shepherdes, that with ship and sheep wenten* (XV.360). 2* In fact most manuscripts read sheeps shep, shepe. 19 Godden (1990), 25 n . 14. 30 The narrator only states that he is dressed as a sheep and as a hermit but a number of recent articles have taken the hermit identity literally. See Justice and Kerby-Fulton (1997). Godden (1990), 30. 12 Lawrence M. Clopper luggeiti that sheep signifies apostle, since Christ sent out his followers as 'Iambi among wolv«' (Mitthtw 10;16). but also questions whether Will is 'as false an apostle as he l i « hermit'. Clopper (1997), 156-7. It Is, however, inappropriate to see Wilt as any kind of apoitle, falie or otlurwlM.

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

The obvious sense here, stressed by R obertson and H uppé， is the ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing’ which is suggested by the reference to dress and the outw ard similarity to a hermit. Yet at the same time the idea of a 'lost and straying sheep’ is present in the reference to wandering, and perhaps against it stands the idea that the Dream er wishes to be a ‘sheep’ as opposed to a ‘goat’， one who is am ong G od’s chosen and will be saved . 33 In fact, in the context o f Piers Plowman, the 'obvious sense* proposed by R obertson and H uppé , 34 is not obvious at all. On the contrary it is dangerously misleading . 35 The expression ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing， derives from the warning given by Jesus in the Sermon on the M ount: A dtendite a falsis prophetis qui veniunt ad vos in vestimentis ovium. Beware o f false prophets who come to you in the clothing o f sheep. (M atthew 7:15)

Similar warnings against false teachers who will attem pt to destroy the Christian flock are given in Acts 20:19 and 1 John 4 : 1 . The expression was used in the later fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries 36 but in no way can it be considered applicable to the persona of the Dream er as presented in the poem. We have already established that the Dreamer is neither priest nor pastor nor spiritual teacher . 37 Still less can he be categorised as a false teacher, one who deliberately and destructively seeks to deceive and lead others astray, since his quest from Passus I onwards is to grasp Truth. Surely it is m ore likely that sheep here simply 38 signifies spiritual lostness and lack o f direction, a state highly appropriate to one who personifies sinful hum an­ kind. A lthough Mills does make reference to the notion o f a lo st and straying sheep’， he fails to take account of the broad-based biblical justification for applying such an interpretation to this passage. The identification of sinful, exiled hum anity as lost sheep is evident both in the Old and New Testaments. In Psalm 118:176 the psalmist declares 'I have gone astray like a sheep that is lost* (erravi sicut ovis quae periit) and Isaiah 53: 6 acknowledges:

PIERS PLOWMAN omnes nos quasi oves eravimus unusquisque in viam suam declinavit. all we like sheep have gone astray, every one hath turned aside into his own way.

In the New Testament the parables o f the G ood Shepherd (John 10) and the Lost Sheep (Luke 15), together with Peter's reminder to his readers that 'you were as sheep going astray 5 (1 Peter 2: 25) dem onstrate the continuing strength o f the image. Why then should the n arrato r not be presenting himself at the beginning o f the poem as a lost sheep, wandering through the world and hence in need of rescue and redirection ? 39 This alternative interpretation is supported by examples cited in the Middle English Dic­ tionary, in which the only reference to the possibility th at shep might in fact mean ‘shepherd’ is cited in connection with this very passage: ‘5. ? A shepherd; ? a sheep， used fig.: one who wanders or goes astray.’ In the context o f Piers Plowman the suggestion th at sheep is indeed used figura­ tively o f one who wanders or goes astray is self-evidently both theologically and structurally compatible with the world-view expressed throughout the poem. Will’s goal when in ‘sheep m ode’ is to seek ‘wondres ’，40 which may indicate th at he is suffering from curiositas, an attitude o f mind which medieval spirituality regarded as inherently sinful.41 It is only when his wanderings have wearied him (7) th at he sleeps, thus becoming stationary and receptive to divine revelation .42 He then perceives the world as a spiritual wilderness , 43 in which others wander as he does, and becomes aware o f the two destinations to which life on earth may lead: the tower o f T ruth and the dungeon. As the process o f revelation begins, he manifests a com bination o f spiritual eagerness and ignorance which is mirrored in the would-be pilgrims of Passus V.510-14. Significantly they in their turn will be described as ‘wandering aimlessly ，44 ‘like beestes’ (V.514)， a line which recalls the sheep image o f the Prologue. The descent o f Holy C hurch from the tower o f T ruth and her comments to the Dream er underline the poet’s use o f m ankind’s spiritual exile on earth as 39 It is interesting to note that both Piers and Imaginatif quote from Psalm 23, a psalm which

33 Mills (1969),185-6. 34 See also Carruthers (1973). ss Kirk (1972)，19， accepts this view, taking it as evidence that ‘the Dreamer’s search is undertaken under a sign of contradiction and is associated with both good and evil by specifically religious standards. The Dreamer is by his own choice both pilgrim and pariah.' 36 The Middle English Dictionary cites shep 6. (d) (c 1384) W. Bible (1)Matt. 7:15 'Flee fro fals prophetis, the whiche cummen to 3 0 U in clothingis of sheepis, bot wythynne thei ben rauyshynge wolues*. 37 Sec Justice and Kerby-Fulton (1997). 31 Bloomfield (1961),2St and Justice (1993), 99. see Will as an example of the gyrovagus, (the wandering monks that Saint Benedicl condemns for their failed obedience*, but this, once again, seems to be investing the persona of the Dreamer with an unduly narrow and negative identity since he is not a monk deliberately rejecting his vow of stability but a representative of lost humankind in general.

ISO

expresses the security of a sheep which is safe in the shepherd’s care. 40 Cooper (1987), 77, comments: *It is undirected wandering, not yet a pilgrimage in any literal or spiritual sense.* 41 See Zacher (1976). 42 4SIepynge, hadde y grace/ to wyte what Dowel is ac wakynge neuere!' Langland, Piers Plowman. A Parallel Edition, C-text XIII, 215-16. Salter (1969), 61,quotes Walter Hilton (Scale, 11.40): ‘The m ore【 sleep from outward things, the more wakeん11 am in knowing of Jhesu and of inward things. I make not wake to Jhesu, but if I sleep to the world.* On inner spiritual journeying through dreams and visions see Chapter 11. 43 Bennett comments: ^ildernesse: lexically = wild, uncultivated land, in which a traveller might lose his way . . . but allegorically the word early took on the scriptural overtones that are still present in the opening sentence of Pilgrim's Progress. The Old Testament archetype is the wildemeat through which the children of Israel journeyed to the promised land as the Christian pilgrim journeys through th« world.' Pltrs Plowman, 82 n . 12. 44 Schmldt'i lranit«tlon of bbMffdtn In Thf Vision of Piers Pbwman.

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

The obvious sense here, stressed by R obertson and H uppé， is the ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing’ which is suggested by the reference to dress and the outw ard similarity to a hermit. Yet at the same time the idea of a 'lost and straying sheep’ is present in the reference to wandering, and perhaps against it stands the idea that the Dream er wishes to be a ‘sheep’ as opposed to a ‘goat’， one who is am ong G od’s chosen and will be saved . 33 In fact, in the context o f Piers Plowman, the 'obvious sense* proposed by R obertson and H uppé , 34 is not obvious at all. On the contrary it is dangerously misleading . 35 The expression ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing， derives from the warning given by Jesus in the Sermon on the M ount: A dtendite a falsis prophetis qui veniunt ad vos in vestimentis ovium. Beware o f false prophets who come to you in the clothing o f sheep. (M atthew 7:15)

Similar warnings against false teachers who will attem pt to destroy the Christian flock are given in Acts 20:19 and 1 John 4 : 1 . The expression was used in the later fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries 36 but in no way can it be considered applicable to the persona of the Dream er as presented in the poem. We have already established that the Dreamer is neither priest nor pastor nor spiritual teacher . 37 Still less can he be categorised as a false teacher, one who deliberately and destructively seeks to deceive and lead others astray, since his quest from Passus I onwards is to grasp Truth. Surely it is m ore likely that sheep here simply 38 signifies spiritual lostness and lack o f direction, a state highly appropriate to one who personifies sinful hum an­ kind. A lthough Mills does make reference to the notion o f a lo st and straying sheep’， he fails to take account of the broad-based biblical justification for applying such an interpretation to this passage. The identification of sinful, exiled hum anity as lost sheep is evident both in the Old and New Testaments. In Psalm 118:176 the psalmist declares 'I have gone astray like a sheep that is lost* (erravi sicut ovis quae periit) and Isaiah 53: 6 acknowledges:

PIERS PLOWMAN omnes nos quasi oves eravimus unusquisque in viam suam declinavit. all we like sheep have gone astray, every one hath turned aside into his own way.

In the New Testament the parables o f the G ood Shepherd (John 10) and the Lost Sheep (Luke 15), together with Peter's reminder to his readers that 'you were as sheep going astray 5 (1 Peter 2: 25) dem onstrate the continuing strength o f the image. Why then should the n arrato r not be presenting himself at the beginning o f the poem as a lost sheep, wandering through the world and hence in need of rescue and redirection ? 39 This alternative interpretation is supported by examples cited in the Middle English Dic­ tionary, in which the only reference to the possibility th at shep might in fact mean ‘shepherd’ is cited in connection with this very passage: ‘5. ? A shepherd; ? a sheep， used fig.: one who wanders or goes astray.’ In the context o f Piers Plowman the suggestion th at sheep is indeed used figura­ tively o f one who wanders or goes astray is self-evidently both theologically and structurally compatible with the world-view expressed throughout the poem. Will’s goal when in ‘sheep m ode’ is to seek ‘wondres ’，40 which may indicate th at he is suffering from curiositas, an attitude o f mind which medieval spirituality regarded as inherently sinful.41 It is only when his wanderings have wearied him (7) th at he sleeps, thus becoming stationary and receptive to divine revelation .42 He then perceives the world as a spiritual wilderness , 43 in which others wander as he does, and becomes aware o f the two destinations to which life on earth may lead: the tower o f T ruth and the dungeon. As the process o f revelation begins, he manifests a com bination o f spiritual eagerness and ignorance which is mirrored in the would-be pilgrims of Passus V.510-14. Significantly they in their turn will be described as ‘wandering aimlessly ，44 ‘like beestes’ (V.514)， a line which recalls the sheep image o f the Prologue. The descent o f Holy C hurch from the tower o f T ruth and her comments to the Dream er underline the poet’s use o f m ankind’s spiritual exile on earth as 39 It is interesting to note that both Piers and Imaginatif quote from Psalm 23, a psalm which

33 Mills (1969),185-6. 34 See also Carruthers (1973). ss Kirk (1972)，19， accepts this view, taking it as evidence that ‘the Dreamer’s search is undertaken under a sign of contradiction and is associated with both good and evil by specifically religious standards. The Dreamer is by his own choice both pilgrim and pariah.' 36 The Middle English Dictionary cites shep 6. (d) (c 1384) W. Bible (1)Matt. 7:15 'Flee fro fals prophetis, the whiche cummen to 3 0 U in clothingis of sheepis, bot wythynne thei ben rauyshynge wolues*. 37 Sec Justice and Kerby-Fulton (1997). 31 Bloomfield (1961),2St and Justice (1993), 99. see Will as an example of the gyrovagus, (the wandering monks that Saint Benedicl condemns for their failed obedience*, but this, once again, seems to be investing the persona of the Dreamer with an unduly narrow and negative identity since he is not a monk deliberately rejecting his vow of stability but a representative of lost humankind in general.

ISO

expresses the security of a sheep which is safe in the shepherd’s care. 40 Cooper (1987), 77, comments: *It is undirected wandering, not yet a pilgrimage in any literal or spiritual sense.* 41 See Zacher (1976). 42 4SIepynge, hadde y grace/ to wyte what Dowel is ac wakynge neuere!' Langland, Piers Plowman. A Parallel Edition, C-text XIII, 215-16. Salter (1969), 61,quotes Walter Hilton (Scale, 11.40): ‘The m ore【 sleep from outward things, the more wakeん11 am in knowing of Jhesu and of inward things. I make not wake to Jhesu, but if I sleep to the world.* On inner spiritual journeying through dreams and visions see Chapter 11. 43 Bennett comments: ^ildernesse: lexically = wild, uncultivated land, in which a traveller might lose his way . . . but allegorically the word early took on the scriptural overtones that are still present in the opening sentence of Pilgrim's Progress. The Old Testament archetype is the wildemeat through which the children of Israel journeyed to the promised land as the Christian pilgrim journeys through th« world.' Pltrs Plowman, 82 n . 12. 44 Schmldt'i lranit«tlon of bbMffdtn In Thf Vision of Piers Pbwman.

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

PIERS PLOWMAN

the framing device o f the poem. Here we are given a brief glimpse o f the heavenly Jerusalem ,45 the ultim ate goal of the pilgrimage of life, followed by an insight into an eternal perspective to which hum an beings on their own cannot attain:

This, in essence, is the concept o f the pilgrimage o f life, a commitment to obeying the will of G od in this world in order to win a place in heaven. This concept, I suggest, is fundam ental to any interpretation o f Piers Plowman. The poet has chosen to set his poem within a context o f wandering and spiritual exile and to provide a narrator who, sheep-like, is patently in need of help and guidance if he is to be saved . 50 The introduction o f the theme of life pilgrimage at the very beginning o f the poem has three significant consequences. Firstly, it supplies a thread o f spiritual consistency 51 which runs through succeeding episodes. The ‘anti-wandering’ tenor o f the Prologue anticipates the redirection o f the pilgrimage in Passus V, the working o f the Half-acre in Passus VI and T ru th ’s instructions to remain at home in Passus VII. M oreover, the characteristics of the true spiritual pilgrim are shown to be a desire to return to G od and a corresponding willingness to learn obedience. However confused and erratic the Dream er's progress, these elements remain in some degree; the theme of obedience in daily life serving to undergird and link together the apparent changes of direction, disputations and encounters which form such a substantial part of the poem. N o t only does the idea o f ‘life pilgrimage’ form a consistent thread in Langland's approach to spirituality, it also provides a framework which offers a theological rationale for the state o f the world as Will perceives and experiences it. If life on earth represents spiritual exile and distance from God, then it is only to be expected th at hum an society should manifest corruption and confusion. Prey to the wiles of the devil and ill-equipped to discern right from wrong, hum an beings are all too susceptible to the onslaughts o f the seven deadly sins. Even the Church is vulnerable to attack and will often disappoint those in search o f truth. Finally, the changing nature of the Dream er’s quest - from a purely hum an desire to seek ‘wondres’ to a life-long search for salvation - illustrates the journey of every ‘life’ pilgrim. Schm idt， in identifying Will’s quest as a key structural principle o f the poem, suggests th at by the end o f the narrative Will has become identified with Conscience . 52 If this is so then the Dreamer, like Abraham and all true pilgrims before him, has succeeded in transform ing aimless wandering into purposeful pilgrimage .53

Sestow this pepie How bisie they ben aboute the maze? The mooste partie o f this pepie that passeth on this erthe, H aue thei worship in this world, thei wilne no bettre; O f oother hevene than here holden thei no tale. (Piers Plowman^ 1.5-9)

The problem illustrated by the inhabitants of the feeld is not their busyness as such, since properly directed hard work is commendable, but the fact that their energies are totally absorbed by the maze.46 They are oblivious to the existence o f heaven , 47 m ankind^ true homeland and, totally preoccupied with the rewards which earth offers, they fail to respond to the G od who has in fact arranged for their needs to be supplied (1.18，19).48 Holy C hurch’s explanation that m ankind was created *to worshipe hym therwith the while that ye ben here' signals the tem porary nature o f hum an life o f earth and recognition of the transience of earthly gain implies the need for those engaged in the pilgrimage o f life to use tem poral goods properly. This is why Mede will be portrayed as so dangerous, because she has the power to distract hum an beings from the greater rewards which await them in heaven. Augustine o f Hippo had warned explicitly against becoming ensnared by m aterial pleasures: 4In this m ortal life we are like travellers away from our Lord: if we wish to return to the hom eland where we can be happy we m ust use this world， not enjoy it . ’49 Holy Church, here the eternal, perfected Christian community rather than the flawed pilgrim Church, provides an outline of biblical history and offers a summ ary o f the way to salvation, a summary which anticipates both Piers’ directions to T ruth (VI.560-608) and the contents o f the pardon which T ruth sends to Piers (V II.1-111): Ac tho that werche wel as Holy W rit telleth, A nd enden as I er seide, in truthe, that is the beste, Mowe be siker that hire soule shul wende to hevene, Ther Treuthe is in Trmitee and troneth hem alle. (Piers Plowman^ 1.130-3)

49 Described initially as a tower on a hill (Prologue,14) and subsequently as a castle on a mountain (1.1-4) The tower is the dwelling-place of Truth, the mountain is Zion upon which is built the city of God. On the relationship of these passages to the picture of the heavenly city in the Book of Revelation, see Chapter 12. See also Davlin (1993). 46 The Z-text Prologue, 98, has *body to plese* (Piers Plowman. A Parallel Edition). 47 The Z-text reads (They an no ward to the hil that on hey stands' i.e. the hill on which stands the tower of Truth (Piers Plowman. A ParalM Edition, Prologue, 99). 48 Du Boulay (1991),4, interprati Ihii at a comment on irreligion in society. 49 Augustine of Hippo, D§ Doctrtna Christiana, 1.9. Sec alto Chapter 2 above.

50 Martin (1962), 543-4, states *in Piers Plowman Wil is obviously characterised as a wanderer* and concludes that 'LanglancTs satire is so violent and uncontrollable that it overruns and consumes his form. That is, though Langland uses the mode of wandering to dramatise Wil, the figure with whom we are to identify ourselves, he nevertheless authorially satirizes wanderers and wandering throughout the poem.' This failure to observe the significance of Will's change from wanderer to spiritual pilgrim leads Martin to conclude mistakenly chat Langland's opposition to all forms of wandering renders the poem confused and causes it to fail, at least in part. M There is an observable patterning 〇r experience which can be seen in the ways in which the experience of the wider groups of would-be pilgrims in Passus V echoes that of Will. 92 The Vision o f Pirn Plowman, xxxl. Alio Carruthers (1973),10, and Simpson (1990), 242-3. 11 On the focui on thi ptrton 〇r Pliri m Mow.

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

PIERS PLOWMAN

the framing device o f the poem. Here we are given a brief glimpse o f the heavenly Jerusalem ,45 the ultim ate goal of the pilgrimage of life, followed by an insight into an eternal perspective to which hum an beings on their own cannot attain:

This, in essence, is the concept o f the pilgrimage o f life, a commitment to obeying the will of G od in this world in order to win a place in heaven. This concept, I suggest, is fundam ental to any interpretation o f Piers Plowman. The poet has chosen to set his poem within a context o f wandering and spiritual exile and to provide a narrator who, sheep-like, is patently in need of help and guidance if he is to be saved . 50 The introduction o f the theme of life pilgrimage at the very beginning o f the poem has three significant consequences. Firstly, it supplies a thread o f spiritual consistency 51 which runs through succeeding episodes. The ‘anti-wandering’ tenor o f the Prologue anticipates the redirection o f the pilgrimage in Passus V, the working o f the Half-acre in Passus VI and T ru th ’s instructions to remain at home in Passus VII. M oreover, the characteristics of the true spiritual pilgrim are shown to be a desire to return to G od and a corresponding willingness to learn obedience. However confused and erratic the Dream er's progress, these elements remain in some degree; the theme of obedience in daily life serving to undergird and link together the apparent changes of direction, disputations and encounters which form such a substantial part of the poem. N o t only does the idea o f ‘life pilgrimage’ form a consistent thread in Langland's approach to spirituality, it also provides a framework which offers a theological rationale for the state o f the world as Will perceives and experiences it. If life on earth represents spiritual exile and distance from God, then it is only to be expected th at hum an society should manifest corruption and confusion. Prey to the wiles of the devil and ill-equipped to discern right from wrong, hum an beings are all too susceptible to the onslaughts o f the seven deadly sins. Even the Church is vulnerable to attack and will often disappoint those in search o f truth. Finally, the changing nature of the Dream er’s quest - from a purely hum an desire to seek ‘wondres’ to a life-long search for salvation - illustrates the journey of every ‘life’ pilgrim. Schm idt， in identifying Will’s quest as a key structural principle o f the poem, suggests th at by the end o f the narrative Will has become identified with Conscience . 52 If this is so then the Dreamer, like Abraham and all true pilgrims before him, has succeeded in transform ing aimless wandering into purposeful pilgrimage .53

Sestow this pepie How bisie they ben aboute the maze? The mooste partie o f this pepie that passeth on this erthe, H aue thei worship in this world, thei wilne no bettre; O f oother hevene than here holden thei no tale. (Piers Plowman^ 1.5-9)

The problem illustrated by the inhabitants of the feeld is not their busyness as such, since properly directed hard work is commendable, but the fact that their energies are totally absorbed by the maze.46 They are oblivious to the existence o f heaven , 47 m ankind^ true homeland and, totally preoccupied with the rewards which earth offers, they fail to respond to the G od who has in fact arranged for their needs to be supplied (1.18，19).48 Holy C hurch’s explanation that m ankind was created *to worshipe hym therwith the while that ye ben here' signals the tem porary nature o f hum an life o f earth and recognition of the transience of earthly gain implies the need for those engaged in the pilgrimage o f life to use tem poral goods properly. This is why Mede will be portrayed as so dangerous, because she has the power to distract hum an beings from the greater rewards which await them in heaven. Augustine o f Hippo had warned explicitly against becoming ensnared by m aterial pleasures: 4In this m ortal life we are like travellers away from our Lord: if we wish to return to the hom eland where we can be happy we m ust use this world， not enjoy it . ’49 Holy Church, here the eternal, perfected Christian community rather than the flawed pilgrim Church, provides an outline of biblical history and offers a summ ary o f the way to salvation, a summary which anticipates both Piers’ directions to T ruth (VI.560-608) and the contents o f the pardon which T ruth sends to Piers (V II.1-111): Ac tho that werche wel as Holy W rit telleth, A nd enden as I er seide, in truthe, that is the beste, Mowe be siker that hire soule shul wende to hevene, Ther Treuthe is in Trmitee and troneth hem alle. (Piers Plowman^ 1.130-3)

49 Described initially as a tower on a hill (Prologue,14) and subsequently as a castle on a mountain (1.1-4) The tower is the dwelling-place of Truth, the mountain is Zion upon which is built the city of God. On the relationship of these passages to the picture of the heavenly city in the Book of Revelation, see Chapter 12. See also Davlin (1993). 46 The Z-text Prologue, 98, has *body to plese* (Piers Plowman. A Parallel Edition). 47 The Z-text reads (They an no ward to the hil that on hey stands' i.e. the hill on which stands the tower of Truth (Piers Plowman. A ParalM Edition, Prologue, 99). 48 Du Boulay (1991),4, interprati Ihii at a comment on irreligion in society. 49 Augustine of Hippo, D§ Doctrtna Christiana, 1.9. Sec alto Chapter 2 above.

50 Martin (1962), 543-4, states *in Piers Plowman Wil is obviously characterised as a wanderer* and concludes that 'LanglancTs satire is so violent and uncontrollable that it overruns and consumes his form. That is, though Langland uses the mode of wandering to dramatise Wil, the figure with whom we are to identify ourselves, he nevertheless authorially satirizes wanderers and wandering throughout the poem.' This failure to observe the significance of Will's change from wanderer to spiritual pilgrim leads Martin to conclude mistakenly chat Langland's opposition to all forms of wandering renders the poem confused and causes it to fail, at least in part. M There is an observable patterning 〇r experience which can be seen in the ways in which the experience of the wider groups of would-be pilgrims in Passus V echoes that of Will. 92 The Vision o f Pirn Plowman, xxxl. Alio Carruthers (1973),10, and Simpson (1990), 242-3. 11 On the focui on thi ptrton 〇r Pliri m Mow.

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

PIERS PLOWMAN

M odes o f pilgrim age

brute beasts, devoid o f wisdom, their impulse to travel in search o f T ruth only dem onstrating their very ignorance o f his nature:

Part o f the fascination (and the frustration) o f reading Piers Plowman derives from the complex patterns o f pilgrimage which are laid one over another like a series o f transparencies. The poet is presenting the lifelong pilgrimage o f a representative individual, which itself has a num ber of m anifestations such as the quest for spiritual understanding, the ongoing struggle for moral reform ation and the growth o f inward desire for G od, all o f which are set against the tem poral device o f a hum an lifetime. Yet he is also outlining the journey through space and time o f the Pilgrim C hurch . 54 This too is expressed in multiple images, since the poem embraces not only the linear journey o f the Pilgrim Church from the joy o f its inception in the Book o f Acts to the onslaughts it is destined to suffer in the Last Days, but also the circular movement o f the life o f the contem porary Church, charted in the passage o f the liturgical calendar. A particular problem arises in Passus V -V II where concepts of place pilgrimage and life pilgrimage collide and a large measure o f confusion has resulted, not only among the characters represented in the narrative but also among critics who have sought to interpret the poet’s purpose. There can be no doubting Langland’s fierce disapproval o f the majority 55 o f those who journeyed to ‘holy places ’. 56 In the Prologue he characterises those who travel to Rome and Com postela 57 (two o f the greatest shrines of Christendom) as liars 58*and hypocrites: Pilgrymes and palmeres plighten hem togidere T o seken Seint Jam e and seintes in Rome; Wenten forth in hire wey with many wise tales. And hadden leve to lyen al hire lif after. (Piers Plowman^ Prologue^ 46~9)

Reason's sermon contains an explicit condem nation o f such vain practices: And ye that seke Seynt James and seyntes of Rome, Seketh Seynt Truthe, for he may save yow alle. (Piers Plowman^ V.56-7)

and the superficiality of Avarice's intention to go on pilgrimage to Walsingham is unmasked as his lack o f true repentance becomes apparent. Those who are moved by the sermon to join the general pilgrimage are portrayed as

54 See Augustine of Hippo, City o f God, and Chapter 2 above. 55 With the possible exception of penitential or permanent pilgrimage. See JV.127-33 where Reason decress that (no man go to Galis [the shrine of James at Compostela] but if he go for evere' and to allow the 1 penaunt for his sins* to travel abroad unhindered. M Xangland, to put it bluntly, though he believed in sermons and confessions, did not believe in pilgrimages/ Burrow (1965a)f 252. ,T Use of the term palmer may indlctiU thut he Hl»〇 had Jerusalem in mind. Certainly the palmer of V.51S-31 had travelled (o thi Holy Land. w An accusation later levelled Pitlwncc wh«n dreiMd as a pilgrim (XIII.178).

194

A thousand o f men tho thrungen togideres, Cride upward to Crist and to his clene moder To have grace to go [to] T ruthe - [God leve that they moten!] Ac there was wight noon so wys, the wey thider kouthe, But blustreden forth as beestes over ba[ch]es and hilles. (Piers Plowman, V .510-14)

G ood intentions, it seems, are not enough. Their encounter with a professional' pilgrim, his h at laden with the emblems o f Assisi, Compostela and Rome, only highlights the futility o f physical movement without inner spiritual journeying: thei a leode mette Apparailled as a paynym in pilgrymes wise . . . An hundred o f ampulles on his h at seten, Signes o f Syse and shelles o f Galice, And many a crouch on his cloke, and keyes o f Rome, And the vernicle bifore,/ ö/* men sholde knowe A nd se bi hise signes whom he sought hadde . . . (Ye m ay se by m y signes th at sitten on myn hatte T hat I have walked ful wide in weet and in drye And sought goode seintes for my soule helthe.’ (Piers Plowman, V.515-16, 520-4, 529-31)

The spirituality which this man represents is evidently concerned with externals 59 and open to charges o f superficiality and even complacence. Moreover, it quickly emerges th at although dressed in pilgrymes wise and (by his own account ) 60 a prodigious traveller, he is no true pilgrim for he has no dealings with Truth. It is at precisely this point, when the superficiality of place pilgrimage has been most ruthlessly exposed, that the figure of Piers Plowman is first encountered. To a m arked degree the experience o f the Dreamer in the Prologue and Passus I has been repeated in the lives o f the group o f would-be pilgrims. Reason, like Holy Church before him, has awoken a desire to seek Truth; both have insisted upon the need for a life of obedience to G od's commandments. Yet those who have heard their call require further guidance if they are to find the way to salvation. The palmer, the ‘place pilgrim’ cannot provide direction for he lacks spiritual integrity. Set against him is a figure whose daily life is a dem onstration of obedience to T ruth 61 and who therefore knows him as naturally and as intimately as 4clerc w Burrow (1969),115, notes that Langland 'expresses the palmer's preoccupation with external matters by second half lines which add fussy and pointless little physical details*. 60 U has to be remembered that pilgrims of this kind are reputed to lie (Prologue, 46-9 and XIII). 61 It has often been noted that Piers is a working man and that his activities cover a wide range of occupations. Wh«t It emphHiised in this passage, however, is the fact that all his work is done with reference and In obtfdlcnc« to Truth (V.S40-30). Piers represents the man whose daily life is

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

PIERS PLOWMAN

M odes o f pilgrim age

brute beasts, devoid o f wisdom, their impulse to travel in search o f T ruth only dem onstrating their very ignorance o f his nature:

Part o f the fascination (and the frustration) o f reading Piers Plowman derives from the complex patterns o f pilgrimage which are laid one over another like a series o f transparencies. The poet is presenting the lifelong pilgrimage o f a representative individual, which itself has a num ber of m anifestations such as the quest for spiritual understanding, the ongoing struggle for moral reform ation and the growth o f inward desire for G od, all o f which are set against the tem poral device o f a hum an lifetime. Yet he is also outlining the journey through space and time o f the Pilgrim C hurch . 54 This too is expressed in multiple images, since the poem embraces not only the linear journey o f the Pilgrim Church from the joy o f its inception in the Book o f Acts to the onslaughts it is destined to suffer in the Last Days, but also the circular movement o f the life o f the contem porary Church, charted in the passage o f the liturgical calendar. A particular problem arises in Passus V -V II where concepts of place pilgrimage and life pilgrimage collide and a large measure o f confusion has resulted, not only among the characters represented in the narrative but also among critics who have sought to interpret the poet’s purpose. There can be no doubting Langland’s fierce disapproval o f the majority 55 o f those who journeyed to ‘holy places ’. 56 In the Prologue he characterises those who travel to Rome and Com postela 57 (two o f the greatest shrines of Christendom) as liars 58*and hypocrites: Pilgrymes and palmeres plighten hem togidere T o seken Seint Jam e and seintes in Rome; Wenten forth in hire wey with many wise tales. And hadden leve to lyen al hire lif after. (Piers Plowman^ Prologue^ 46~9)

Reason's sermon contains an explicit condem nation o f such vain practices: And ye that seke Seynt James and seyntes of Rome, Seketh Seynt Truthe, for he may save yow alle. (Piers Plowman^ V.56-7)

and the superficiality of Avarice's intention to go on pilgrimage to Walsingham is unmasked as his lack o f true repentance becomes apparent. Those who are moved by the sermon to join the general pilgrimage are portrayed as

54 See Augustine of Hippo, City o f God, and Chapter 2 above. 55 With the possible exception of penitential or permanent pilgrimage. See JV.127-33 where Reason decress that (no man go to Galis [the shrine of James at Compostela] but if he go for evere' and to allow the 1 penaunt for his sins* to travel abroad unhindered. M Xangland, to put it bluntly, though he believed in sermons and confessions, did not believe in pilgrimages/ Burrow (1965a)f 252. ,T Use of the term palmer may indlctiU thut he Hl»〇 had Jerusalem in mind. Certainly the palmer of V.51S-31 had travelled (o thi Holy Land. w An accusation later levelled Pitlwncc wh«n dreiMd as a pilgrim (XIII.178).

194

A thousand o f men tho thrungen togideres, Cride upward to Crist and to his clene moder To have grace to go [to] T ruthe - [God leve that they moten!] Ac there was wight noon so wys, the wey thider kouthe, But blustreden forth as beestes over ba[ch]es and hilles. (Piers Plowman, V .510-14)

G ood intentions, it seems, are not enough. Their encounter with a professional' pilgrim, his h at laden with the emblems o f Assisi, Compostela and Rome, only highlights the futility o f physical movement without inner spiritual journeying: thei a leode mette Apparailled as a paynym in pilgrymes wise . . . An hundred o f ampulles on his h at seten, Signes o f Syse and shelles o f Galice, And many a crouch on his cloke, and keyes o f Rome, And the vernicle bifore,/ ö/* men sholde knowe A nd se bi hise signes whom he sought hadde . . . (Ye m ay se by m y signes th at sitten on myn hatte T hat I have walked ful wide in weet and in drye And sought goode seintes for my soule helthe.’ (Piers Plowman, V.515-16, 520-4, 529-31)

The spirituality which this man represents is evidently concerned with externals 59 and open to charges o f superficiality and even complacence. Moreover, it quickly emerges th at although dressed in pilgrymes wise and (by his own account ) 60 a prodigious traveller, he is no true pilgrim for he has no dealings with Truth. It is at precisely this point, when the superficiality of place pilgrimage has been most ruthlessly exposed, that the figure of Piers Plowman is first encountered. To a m arked degree the experience o f the Dreamer in the Prologue and Passus I has been repeated in the lives o f the group o f would-be pilgrims. Reason, like Holy Church before him, has awoken a desire to seek Truth; both have insisted upon the need for a life of obedience to G od's commandments. Yet those who have heard their call require further guidance if they are to find the way to salvation. The palmer, the ‘place pilgrim’ cannot provide direction for he lacks spiritual integrity. Set against him is a figure whose daily life is a dem onstration of obedience to T ruth 61 and who therefore knows him as naturally and as intimately as 4clerc w Burrow (1969),115, notes that Langland 'expresses the palmer's preoccupation with external matters by second half lines which add fussy and pointless little physical details*. 60 U has to be remembered that pilgrims of this kind are reputed to lie (Prologue, 46-9 and XIII). 61 It has often been noted that Piers is a working man and that his activities cover a wide range of occupations. Wh«t It emphHiised in this passage, however, is the fact that all his work is done with reference and In obtfdlcnc« to Truth (V.S40-30). Piers represents the man whose daily life is

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

PIERS PLOWMAN

doth hise bokes 5 (V.338). Surely it is no accident that the palmer, the representative o f a discredited system o f ‘place-pilgrimage’， and Piers， the embodim ent of the concept o f ‘life pilgrimage’ are thus set alongside one another 62 at this crux in the poem, as repentant hum an beings are seeking to discover the way to God. In Passus V-V II Langland not only reveals the inadequacy of place pilgrimage but also explores the varied elements contained within the concept o f pilgrimage o f life. The would-be seekers after T ruth are seen to be labouring under a basic misapprehènsion, namely their instinctive belief that he is to be discovered in some distant geographical location and that, therefore, physical journeying must be an essential element of their quest. This m isapprehension is challenged as Piers reveals both that T ruth can be found within the hum an heart and that he is to be served within the ordinary community. The route to T ruth outlined by Piers (V.560-608) requires humility, willingness to obey G od's comm andments 63 and conversion to a changed life (tAmende-yow,) if the soul is to be admitted through the gate once slammed shut behind the departing Adam and Eve. The wicket gate is not in this context primarily the gateway to Eden but to the state o f which Eden itself was only a representation, the presence o f G o d .64 M ankind has been exiled, not just from a physical location but from communion with G od. Piers, therefore prescribes an ‘interior pilgrimage’， an inner process of cleansing and reformation which will make possible an encounter with God within the hum an soul . 65 Piers' use o f place pilgrimage terminology to express the well-established image o f inward spiritual journeying has caused much debate am ong modern critics 66 but it seems likely that it would have been both familiar and easily intelligible to a medieval audience. Critics have tended to interpret the ploughing of the half-acre as either an interruption 67 o f the pilgrimage to T ruth or as a substitute 68 for it. I wish to

suggest that it is in fact a perfectly consistent p a ra llel expression of the same pilgrim journey towards God. The repentant sinner who follows the p ath ­ way advocated by Piers will find that G od has taken up his proper place as ruler o f the hum an heart. But, as the account which Piers has given of himself indicates, such inner spiritual growth must be expressed in actions. In inviting the pilgrims to join him in ploughing the half-acre, Piers is offering them an opportunity to serve G od in society, to manifest the obedience which his own life dem onstrates , 69 and thus to learn to know T ruth better . 70 This aspect o f the exercise is underlined by the instructions which Piers gives the knight, which include the injunction *mysbede noght thi bondem an . . . though he be thyn underlyng here’ （VI.45-6). Significantly the knight assents 'by Seint Jam e5, an oath evoking the teaching o f the Epistle of James which strongly articulates the need to respect and care for the poor. It is clear from other references in the poem that this epistle, with its central thesis that ‘faith without works is dead’ （ 2 .2 0 )，significantly influenced Langland's exploration of the concept o f the pilgrimage o f life. In Passus IV.l 13-27, Reason places the need to care for the poor (and for religious to remain at prayer in their cloisters), alongside a condem nation of pilgrimage to the shrine o f James in Galicia .71 Like T ruth, James is to be encountered through obedience to his teaching rather than by visiting his shrine .72 The quest to meet G od in the hum an heart is thus in no way displaced by the engagement with the demands o f community which the ploughing o f the half-acre represents . 73 Such engagement, however, inevitably brings prob­ lems since both hum an nature and the natural world have been profoundly affected by hum an sin. The pilgrimage o f life, whether expressed in terms of service o f moral reform ation, spiritual enlightenment or service within the community, is shown by Langland to be fraught with difficulties and obstacles. This fact may account for the somewhat fragm entary expression of different aspects of life pilgrimage which can be observed in Passus VI and VII. Priscilla M artin comments th at Tilgrimages and quests are begun with great determination but abandoned or discontinued ' , 74 but I would suggest

entirely tuned to the service of God. It is therefore not surprising that he should know the way to Truth. 62 Burrow (1965a), 253 comments that the palmer 'represents the business of worldly pilgrim­ age, and so stands to be contrasted with Piers the representative of true or spiritual pilgrimage*. 63 Raw (1969)，144, points out that the ‘highway to truth， combines Old and New Testament elements. 64 ^ince, therefore we must enjoy to the full that truth which lives unchangeably . . . our minds must be purified so that they are able Co perceive that light and then hold fast to it. Let us consider this process of cleansing as a trek, or a voyage, to our homeland; though progress towards the one who is ever present is not made through space, but through goodness of purpose o f character.* Augustine of Hippo, De Doctrina Christiana, I 10. 63 Compare Hilton, Scale o f Perfection^ 11.21 and Bonaventure (translated Cousins), 7.1,where the interior Jerusalem is an anticipation of the heavenly Jerusalem on earth. See Chapters 11 and

12

.

66 Elizabeth Salter ¢1969) describes this *road to St Truth' as "circular* since it ends in their own hearts but this produces an unnecessarily complicated image for what was a straightforward, if difficult, inward journey.

See Dunning (1969). M Burrow (1965a), Oodden (1990), 47. 61

69 Raabe comments: *True pilgrimage is what all people do in their daily labors when they do them out of love and faith/ Raabe (1990), 43. 70 See the promise of Christ in John 14:16. 71 Schmidt comments: ‘Seint James should be “visited” not through (repeated) visits to his shrine at Compostela . . . but through the works of charity specified in his own definition of "Religion clean and undefiled . . . to visit the fatherless and widows (James 1:27)* The Vision o f Piers Plowman, 423. 72 See also the description of Charity going *on pilgrymages/ Ther poore men and prisons liggcth, hir pardon to have (XV. 182-3) and C V.122-3. 73 Godden (1990), 42 suggests that (the religious pattern turns out to be only a validating metaphor for a KindamenUUy secular activity* but I would argue that the overall structure of the life pilgrimage motif demonstrates that the 'secular activity* is in fact a part of religious experience. 74

136

Martin (1979), 52.

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

PIERS PLOWMAN

doth hise bokes 5 (V.338). Surely it is no accident that the palmer, the representative o f a discredited system o f ‘place-pilgrimage’， and Piers， the embodim ent of the concept o f ‘life pilgrimage’ are thus set alongside one another 62 at this crux in the poem, as repentant hum an beings are seeking to discover the way to God. In Passus V-V II Langland not only reveals the inadequacy of place pilgrimage but also explores the varied elements contained within the concept o f pilgrimage o f life. The would-be seekers after T ruth are seen to be labouring under a basic misapprehènsion, namely their instinctive belief that he is to be discovered in some distant geographical location and that, therefore, physical journeying must be an essential element of their quest. This m isapprehension is challenged as Piers reveals both that T ruth can be found within the hum an heart and that he is to be served within the ordinary community. The route to T ruth outlined by Piers (V.560-608) requires humility, willingness to obey G od's comm andments 63 and conversion to a changed life (tAmende-yow,) if the soul is to be admitted through the gate once slammed shut behind the departing Adam and Eve. The wicket gate is not in this context primarily the gateway to Eden but to the state o f which Eden itself was only a representation, the presence o f G o d .64 M ankind has been exiled, not just from a physical location but from communion with G od. Piers, therefore prescribes an ‘interior pilgrimage’， an inner process of cleansing and reformation which will make possible an encounter with God within the hum an soul . 65 Piers' use o f place pilgrimage terminology to express the well-established image o f inward spiritual journeying has caused much debate am ong modern critics 66 but it seems likely that it would have been both familiar and easily intelligible to a medieval audience. Critics have tended to interpret the ploughing of the half-acre as either an interruption 67 o f the pilgrimage to T ruth or as a substitute 68 for it. I wish to

suggest that it is in fact a perfectly consistent p a ra llel expression of the same pilgrim journey towards God. The repentant sinner who follows the p ath ­ way advocated by Piers will find that G od has taken up his proper place as ruler o f the hum an heart. But, as the account which Piers has given of himself indicates, such inner spiritual growth must be expressed in actions. In inviting the pilgrims to join him in ploughing the half-acre, Piers is offering them an opportunity to serve G od in society, to manifest the obedience which his own life dem onstrates , 69 and thus to learn to know T ruth better . 70 This aspect o f the exercise is underlined by the instructions which Piers gives the knight, which include the injunction *mysbede noght thi bondem an . . . though he be thyn underlyng here’ （VI.45-6). Significantly the knight assents 'by Seint Jam e5, an oath evoking the teaching o f the Epistle of James which strongly articulates the need to respect and care for the poor. It is clear from other references in the poem that this epistle, with its central thesis that ‘faith without works is dead’ （ 2 .2 0 )，significantly influenced Langland's exploration of the concept o f the pilgrimage o f life. In Passus IV.l 13-27, Reason places the need to care for the poor (and for religious to remain at prayer in their cloisters), alongside a condem nation of pilgrimage to the shrine o f James in Galicia .71 Like T ruth, James is to be encountered through obedience to his teaching rather than by visiting his shrine .72 The quest to meet G od in the hum an heart is thus in no way displaced by the engagement with the demands o f community which the ploughing o f the half-acre represents . 73 Such engagement, however, inevitably brings prob­ lems since both hum an nature and the natural world have been profoundly affected by hum an sin. The pilgrimage o f life, whether expressed in terms of service o f moral reform ation, spiritual enlightenment or service within the community, is shown by Langland to be fraught with difficulties and obstacles. This fact may account for the somewhat fragm entary expression of different aspects of life pilgrimage which can be observed in Passus VI and VII. Priscilla M artin comments th at Tilgrimages and quests are begun with great determination but abandoned or discontinued ' , 74 but I would suggest

entirely tuned to the service of God. It is therefore not surprising that he should know the way to Truth. 62 Burrow (1965a), 253 comments that the palmer 'represents the business of worldly pilgrim­ age, and so stands to be contrasted with Piers the representative of true or spiritual pilgrimage*. 63 Raw (1969)，144, points out that the ‘highway to truth， combines Old and New Testament elements. 64 ^ince, therefore we must enjoy to the full that truth which lives unchangeably . . . our minds must be purified so that they are able Co perceive that light and then hold fast to it. Let us consider this process of cleansing as a trek, or a voyage, to our homeland; though progress towards the one who is ever present is not made through space, but through goodness of purpose o f character.* Augustine of Hippo, De Doctrina Christiana, I 10. 63 Compare Hilton, Scale o f Perfection^ 11.21 and Bonaventure (translated Cousins), 7.1,where the interior Jerusalem is an anticipation of the heavenly Jerusalem on earth. See Chapters 11 and

12

.

66 Elizabeth Salter ¢1969) describes this *road to St Truth' as "circular* since it ends in their own hearts but this produces an unnecessarily complicated image for what was a straightforward, if difficult, inward journey.

See Dunning (1969). M Burrow (1965a), Oodden (1990), 47. 61

69 Raabe comments: *True pilgrimage is what all people do in their daily labors when they do them out of love and faith/ Raabe (1990), 43. 70 See the promise of Christ in John 14:16. 71 Schmidt comments: ‘Seint James should be “visited” not through (repeated) visits to his shrine at Compostela . . . but through the works of charity specified in his own definition of "Religion clean and undefiled . . . to visit the fatherless and widows (James 1:27)* The Vision o f Piers Plowman, 423. 72 See also the description of Charity going *on pilgrymages/ Ther poore men and prisons liggcth, hir pardon to have (XV. 182-3) and C V.122-3. 73 Godden (1990), 42 suggests that (the religious pattern turns out to be only a validating metaphor for a KindamenUUy secular activity* but I would argue that the overall structure of the life pilgrimage motif demonstrates that the 'secular activity* is in fact a part of religious experience. 74

136

Martin (1979), 52.

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

PIERS PLOWMAN

th at this statement fails to differentiate between the different types of pilgrimage considered by the poet. Only the practice o f pilgrimage to holy places is actually discredited or abandoned; the series o f m etaphorical pilgrimages described in Passus V-VII represent a succession o f shifts in interpretation 75 and changes of emphasis within a consistent overarching concept o f life pilgrimage. A brief outline o f the main events o f this section o f the poem may help to identify the factors involved:

portrayed suffering the effects o f a fallen world and moving through different stages o f his own life pilgrimage. In his prime he is active in serving his neighbour through honest labour; as old age approaches he makes his will (possibly in preparation for the final pilgrimage o f death ) 79 and finally, having had his comm itm ent to stability affirmed by T ruth, he devotes himself increasingly to self-denial .80 Labouring increasingly in prayer and penance, he is resolved to spend the remainder o f his life on earth in the service o f Truth. Each pilgrimage vow which Piers makes is qualified by a parallel statement which makes it clear th at his comm itm ent is to be fulfilled within his present location. The pardon wmch T ruth sends 81 is patently not an ordinary indulgence since it is addressed not only to Piers himself but also to his heirs for ever . 82 It seems rather to serve as a gloss on the truths communicated by Holy Church 83 and Reason and as an amplified set o f guidelines for those engaged in the pilgrimage o f life. Just as Piers discards the outer form of pilgrimage while m aintaining the underlying spiritual imperative o f living as a citizen of heaven, so he tears up the written pardon while m aintaining the hope which T ruth intended to communicate. Significantly, in view o f the emphasis on wandering with which the poem opened, the psalm from which Piers quotes expresses the security o f a sheep which has found a shepherd . 84 The Dream er's interpretation o f this scene would appear to be sound. Short­ cuts, whether expressed in terms of geographica! pilgrimages or pardons, are not so *siker for the soul' as D o -w e ll,a lifetime devoted to G od. The Dreamer therefore counsels all Christians to ask G od for grace, 'swiche werkes to werche, the while we ben here% advice which emphasises the transience o f hum an life on earth .85 In the Vita the Dream er's parallel journeys continue, as he simultaneously searches for the truth and experi­ ences the tem ptations and trials o f life on earth. Once again the conflict between mobility and stability is highlighted. As in the Visio^ enlightenment comes to Will, not as a result o f his travels through the world but through revelation granted when he is stationary. Elizabeth Salter identifies this process as

1. 2. 3. 4.

T h e w ould-be pilgrim s search fo r T ru th (V .51 Off.). T h e p alm er is show n to be ig n o ran t o f T ru th (V .532-6). Piers claim s to know T ru th th ro u g h everyday obedience (V. 537-50). Piers describes th e ro u te to T ru th (m o ral an d in terio r pilgrim age) (V .560629). 5. Piers invites them to jo in in w orking the half-acre, th u s p roviding an o p p o rtu n ity to fulfil th eir responsibilities to G o d an d th e ir neighbours (V I.3ff.). 6. Piers takes the im plem ents o f his calling as his ‘pügrim u n ifo rm ’ （V I.5 764).76 7. Piers m akes his will: N ow I am old an d h o o r a n d h au e o f m yn ow ene T o penaunce an d pilgrim age I wol passe w ith thise o th ere (V I.83-4).

Resolves to be T ru th ’s ‘pilgrym atte plow for pouere mennes sake’ (V I.102).77 8. Piers a n d the pilgrim s face pro b lem s caused by sin an d fallen w orld (VI.105fT.).78 9. T ru th hears 'th e re o f' (w hich presum ably m eans the suffering a n d stru g ­ gles w hich Piers an d the pilgrim s are enduring) a n d sends a p ard o n to g e th er w ith in stru c tio n s to rem ain w here they are a n d extend th e w ork. 10. P a rd o n an d in terp re ta tio n . Piers te ars th e p a rd o n a n d vow s to be less concerned ab o u t iiis ‘belly’ a n d m o re a b o u t penance etc.

It is im portant to recognise that here Langland is offering both an individual and a social view of life pilgrimage. It also needs to be remembered that at this stage in the poem, Piers is not identified as St Peter or Christ but as an ordinary hum an being who has turned from sin to a life o f obedience, a Christian pilgrim journeying to heaven. Such teaching and direction as Piers is able to give to others comes from his own experience o f T ruth and is offered with a sound seasoning o f comm on sense. He is 7! Burrow (1965a), 267, identifies these shifts as substitutions prompted by the poet's misgivings yet concludes that 'the vision would have been a poorer thing if Langland had not interfered as he did’. 76 While the B-text reading is somewhat ambiguous: *1 shall apparaiile me in pilgrymes wise/ And wende with yow I wile til we fynde Truthe' (VI.57-8), the C-text places the emphasis clearly on obedient living: *Y shal parayle me . .. in pilgrimes wyse/ And wende with alle tho >at wolden lyuc in treuthe/ Piers Plowman. A Parallel Edition^ VIII.56-7. 77 Burrow (1965a), 259, recognises this commitment to what 1 have termed moral pilgrimage: *1 holdf then, that Piers and his faithful followers. . . are on the highway to truth . . . when they stay at home labouring in their vocations and helping their neighbours/ 71 SigniAcantly *Wastour wandten «boute' (300),

138

79 Compare Everyman, 68, where God tells Death: "Go thou to Everyman/ and show him in my name/ A pilgrimage he must on him take/ Which he in no wise may escape.' Three Late Medieval Morality Plays. 80 Piers is speaking of a new commitment to self-denial ((my belly'), not of abandoning the labour for others which has been his calling. 81 Those to whom it is addressed have passed through the experience of contrition and confession and are thus presumably in the stage of penance (and amendment of life). 82 There may be an early tentative indication here of further facets of Piers: he is told to plough the earth with his team; the priest uses the oath 'Peter!' twice and the Dreamer refers to *ai the pardon of Seint Petres cherche'. The details of the pardon as outlined by Piers refer back to the description of Charity given by Holy Church (I.148iT). M Sec also XII.29I on Pwlm 23. Compare 1,160, Pieri* wife ii culled 'Werch-whttn-tyme-is'. (VI.78).

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

PIERS PLOWMAN

th at this statement fails to differentiate between the different types of pilgrimage considered by the poet. Only the practice o f pilgrimage to holy places is actually discredited or abandoned; the series o f m etaphorical pilgrimages described in Passus V-VII represent a succession o f shifts in interpretation 75 and changes of emphasis within a consistent overarching concept o f life pilgrimage. A brief outline o f the main events o f this section o f the poem may help to identify the factors involved:

portrayed suffering the effects o f a fallen world and moving through different stages o f his own life pilgrimage. In his prime he is active in serving his neighbour through honest labour; as old age approaches he makes his will (possibly in preparation for the final pilgrimage o f death ) 79 and finally, having had his comm itm ent to stability affirmed by T ruth, he devotes himself increasingly to self-denial .80 Labouring increasingly in prayer and penance, he is resolved to spend the remainder o f his life on earth in the service o f Truth. Each pilgrimage vow which Piers makes is qualified by a parallel statement which makes it clear th at his comm itm ent is to be fulfilled within his present location. The pardon wmch T ruth sends 81 is patently not an ordinary indulgence since it is addressed not only to Piers himself but also to his heirs for ever . 82 It seems rather to serve as a gloss on the truths communicated by Holy Church 83 and Reason and as an amplified set o f guidelines for those engaged in the pilgrimage o f life. Just as Piers discards the outer form of pilgrimage while m aintaining the underlying spiritual imperative o f living as a citizen of heaven, so he tears up the written pardon while m aintaining the hope which T ruth intended to communicate. Significantly, in view o f the emphasis on wandering with which the poem opened, the psalm from which Piers quotes expresses the security o f a sheep which has found a shepherd . 84 The Dream er's interpretation o f this scene would appear to be sound. Short­ cuts, whether expressed in terms of geographica! pilgrimages or pardons, are not so *siker for the soul' as D o -w e ll,a lifetime devoted to G od. The Dreamer therefore counsels all Christians to ask G od for grace, 'swiche werkes to werche, the while we ben here% advice which emphasises the transience o f hum an life on earth .85 In the Vita the Dream er's parallel journeys continue, as he simultaneously searches for the truth and experi­ ences the tem ptations and trials o f life on earth. Once again the conflict between mobility and stability is highlighted. As in the Visio^ enlightenment comes to Will, not as a result o f his travels through the world but through revelation granted when he is stationary. Elizabeth Salter identifies this process as

1. 2. 3. 4.

T h e w ould-be pilgrim s search fo r T ru th (V .51 Off.). T h e p alm er is show n to be ig n o ran t o f T ru th (V .532-6). Piers claim s to know T ru th th ro u g h everyday obedience (V. 537-50). Piers describes th e ro u te to T ru th (m o ral an d in terio r pilgrim age) (V .560629). 5. Piers invites them to jo in in w orking the half-acre, th u s p roviding an o p p o rtu n ity to fulfil th eir responsibilities to G o d an d th e ir neighbours (V I.3ff.). 6. Piers takes the im plem ents o f his calling as his ‘pügrim u n ifo rm ’ （V I.5 764).76 7. Piers m akes his will: N ow I am old an d h o o r a n d h au e o f m yn ow ene T o penaunce an d pilgrim age I wol passe w ith thise o th ere (V I.83-4).

Resolves to be T ru th ’s ‘pilgrym atte plow for pouere mennes sake’ (V I.102).77 8. Piers a n d the pilgrim s face pro b lem s caused by sin an d fallen w orld (VI.105fT.).78 9. T ru th hears 'th e re o f' (w hich presum ably m eans the suffering a n d stru g ­ gles w hich Piers an d the pilgrim s are enduring) a n d sends a p ard o n to g e th er w ith in stru c tio n s to rem ain w here they are a n d extend th e w ork. 10. P a rd o n an d in terp re ta tio n . Piers te ars th e p a rd o n a n d vow s to be less concerned ab o u t iiis ‘belly’ a n d m o re a b o u t penance etc.

It is im portant to recognise that here Langland is offering both an individual and a social view of life pilgrimage. It also needs to be remembered that at this stage in the poem, Piers is not identified as St Peter or Christ but as an ordinary hum an being who has turned from sin to a life o f obedience, a Christian pilgrim journeying to heaven. Such teaching and direction as Piers is able to give to others comes from his own experience o f T ruth and is offered with a sound seasoning o f comm on sense. He is 7! Burrow (1965a), 267, identifies these shifts as substitutions prompted by the poet's misgivings yet concludes that 'the vision would have been a poorer thing if Langland had not interfered as he did’. 76 While the B-text reading is somewhat ambiguous: *1 shall apparaiile me in pilgrymes wise/ And wende with yow I wile til we fynde Truthe' (VI.57-8), the C-text places the emphasis clearly on obedient living: *Y shal parayle me . .. in pilgrimes wyse/ And wende with alle tho >at wolden lyuc in treuthe/ Piers Plowman. A Parallel Edition^ VIII.56-7. 77 Burrow (1965a), 259, recognises this commitment to what 1 have termed moral pilgrimage: *1 holdf then, that Piers and his faithful followers. . . are on the highway to truth . . . when they stay at home labouring in their vocations and helping their neighbours/ 71 SigniAcantly *Wastour wandten «boute' (300),

138

79 Compare Everyman, 68, where God tells Death: "Go thou to Everyman/ and show him in my name/ A pilgrimage he must on him take/ Which he in no wise may escape.' Three Late Medieval Morality Plays. 80 Piers is speaking of a new commitment to self-denial ((my belly'), not of abandoning the labour for others which has been his calling. 81 Those to whom it is addressed have passed through the experience of contrition and confession and are thus presumably in the stage of penance (and amendment of life). 82 There may be an early tentative indication here of further facets of Piers: he is told to plough the earth with his team; the priest uses the oath 'Peter!' twice and the Dreamer refers to *ai the pardon of Seint Petres cherche'. The details of the pardon as outlined by Piers refer back to the description of Charity given by Holy Church (I.148iT). M Sec also XII.29I on Pwlm 23. Compare 1,160, Pieri* wife ii culled 'Werch-whttn-tyme-is'. (VI.78).

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

the spiritual sleep in to w hich the contem plative is ad m itted so th a t he m ay receive ilum ination: 'E g o d o rm io , et c o r m eum vigilat' [C anticles 5: 2 ] .. . . The E nglishm an, W alter H ilto n , co m m enting in L an g lan d 's d a y o n th e sam e sp iritu al processes, pro v id es us w ith a passage w hich h as m ore relevance th a n any o th e r *dream -literature, o f the period to this sleep w hich can cap tu re the p o e t's senses as he p ray s o r kneels at m ass. . . . T h e m o re I sleep from o u tw ard things, the m o re w akeful I am in k n ow ing o f Jhesu a n d inw ard things. I m ay n o t w ake to Jhesu, b u t if I sleep to th e w orld (Scale, 2.40).8687

Sleep as a m etaphor o f spiritual activity is clearly capable of a range of interpretations but I would suggest that within Piers Plowman it functions as a (somewhat extreme) illustration o f the spiritual truth which Langland elsewhere makes explicit, that physical movement is neither necessary nor even helpful to the process o f spiritual growth. Passus X continues this point with criticism o f those religious who have abandoned the monastic life of peregrinatio in stabilitaie%1 for a more mobile involvement in the affairs of the world: Ac now is R eligion a rydere, a rom ere by stretes, A ledere o f lovedays an d a lond buggere, A p rik ere [up]on a palfrey fro m a n ere to m anere. (Piers Plowman, X .305-7)

The true nature of the pilgrim life is examined from a different angle in Passus X I with an exposition o f the significance o f C hrist's appearance on the road to Em m aus :88 W hy I m eve this m a tere is m o o st fo r th e povere; F o r in h ir liknesse O u re L o rd ofte h a th ben yknowe. W itnesse in th e P ask wyke w han he yede to E m aus C leophas ne knew hym noght, th a t he C rist were, F o r his povere ap p araille a n d pilgrym es w edes . . . A nd al w as ensam ple, fo r so o th , to us synfulle here, T h a t we sholde [lowe be] a n d loveliche o f speche, A nd ap paraille us n o g h t over p ro u d ly 89 - for pilgrym es are we alle. (Piers Plowman, X I .230-4, 238-40)

The fact that all hum ankind are pilgrims, either voluntary or involuntary is once again used as the undergirding m otivation for a life based on biblical values. From Passus XVI onwards the pilgrimage of the Dream er is interwoven with the journey through time o f the Pilgrim Church, culminating in the attack by Antichrist (aided by the Seven Deadly Sins) 90 and the friars' successful suppression of Contrition. Neither the Dreamer nor the Church 86 Salter (1969). 87 Leclercq (1961), 50-1. See also Chapter 11. M See Gardiner (1971). t9 This comment indicates an inherent conflict between the pilgrimage of life and pride leading to outward ostentation. See below on the seven deadly sins. 90 See Section 3.

160

PIERS PLOWMAN

has reached the end o f their respective pilgrimages and Conscience’s desperate resolve to set out upon yet another quest has been seen by readers as a muddled end to a somewhat confused poem. Yet in terms of biblical teaching and in particular of the image o f the pilgrimage o f life, such an ending is both theologically sound and spiritually realistic. Will cannot find his ultimate goal, the tower o f T ruth, until he has undertaken the last pilgrimage, the journey through D eath .91 The trials of the Pilgrim Church will not be over until Judgement Day when all true pilgrims will find their home in heaven. The purpose o f Piers Plowman is to expose the transience of the present world and to explore the difficulties and dangers involved in journeying towards the tower of T ruth. Like the m an who directs another seeker towards Jerusalem in H ilton's Scale o f Perfection,92 Langland has not yet reached the heavenly city himself; he only knows that the journey, though hard, is worth the making. T h e p ilg rim ag e o f life a n d th e seven d ead ly sins The topoi of the pilgrimage o f life and the seven deadly sins93 are so familiar to readers of medieval literature that little if any 94 attention has been paid to the significance of the fact that they are so frequently found in combination. In the early thirteenth-century Ancrene Wisse^ the anchoresses are warned that the road to the heavenly Jerusalem lies through a wilderness where the sins lurk ready to attack: A n t 3 e m ine leoue sustren wendeö bi )?e ilke wei tow ard te hehe ierusalem , )?e k in ed o m J?e haueö b ih aten his icorene. ga3 l?ah ful w arliche. fo r i J?is w ild­ ernesse beoö uuele beastes m oni. L iun o f prude. N eddre o f a ttri onde. V nicorne o f wreaSSe. B eore o f d ead slawÖe. V ox o f 3 isceunge. Suhe o f 3 iuernesse. S corpiun wiö \>t teil o f stinginde leccherie. . . . H er beoö nu o raw e itald )?e seouen heaued su n n en .95

When Guillaume de Deguileville's pilgrim sets out on his journey towards the heavenly Jerusalem in The Pilgrimage o f the Lyfe o f the Manhode, he finds himself likewise under attack from the seven deadly sins, who are described in the Middle English version o f the text as ^ e se olde theeves, espyowresses (waylayers) o f pilgrimes, (4833-5).96 The first of these adver­ saries, Sloth, reveals that she is *wyf to J?e boucher o f helle, l?at lede hym bi cordes }>e pilgrimes j?at I may areste and bynde bi }?e feet as }5〇uh it were swyn' (3832-4). The importance of the threat posed by the sins is indicated

1,1 See Everyman, 68-9 in Three Late Medieval Morality Plays. w Hilton, Scale o f Perfection, 11.21. 9y On the general history of the Sins see Bloomfield (1952). 94 See Wenzel (1973), who mentions this connection but does not suggest reasons for it. 95 Ancrene (ed. Tolkien), 101/10-1K 16-24. M See alio Bloomfleld (1932), 229-33.

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

the spiritual sleep in to w hich the contem plative is ad m itted so th a t he m ay receive ilum ination: 'E g o d o rm io , et c o r m eum vigilat' [C anticles 5: 2 ] .. . . The E nglishm an, W alter H ilto n , co m m enting in L an g lan d 's d a y o n th e sam e sp iritu al processes, pro v id es us w ith a passage w hich h as m ore relevance th a n any o th e r *dream -literature, o f the period to this sleep w hich can cap tu re the p o e t's senses as he p ray s o r kneels at m ass. . . . T h e m o re I sleep from o u tw ard things, the m o re w akeful I am in k n ow ing o f Jhesu a n d inw ard things. I m ay n o t w ake to Jhesu, b u t if I sleep to th e w orld (Scale, 2.40).8687

Sleep as a m etaphor o f spiritual activity is clearly capable of a range of interpretations but I would suggest that within Piers Plowman it functions as a (somewhat extreme) illustration o f the spiritual truth which Langland elsewhere makes explicit, that physical movement is neither necessary nor even helpful to the process o f spiritual growth. Passus X continues this point with criticism o f those religious who have abandoned the monastic life of peregrinatio in stabilitaie%1 for a more mobile involvement in the affairs of the world: Ac now is R eligion a rydere, a rom ere by stretes, A ledere o f lovedays an d a lond buggere, A p rik ere [up]on a palfrey fro m a n ere to m anere. (Piers Plowman, X .305-7)

The true nature of the pilgrim life is examined from a different angle in Passus X I with an exposition o f the significance o f C hrist's appearance on the road to Em m aus :88 W hy I m eve this m a tere is m o o st fo r th e povere; F o r in h ir liknesse O u re L o rd ofte h a th ben yknowe. W itnesse in th e P ask wyke w han he yede to E m aus C leophas ne knew hym noght, th a t he C rist were, F o r his povere ap p araille a n d pilgrym es w edes . . . A nd al w as ensam ple, fo r so o th , to us synfulle here, T h a t we sholde [lowe be] a n d loveliche o f speche, A nd ap paraille us n o g h t over p ro u d ly 89 - for pilgrym es are we alle. (Piers Plowman, X I .230-4, 238-40)

The fact that all hum ankind are pilgrims, either voluntary or involuntary is once again used as the undergirding m otivation for a life based on biblical values. From Passus XVI onwards the pilgrimage of the Dream er is interwoven with the journey through time o f the Pilgrim Church, culminating in the attack by Antichrist (aided by the Seven Deadly Sins) 90 and the friars' successful suppression of Contrition. Neither the Dreamer nor the Church 86 Salter (1969). 87 Leclercq (1961), 50-1. See also Chapter 11. M See Gardiner (1971). t9 This comment indicates an inherent conflict between the pilgrimage of life and pride leading to outward ostentation. See below on the seven deadly sins. 90 See Section 3.

160

PIERS PLOWMAN

has reached the end o f their respective pilgrimages and Conscience’s desperate resolve to set out upon yet another quest has been seen by readers as a muddled end to a somewhat confused poem. Yet in terms of biblical teaching and in particular of the image o f the pilgrimage o f life, such an ending is both theologically sound and spiritually realistic. Will cannot find his ultimate goal, the tower o f T ruth, until he has undertaken the last pilgrimage, the journey through D eath .91 The trials of the Pilgrim Church will not be over until Judgement Day when all true pilgrims will find their home in heaven. The purpose o f Piers Plowman is to expose the transience of the present world and to explore the difficulties and dangers involved in journeying towards the tower of T ruth. Like the m an who directs another seeker towards Jerusalem in H ilton's Scale o f Perfection,92 Langland has not yet reached the heavenly city himself; he only knows that the journey, though hard, is worth the making. T h e p ilg rim ag e o f life a n d th e seven d ead ly sins The topoi of the pilgrimage o f life and the seven deadly sins93 are so familiar to readers of medieval literature that little if any 94 attention has been paid to the significance of the fact that they are so frequently found in combination. In the early thirteenth-century Ancrene Wisse^ the anchoresses are warned that the road to the heavenly Jerusalem lies through a wilderness where the sins lurk ready to attack: A n t 3 e m ine leoue sustren wendeö bi )?e ilke wei tow ard te hehe ierusalem , )?e k in ed o m J?e haueö b ih aten his icorene. ga3 l?ah ful w arliche. fo r i J?is w ild­ ernesse beoö uuele beastes m oni. L iun o f prude. N eddre o f a ttri onde. V nicorne o f wreaSSe. B eore o f d ead slawÖe. V ox o f 3 isceunge. Suhe o f 3 iuernesse. S corpiun wiö \>t teil o f stinginde leccherie. . . . H er beoö nu o raw e itald )?e seouen heaued su n n en .95

When Guillaume de Deguileville's pilgrim sets out on his journey towards the heavenly Jerusalem in The Pilgrimage o f the Lyfe o f the Manhode, he finds himself likewise under attack from the seven deadly sins, who are described in the Middle English version o f the text as ^ e se olde theeves, espyowresses (waylayers) o f pilgrimes, (4833-5).96 The first of these adver­ saries, Sloth, reveals that she is *wyf to J?e boucher o f helle, l?at lede hym bi cordes }>e pilgrimes j?at I may areste and bynde bi }?e feet as }5〇uh it were swyn' (3832-4). The importance of the threat posed by the sins is indicated

1,1 See Everyman, 68-9 in Three Late Medieval Morality Plays. w Hilton, Scale o f Perfection, 11.21. 9y On the general history of the Sins see Bloomfield (1952). 94 See Wenzel (1973), who mentions this connection but does not suggest reasons for it. 95 Ancrene (ed. Tolkien), 101/10-1K 16-24. M See alio Bloomfleld (1932), 229-33.

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

PIERS PLOWMAN

by the fact that their varied assaults occupy over a quarter o f the text. Similarly, in the Scale o f Perfection, W alter Hilton, adopting the pilgrim­ age to Jerusalem as a m etaphor for the anchorite's spiritual journey ,97 warns:

annual confession m andatory in the W estern C hurch . 103 An understanding o f the nature o f the seven deadly sins was essential for confessor and penitent alike. These sins were the enemies which could drag the soul from the pathway to heaven; every Christian therefore needed to learn to recognise them and the tem ptations which they brought. In a survey of the contribu­ tion o f Gregory the G reat to the classification and understanding o f the sins, M orton Bloomfield com m ents : 104

Y ou a re now on the w ay a n d know how you shall go. N ow bew are o f enem ies th a t will be trying to h in d e r you if they can, fo r th e ir in ten tio n is to p u t o u t o f y o u r h eart th a t desire a n d th a t longing th a t y o u have for the love o f Jesus, an d to drive you hom e again to the love o f w orldly vanity. . . . T hese enem ies are principally carn al desires. (Scale, 11.22)

Chaucer’s Parson， having declared his aim o f showing the way to the ‘Jerusalem celestial’， proceeds to outline the path o f penitence including a detailed exposition o f the sins . 98 As I shall demonstrate, Langland's own exploration o f the pilgrimage of life is strongly coloured by descriptions of the seven deadly sins and the spiritual threat which they pose to the wouldbe citizen o f heaven. This repeated pattern o f combination and interaction would suggest th at medieval writers regarded the subject o f the seven deadly sins not merely as a convenient literary to p o s" but as a subject of considerable theological and spiritual importance which formed an integral part o f any thoroughgoing exposition o f the pilgrimage of life . 100 The literary patterning evident in the texts cited above is undergirded by a theological connection which goes back to the New Testament. The First Letter o f Peter, strongly characterised by its use of the pilgrim image , 101 contains the following exhortation, which evokes the vulnerability to attack o f the traveller in an alien land: C arissim i obsecro ta m q u a m advenas et peregrinos ab stinere vos a cam alib u s desideriis qu ae m ilitan t adversus anim am .

M o rta l m a n ’s p ro p er hom e is paradise . . . an d w ith G o d ’s grace an d G o d ’s justice he tries to win it th ro u g h the pilgrim age o f lif e .. . . W e struggle w ith the devil to w in freedom fro m the w orld o f evil desires. T o regain o u r original goal a n d o u r original selves we have the h elp o f Jesus, th ro u g h the C hurch an d the Sacram ents; b u t we m u st co o p erate by hold in g the w orld in co n tem p t, by despising w orldly v a lu e s .. . . [G regory's] analysis o f sin is n otew orthy an d it is his reo rganisation a n d presen tatio n o f the cardinal sins in th e M oraliay th a t becam e classic fo r th e M iddle Ages. T he fight w ith sin is the first an d m ost difficult o f all th e tasks fo r the C h ristian pilgrim . T h e ro a d o f ascesis can be trav ersed only by conquering the sins; b u t before they can be conquered they must be known [my italics].

Although Gregory was writing primarily for a m onastic audience, the widespread popularity of his work helped to establish this view of the sins within the general theological and devotional tradition . 105 Medieval sermons include frequent warnings about the particular danger posed by the seven deadly sins to those engaged in the pilgrimage of life: Ich gode cristen m an ow eth to be a pilgrim e goinge in to hevenly Ierusalem .106 He th a t is a pilgrym com en into a strange land w here m any theves and robberes beth, th a t nyght an d day aw ayteth suche pilgrym es. . . . H im nedeth busiliche studie a n d th in k e how he m yghte scape her h o n d e s.107 [synne] lettys us to goye J?e ryght wey to h even.108

D early beloved, I beseech you as stran g ers an d pilgrims, to refrain yourselves from carn al desires w hich w ar ag ain st the soul. (1 P eter 2 : 1 1)102

During succeeding centuries writers and preachers sought to identify, describe and codify these 'carnal desires* in order to enable Christians to avoid, overcome and, when necessary, confess them. This process was given considerable impetus by the F o u n h Lateran Council o f 1215, which made 1,7 Hilton, Scale. II.21ff. VH See Chapter 10. 99 Wenzel(1988),169, speaks of Langland's imaginative use of 'such theological or moral set pieces, as the seven deadly sins' but I would suggest he is also working within a tradition which already assigned a dramatic role to the sins within the pilgrimage of life. m Compare the Castle o f Perseverance {Medieval Drama) in which the Sins systematically assault the Castle in which Hunumum Genus takes refuge. Like Piers Plowman this text upholds the importance of the sacramem of pcnancc and like the Parson's Tale it warns of the uncertainties of delaying repentanct until thl point of death. M MSee Chapter 2. 1(13 This passage in used in A m r m W lm to Introduce Section V on penance.

m

The Middle English Weye o f Paradys uses the image o f a rich m an who rides out a journey: H e g o th o r passeth by a gret valey in to a gret w yldernes a n d falleth am o n g m any theues th a t throw e hym to th e erth e vnder his h o rs an d t[a]lken fro hym his ho rs, his sadel, his bridel, an d al th a t he h a th , a n d dispoilen hym al naked an d ta ke fro hym al his godes. A n d 3 it m ore, th e reto they 3 euen hym m anye w oundes a n d lete hym as good as h a lf ded. . . .This w orld is th e vale ful o f w rechednesses o f tribulaciones, be w hyche euerij m an g o th an d passeth the wey w here the theues ben th a t w ayten th e weye and th a t dyspuylen euerij m an w henne they conne n o t helpen hem self o r defende. T he seuen dedly synnes arn

11)3 See Boyle (1985) and Shaw (1985). I(M Bloomfield (1961),60. 1(15 Bloomfield (1952), 72. m Sermon by Richard Alkerton (1406). Cited Owst (1961),104. 107 MS Harley 4S( fol. 160b. Cited Owst (1961).106. I(N> Middle Em IIhH Sermons 104/12.

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

PIERS PLOWMAN

by the fact that their varied assaults occupy over a quarter o f the text. Similarly, in the Scale o f Perfection, W alter Hilton, adopting the pilgrim­ age to Jerusalem as a m etaphor for the anchorite's spiritual journey ,97 warns:

annual confession m andatory in the W estern C hurch . 103 An understanding o f the nature o f the seven deadly sins was essential for confessor and penitent alike. These sins were the enemies which could drag the soul from the pathway to heaven; every Christian therefore needed to learn to recognise them and the tem ptations which they brought. In a survey of the contribu­ tion o f Gregory the G reat to the classification and understanding o f the sins, M orton Bloomfield com m ents : 104

Y ou a re now on the w ay a n d know how you shall go. N ow bew are o f enem ies th a t will be trying to h in d e r you if they can, fo r th e ir in ten tio n is to p u t o u t o f y o u r h eart th a t desire a n d th a t longing th a t y o u have for the love o f Jesus, an d to drive you hom e again to the love o f w orldly vanity. . . . T hese enem ies are principally carn al desires. (Scale, 11.22)

Chaucer’s Parson， having declared his aim o f showing the way to the ‘Jerusalem celestial’， proceeds to outline the path o f penitence including a detailed exposition o f the sins . 98 As I shall demonstrate, Langland's own exploration o f the pilgrimage of life is strongly coloured by descriptions of the seven deadly sins and the spiritual threat which they pose to the wouldbe citizen o f heaven. This repeated pattern o f combination and interaction would suggest th at medieval writers regarded the subject o f the seven deadly sins not merely as a convenient literary to p o s" but as a subject of considerable theological and spiritual importance which formed an integral part o f any thoroughgoing exposition o f the pilgrimage of life . 100 The literary patterning evident in the texts cited above is undergirded by a theological connection which goes back to the New Testament. The First Letter o f Peter, strongly characterised by its use of the pilgrim image , 101 contains the following exhortation, which evokes the vulnerability to attack o f the traveller in an alien land: C arissim i obsecro ta m q u a m advenas et peregrinos ab stinere vos a cam alib u s desideriis qu ae m ilitan t adversus anim am .

M o rta l m a n ’s p ro p er hom e is paradise . . . an d w ith G o d ’s grace an d G o d ’s justice he tries to win it th ro u g h the pilgrim age o f lif e .. . . W e struggle w ith the devil to w in freedom fro m the w orld o f evil desires. T o regain o u r original goal a n d o u r original selves we have the h elp o f Jesus, th ro u g h the C hurch an d the Sacram ents; b u t we m u st co o p erate by hold in g the w orld in co n tem p t, by despising w orldly v a lu e s .. . . [G regory's] analysis o f sin is n otew orthy an d it is his reo rganisation a n d presen tatio n o f the cardinal sins in th e M oraliay th a t becam e classic fo r th e M iddle Ages. T he fight w ith sin is the first an d m ost difficult o f all th e tasks fo r the C h ristian pilgrim . T h e ro a d o f ascesis can be trav ersed only by conquering the sins; b u t before they can be conquered they must be known [my italics].

Although Gregory was writing primarily for a m onastic audience, the widespread popularity of his work helped to establish this view of the sins within the general theological and devotional tradition . 105 Medieval sermons include frequent warnings about the particular danger posed by the seven deadly sins to those engaged in the pilgrimage of life: Ich gode cristen m an ow eth to be a pilgrim e goinge in to hevenly Ierusalem .106 He th a t is a pilgrym com en into a strange land w here m any theves and robberes beth, th a t nyght an d day aw ayteth suche pilgrym es. . . . H im nedeth busiliche studie a n d th in k e how he m yghte scape her h o n d e s.107 [synne] lettys us to goye J?e ryght wey to h even.108

D early beloved, I beseech you as stran g ers an d pilgrims, to refrain yourselves from carn al desires w hich w ar ag ain st the soul. (1 P eter 2 : 1 1)102

During succeeding centuries writers and preachers sought to identify, describe and codify these 'carnal desires* in order to enable Christians to avoid, overcome and, when necessary, confess them. This process was given considerable impetus by the F o u n h Lateran Council o f 1215, which made 1,7 Hilton, Scale. II.21ff. VH See Chapter 10. 99 Wenzel(1988),169, speaks of Langland's imaginative use of 'such theological or moral set pieces, as the seven deadly sins' but I would suggest he is also working within a tradition which already assigned a dramatic role to the sins within the pilgrimage of life. m Compare the Castle o f Perseverance {Medieval Drama) in which the Sins systematically assault the Castle in which Hunumum Genus takes refuge. Like Piers Plowman this text upholds the importance of the sacramem of pcnancc and like the Parson's Tale it warns of the uncertainties of delaying repentanct until thl point of death. M MSee Chapter 2. 1(13 This passage in used in A m r m W lm to Introduce Section V on penance.

m

The Middle English Weye o f Paradys uses the image o f a rich m an who rides out a journey: H e g o th o r passeth by a gret valey in to a gret w yldernes a n d falleth am o n g m any theues th a t throw e hym to th e erth e vnder his h o rs an d t[a]lken fro hym his ho rs, his sadel, his bridel, an d al th a t he h a th , a n d dispoilen hym al naked an d ta ke fro hym al his godes. A n d 3 it m ore, th e reto they 3 euen hym m anye w oundes a n d lete hym as good as h a lf ded. . . .This w orld is th e vale ful o f w rechednesses o f tribulaciones, be w hyche euerij m an g o th an d passeth the wey w here the theues ben th a t w ayten th e weye and th a t dyspuylen euerij m an w henne they conne n o t helpen hem self o r defende. T he seuen dedly synnes arn

11)3 See Boyle (1985) and Shaw (1985). I(M Bloomfield (1961),60. 1(15 Bloomfield (1952), 72. m Sermon by Richard Alkerton (1406). Cited Owst (1961),104. 107 MS Harley 4S( fol. 160b. Cited Owst (1961).106. I(N> Middle Em IIhH Sermons 104/12.

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

the theues th a t assaylefn] the [ryche] m an th a t is o n h o rsb ack an d th a t dyspoylen hym o f his goodes, 3 if G o d ne helpe hym n o t.109

This penitential m anual goes on to define the manner in which the various sins strip the Christian o f the attitudes, virtues and actions which are required for the journey. Restoration is possible only through the sacrament o f penance. This background helps to explain H aukyn's lament in Piers Plowman that *Synne seweth us evere* and his wish that after his baptism he had been 'deed and dolven for Dowelis sake* (XIV.320-5), since he would thus have avoided the perilous struggle with sin which threatens his prospects o f salvation. I suggest that it also explains Langland^ m arked preoccupation with the sins and the significant role which they play in Piers Plowman. It is plain from sermons, spiritual treatises and penitential guides that the medieval Church sought to identify and describe the seven deadly sins for two main reasons: to equip the Christian to overcome the tem ptation o f straying from the (weye to heven* and to encourage fallen sinners to avail themselves o f the benefits o f the sacrament o f Penance, the only means by which they could be restored to the prospect o f salvation. Langland's deployment o f the sins in Piers Plowman echoes these aims and is more widespread that has generally been noted. We have already observed that the theme of life pilgrimage appears first, not in Passus V, as is often assumed, but in the Prologue', the same is true o f the seven deadly sins. The view o f the world vouchsafed to the Dream er through his dream-vision uncompromisingly reveals the influence o f the sins upon hum an behaviour. G luttony (22, 43) is seen as destructive both to the community and to the individual soul and the superficiality of Pride in outw ard appearance (23) is set alongside the eternal value o f the inner life of 'preires and penaunce* (25). Sloth (45) and Lechery (54, 77) characterise secular and religious mendicants while Covetousness under­ mines the integrity o f friars, pardoners and parish priests alike (61, 81,86). In Passus I Holy Church explicitly notes the dangers o f G luttony (Lot) leading to Lechery in the life o f Lot (1.27-33), Pride bringing about the downfall o f Lucifer (126-7), and Covetousness in the life of parish-priests. Asked to define T ruth, she neatly points out that deadly sin is more to be feared than death itself: It is a kynde know ynge th a t k enneth in thyn herte F o r to loven th i L o rd levere th a n thiselve, N o dedly synne to do, deye theigh th o w sholdest

(Piers Plowman, 1.142-4)

The charter, m arking the marriage o f Mede to False in Passus II, once again analyses the problems o f hum an society in terms o f the seven deadly sins:

Weye o f Paradys, 25-7.

PIERS PLOWMAN A n d F avel w ithe his fikel speche feffeth by this ch artre T o be princes in Pride, a n d po verte to d e s p is e .. . A n d the erldom o f E nvye and [Ire] togideres. T he countee o f C oveitise . . . al hem I g rau n te . . . [W ith] al the lordshipe o f Leccherie . . . G lotonye he g a f hem ek an d grete othes togidere . . . T ii Sleuthe and sleep sliken hise sydes.

(Piers Plowman 11.79-80, 84, 86, 87, 93, 99)

Having thoroughly established the reality o f the presence o f these sins in the world and their insidious power to undermine even those dedicated to the religious life, Langland's presentation o f the sins broadens to encompass not only the threat of sin but also its remedy. M uch of the description of the sins until this point has emphasised their horizontal dimension - the destructive effect which they have on hum an relationships and the dynamic o f society; now the vertical dimension is foregrounded. The scene between Mede and the friar in Passus III functions as a negative prefiguring o f R epentance^ deft and completely orthodox handling o f the confessions o f the sins. The point of the scene is not only to expose the venality o f the friar b u t to highlight the eternal consequences o f evading the true purpose o f the sacrament o f penance. M ede5s offer of engraved windows in return for easy absolution for those guilty of lechery ('It is synne of the seuene sonnest relessed\ 111.58) is followed by an authorial warning that those who thus display their pride ( 6 6 ) and avoid confessing their (coueitise, ( 6 8 ) will find that they have no place in heaven (72).110 Passus IV offers further glimpses of the sins (32, 35, 70) and includes R eason's vision o f a society in which the effect o f the seven deadly sins is reversed: T il Pernelles purfill be p u t in hire hucche . . . Til clerkene covetise be to clothe the povere an d fede

(Piers Plowman^ IV.116,119)

This passage has clear links to the portrayal o f the sins in the Prologue as does Reason's serm on in Passus V which links sin, judgem ent (present and future) and the need for repentance. Reason speaks o f interim judgement: thise pestilences w as fo r pure synne

(Piers Plowman, V.13)

and warns that the uprooting o f mighty beeches and oaks in a recent gale (an image o f the impermanence o f worldly strength) is a sign o f judgem ent yet to come: dedly synne er dom esday shal fo rd o o n hem alle.

(Piers Plowman, V.20)

Mills (1969)« 194, diimliMi thii ai i 'trivial comment'.

164

163

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

the theues th a t assaylefn] the [ryche] m an th a t is o n h o rsb ack an d th a t dyspoylen hym o f his goodes, 3 if G o d ne helpe hym n o t.109

This penitential m anual goes on to define the manner in which the various sins strip the Christian o f the attitudes, virtues and actions which are required for the journey. Restoration is possible only through the sacrament o f penance. This background helps to explain H aukyn's lament in Piers Plowman that *Synne seweth us evere* and his wish that after his baptism he had been 'deed and dolven for Dowelis sake* (XIV.320-5), since he would thus have avoided the perilous struggle with sin which threatens his prospects o f salvation. I suggest that it also explains Langland^ m arked preoccupation with the sins and the significant role which they play in Piers Plowman. It is plain from sermons, spiritual treatises and penitential guides that the medieval Church sought to identify and describe the seven deadly sins for two main reasons: to equip the Christian to overcome the tem ptation o f straying from the (weye to heven* and to encourage fallen sinners to avail themselves o f the benefits o f the sacrament o f Penance, the only means by which they could be restored to the prospect o f salvation. Langland's deployment o f the sins in Piers Plowman echoes these aims and is more widespread that has generally been noted. We have already observed that the theme of life pilgrimage appears first, not in Passus V, as is often assumed, but in the Prologue', the same is true o f the seven deadly sins. The view o f the world vouchsafed to the Dream er through his dream-vision uncompromisingly reveals the influence o f the sins upon hum an behaviour. G luttony (22, 43) is seen as destructive both to the community and to the individual soul and the superficiality of Pride in outw ard appearance (23) is set alongside the eternal value o f the inner life of 'preires and penaunce* (25). Sloth (45) and Lechery (54, 77) characterise secular and religious mendicants while Covetousness under­ mines the integrity o f friars, pardoners and parish priests alike (61, 81,86). In Passus I Holy Church explicitly notes the dangers o f G luttony (Lot) leading to Lechery in the life o f Lot (1.27-33), Pride bringing about the downfall o f Lucifer (126-7), and Covetousness in the life of parish-priests. Asked to define T ruth, she neatly points out that deadly sin is more to be feared than death itself: It is a kynde know ynge th a t k enneth in thyn herte F o r to loven th i L o rd levere th a n thiselve, N o dedly synne to do, deye theigh th o w sholdest

(Piers Plowman, 1.142-4)

The charter, m arking the marriage o f Mede to False in Passus II, once again analyses the problems o f hum an society in terms o f the seven deadly sins:

Weye o f Paradys, 25-7.

PIERS PLOWMAN A n d F avel w ithe his fikel speche feffeth by this ch artre T o be princes in Pride, a n d po verte to d e s p is e .. . A n d the erldom o f E nvye and [Ire] togideres. T he countee o f C oveitise . . . al hem I g rau n te . . . [W ith] al the lordshipe o f Leccherie . . . G lotonye he g a f hem ek an d grete othes togidere . . . T ii Sleuthe and sleep sliken hise sydes.

(Piers Plowman 11.79-80, 84, 86, 87, 93, 99)

Having thoroughly established the reality o f the presence o f these sins in the world and their insidious power to undermine even those dedicated to the religious life, Langland's presentation o f the sins broadens to encompass not only the threat of sin but also its remedy. M uch of the description of the sins until this point has emphasised their horizontal dimension - the destructive effect which they have on hum an relationships and the dynamic o f society; now the vertical dimension is foregrounded. The scene between Mede and the friar in Passus III functions as a negative prefiguring o f R epentance^ deft and completely orthodox handling o f the confessions o f the sins. The point of the scene is not only to expose the venality o f the friar b u t to highlight the eternal consequences o f evading the true purpose o f the sacrament o f penance. M ede5s offer of engraved windows in return for easy absolution for those guilty of lechery ('It is synne of the seuene sonnest relessed\ 111.58) is followed by an authorial warning that those who thus display their pride ( 6 6 ) and avoid confessing their (coueitise, ( 6 8 ) will find that they have no place in heaven (72).110 Passus IV offers further glimpses of the sins (32, 35, 70) and includes R eason's vision o f a society in which the effect o f the seven deadly sins is reversed: T il Pernelles purfill be p u t in hire hucche . . . Til clerkene covetise be to clothe the povere an d fede

(Piers Plowman^ IV.116,119)

This passage has clear links to the portrayal o f the sins in the Prologue as does Reason's serm on in Passus V which links sin, judgem ent (present and future) and the need for repentance. Reason speaks o f interim judgement: thise pestilences w as fo r pure synne

(Piers Plowman, V.13)

and warns that the uprooting o f mighty beeches and oaks in a recent gale (an image o f the impermanence o f worldly strength) is a sign o f judgem ent yet to come: dedly synne er dom esday shal fo rd o o n hem alle.

(Piers Plowman, V.20)

Mills (1969)« 194, diimliMi thii ai i 'trivial comment'.

164

163

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

PIERS PLOWMAN

He castigates W astour (24),111 Pernele (26-7)112 and others and his words, together with those of Repentance, induce remorse in the narrator and move the sins to confession. The subsequent exposure o f the nature and intract­ ability of the sins is well known but needs to be examined within the overall context o f the poem, particularly its portrayal o f the pilgrimage o f life. Malcolm Godden regards the presentation o f the sins as running counter to the ‘optimism about natural m an manifested in the scheme o f the vision’; " ' yet, as we have seen, the ubiquitous presence of the sins has been carefully woven into the very fabric of hum an society. The poem 's audience is therefore by this point already fully aware o f the dom inant role of the sins within a fallen world. W hat the confession scene demonstrates is the deeprooted hold exercised by the sins upon hum an nature and the struggle which individual Christian believers face if they are to escape their clutch and successfully complete the journey to heaven. It also emphasises, through the exchanges with Repentance, the probing which is necessary if the sacrament o f penance is to be efficacious. In Everyman Shrift is described as (the m other o f salvation, (552) as the representative of mankind contemplates the final 'pilgrimage' o f death. In the Scale o f Perfection Hilton declares that those who have been ‘reformed by the sacrament o f penance’ can be sure that they are on the road to the heavenly Jerusalem (Scale, 11.21). This truth is further dem onstrated in the fourth vision. When Patience and Conscience set out as pilgrims they immediately encounter H aukyn, representative of all those involved in the 'active life1, 114 whose coat (and character) are deeply stained by the seven deadly sins.

and a lecture on the value o f poverty in overcoming the seven deadly sins:

H e had d e a cote o f C risten d o m as H o ly K irke bileveth; A c it w as m oled in m any places w ith m anye sondry p lo ttes O f pride here a p lo t . . . It w as bidro p p ed w ith w rathe a n d w ikkede wille, W ith envye . . . an d th a n n e was it soiled W ith likynge o fle c h e rie … o f poin tes his cote W as colom y th o ro u g h covetise . . . Y et th a t glo to u n w ith grete othes his garn em en t h ad d e soiled . . . T h a t into w anhope he w [orth] an d w ende n o g h t to be saved, T he w hiche is sleuth. (Piers Plowman, X III.2 7 4 -6 , 321-2, 343-4, 355-6, 400, 407-8)

The task o f the two pilgrims is to bring their would-be fellow traveller back to the right road through an explanation of the penitential process 1.1 Compare Prologue, 22. 1.2 Compare Prologue, 23-4. Godden (1990), 43. ,u Hussey (1969), 22 sees Haukyn aü *a kind of synthesizing character. .. only gradually is he led to desire eternal values rather than temporal ones*. See Godden (1984), I39FT, on confusion over Ihe meaning of Activa Vita, Compare Pkrx Plowman. A Parallel Edition, C XVIII.68-80.

166

F o r sevene synnes th a t th e r ben assaillen us evere: T h e fend folw eth hem alle an d fon d eth hem to helpe . . . T he heighe wey to hevenew ard ofte riche letteth . . . T h er the p o o re preesseth bifore. (Piers Plowman, X ÏV .202-3, 212, 214)

Throughout Piers Plowman, however, Langland is at pains to point out that this vital sacrament ana aid to the pilgrim is itself vulnerable to attack through the covetousness which is endemic m a fallen world. Tem ptation by the deadly sins and the emasculation o f the penitential system go hand in hand in Langland's writing. We have already examined the scene in Passus III in whien Mede subverts the friar and it is apparent that m uch of Langland^ criticism o f the friars is m otivated by his belief, a view which he shared with Chaucer , 115 that the friars were undermining the whole system of penance and thus undermining the whole process o f salvation. In Passus XI Will himself is misled by assurances th at the friars will arrange easy absolution for him and thus falls prey to the blandishments o f worldly lust (XI.52-60). In Passus X IX Piers builds the Church and Grace provides A cart highte C ristendom to carie hom e Piers sheves, A nd ga【 hym caples to his carte, C o n tn cio n a n d C onfession. (Piers Plowman, X IX .333-4)

The threat by Pride and his 'grete oost' to destroy the Church is articulated in terms o f an attack upon the integrity o f the penitential system: C onfession and C ontricion, an d youre carte the Bileeve Shal be coloured so queyntely an d covered under o u re sophistrie, T h a t C onscience shal n o g h t know e by C ontricion N e by C onfession w ho is C ristene o r hethene. (Piers Plowman, X IX .349-52)

The final attack upon the Church is m ounted in Passus XX by Antichrist and the ‘sevene grete geaunts’ (XX.215) who are the deadly sins. We witness the onslaughts o f Lechery, Covetousness, Pride, Sloth and Envy before Conscience admits the friars who deal the most deadly blow o f all. Contrition is lulled into slumber and the people no longer ‘drede’ sin. It is eviaent from this survey that the threat posed by the seven deadly sins and the need to m aintain the integrity o f the sacrament of penance were m atters which greatly exercised Langland and which strongly influenced his presentation o f the pilgrimage of life. He writes as an orthodox Christian of ms time, concerned to expose evils which threaten to undermine the function o f the Church, yet it seems likely that he would have agreed with the assertion of the Lollard William Thorpe: 4I clepe hem trewe pilgrymes Chaucer’i OUr

wm

likewise

an ‘6 町 mun to yeve penuuticc* ((；抑 (tW /W 叫 rm*, 223).

167

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

PIERS PLOWMAN

He castigates W astour (24),111 Pernele (26-7)112 and others and his words, together with those of Repentance, induce remorse in the narrator and move the sins to confession. The subsequent exposure o f the nature and intract­ ability of the sins is well known but needs to be examined within the overall context o f the poem, particularly its portrayal o f the pilgrimage o f life. Malcolm Godden regards the presentation o f the sins as running counter to the ‘optimism about natural m an manifested in the scheme o f the vision’; " ' yet, as we have seen, the ubiquitous presence of the sins has been carefully woven into the very fabric of hum an society. The poem 's audience is therefore by this point already fully aware o f the dom inant role of the sins within a fallen world. W hat the confession scene demonstrates is the deeprooted hold exercised by the sins upon hum an nature and the struggle which individual Christian believers face if they are to escape their clutch and successfully complete the journey to heaven. It also emphasises, through the exchanges with Repentance, the probing which is necessary if the sacrament o f penance is to be efficacious. In Everyman Shrift is described as (the m other o f salvation, (552) as the representative of mankind contemplates the final 'pilgrimage' o f death. In the Scale o f Perfection Hilton declares that those who have been ‘reformed by the sacrament o f penance’ can be sure that they are on the road to the heavenly Jerusalem (Scale, 11.21). This truth is further dem onstrated in the fourth vision. When Patience and Conscience set out as pilgrims they immediately encounter H aukyn, representative of all those involved in the 'active life1, 114 whose coat (and character) are deeply stained by the seven deadly sins.

and a lecture on the value o f poverty in overcoming the seven deadly sins:

H e had d e a cote o f C risten d o m as H o ly K irke bileveth; A c it w as m oled in m any places w ith m anye sondry p lo ttes O f pride here a p lo t . . . It w as bidro p p ed w ith w rathe a n d w ikkede wille, W ith envye . . . an d th a n n e was it soiled W ith likynge o fle c h e rie … o f poin tes his cote W as colom y th o ro u g h covetise . . . Y et th a t glo to u n w ith grete othes his garn em en t h ad d e soiled . . . T h a t into w anhope he w [orth] an d w ende n o g h t to be saved, T he w hiche is sleuth. (Piers Plowman, X III.2 7 4 -6 , 321-2, 343-4, 355-6, 400, 407-8)

The task o f the two pilgrims is to bring their would-be fellow traveller back to the right road through an explanation of the penitential process 1.1 Compare Prologue, 22. 1.2 Compare Prologue, 23-4. Godden (1990), 43. ,u Hussey (1969), 22 sees Haukyn aü *a kind of synthesizing character. .. only gradually is he led to desire eternal values rather than temporal ones*. See Godden (1984), I39FT, on confusion over Ihe meaning of Activa Vita, Compare Pkrx Plowman. A Parallel Edition, C XVIII.68-80.

166

F o r sevene synnes th a t th e r ben assaillen us evere: T h e fend folw eth hem alle an d fon d eth hem to helpe . . . T he heighe wey to hevenew ard ofte riche letteth . . . T h er the p o o re preesseth bifore. (Piers Plowman, X ÏV .202-3, 212, 214)

Throughout Piers Plowman, however, Langland is at pains to point out that this vital sacrament ana aid to the pilgrim is itself vulnerable to attack through the covetousness which is endemic m a fallen world. Tem ptation by the deadly sins and the emasculation o f the penitential system go hand in hand in Langland's writing. We have already examined the scene in Passus III in whien Mede subverts the friar and it is apparent that m uch of Langland^ criticism o f the friars is m otivated by his belief, a view which he shared with Chaucer , 115 that the friars were undermining the whole system of penance and thus undermining the whole process o f salvation. In Passus XI Will himself is misled by assurances th at the friars will arrange easy absolution for him and thus falls prey to the blandishments o f worldly lust (XI.52-60). In Passus X IX Piers builds the Church and Grace provides A cart highte C ristendom to carie hom e Piers sheves, A nd ga【 hym caples to his carte, C o n tn cio n a n d C onfession. (Piers Plowman, X IX .333-4)

The threat by Pride and his 'grete oost' to destroy the Church is articulated in terms o f an attack upon the integrity o f the penitential system: C onfession and C ontricion, an d youre carte the Bileeve Shal be coloured so queyntely an d covered under o u re sophistrie, T h a t C onscience shal n o g h t know e by C ontricion N e by C onfession w ho is C ristene o r hethene. (Piers Plowman, X IX .349-52)

The final attack upon the Church is m ounted in Passus XX by Antichrist and the ‘sevene grete geaunts’ (XX.215) who are the deadly sins. We witness the onslaughts o f Lechery, Covetousness, Pride, Sloth and Envy before Conscience admits the friars who deal the most deadly blow o f all. Contrition is lulled into slumber and the people no longer ‘drede’ sin. It is eviaent from this survey that the threat posed by the seven deadly sins and the need to m aintain the integrity o f the sacrament of penance were m atters which greatly exercised Langland and which strongly influenced his presentation o f the pilgrimage of life. He writes as an orthodox Christian of ms time, concerned to expose evils which threaten to undermine the function o f the Church, yet it seems likely that he would have agreed with the assertion of the Lollard William Thorpe: 4I clepe hem trewe pilgrymes Chaucer’i OUr

wm

likewise

an ‘6 町 mun to yeve penuuticc* ((；抑 (tW /W 叫 rm*, 223).

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PIERS PLOWMAN

trauelynge tow ard J?e blis o f heuene . . . hatynge euere and fleynge alle \>c seuene dedli synnes . ' 116

Thom as a Kempis not only warned o f the dangers o f succumbing to curiositas - *It is curiosity and the love o f novelty that takes men to see such things, but they return with little harvest in the way o f improved lives5121 but focused instead on the presence o f G od in the sacrament o f the Eucharist: ‘M any people go running off to various places to see the relics o f the saints . . . yet here before my eyes on the altar, you, my G od, are present yourself, holier than all the saints / 122 Lollards opposed the practice o f place pilgrimage as theologically misguided and spiritually dangerous:

P erso n a n d place The final resolve expressed by Conscience: I wole bicome a pilgrym

And walken as wyde as the world lasteth To seken Piers the Plowman. (Piers Plowman, XX.381-3)

encapsulates a spiritual concept which is central to the development o f the pilgrimage m otif in Piers Plowman: the priority o f person over place. It is a significant characteristic o f Christian thought that places have been made holy only by association with a holy person. Initially the person concerned was G od himself though, since the New Testam ent taught that G od was equally available to all who called upon him, there were always those who questioned whether is was necessary to travel to another geographical location in order to encounter him . 117 The emergence o f the cult o f the saints 118 acted as a spur to the growth of place pilgrimage, as popular religion increasingly focused upon those who were believed to act as mediators between sinful hum an beings and an increasingly remote, holy G od. This development held twin dangers, which were recognised and addressed by spiritual writers through the centuries. W ould the saints usurp the place which G od should hold in the devotion of the faithful? W ould the popularity o f journeying to holy places divert Christians from seeking to experience G od in their daily lives? Such questions were live issues in the later fourteenth century as not only Lollard but also orthodox preachers raised concerns about the m otivation of some pilgrims and the efficacy o f their pilgrimages. The Dominican preacher John Bromyard criticised those who travelled to the Holy Land "out o f a certain curiosity or spirit o f amusement, with the intention o f returning, so that they can narrate what they have seen and heard, in boastful fashion among their neighbours ' . 119 Archbishop Fitzralph o f Arm agh, preaching on All Saints' Day, 1356, noted a certain danger from the veneration of images which some frequently and wrongfully called by the name of those they are intended to represent, such as Mary ol Lincoln, Mary of Walsingham, and so forth; since Mary, the Mother of God, is above in heaven, and never in those places.. . . Wherefore those who venerate such images for their own sake and make offerings to them to procure healing or benefits of some kind appear to be true and potent idolators. 120 116 Two Wydiffite Texts, 62. 1,1 Sec for example the comments of Jerome and Gregory of Nyssa in Chapter 3 above. "* See Chapter 3. m Owst (1961}, 333. 110 Owst(1961),141.

l?es pilgrimagis and offeryngis semen broU3 te vp of cautelis [tricks] of J?e fend and hes coueytouse and worldly clerkis, for comunely siche pilgrimagis ben mayntenyng of lecheris, of gloterie, of drunkenesse . . . and worldly vanytes. 123 Langland's poem addresses these issues head on, denouncing the seeking o f saints* shrines and recommending instead the pursuit o f T ruth, that is G od himself. The initial stages o f the D ream er's search for T ruth is m otivated chiefly by the desire to escape the consequences of sin and to win salvation and is somewhat intellectual in character. W ith the appearance o f Piers the Plowman, however, the Dream er's quest gradually takes on more o f a personal character. The evolving figure of Piers offers in turn a guide (V-VII), an instructor (XVI), an example (the G ood Sam aritan in XVII) and a saviour (XVIII). In Passus XV he is identified as 'Petrus, id est, Christus9 (XV.212) without whom Charity can never be known, the human embodiment of T ruth, who makes visible the character o f G od . 124 The D ream er^ search now becomes focused upon the person o f Piers (X V I.167-71), whose very name evokes an emotional response similar to that offered to Christ in the late Middle Ages : 125 Tiers the Plowman!' quod Ï tho, and al for pure joye That I herde nempne his name anoon I swowned after, And lay longe in a loue-dreem; and at laste me thoughte That Piers the Plowman al the place me shewed (Piers Plowman, XVI. 18-21) As Schmidt observes, WilFs quest for Piers fuses with that of Hope and Faith for Jesus , 126 and the Piers-Christ-Good Sam aritan figure dom inates the subsequent dram a of salvation. Against this background it is evident that Conscience’s decision to seek Piers is not merely a search for ‘th at fit ecclesiastical authority symbolised by the ploughm an ， . 127 He is no longer 121 Thomas ä Kempis« Imitation o f Christ,IV.I. 122 Thomas è ICempis, Imitation o f Christ, 1V.I. ni Selections from English Wydiffite Writings, 86. 124 Compare John 14: 9: *Hc that secth me seeth the Father also.' l2i Martin (1979), 55, comments that 'the absences of Piers, the yearning for Piers convey, more than gatiifaction could, hit meaning in the poem'. I2a The Vision q f P \m Plowman, xliv. , r Knight (1969), 307.

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PIERS PLOWMAN

trauelynge tow ard J?e blis o f heuene . . . hatynge euere and fleynge alle \>c seuene dedli synnes . ' 116

Thom as a Kempis not only warned o f the dangers o f succumbing to curiositas - *It is curiosity and the love o f novelty that takes men to see such things, but they return with little harvest in the way o f improved lives5121 but focused instead on the presence o f G od in the sacrament o f the Eucharist: ‘M any people go running off to various places to see the relics o f the saints . . . yet here before my eyes on the altar, you, my G od, are present yourself, holier than all the saints / 122 Lollards opposed the practice o f place pilgrimage as theologically misguided and spiritually dangerous:

P erso n a n d place The final resolve expressed by Conscience: I wole bicome a pilgrym

And walken as wyde as the world lasteth To seken Piers the Plowman. (Piers Plowman, XX.381-3)

encapsulates a spiritual concept which is central to the development o f the pilgrimage m otif in Piers Plowman: the priority o f person over place. It is a significant characteristic o f Christian thought that places have been made holy only by association with a holy person. Initially the person concerned was G od himself though, since the New Testam ent taught that G od was equally available to all who called upon him, there were always those who questioned whether is was necessary to travel to another geographical location in order to encounter him . 117 The emergence o f the cult o f the saints 118 acted as a spur to the growth of place pilgrimage, as popular religion increasingly focused upon those who were believed to act as mediators between sinful hum an beings and an increasingly remote, holy G od. This development held twin dangers, which were recognised and addressed by spiritual writers through the centuries. W ould the saints usurp the place which G od should hold in the devotion of the faithful? W ould the popularity o f journeying to holy places divert Christians from seeking to experience G od in their daily lives? Such questions were live issues in the later fourteenth century as not only Lollard but also orthodox preachers raised concerns about the m otivation of some pilgrims and the efficacy o f their pilgrimages. The Dominican preacher John Bromyard criticised those who travelled to the Holy Land "out o f a certain curiosity or spirit o f amusement, with the intention o f returning, so that they can narrate what they have seen and heard, in boastful fashion among their neighbours ' . 119 Archbishop Fitzralph o f Arm agh, preaching on All Saints' Day, 1356, noted a certain danger from the veneration of images which some frequently and wrongfully called by the name of those they are intended to represent, such as Mary ol Lincoln, Mary of Walsingham, and so forth; since Mary, the Mother of God, is above in heaven, and never in those places.. . . Wherefore those who venerate such images for their own sake and make offerings to them to procure healing or benefits of some kind appear to be true and potent idolators. 120 116 Two Wydiffite Texts, 62. 1,1 Sec for example the comments of Jerome and Gregory of Nyssa in Chapter 3 above. "* See Chapter 3. m Owst (1961}, 333. 110 Owst(1961),141.

l?es pilgrimagis and offeryngis semen broU3 te vp of cautelis [tricks] of J?e fend and hes coueytouse and worldly clerkis, for comunely siche pilgrimagis ben mayntenyng of lecheris, of gloterie, of drunkenesse . . . and worldly vanytes. 123 Langland's poem addresses these issues head on, denouncing the seeking o f saints* shrines and recommending instead the pursuit o f T ruth, that is G od himself. The initial stages o f the D ream er's search for T ruth is m otivated chiefly by the desire to escape the consequences of sin and to win salvation and is somewhat intellectual in character. W ith the appearance o f Piers the Plowman, however, the Dream er's quest gradually takes on more o f a personal character. The evolving figure of Piers offers in turn a guide (V-VII), an instructor (XVI), an example (the G ood Sam aritan in XVII) and a saviour (XVIII). In Passus XV he is identified as 'Petrus, id est, Christus9 (XV.212) without whom Charity can never be known, the human embodiment of T ruth, who makes visible the character o f G od . 124 The D ream er^ search now becomes focused upon the person o f Piers (X V I.167-71), whose very name evokes an emotional response similar to that offered to Christ in the late Middle Ages : 125 Tiers the Plowman!' quod Ï tho, and al for pure joye That I herde nempne his name anoon I swowned after, And lay longe in a loue-dreem; and at laste me thoughte That Piers the Plowman al the place me shewed (Piers Plowman, XVI. 18-21) As Schmidt observes, WilFs quest for Piers fuses with that of Hope and Faith for Jesus , 126 and the Piers-Christ-Good Sam aritan figure dom inates the subsequent dram a of salvation. Against this background it is evident that Conscience’s decision to seek Piers is not merely a search for ‘th at fit ecclesiastical authority symbolised by the ploughm an ， . 127 He is no longer 121 Thomas ä Kempis« Imitation o f Christ,IV.I. 122 Thomas è ICempis, Imitation o f Christ, 1V.I. ni Selections from English Wydiffite Writings, 86. 124 Compare John 14: 9: *Hc that secth me seeth the Father also.' l2i Martin (1979), 55, comments that 'the absences of Piers, the yearning for Piers convey, more than gatiifaction could, hit meaning in the poem'. I2a The Vision q f P \m Plowman, xliv. , r Knight (1969), 307.

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looking for answers in a system or tem poral structure which can be corrupted; his needs and those o f the Church can only be met by a person.

10 C o n clu sio n In an article entitled T h e pilgrimage o f life as a late medieval genre5, Siegfried Wenzel suggests a num ber o f elements which, in his judgem ent, would characterise such a form . 128 These are: 1 . U se o f the d ream vision. 2. T he entire action ap p ears as extensive a ctio n n a rra te d in th e pilgrim age o f life ap p ears as an extensive answ er to m a n 's question, 'W h a t m ust I d o to save m y soul?' 3. T he rem ain d er o f the poem consists o f the D re a m e r's qu est for the goal, com prising b o th in stru c tio n (including a c o n fro n ta tio n w ith vice) and a m ore positive jo u rn ey in w hich he m akes progress. 4. T he D ream er’s concern w ith his ow n ageing. 5. T he use o f personification allegory. 6. T he inclusion o f m uch if n o t all m edieval catechetical in stru c tio n , stru c­ tu red w ith the help o f the pilgrim age m e tap h o r.

Wenzel himself dismisses Piers Plowman as a candidate for such a genre on the grounds that the use o f the allegorical pilgrimage in Passus V Torms only part o f the larger structure ' . 129 On the basis o f the features which I have noted in this chapter, I would suggest that this exclusion is unwarranted. The contrast between wandering aimlessly through the world and purposeful (if not perfect) pilgrimage towards the ‘tour on the toft’ which is apparent from the Prologue onwards suggests that the whole poem is in fact set within the context o f life pilgrimage. The peculiar textual problems manifested by Piers Plowman mean that any such suggestion must o f necessity be tentative, yet it is also true that the apparent lack o f a neat conclusion to the text and its continual readiness to explore fresh avenues are, in themselves, appropriate reflections o f the nature o f life pilgrimage. And life pilgrimage is unques­ tionably Langland's m ain concern. This brief re-examination of Piers Plowman in the light of the multiple meanings of pilgrimage established earlier, has revealed with marked clarity Langland's commitment to the primacy o f m oral obedience within the pilgrimage of life and his sustained antagonism towards journeying to holy places. Laagland, it is clear, regards seeking holy places as a substitute for living as a Christian at home and seeking saints as a substitute for seeking G od himself.

The Canterbury Tales

Bifil th a t in th a t seson on a day, In S o u th w erk a t the T a b a rd as I lay R edy to w enden o n m y pilgrym age T o C a u n terb u ry w ith ful d evout corage, A t nyght w as com e in to th a t hosteirye W ei nyne an d tw enty in a com paignye, O f sondry folk, by aventure yfalle In feiaw eshipe, an d pilgrim es w ere they alle T h a t to w a rd C au n terb u ry w olden ryde. (C an terb u ry Tales, General Prologue, 23-7)

'Pilgrimes were they alle' announces Chaucer blandly as the pilgrim -narrator (he o f the self-professed ‘devout corage’） and his fellow travellers encounter one another 6by aventure* at the T abard Inn and prom ptly resolve to journey together to Canterbury. N othing could be more simple - or, in the event, more productive o f critical dissension. Indeed as the Prologue unfolds and the web o f prologues and tales reveals more o f the tellers, the text itself prom pts a m ultitude o f questions about this apparently straightforward statement. W hat significance are we to read into Chaucer's use o f the term ‘pilgrim ’ ？Are all these ‘sondry folk’ in fact engaged upon the same kind of journey? Should the pilgrimage to Canterbury be taken as anything more than a convenient narrative framework against which to set a wide-ranging collection of tales? And w hat does the Parson's Tale have to do with the lively, even bawdy, tales which precede it? In their attem pts to answer these questions, critics have drawn on the social 1 and political 2 history o f the period, patristic comm entaries ,3 religious treatises 45 and many other contem porary sources .5 Their conclusions differ but two undisputed facts remain. The pilgrim identity of Chaucer's char­ acters is thrust upon the poem 's audience before either their carefully crafted portraits or their interaction can identify them to any degree as individual

1 Mann (1973); Strohm (1989). 2 Knight ider on pilgrymage, it is more for \>c helj?e o f her bodies |?an for \>q hel)?e of her soulis, more for to haue richessis and prosperite of )?is world J?an for to ben enrichid wi}? vertues in her soulis, more for to haue her worldli or fleischli frendschipp )?an for to haue frendschip o f G od and o f hise seintis in heuene .72

The Parsons Tale also suggests that physical health and spiritual well-being are not always entirely compatible: Now for to speken o f goodes o f nature, G od w oot that somtyme we han hem in nature as much to oure dam age as to oure profit./ For as to speken of heele of body, certes it passeth fullightly, and eek it is ful ofte enchesoun o f the siknesse of oure souls. For, G od woot, the flessh is a ful greet enemy to the soule, and therfore, the moore that the body is hool, the moore be we in peril to falle. (Parsons Tale^ 457-9)

The author of the thirteenth-century Ancrene Wisse also saw real spiritual value in earthly suffering: GaÖ nu J?enne gleadluker bi strong wei 7 bi swineful tow ard te muchele feaste of heouene . . . Betere is ga sec to heouene )?en hal to helle. . . . Euch worltlich wa hit is godes sonde .73

60 See Chapters 2 and 11. 61 The Regularis Concordia, 8, stated: The brethren shall not gadabout visiting the properties of the monastery unless either great necessity or reasonable discretion require it'. M Geoffrey of Vendóme:4We should not stray from the journey of our profession to make a journey to Jerusaiem/ Cited Constable (1976), 134. w Letter 410 in Opera Omnia, ed. F. S. Schmidt, Edinburgh, 1946-61, V.335. Cited Constable (1976),134. M Constable (1976), 138. 65 Gregory of Nyssa» Letter 2. 64 Anglo-Saxon Missionaries, 133. See Chapter 6. *7 Geoffroy de La Tour Landry, Book o f the Knight o f the Tower, 58/27-9. In a warning which might have been expreiily directed at the Wife of Bath Thomas a Kcmpis remarked that *many peoplc-go running off to various places to see the relics of the saints.. . . It

is curiosity and the love of novelty that takes men to see such things, but they return with little harvest in the way of improved lives, especially when they embark on such visits thoughtlessly and with no real sorrow for sin.' Thomas ä Kempis, Imitation, IV.I. 69 On the implications of the description of the Wife of Bath for Chaucer's attitude to place pilgrimage see Chapter 12 below. 70 With the exception of the Knight. The description in the General Prologue (77-8) suggests that he is making the customary pilgrimage to give thanks for his safe return from crusading. 71 See Chapter 3 above. 72 Two WycHffiti Ttxts, 62. 7, Ancrene cdltvd Tolkien, IV.98/18-19, 22, 6. In The Pilgrimage o f the Lyfe o f the Manhodf, I80/I3t lllnm li th« m«iMng«r who remindi people of penance.

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o f exile, pursued in stability 60 and that the leaving of the cloister, unless in the m ost exceptional circumstances 61 represented an undermining of the spiritual journey already undertaken . 62*Anselm, while Archbishop of Canter­ bury, forbade a m onk to visit Jerusalem citing the pope

not by devotion but by amorous intent,69 thus draws on a cliché o f anti­ feminist satire, which in questioning the m otivation o f women pilgrims, also casts doubt upon the practice o f pilgrimage itself. Curiously no specific motive is attributed to C haucers pilgrims, only a general inference that like most pilgrims o f the time they are travelling to Canterbury in connection with physical healing {General Prologue, 15-18).70 This too was an area o f controversy. An emphasis on material benefits as an outcome o f pilgrimage was initially a pagan rather than a Christian characteristic71 and there were those who felt uneasy about such a premium being placed upon what were after all tem poral rather than specifically spiritual benefits. William Thorpe criticised pilgrims whom he saw as not only ignorant o f the rudim ents of the faith but misguided in their m otiva­ tions:

who ordered with his great authority that m onks should not undertake this journey except for a religious person who may be useful in ruling the Church o f G od or instructing the people, and this only with the advice o f and in obedience to his superior .61

and the Cistercians in the twelfth century decreed that a m onk who went to Jerusalem or on another pilgrimage was ‘to leave his own house and be sent to another without hope of return ’ .64 The high profile given by Chaucer to the M onk and the Prioress, together with the conspicuous omission of true religious virtues in their portraits, draws attention to the fact th at they, of all the pilgrims, have least justification for their participation in the journey. W hereas they might, though with some considerable difficulty, have won permission to visit Rom e to discharge business with the papacy or Jerusalem in the interests o f greater under­ standing of the scriptures, what possible reason can there be for them to be on the road to Canterbury? Gregory o f Nyssa, writing in the fourth century, observed that even the city o f Jerusalem was full of ‘Adultery, theft, idolatry, quarrelling, m urder ’65 and concern about the m oral risks run by Anglo-Saxon pilgrims to Rome, especially women, were voiced by Boniface 66 in the eighth century. Later male writers saw women less as prospective victims than as willing participants in am orous adventures away from the restraints o f husband and local community. The Knight o f La T our Landry tells the cautionary tale o f a young wife, who having embarked upon a pilgrimage with her lover, a young squire, fell ill and was cured only after she had repented her immoral intentions. Her story is presented as 'a good Ensample/ how we ought not to goo to hooly pylgremages for no foolysshe playsaunces/ but only for the dyvyne seruyse and for the loue of god ' . 67 C haucer^ presenta­ tion o f the Wife o f Bath, with her unasham ed admission that her many pilgrimages , 68 like her visits to her own parish church, are largely prompted

And as I haue lerned and also I knowe sumdel bi experience of )?ese same pilgrimes, tellinge )?e cause whi )?at manye men and wymmen now gon hider and J>ider on pilgrymage, it is more for \>c helj?e o f her bodies |?an for \>q hel)?e of her soulis, more for to haue richessis and prosperite of )?is world J?an for to ben enrichid wi}? vertues in her soulis, more for to haue her worldli or fleischli frendschipp )?an for to haue frendschip o f G od and o f hise seintis in heuene .72

The Parsons Tale also suggests that physical health and spiritual well-being are not always entirely compatible: Now for to speken o f goodes o f nature, G od w oot that somtyme we han hem in nature as much to oure dam age as to oure profit./ For as to speken of heele of body, certes it passeth fullightly, and eek it is ful ofte enchesoun o f the siknesse of oure souls. For, G od woot, the flessh is a ful greet enemy to the soule, and therfore, the moore that the body is hool, the moore be we in peril to falle. (Parsons Tale^ 457-9)

The author of the thirteenth-century Ancrene Wisse also saw real spiritual value in earthly suffering: GaÖ nu J?enne gleadluker bi strong wei 7 bi swineful tow ard te muchele feaste of heouene . . . Betere is ga sec to heouene )?en hal to helle. . . . Euch worltlich wa hit is godes sonde .73

60 See Chapters 2 and 11. 61 The Regularis Concordia, 8, stated: The brethren shall not gadabout visiting the properties of the monastery unless either great necessity or reasonable discretion require it'. M Geoffrey of Vendóme:4We should not stray from the journey of our profession to make a journey to Jerusaiem/ Cited Constable (1976), 134. w Letter 410 in Opera Omnia, ed. F. S. Schmidt, Edinburgh, 1946-61, V.335. Cited Constable (1976),134. M Constable (1976), 138. 65 Gregory of Nyssa» Letter 2. 64 Anglo-Saxon Missionaries, 133. See Chapter 6. *7 Geoffroy de La Tour Landry, Book o f the Knight o f the Tower, 58/27-9. In a warning which might have been expreiily directed at the Wife of Bath Thomas a Kcmpis remarked that *many peoplc-go running off to various places to see the relics of the saints.. . . It

is curiosity and the love of novelty that takes men to see such things, but they return with little harvest in the way of improved lives, especially when they embark on such visits thoughtlessly and with no real sorrow for sin.' Thomas ä Kempis, Imitation, IV.I. 69 On the implications of the description of the Wife of Bath for Chaucer's attitude to place pilgrimage see Chapter 12 below. 70 With the exception of the Knight. The description in the General Prologue (77-8) suggests that he is making the customary pilgrimage to give thanks for his safe return from crusading. 71 See Chapter 3 above. 72 Two WycHffiti Ttxts, 62. 7, Ancrene cdltvd Tolkien, IV.98/18-19, 22, 6. In The Pilgrimage o f the Lyfe o f the Manhodf, I80/I3t lllnm li th« m«iMng«r who remindi people of penance.

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Physical suffering may, therefore, actually prom ote spiritual sikernesse,74 a concept familiar from the teaching o f the Apostle James:

deliberate planning is, o f course, impossible to know, but it seems that it can hardly be an accident that Canterbury and its blissful m artyr make such perfect foils for the Person whom all true pilgrims seek and the Place where the benefits o f his friendship are to be fully enjoyed.

C ount it all joy when you fall into divers tem ptations [trials]; Knowing that the trying o f your faith worketh patience, and patience hath a perfect work; that you may be perfect and entire, lacking nothing. (James 1 :2 -4 )

T h e ro le o f th e P a r s o n s Tale The quest for physical healing on earth was, therefore, not necessarily regarded as compatible with the quest for the heavenly Jerusalem. Canterbury, because o f its claims iand its riches, seems to have been especially vulnerable to the criticisms of reformers such as Thorpe, who also objected to the waste o f resources involved in such journeys, such as ‘spendynge her goodis vpon vicious hosteleris and vpon tapesters’， and complained in particular about the conduct of Canterbury pilgrims: I knowe wel J?at whanne dyuerse men and wymmen wolen goen J?us aftir her owne willis and fyndingis out on pilgrymageyngis, \>ei wolen ordeyne biforehonde to haue wij? hem bope men and wymmen )?at kunnen wel synge rowtinge songis, and also summe o f )?ese pilgrimes wolen haue wij? hem baggepipes 75 so J?at in eche toun J?at \>ei comen )?oru3, w hat wij? noyse of her syngynge, and m\> |?e soun of her pipinge, and wi|? J>e gingelynge o f her Cantirbirie b ellis. . . )?ese maken more noyse }?an if )?e king came )?ere awey wi}? his clarioneris and manye oJ?er m ynstrals .76

And Thomas? Pilgrims were beckoned to Canterbury by a very strong personality. When they arrived they would have been confronted by a shrine o f dazzling splendour.77 Simon Fitzsimon, who visited Canterbury en route to the Holy Land in 1322, described the body of Thom as lying in a 'case made o f m ost pure gold and adorned with innumerable precious stones, with shining pearls like unto the gate o f Jerusalem ’.78 To behold such riches m ust indeed have seemed like a foretaste of the glories of heaven. Yet it was only a foretaste and the one whom pilgrims sought only a servant.79 The Parson in his Prologue and Tale makes the point very clearly. Their true goal was to meet a person， ‘oure sweete Lord G od o f hevene t h a t . . . wole that we comen alle to the knoweleche o f hym* (Parsons Tale, 75), to attain the glories o f heaven and then, and only then, to enjoy full physical and spiritual health. How much o f what I have outlined in this section was a result o f Chaucer’s 74 Compare Gray (1986), 220. In Fasciculus Morum^ 139, sickness is described as the Tetter of Christ, with which he binds those he loves'. 75 Compare the description of the Miller (General Prologue, 565-6). 76 Two Wycliffite Texts, 64. 77 Very similar to the present-day appearance of the shrine of James in Compostela. 78 Western Pilgrims^ 3. 79 Although some of his devotees were not afraid to make comparisons between the martyred archbishop and Christ: 'Writers compared the blood of the martyr to the blood of Christ, *'the lamb of Canterbury*' to the f,lamb of Bethlehem'1, and said that water and blood from the side of Christ on the Cross (John 19: 34) wai parallel to the water and blood of St Thomas.1Ward (1987),102. .

184

It is fair to say that the Parsons Tale remains something of an em barrass­ ment for Chaucerian studies. Some critics ignore it altogether ;80 others regard it as a regrettable blemish on the career o f a gifted writer , 81 while a third group acknowledge its (limited) virtues but insist th at it should not be accorded greater significance than the other tales: T h e Pörn) 心 / Vo/ogwe does indicate some kind o f conclusion, even though Chaucer does not in fact say that the pilgrimage has reached Canterbury; but the tale is no more than another genre, another attitude to life to be set beside the others / 82 In contrast a significant num ber o f com m entators, including Baldwin, Howard, Rogers , 83 Ruggiers, Patterson and Wenzel, regard the Parsons Tale as an im portant key to the interpretation of the Canterbury Tales as a whole. Unfortunately they differ in their understanding o f what that interpretation should be. Baldwin saw the Parson s Tale 4as a commentary on the action ， 84 but Siegfried Wenzel, though supporting a very nigh view of the Parson's Tale, is more restrained in defining its relationship to the rest of the tales: Coming at the end o f the string o f tales, and introduced by rhetorical and fictional m arkers that set it apart from the preceding stories and give it a special standing, the P arsons Tale presents not just another aspect o f reality and hum an behaviour, but a higher one. I am firmly convinced that Chaucer, too, saw life steadily and saw it whole, and th at in the wholeness o f his vision the P arsons Tale is the final step. The tale clearly does n o t lend itself to being used as a moral gloss or blueprint which retrospectively furnishes direct and specific comments on each pilgrim and the secondary fictional characters o f his or her tale. But it does serve, in a more general, comprehensive, and basic way to reaffirm the values and norms that were implied in the earlier storytelling and to make them explicit.85

His claims for the status o f the tale are, moreover, somewhat undermined by the subsequent admission that 'such an exalted view o f the function intended

80 It is, for example, omitted from Ellis (1986). Moreover there is no separate edition or translation available.

81 Aers (1980)，108-10. 82 Cooper (1983), 54. 83 Rogers (1986), 121; T he Parson's Tqie more than any other, provides us with a system of categories to undentand «II human experience/ M Baldwin (1935),100. •5 Wenzel (1981}, 97. T h • 尸《 7Vi/f ii clearly and explicitly placed as the climax of a long poem.

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Physical suffering may, therefore, actually prom ote spiritual sikernesse,74 a concept familiar from the teaching o f the Apostle James:

deliberate planning is, o f course, impossible to know, but it seems that it can hardly be an accident that Canterbury and its blissful m artyr make such perfect foils for the Person whom all true pilgrims seek and the Place where the benefits o f his friendship are to be fully enjoyed.

C ount it all joy when you fall into divers tem ptations [trials]; Knowing that the trying o f your faith worketh patience, and patience hath a perfect work; that you may be perfect and entire, lacking nothing. (James 1 :2 -4 )

T h e ro le o f th e P a r s o n s Tale The quest for physical healing on earth was, therefore, not necessarily regarded as compatible with the quest for the heavenly Jerusalem. Canterbury, because o f its claims iand its riches, seems to have been especially vulnerable to the criticisms of reformers such as Thorpe, who also objected to the waste o f resources involved in such journeys, such as ‘spendynge her goodis vpon vicious hosteleris and vpon tapesters’， and complained in particular about the conduct of Canterbury pilgrims: I knowe wel J?at whanne dyuerse men and wymmen wolen goen J?us aftir her owne willis and fyndingis out on pilgrymageyngis, \>ei wolen ordeyne biforehonde to haue wij? hem bope men and wymmen )?at kunnen wel synge rowtinge songis, and also summe o f )?ese pilgrimes wolen haue wij? hem baggepipes 75 so J?at in eche toun J?at \>ei comen )?oru3, w hat wij? noyse of her syngynge, and m\> |?e soun of her pipinge, and wi|? J>e gingelynge o f her Cantirbirie b ellis. . . )?ese maken more noyse }?an if )?e king came )?ere awey wi}? his clarioneris and manye oJ?er m ynstrals .76

And Thomas? Pilgrims were beckoned to Canterbury by a very strong personality. When they arrived they would have been confronted by a shrine o f dazzling splendour.77 Simon Fitzsimon, who visited Canterbury en route to the Holy Land in 1322, described the body of Thom as lying in a 'case made o f m ost pure gold and adorned with innumerable precious stones, with shining pearls like unto the gate o f Jerusalem ’.78 To behold such riches m ust indeed have seemed like a foretaste of the glories of heaven. Yet it was only a foretaste and the one whom pilgrims sought only a servant.79 The Parson in his Prologue and Tale makes the point very clearly. Their true goal was to meet a person， ‘oure sweete Lord G od o f hevene t h a t . . . wole that we comen alle to the knoweleche o f hym* (Parsons Tale, 75), to attain the glories o f heaven and then, and only then, to enjoy full physical and spiritual health. How much o f what I have outlined in this section was a result o f Chaucer’s 74 Compare Gray (1986), 220. In Fasciculus Morum^ 139, sickness is described as the Tetter of Christ, with which he binds those he loves'. 75 Compare the description of the Miller (General Prologue, 565-6). 76 Two Wycliffite Texts, 64. 77 Very similar to the present-day appearance of the shrine of James in Compostela. 78 Western Pilgrims^ 3. 79 Although some of his devotees were not afraid to make comparisons between the martyred archbishop and Christ: 'Writers compared the blood of the martyr to the blood of Christ, *'the lamb of Canterbury*' to the f,lamb of Bethlehem'1, and said that water and blood from the side of Christ on the Cross (John 19: 34) wai parallel to the water and blood of St Thomas.1Ward (1987),102. .

184

It is fair to say that the Parsons Tale remains something of an em barrass­ ment for Chaucerian studies. Some critics ignore it altogether ;80 others regard it as a regrettable blemish on the career o f a gifted writer , 81 while a third group acknowledge its (limited) virtues but insist th at it should not be accorded greater significance than the other tales: T h e Pörn) 心 / Vo/ogwe does indicate some kind o f conclusion, even though Chaucer does not in fact say that the pilgrimage has reached Canterbury; but the tale is no more than another genre, another attitude to life to be set beside the others / 82 In contrast a significant num ber o f com m entators, including Baldwin, Howard, Rogers , 83 Ruggiers, Patterson and Wenzel, regard the Parsons Tale as an im portant key to the interpretation of the Canterbury Tales as a whole. Unfortunately they differ in their understanding o f what that interpretation should be. Baldwin saw the Parson s Tale 4as a commentary on the action ， 84 but Siegfried Wenzel, though supporting a very nigh view of the Parson's Tale, is more restrained in defining its relationship to the rest of the tales: Coming at the end o f the string o f tales, and introduced by rhetorical and fictional m arkers that set it apart from the preceding stories and give it a special standing, the P arsons Tale presents not just another aspect o f reality and hum an behaviour, but a higher one. I am firmly convinced that Chaucer, too, saw life steadily and saw it whole, and th at in the wholeness o f his vision the P arsons Tale is the final step. The tale clearly does n o t lend itself to being used as a moral gloss or blueprint which retrospectively furnishes direct and specific comments on each pilgrim and the secondary fictional characters o f his or her tale. But it does serve, in a more general, comprehensive, and basic way to reaffirm the values and norms that were implied in the earlier storytelling and to make them explicit.85

His claims for the status o f the tale are, moreover, somewhat undermined by the subsequent admission that 'such an exalted view o f the function intended

80 It is, for example, omitted from Ellis (1986). Moreover there is no separate edition or translation available.

81 Aers (1980)，108-10. 82 Cooper (1983), 54. 83 Rogers (1986), 121; T he Parson's Tqie more than any other, provides us with a system of categories to undentand «II human experience/ M Baldwin (1935),100. •5 Wenzel (1981}, 97. T h • 尸《 7Vi/f ii clearly and explicitly placed as the climax of a long poem.

\%5

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THE CANTERBURY TALES

for the Parsons Tale, is, unfortunately, not supported by its form, . Lee Patterson, though agreeing that the Parson's Tale transcends the views oflife presented by the earlier storytellers ,86 rejects outright

sins, penance and the pilgrimage o f life, which makes the Parson s Tale a highly suitable message for those who will return hom e 93 to continue their daily journey to heaven.

the assumption that Chaucer wrote the Parson s Tale as a pointed commentary on the preceding pilgrims and their ta le s .. . . In the whole o f the Parsons Tale there is not a single line that can, in my view, be taken as applying to a single pilgrim. And to read the tale retrospectively is to misunderstand its most im portant characteristic, its generality. . . . The Parson s Tale is not irrelevant to w hat precedes it but it is no more relevant to that than to anything else .87

Ironic readings of the tale have also been proposed 88 and rejected .89 Even a post-m odern reading o f the tales can only suggest that to choose any interpretation o f this conundrum is fcto chese amys ' . 90 It might, one feels, be simpler for everyone if the tale simply did not exist. As Rodney Delasanta comments: 'N o part of the Canterbury Tales has been so unloved as its ending / 91 The emerging textual evidence, however, increasingly indicates that the Parsons Tale is indeed a force to reckoned with - and accounted for .92 Due to the work o f Patterson, Wenzel and others, the content and the form o f the Parsons Tale have become clearer. The purpose and function of the tale within the overall context o f the Canterbury Tales however, remain m atters o f dispute. There has been a great deal o f discussion in general terms about concepts oflife pilgrimage and place pilgrimage within the Canterbury Tales but much of this debate has been stronger on positing literary solutions than on accurately establishing the theory and practice o f con­ tem porary spirituality. As a result o f these omissions, several misleading perspectives on the 户 似 如 心 have been accepted and transmitted from one study to another. These include the repeated suggestion that in the Parson s Prologue and Tale the pilgrims are required to choose between place pilgrimage and life pilgrimage; an insistence that place pilgrimage, like life pilgrimage, was essentially viewed as a one-way exercise and a failure to recognise the deeply rooted three-way relationship between the seven deadly Patterson (1978), 370. 87 Patterson (1978), 369. 88 See Finlayson (1971); Kaske (1975). w Wenzel refutes the ironic reading of the poem by Judson Boyce Allen, together with what he describes as the ^ rsp ectiv ist' interpretations of Finlayson and Kaske: *There is an element in these views which i find quite unsatisfactory: they fail to take into account the introduction to the Parsons Tale. I would argue that the prologue to the Parson's Tale is wrought in such a fashion as to deny that the following tale is of the same moral validity as its predecessor, no less and no more. On the contrary, Chaucer seems to endow the 74 lines introducing the tale with rhetorical pointers that clearly prepare the reader for something of higher significance than what has gone before.' Wenzel (1981).90. See also Delasanta (1978). 90 Portnoy (1994), 291. Delasanta (1978), 240. Lawler (1980), 147: 'The Parson's Tale makes most readers close the book before the book closes.' 91In this connection 1 welcome the publication of a volume of essays on the Parsons Tale, Raybin and Holley (2000), although unfortunately it did not appear in time for me to take its contribution into a c c o u n t ..

86

186

The siker wey In the early decades o f the twentieth century, critics such as M anly 94 regarded the Parsons Tale as an interloper, unfortunately included by a misguided compiler searching for a suitable ending to Chaucer's great work. Subsequent textual research has concluded th at the tale was in fact carefully crafted by Chaucer himself ff 〇m various sources 95 and th at it belongs to a very speeme genre. Lee Patterson, in his extensive and highly influential analysis o f the Parsons Tale, argues that it should be grouped, along with the Clensyng o f Mannes Soule, The Weye o f Paradys and the Boke o f Penance, as a ^manual for penitents *,96 the kind o f material which wouia have enabled lay men and women to make full confession of their sins: The Parsons Tale is thus not merely one among the many different sorts of religious writing typical of fourteenth-century England; far less is it what it is so often called, ‘a typical medieval sermon’. It is an instance of a clearly defined and recognizable genre, the manual intended exclusively for penitential use.97 Patterson sees the four texts wmch he groups together as more restricted m scope than other similar works, such as John M yrc's Instructions fo r Parish Priests, Handlyng Synne, Jacob's Well and the Book o f Vices and Virtues, since they do not include more general teaching material such as the Ten Commandments or the L ord’s Prayer :98 Their concern is not with a life of moral struggle and aspiration, but with the justification of sin through penance, and their matter is fitted securely within a penitential perspective that guarantees its relevance. The very organization of the text, in other words, is a source of persuasion." The Parsons Tale is in fact even more restricted than the others, since the Weye o f Paradis contains additional didactic m aterial and the Boke o f 93 See below: Pilgrimage - a one-way journey? 94 Manly (1931), 616. In a more recent study, Alastair Minnis (1984) also questions the status of the Parsons Tale.

95 The Summa de Poenitentia of Raymund of Pennaforte, the Summa Vitiorum (in the versions known as Primo and Quoniam) and the Summa Virtuium de remediis animae. See Petersen (1973), Wenzel (1971) and (1974). Wenzel (1982), 252, comments: "It is accurate to say, I believe, that in writing [the Parson's Tale] Chaucer translated substantial sections from the identified sources. But it is equally accurate to point out that in doing so he not only worked selectively but also made changes and additions which reveal intelligence, purposiveness, and a fairly exact familiarity with the pastoral-theological thought and language of his time.'

96 Patterson (1978), 338. w7 Patterion (197R), 339, 1,1 For ftill Hit lee Patterson (1978), 340. w Patterion (1978), 339.

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PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

THE CANTERBURY TALES

for the Parsons Tale, is, unfortunately, not supported by its form, . Lee Patterson, though agreeing that the Parson's Tale transcends the views oflife presented by the earlier storytellers ,86 rejects outright

sins, penance and the pilgrimage o f life, which makes the Parson s Tale a highly suitable message for those who will return hom e 93 to continue their daily journey to heaven.

the assumption that Chaucer wrote the Parson s Tale as a pointed commentary on the preceding pilgrims and their ta le s .. . . In the whole o f the Parsons Tale there is not a single line that can, in my view, be taken as applying to a single pilgrim. And to read the tale retrospectively is to misunderstand its most im portant characteristic, its generality. . . . The Parson s Tale is not irrelevant to w hat precedes it but it is no more relevant to that than to anything else .87

Ironic readings of the tale have also been proposed 88 and rejected .89 Even a post-m odern reading o f the tales can only suggest that to choose any interpretation o f this conundrum is fcto chese amys ' . 90 It might, one feels, be simpler for everyone if the tale simply did not exist. As Rodney Delasanta comments: 'N o part of the Canterbury Tales has been so unloved as its ending / 91 The emerging textual evidence, however, increasingly indicates that the Parsons Tale is indeed a force to reckoned with - and accounted for .92 Due to the work o f Patterson, Wenzel and others, the content and the form o f the Parsons Tale have become clearer. The purpose and function of the tale within the overall context o f the Canterbury Tales however, remain m atters o f dispute. There has been a great deal o f discussion in general terms about concepts oflife pilgrimage and place pilgrimage within the Canterbury Tales but much of this debate has been stronger on positing literary solutions than on accurately establishing the theory and practice o f con­ tem porary spirituality. As a result o f these omissions, several misleading perspectives on the 户 似 如 心 have been accepted and transmitted from one study to another. These include the repeated suggestion that in the Parson s Prologue and Tale the pilgrims are required to choose between place pilgrimage and life pilgrimage; an insistence that place pilgrimage, like life pilgrimage, was essentially viewed as a one-way exercise and a failure to recognise the deeply rooted three-way relationship between the seven deadly Patterson (1978), 370. 87 Patterson (1978), 369. 88 See Finlayson (1971); Kaske (1975). w Wenzel refutes the ironic reading of the poem by Judson Boyce Allen, together with what he describes as the ^ rsp ectiv ist' interpretations of Finlayson and Kaske: *There is an element in these views which i find quite unsatisfactory: they fail to take into account the introduction to the Parsons Tale. I would argue that the prologue to the Parson's Tale is wrought in such a fashion as to deny that the following tale is of the same moral validity as its predecessor, no less and no more. On the contrary, Chaucer seems to endow the 74 lines introducing the tale with rhetorical pointers that clearly prepare the reader for something of higher significance than what has gone before.' Wenzel (1981).90. See also Delasanta (1978). 90 Portnoy (1994), 291. Delasanta (1978), 240. Lawler (1980), 147: 'The Parson's Tale makes most readers close the book before the book closes.' 91In this connection 1 welcome the publication of a volume of essays on the Parsons Tale, Raybin and Holley (2000), although unfortunately it did not appear in time for me to take its contribution into a c c o u n t ..

86

186

The siker wey In the early decades o f the twentieth century, critics such as M anly 94 regarded the Parsons Tale as an interloper, unfortunately included by a misguided compiler searching for a suitable ending to Chaucer's great work. Subsequent textual research has concluded th at the tale was in fact carefully crafted by Chaucer himself ff 〇m various sources 95 and th at it belongs to a very speeme genre. Lee Patterson, in his extensive and highly influential analysis o f the Parsons Tale, argues that it should be grouped, along with the Clensyng o f Mannes Soule, The Weye o f Paradys and the Boke o f Penance, as a ^manual for penitents *,96 the kind o f material which wouia have enabled lay men and women to make full confession of their sins: The Parsons Tale is thus not merely one among the many different sorts of religious writing typical of fourteenth-century England; far less is it what it is so often called, ‘a typical medieval sermon’. It is an instance of a clearly defined and recognizable genre, the manual intended exclusively for penitential use.97 Patterson sees the four texts wmch he groups together as more restricted m scope than other similar works, such as John M yrc's Instructions fo r Parish Priests, Handlyng Synne, Jacob's Well and the Book o f Vices and Virtues, since they do not include more general teaching material such as the Ten Commandments or the L ord’s Prayer :98 Their concern is not with a life of moral struggle and aspiration, but with the justification of sin through penance, and their matter is fitted securely within a penitential perspective that guarantees its relevance. The very organization of the text, in other words, is a source of persuasion." The Parsons Tale is in fact even more restricted than the others, since the Weye o f Paradis contains additional didactic m aterial and the Boke o f 93 See below: Pilgrimage - a one-way journey? 94 Manly (1931), 616. In a more recent study, Alastair Minnis (1984) also questions the status of the Parsons Tale.

95 The Summa de Poenitentia of Raymund of Pennaforte, the Summa Vitiorum (in the versions known as Primo and Quoniam) and the Summa Virtuium de remediis animae. See Petersen (1973), Wenzel (1971) and (1974). Wenzel (1982), 252, comments: "It is accurate to say, I believe, that in writing [the Parson's Tale] Chaucer translated substantial sections from the identified sources. But it is equally accurate to point out that in doing so he not only worked selectively but also made changes and additions which reveal intelligence, purposiveness, and a fairly exact familiarity with the pastoral-theological thought and language of his time.'

96 Patterson (1978), 338. w7 Patterion (197R), 339, 1,1 For ftill Hit lee Patterson (1978), 340. w Patterion (1978), 339.

187

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Penance and the Clensying o f Mannes Sowie offer guidance for both priest and penitent. Chaucer’s treatise is geared (significantly, I would suggest) exclusively to the needs o f the penitent, lay or clerical. 100 Patterson's implied division between concern with a life o f m oral struggle and the process of justification, however, does not do justice either to the concept o f repentance or to the text o f the Parson s Tale itself. The Parson himself comments that although he has not included the text o f the Ten Com m andm ents in his treatise, the pattern o f daily obedience which they outline is woven into his teaching: 'Natheless, I hope to God, they been touched in this tretice, everich o f hem alle, {Parsons Tale, 957). True repentance, as the Parson himself makes clear, involves not only sorrow for sin but also a determination to avoid it in the future:

route. The siker102 wey is to choose a life o f penitence and obedience to God: it is in fact to live, as the First Epistle o f Peter advises, as strangers and pilgrims in the world, avoiding the sins which war against your souls. Here Chaucer’s Parson is very close to Langland’s narrator as, having witnessed Piers Plowm an’s efforts to work out the m oral and spiritual implications o f a life of pilgrimage on earth, he ponders the relationship between indulgences, memorial masses and Dowel:

Seint Ambrose seith that Penitence is the pleynynge of man for the gilt that he hath doon, and namoore to do any thyng for which hym oghte to pleyne. . . . Penitence, with certeyne circumstances, is verray repentance o f a m an that halt hymself in sorwe and oother peyne for his giltes. And for he shal be verray penitent, he shal first biwaylen the synnes that he hath doon, and stidefastly purposen in his herte to have shrift o f m outhe and to doon satisfaccioun, and

nevere to doon thyngfor which hym oghte moore to biwayle or to compleyne, and to continue in goode werkes, or elks his repentance may nat availle. For, as seith Seint Ysidre, 41He is a japere and a gabbere and no verray repentant that eftsoone dooth thyng for which hym oghte repented Wepynge and nat for to stynte to do synne, may nat avayle [my italics]. (Parsons Tale, 83, 85-90) The Parson's purpose in his tale is not merely to explain sin so that it may be correctly confessed: it is to explain sin so that it may be avoided . 101 Confession without true intention to resist tem ptation in the future not only invalidates the sacrament o f penance but leaves the individual in a position of great spiritual danger: But nathelees, men shal hope that every tyme that man falleth, be it never so ofte, that he may arise thurgh Penitence, if he have grace; but certeinly it is greet doute. F or as seith Seint Gregorie, (U nnethe ariseth he out o f his synne, that is charged with the charge o f yvel usage.' And therfore repentant folk, that

stynte for to synne and forlete synne er that synne forlete hem, hooly chirche holdeth hem sikerofhire savacioun. And he that synneth and verailly repenteth hym in his laste, hooly chirche yet hopeth his savacioun, by the grete mercy of ourc Lord Jhesu Crist, for his repentaunce; but taak the siker wey [my italics]. (Parson s Tale, 90-3)

The choice is clear. Continue in a life o f sin and hope that at the last you may yet scrape into heaven through the mercy of God. O r take the sure 100 Ruggiers (1965), 90, describes the Parson's Tale as *a treatise of instruction for the priest dealing speciflcally with the sacrament of penance1 but Wall suggests that Uhe Parson's Tale bears the marks of having been adapted for the lay penitent who is to make his confession*. Wall (1986),189. >UI Patterson (1978), 341; 4In the Parson's Tale sin is not merely identified and reprehended but explained.'

188

A1 this m aketh me on metels to thynke A nd how the preest preved no pardon to Dowel, A nd demed that Dowel indulgences passed, Biennals and triennals and bisshopes lettres, A nd how Dowel at the day o f dome is digneliche underfongen, A nd passeth al the pardon o f Seint Petres cherche. (Piers Plowman, VII. 168-73)

Will’s assertion that to trust in triennals and other such devices ‘is noght so siker for the soule, certes, as is DoweF (VII. 181) prefaces an appeal to those who would avoid the dem ands of a daily life of obedience: A t the dredful dome, when dede shulle rise A nd comen alle bifore Crist acountes to yelde How thow laddest thi lif here and hise lawes keptest And how thow didest day by day the doom wole reherce (Piers Plowman, VII.188-91)

All the alternatives upon which unregenerate medieval sinners might rely are firmly rejected in favour o f a life o f obedient service while earthly life endures: A pokeful of pardon there, ne provincials lettres, Theigh ye be founde in the fraternite o f alle the fyve ordres And have indulgences doublefold - b ut Dowel yow helpe, I sette youre patentes and youre pardon at one pies hele! F orthi I counseille alle Cristene to crie G od mercy, A nd M ary his m oder to be oure meene bitwene, T hat G od gyve us grace here, er we go hennes, Swiche werkes to werche, the while we ben here, T hat after oure deth day, Dowel reherce A t the day o f Dome, we dide as he highte. (Piers Plowman, VII. 192-201)

This insistence that the only siker way through life is to act out the daily moral dimension o f life pilgrimage is, as we have seen, highly characteristic o f Langland. Another voice commending a sure route to the bliss o f heaven is found in the Boke o f Penance (29,222-5): 1(12 The A//ゴ ゴ/«£>明"jA /)/川 仰 0 ぴ offers the following meanings for 幻たf r : 1 ⑻ Free from danger, not at ri_k! in safety, lafie; (b> of an action or a course of action: undertaken in safety, not attended by riik; (c) iplrltually Mfe; in the way of salvation, conducive to spiritual safety, not dangeroui to th« loul, prudtnt.

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

THE CANTERBURY TALES

Penance and the Clensying o f Mannes Sowie offer guidance for both priest and penitent. Chaucer’s treatise is geared (significantly, I would suggest) exclusively to the needs o f the penitent, lay or clerical. 100 Patterson's implied division between concern with a life o f m oral struggle and the process of justification, however, does not do justice either to the concept o f repentance or to the text o f the Parson s Tale itself. The Parson himself comments that although he has not included the text o f the Ten Com m andm ents in his treatise, the pattern o f daily obedience which they outline is woven into his teaching: 'Natheless, I hope to God, they been touched in this tretice, everich o f hem alle, {Parsons Tale, 957). True repentance, as the Parson himself makes clear, involves not only sorrow for sin but also a determination to avoid it in the future:

route. The siker102 wey is to choose a life o f penitence and obedience to God: it is in fact to live, as the First Epistle o f Peter advises, as strangers and pilgrims in the world, avoiding the sins which war against your souls. Here Chaucer’s Parson is very close to Langland’s narrator as, having witnessed Piers Plowm an’s efforts to work out the m oral and spiritual implications o f a life of pilgrimage on earth, he ponders the relationship between indulgences, memorial masses and Dowel:

Seint Ambrose seith that Penitence is the pleynynge of man for the gilt that he hath doon, and namoore to do any thyng for which hym oghte to pleyne. . . . Penitence, with certeyne circumstances, is verray repentance o f a m an that halt hymself in sorwe and oother peyne for his giltes. And for he shal be verray penitent, he shal first biwaylen the synnes that he hath doon, and stidefastly purposen in his herte to have shrift o f m outhe and to doon satisfaccioun, and

nevere to doon thyngfor which hym oghte moore to biwayle or to compleyne, and to continue in goode werkes, or elks his repentance may nat availle. For, as seith Seint Ysidre, 41He is a japere and a gabbere and no verray repentant that eftsoone dooth thyng for which hym oghte repented Wepynge and nat for to stynte to do synne, may nat avayle [my italics]. (Parsons Tale, 83, 85-90) The Parson's purpose in his tale is not merely to explain sin so that it may be correctly confessed: it is to explain sin so that it may be avoided . 101 Confession without true intention to resist tem ptation in the future not only invalidates the sacrament o f penance but leaves the individual in a position of great spiritual danger: But nathelees, men shal hope that every tyme that man falleth, be it never so ofte, that he may arise thurgh Penitence, if he have grace; but certeinly it is greet doute. F or as seith Seint Gregorie, (U nnethe ariseth he out o f his synne, that is charged with the charge o f yvel usage.' And therfore repentant folk, that

stynte for to synne and forlete synne er that synne forlete hem, hooly chirche holdeth hem sikerofhire savacioun. And he that synneth and verailly repenteth hym in his laste, hooly chirche yet hopeth his savacioun, by the grete mercy of ourc Lord Jhesu Crist, for his repentaunce; but taak the siker wey [my italics]. (Parson s Tale, 90-3)

The choice is clear. Continue in a life o f sin and hope that at the last you may yet scrape into heaven through the mercy of God. O r take the sure 100 Ruggiers (1965), 90, describes the Parson's Tale as *a treatise of instruction for the priest dealing speciflcally with the sacrament of penance1 but Wall suggests that Uhe Parson's Tale bears the marks of having been adapted for the lay penitent who is to make his confession*. Wall (1986),189. >UI Patterson (1978), 341; 4In the Parson's Tale sin is not merely identified and reprehended but explained.'

188

A1 this m aketh me on metels to thynke A nd how the preest preved no pardon to Dowel, A nd demed that Dowel indulgences passed, Biennals and triennals and bisshopes lettres, A nd how Dowel at the day o f dome is digneliche underfongen, A nd passeth al the pardon o f Seint Petres cherche. (Piers Plowman, VII. 168-73)

Will’s assertion that to trust in triennals and other such devices ‘is noght so siker for the soule, certes, as is DoweF (VII. 181) prefaces an appeal to those who would avoid the dem ands of a daily life of obedience: A t the dredful dome, when dede shulle rise A nd comen alle bifore Crist acountes to yelde How thow laddest thi lif here and hise lawes keptest And how thow didest day by day the doom wole reherce (Piers Plowman, VII.188-91)

All the alternatives upon which unregenerate medieval sinners might rely are firmly rejected in favour o f a life o f obedient service while earthly life endures: A pokeful of pardon there, ne provincials lettres, Theigh ye be founde in the fraternite o f alle the fyve ordres And have indulgences doublefold - b ut Dowel yow helpe, I sette youre patentes and youre pardon at one pies hele! F orthi I counseille alle Cristene to crie G od mercy, A nd M ary his m oder to be oure meene bitwene, T hat G od gyve us grace here, er we go hennes, Swiche werkes to werche, the while we ben here, T hat after oure deth day, Dowel reherce A t the day o f Dome, we dide as he highte. (Piers Plowman, VII. 192-201)

This insistence that the only siker way through life is to act out the daily moral dimension o f life pilgrimage is, as we have seen, highly characteristic o f Langland. Another voice commending a sure route to the bliss o f heaven is found in the Boke o f Penance (29,222-5): 1(12 The A//ゴ ゴ/«£>明"jA /)/川 仰 0 ぴ offers the following meanings for 幻たf r : 1 ⑻ Free from danger, not at ri_k! in safety, lafie; (b> of an action or a course of action: undertaken in safety, not attended by riik; (c) iplrltually Mfe; in the way of salvation, conducive to spiritual safety, not dangeroui to th« loul, prudtnt.

THE CANTERBURY TALES

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

For)?i to wend j?e seker way It es gude we do penance ay. Els haue we noght us with to were Bifore criste 卜at rightwis demere .103

W alter Hilton, introducing his discussion of 'interior' pilgrimage, sees a similar reassurance to be gained from submitting to the sacrament of penance : 104 The beginning o f the highway along which you shall go is reforming in taith, grounded humbly in the faith and the laws o f holy church, as I have said before, for trust assuredly that although you have formerly sinned, you are on the right road, i f you are now reformed by the sacrament ofpenance according to the laws o f holy church. (Scale, 11.21)

This sense of spiritual security, sikernesse, deriving from a commitment to constant penitence and obedience is just what the Parson is suggesting to his fellow pilgrims. I have made this point at some length because so much Chaucer criticism, whatever its attitude towards allegorical interpretation, gives the impression that with the entry o f the Parson into the tale-telling arena his audience are suddenly confronted with a choice between continu­ ing towards Canterbury or heading straight for the heavenly Jerusalem, alm ost as if the two cities stood side by side ready to receive the weary pilgrims that very night. Such readings, however, misrepresent the relation­ ship between the pilgrimage o f life, sin and penance. This tale may be set within sight of the walls o f Canterbury but the gates o f the heavenly Jerusalem are still some way off. The Parson is not at this moment preparing his audience for death but for life; not administering the last rites but recommending the Kind o f penance undertaken annually by all serious Christians before they took communion at Easter. The Prologue and the opening section o f the Tale set out clearly his aims and intentions. His prayer is that he may show his audience the wey, in this viage O f thilke parfit glorious pilgrymage T hat highte Jerusalem celestial (Parson's Prologue, 49-51)

The wey here is the road taken by Christians on their journey through life to the heavenly city. The pilgrimage called ‘Jerusalem celestial’ means the process o f travelling along that road until the city is reached. The Parson’s advice is addressed to those who 'thurgh synne hath mysgoon fro the righte wey of Jerusalem celestial' and the wey he offers within the tale is the path o f penitence which will enable all who take it to regain the right road, the life of obedience to God. 103 104

Cursor Mundi, vol.IV. In the context of the anchoritlc life. See Chapter 11.

190

This is the context in which the Parson's teaching on penitence and the seven deadly sins is set: the journey through life to the heavenly city.10S Inform ation about the seven deadly sins and the appropriate remedia is essential for any would-be pilgrim since it is ‘thurgh synne’ that they will be enticed away from the road to heaven: *SoothIy synnes been the weyes that leden folk to helle5 (141), and it is through the remedia th at they will be able to overcome their innate tendency to sin. Although the image used differs slightly from that employed in the Weye o f Paradis106 the essential concept is the same: the seven deadly sins are the instrum ent the devil uses to seduce the flesh and promote allegiance to this world rather than to the world to come. The intrinsic connection, both theological and practical, between the pilgrimage of life, the deadly sins and the sacrament o f penance can be observed in other significant medieval spiritual writings. In his discussion of tem ptation, the au th o r o f the early thirteenth-century Ancrene Wisse warns his audience that as they travel through the wilderness o f the world towards the heavenly Jerusalem, the seven deadly sins, in the guise o f wild animals lie in wait ready to attack them . 107 Later he prefaces his teaching on penance with a discussion o f the pilgrimage o f life, comparing the labour invested by place-pilgrims in seeking ‘the bones o f a single saint’ with the dedication of those who engage in the pilgrimage oi life, going towards heaven ‘to become saints themselves, . 108 In the Weye o f Paradis the sins are portrayed as thieves 109 who waylay and rob the traveller , 110 much as in de Deguileville's The Pilgrimage o f the L yfe o f the Manhode the sins 111 attack the pilgrim on his way to the heavenly city. In both works the pilgrim is restored through penance. The message therefore is clear: Christians travelling through the wilderness of this world towards the heavenly city stray from the right road through succumbing to the seven deadly sins and regain it through the sacrament o f penance . 112 M oreover, as the Parson constantly stresses, true Compare Alan of Lille, The Art o f Preachings Chapter XXX: On Remorse and Contrition: T here are four states of affection by which the mind of the righteous man is wholesomely stricken with remorse. The first is the memory of past deeds. The second is the consideration of his pilgrimage in this life. The third is the remembrance of his own sins. The fourth is the desire for his heavenly home.’ 106 See Chapter 9. 107 Ancrene Wisse (ed. Tolkien), 101/10-11, 16-24. This theme also appears in Sermo de Poenitentia. See Weye o f Paradys, Intro. 74. m Ancrene Wisse (ed. Tolkien), V I.178/13-17, 20-5. 109 Weye o f Paradys, 25-7. 110 Compare Malory, Morte d'Arthur, 13.11 where the seven deadly sins are shown attacking knights engaged on quests. 1,1 Described as *|7cse olde theeves, espyowresses [waylayers] ot pilgrimes', de Deguileville, The Pilgrimage o f the Lyf€ o f the Manhode, 4833-5. See Chapter 9 above. 113 Compare Tak of 1886-7: 'F or doubttees, if we be sory and repentant of the synnes and giltei which w« h«n tm paaicd in the sighte of oure Lord God,/ he is so free and so merciable/ th 龜t he wole fory«v_n ui oure gllte麄and bryngen us to the blisse that ncvere hath

105

THE CANTERBURY TALES

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

For)?i to wend j?e seker way It es gude we do penance ay. Els haue we noght us with to were Bifore criste 卜at rightwis demere .103

W alter Hilton, introducing his discussion of 'interior' pilgrimage, sees a similar reassurance to be gained from submitting to the sacrament of penance : 104 The beginning o f the highway along which you shall go is reforming in taith, grounded humbly in the faith and the laws o f holy church, as I have said before, for trust assuredly that although you have formerly sinned, you are on the right road, i f you are now reformed by the sacrament ofpenance according to the laws o f holy church. (Scale, 11.21)

This sense of spiritual security, sikernesse, deriving from a commitment to constant penitence and obedience is just what the Parson is suggesting to his fellow pilgrims. I have made this point at some length because so much Chaucer criticism, whatever its attitude towards allegorical interpretation, gives the impression that with the entry o f the Parson into the tale-telling arena his audience are suddenly confronted with a choice between continu­ ing towards Canterbury or heading straight for the heavenly Jerusalem, alm ost as if the two cities stood side by side ready to receive the weary pilgrims that very night. Such readings, however, misrepresent the relation­ ship between the pilgrimage o f life, sin and penance. This tale may be set within sight of the walls o f Canterbury but the gates o f the heavenly Jerusalem are still some way off. The Parson is not at this moment preparing his audience for death but for life; not administering the last rites but recommending the Kind o f penance undertaken annually by all serious Christians before they took communion at Easter. The Prologue and the opening section o f the Tale set out clearly his aims and intentions. His prayer is that he may show his audience the wey, in this viage O f thilke parfit glorious pilgrymage T hat highte Jerusalem celestial (Parson's Prologue, 49-51)

The wey here is the road taken by Christians on their journey through life to the heavenly city. The pilgrimage called ‘Jerusalem celestial’ means the process o f travelling along that road until the city is reached. The Parson’s advice is addressed to those who 'thurgh synne hath mysgoon fro the righte wey of Jerusalem celestial' and the wey he offers within the tale is the path o f penitence which will enable all who take it to regain the right road, the life of obedience to God. 103 104

Cursor Mundi, vol.IV. In the context of the anchoritlc life. See Chapter 11.

190

This is the context in which the Parson's teaching on penitence and the seven deadly sins is set: the journey through life to the heavenly city.10S Inform ation about the seven deadly sins and the appropriate remedia is essential for any would-be pilgrim since it is ‘thurgh synne’ that they will be enticed away from the road to heaven: *SoothIy synnes been the weyes that leden folk to helle5 (141), and it is through the remedia th at they will be able to overcome their innate tendency to sin. Although the image used differs slightly from that employed in the Weye o f Paradis106 the essential concept is the same: the seven deadly sins are the instrum ent the devil uses to seduce the flesh and promote allegiance to this world rather than to the world to come. The intrinsic connection, both theological and practical, between the pilgrimage of life, the deadly sins and the sacrament o f penance can be observed in other significant medieval spiritual writings. In his discussion of tem ptation, the au th o r o f the early thirteenth-century Ancrene Wisse warns his audience that as they travel through the wilderness o f the world towards the heavenly Jerusalem, the seven deadly sins, in the guise o f wild animals lie in wait ready to attack them . 107 Later he prefaces his teaching on penance with a discussion o f the pilgrimage o f life, comparing the labour invested by place-pilgrims in seeking ‘the bones o f a single saint’ with the dedication of those who engage in the pilgrimage oi life, going towards heaven ‘to become saints themselves, . 108 In the Weye o f Paradis the sins are portrayed as thieves 109 who waylay and rob the traveller , 110 much as in de Deguileville's The Pilgrimage o f the L yfe o f the Manhode the sins 111 attack the pilgrim on his way to the heavenly city. In both works the pilgrim is restored through penance. The message therefore is clear: Christians travelling through the wilderness of this world towards the heavenly city stray from the right road through succumbing to the seven deadly sins and regain it through the sacrament o f penance . 112 M oreover, as the Parson constantly stresses, true Compare Alan of Lille, The Art o f Preachings Chapter XXX: On Remorse and Contrition: T here are four states of affection by which the mind of the righteous man is wholesomely stricken with remorse. The first is the memory of past deeds. The second is the consideration of his pilgrimage in this life. The third is the remembrance of his own sins. The fourth is the desire for his heavenly home.’ 106 See Chapter 9. 107 Ancrene Wisse (ed. Tolkien), 101/10-11, 16-24. This theme also appears in Sermo de Poenitentia. See Weye o f Paradys, Intro. 74. m Ancrene Wisse (ed. Tolkien), V I.178/13-17, 20-5. 109 Weye o f Paradys, 25-7. 110 Compare Malory, Morte d'Arthur, 13.11 where the seven deadly sins are shown attacking knights engaged on quests. 1,1 Described as *|7cse olde theeves, espyowresses [waylayers] ot pilgrimes', de Deguileville, The Pilgrimage o f the Lyf€ o f the Manhode, 4833-5. See Chapter 9 above. 113 Compare Tak of 1886-7: 'F or doubttees, if we be sory and repentant of the synnes and giltei which w« h«n tm paaicd in the sighte of oure Lord God,/ he is so free and so merciable/ th 龜t he wole fory«v_n ui oure gllte麄and bryngen us to the blisse that ncvere hath

105

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

repentance brings not only forgiveness but the grace to live henceforth in obedience: The sixte thyng that oghte moeve a man to contricioun is the hope of three thynges; that is to seyn, foryifnesse o f synne, and theyifte o f grace welfo r to do, and the glorie o f hevene, with which G od shal gerdone man for his goode dedes. {Parsons Taley 283)

Doing well is vital since sinful men will lose 'the goodnesse o f glorie, that oonly is bihight to goode men that labóuren and werken' (250). There is still work to be done in this world and specific groups within society such as lords (753), knights (768)113 and merchants (776) are given instruction about their responsibilities. That the Parson's message is indeed designed to transform everyday life is underlined by his insistence that repentance of the kind he urges must not be postponed till the approach o f death. Those who might risk such a delay are encouraged to meditate on the insecurity o f hum an existence: 'H e shal thynke that oure life is in no sikernesse, and eek th at alle the richesses in this world ben in aventure and passen as a shadwe on the wal' {Parsons Tale, 1068). Earthly life, and worldly prosperity offer no lasting security but in heaven there is not only ‘sikernesse from the peyne o f helle’ （1077) but freedom from sorrow, strife, sickness and hunger. There the 'blisful compaignye* (1077) are united in joy and every soul 'replennysed with the sighte of the parfit knowynge o f God* (1079). This is the ultimate security to which hum an beings can aspire, the sikernesse o f heaven and the sure way; the siker wey to reach th at haven is the route which the Parson recommends, a true pilgrim life o f penitent obedience: This blisful regne may men purchase by poverte espiritueel, and the glorie by lowenesse, the plentee o f joye by hunger and thurst, and the reste by travaille, and the lyf by deeth and the moritficacion o f synne. (Parson's Tale, 1080)

Pilgrimage - a one-way journey? Any discussion o f Chaucer's intended structure or structures for the Canter­ bury Tales inevitably involves some degree of interpretation of the pilgrim­ age fram e . 114 D id Chaucer ever intend to depict a return journey to Southwark o r were his pilgrims always on a one-way ticket ? 115 How did medieval pilgrims regard the process o f journeying to holy places? M uch Compare Piers Plowman, Vl.24-32. 1.4 Howard (1976), 28-30, asserts that there arc 'strong reasons for saying that Chaucer never had any idea of depicting the return journey'. See also Owen ¢1977). I1S This question has implications for interpretations such as that of Knight: The route of the pilgrims from Southwark to Canterbury it the exact reverse of that taken by the revolutionaries [of 1381].Knight (1986a), 158. 1.3

192

THE CANTERBURY TALES

recent discussion has leant heavily 116 upon D onald H ow ard's assertion in The Idea o f the Canterbury Tales that medieval pilgrims conceived o f and experienced a pilgrimage as a one-way journey; the return was a mere contingency. This was not m etaphor or topos, but the source of the m etaphor and topos: it was their idea of a pilgrimage ."7

Howard bases this assertion largely upon the relationship between literal and m etaphorical pilgrimage and on place pilgrimage narratives, particu­ larly those which describe travel to the Holy Land. H ow ard's survey offers, however, a somewhat one-sided view o f place pilgrimage which should not be seen as autom atically applicable to the Canterbury Tales, since there are significant differences between the texts and experiences which he cites and the type o f journey which Chaucer's pilgrims undertake. In Writers and Pilgrims, How ard quotes the Desert Fathers and Celtic peregrini as examples o f those who embarked upon tone-way, journeys, that is exile without hope o f return. He suggests that place pilgrimage, though focusing upon a particular destination, was also essentially a 'one-way* journey, citing the dangers o f overseas travel and the fact that many crusaders, for example, died in the east or chose never to return home. The examples which he gives, however, are not only from earlier periods in the history of pilgrimage than th at o f Chaucer, but also represent very specialised approaches to the subject. As has been dem onstrated earlier in this study, the approach o f the Desert Fathers and their spiritual imitators, the peregrini, was to focus upon departure and exile, rather than the seeking of a sacred place . 118 This form of pilgrimage was strongly discouraged in Western Europe after the ninth century 119 and only penitential pilgrimage of a type which involved a judicial sentence o f exile was subsequently regarded in this light. It is often said that *all pilgrimages were penitentiar but this statement can be misleading. All pilgrimages were ultimately m otivated by consciousness of sin and the desire to draw closer to G od and many were prom pted by the desire to obtain indulgences, but not all were penitential in the narrow, judicial sense o f the term . 120 The crusades, likewise, were a very specialised form o f pilgrimage, fuelled by the promise not only oi indul­ gences, but also by a more worldly desire for conquest. W ar, illness and the opportunity to serve in the crusader states delayed or prevented the return of many who had taken the cross. It was not, however, a typical pattern for place pilgrimage o f the type in which C haucer^ pilgrims are engaged. Howard argues that since m ost extant place-pilgrimage narratives focus Thus Derek Pearsall, citing Howard, comments: *When one speaks of a pilgrimage as an allegory of the journey of human life, from the earthly city to the heavenly city, one does not speak or think of the going home that follows the pilgrimage/ Pearsall (1997b), 33. 116

117 Howard (1976), 30. 11.1 See Chapteri 2 and 6. IIV Comtabl« (1976) «nd Hughes (I960). 13.1 See Duvlei (1988).

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

repentance brings not only forgiveness but the grace to live henceforth in obedience: The sixte thyng that oghte moeve a man to contricioun is the hope of three thynges; that is to seyn, foryifnesse o f synne, and theyifte o f grace welfo r to do, and the glorie o f hevene, with which G od shal gerdone man for his goode dedes. {Parsons Taley 283)

Doing well is vital since sinful men will lose 'the goodnesse o f glorie, that oonly is bihight to goode men that labóuren and werken' (250). There is still work to be done in this world and specific groups within society such as lords (753), knights (768)113 and merchants (776) are given instruction about their responsibilities. That the Parson's message is indeed designed to transform everyday life is underlined by his insistence that repentance of the kind he urges must not be postponed till the approach o f death. Those who might risk such a delay are encouraged to meditate on the insecurity o f hum an existence: 'H e shal thynke that oure life is in no sikernesse, and eek th at alle the richesses in this world ben in aventure and passen as a shadwe on the wal' {Parsons Tale, 1068). Earthly life, and worldly prosperity offer no lasting security but in heaven there is not only ‘sikernesse from the peyne o f helle’ （1077) but freedom from sorrow, strife, sickness and hunger. There the 'blisful compaignye* (1077) are united in joy and every soul 'replennysed with the sighte of the parfit knowynge o f God* (1079). This is the ultimate security to which hum an beings can aspire, the sikernesse o f heaven and the sure way; the siker wey to reach th at haven is the route which the Parson recommends, a true pilgrim life o f penitent obedience: This blisful regne may men purchase by poverte espiritueel, and the glorie by lowenesse, the plentee o f joye by hunger and thurst, and the reste by travaille, and the lyf by deeth and the moritficacion o f synne. (Parson's Tale, 1080)

Pilgrimage - a one-way journey? Any discussion o f Chaucer's intended structure or structures for the Canter­ bury Tales inevitably involves some degree of interpretation of the pilgrim­ age fram e . 114 D id Chaucer ever intend to depict a return journey to Southwark o r were his pilgrims always on a one-way ticket ? 115 How did medieval pilgrims regard the process o f journeying to holy places? M uch Compare Piers Plowman, Vl.24-32. 1.4 Howard (1976), 28-30, asserts that there arc 'strong reasons for saying that Chaucer never had any idea of depicting the return journey'. See also Owen ¢1977). I1S This question has implications for interpretations such as that of Knight: The route of the pilgrims from Southwark to Canterbury it the exact reverse of that taken by the revolutionaries [of 1381].Knight (1986a), 158. 1.3

192

THE CANTERBURY TALES

recent discussion has leant heavily 116 upon D onald H ow ard's assertion in The Idea o f the Canterbury Tales that medieval pilgrims conceived o f and experienced a pilgrimage as a one-way journey; the return was a mere contingency. This was not m etaphor or topos, but the source of the m etaphor and topos: it was their idea of a pilgrimage ."7

Howard bases this assertion largely upon the relationship between literal and m etaphorical pilgrimage and on place pilgrimage narratives, particu­ larly those which describe travel to the Holy Land. H ow ard's survey offers, however, a somewhat one-sided view o f place pilgrimage which should not be seen as autom atically applicable to the Canterbury Tales, since there are significant differences between the texts and experiences which he cites and the type o f journey which Chaucer's pilgrims undertake. In Writers and Pilgrims, How ard quotes the Desert Fathers and Celtic peregrini as examples o f those who embarked upon tone-way, journeys, that is exile without hope o f return. He suggests that place pilgrimage, though focusing upon a particular destination, was also essentially a 'one-way* journey, citing the dangers o f overseas travel and the fact that many crusaders, for example, died in the east or chose never to return home. The examples which he gives, however, are not only from earlier periods in the history of pilgrimage than th at o f Chaucer, but also represent very specialised approaches to the subject. As has been dem onstrated earlier in this study, the approach o f the Desert Fathers and their spiritual imitators, the peregrini, was to focus upon departure and exile, rather than the seeking of a sacred place . 118 This form of pilgrimage was strongly discouraged in Western Europe after the ninth century 119 and only penitential pilgrimage of a type which involved a judicial sentence o f exile was subsequently regarded in this light. It is often said that *all pilgrimages were penitentiar but this statement can be misleading. All pilgrimages were ultimately m otivated by consciousness of sin and the desire to draw closer to G od and many were prom pted by the desire to obtain indulgences, but not all were penitential in the narrow, judicial sense o f the term . 120 The crusades, likewise, were a very specialised form o f pilgrimage, fuelled by the promise not only oi indul­ gences, but also by a more worldly desire for conquest. W ar, illness and the opportunity to serve in the crusader states delayed or prevented the return of many who had taken the cross. It was not, however, a typical pattern for place pilgrimage o f the type in which C haucer^ pilgrims are engaged. Howard argues that since m ost extant place-pilgrimage narratives focus Thus Derek Pearsall, citing Howard, comments: *When one speaks of a pilgrimage as an allegory of the journey of human life, from the earthly city to the heavenly city, one does not speak or think of the going home that follows the pilgrimage/ Pearsall (1997b), 33. 116

117 Howard (1976), 30. 11.1 See Chapteri 2 and 6. IIV Comtabl« (1976) «nd Hughes (I960). 13.1 See Duvlei (1988).

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

THE CANTERBURY TALES

on the journey to the holy place, the 'habitual way o f experiencing a pilgrimage' was thus as a one-way journey, a concept reinforced by the metaphorical meaning which place pilgrimage had acquired:

leaving, place pilgrimage was not in the time o f Chaucer inherently a one­ way process but rather a round-trip which usually saw the pilgrim return to his or her home community, cleansed, inspired and encouraged to pursue with greater devotion the pilgrimage o f life in terms o f obedience and faithfulness to their everyday calling. H ad it not been so there would not have been such a thriving trade in secondary relics, which symbolised the transference of the power of the saint back into the hom e com m unity , 124 and in pilgrim badges which signalled the status acquired by the traveller as he or she returned hom e . 125 Returning pilgrims also sought to recreate the essence of their experience through ouilding places o f worship in their home communities , 126 including copies o f holy places which they had visited. The m ost frequently copied site was the Anastasis R otunda of the church o f the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, which inspired the building o f the church o f the Holy Sepulchre in Cambridge among others. A nother twelfthcentury Holy Sepulchre copy, the baptistry in Pisa, was described by the bishop o f Pisa as the 'G ate of Paradise 5. 127 R obert O usterhout describes these copies as recreating ‘the spiritual presence of the original ’ ：‘F o r the iaithful the copy had an icon-like value, and it would have been considered a conduit of the T om b's life-giving power, effecting miracles, cures and aid in salvation . ’ 128 W hen considering place-pilgrimage narratives, H ow ard focuses largely upon those which deal with journeys to the Holy Land and concludes that, with the exception o f Felix Fabri (who travelled to the Holy Land in 1480 and 1483)， ‘most writers barely mention [the return journey 】and some do not even do that • … homecoming did not fit the idea o f pilgrimage ’ . 129 This he takes as evidence that pilgrims essentially conceived of their journey as one-way. His thesis ignores the fact that many o f the extant narratives, particularly those which deal with the Holy Land, are essentially guides, which naturally focus on the unknown difficulties of the outward journey, since the return was merely a m atter o f retracing one's footsteps. A pilgrim itinerary from the 1420s130 having outlined the return journey from the Holy Land comments:

From early times [pilgrimage] had the m etaphorical significance o f a one-way journey to the Heavenly Jerusalem: the actual trip was a symbol o f hum an life, and the corollary, that life is a pilgrimage, was a com monplace .121

His argum ent, I suggest, not only ignores evidence about the spiritual part which home-coming dia in fact play in journeys to holy places, but confuses the relationship between life and place pilgrimage. The Service fo r Pilgrims contained in the Sarum Missal includes no fewer than five separate references to the home-coming o f the prospective pilgrim: V. The good angel o f the Lord accompany thee; R. A nd dispose thy way and actions aright, that thou mayest return again to thine own place with joy. Collect: O G od . . . we beseech thee that thou wouldest grant unto these thy serv an ts. . . that having prosperously accomplished the course o f their appointed journey, they may return unto their own homes; and having been received back in safety, may pay due thanks unto thy name. Receive this scrip . . . that thou mayest be found worthy both to reach in safety the threshold o f ihe saints . . . and th a t when thy journey is finished thou mayest return to us in safety. Receive this s ta f f . . . that thou mayest again return to us in joy. M ay [God] send his angel Raphael to be thy guardian in thy pilgrimage . . . to bring thee back again in safety on thy return to us .1'2

Lincoln Guild records show that guild members were not only required to support those who went on pilgrimage but also to share in their hom e­ coming: If any brother o r sister wishes to go on pilgrimage to the Holy Land, every brother and sister shall give him one penny; if to St Jam es's o r to Rome, each shall give a halfpenny, unless he likes to give more; and the pilgrim shall be accompanied outside the gates of the city. And when he returns, and his fellows know it, they shall go and meet him, and go with him to the m other church .123

It is also im portant to bear in mind that (as I have shown earlier) the pilgrimage of life predates the idea of place pilgrimage in Christian thought and practice. The latter grew up as one means o f enhancing the lifelong journey, functioning as a journey within a journey which, correctly viewed, would inspire them anew to the daily task o f walking with G od. Though travel was always risky and pilgrims often did make their wills before 121

Howard (1980),11.

123 S«fwm Mis⑽/，167• 168, 169, 173. English Gilds, 172.

'

And for it is the comyn waie, From England to Rome, I will not saie.

The concluding lines of his narrative seem to imply a parallel between his safe return to England and the hope o f a safe arrival in heaven: See Sumption (1975), Chapter 2, and Hahn (1990). 125 Many such badges were buried with pilgrims. 126 Luttrell (1990) includes the text of the application made by an Englishwoman, Isolda Parewastell* to build a chapel to the Virgin on her return from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. 124

137 Ousterhout (1990b),115. 121 Ousterhout (1990b), 118. 124 Howard (1980), 47. 49. >t0 Probably 1422 or 1423. Sm T wo Pilgrim Itinerarla, p. 25.

195

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

THE CANTERBURY TALES

on the journey to the holy place, the 'habitual way o f experiencing a pilgrimage' was thus as a one-way journey, a concept reinforced by the metaphorical meaning which place pilgrimage had acquired:

leaving, place pilgrimage was not in the time o f Chaucer inherently a one­ way process but rather a round-trip which usually saw the pilgrim return to his or her home community, cleansed, inspired and encouraged to pursue with greater devotion the pilgrimage o f life in terms o f obedience and faithfulness to their everyday calling. H ad it not been so there would not have been such a thriving trade in secondary relics, which symbolised the transference of the power of the saint back into the hom e com m unity , 124 and in pilgrim badges which signalled the status acquired by the traveller as he or she returned hom e . 125 Returning pilgrims also sought to recreate the essence of their experience through ouilding places o f worship in their home communities , 126 including copies o f holy places which they had visited. The m ost frequently copied site was the Anastasis R otunda of the church o f the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, which inspired the building o f the church o f the Holy Sepulchre in Cambridge among others. A nother twelfthcentury Holy Sepulchre copy, the baptistry in Pisa, was described by the bishop o f Pisa as the 'G ate of Paradise 5. 127 R obert O usterhout describes these copies as recreating ‘the spiritual presence of the original ’ ：‘F o r the iaithful the copy had an icon-like value, and it would have been considered a conduit of the T om b's life-giving power, effecting miracles, cures and aid in salvation . ’ 128 W hen considering place-pilgrimage narratives, H ow ard focuses largely upon those which deal with journeys to the Holy Land and concludes that, with the exception o f Felix Fabri (who travelled to the Holy Land in 1480 and 1483)， ‘most writers barely mention [the return journey 】and some do not even do that • … homecoming did not fit the idea o f pilgrimage ’ . 129 This he takes as evidence that pilgrims essentially conceived of their journey as one-way. His thesis ignores the fact that many o f the extant narratives, particularly those which deal with the Holy Land, are essentially guides, which naturally focus on the unknown difficulties of the outward journey, since the return was merely a m atter o f retracing one's footsteps. A pilgrim itinerary from the 1420s130 having outlined the return journey from the Holy Land comments:

From early times [pilgrimage] had the m etaphorical significance o f a one-way journey to the Heavenly Jerusalem: the actual trip was a symbol o f hum an life, and the corollary, that life is a pilgrimage, was a com monplace .121

His argum ent, I suggest, not only ignores evidence about the spiritual part which home-coming dia in fact play in journeys to holy places, but confuses the relationship between life and place pilgrimage. The Service fo r Pilgrims contained in the Sarum Missal includes no fewer than five separate references to the home-coming o f the prospective pilgrim: V. The good angel o f the Lord accompany thee; R. A nd dispose thy way and actions aright, that thou mayest return again to thine own place with joy. Collect: O G od . . . we beseech thee that thou wouldest grant unto these thy serv an ts. . . that having prosperously accomplished the course o f their appointed journey, they may return unto their own homes; and having been received back in safety, may pay due thanks unto thy name. Receive this scrip . . . that thou mayest be found worthy both to reach in safety the threshold o f ihe saints . . . and th a t when thy journey is finished thou mayest return to us in safety. Receive this s ta f f . . . that thou mayest again return to us in joy. M ay [God] send his angel Raphael to be thy guardian in thy pilgrimage . . . to bring thee back again in safety on thy return to us .1'2

Lincoln Guild records show that guild members were not only required to support those who went on pilgrimage but also to share in their hom e­ coming: If any brother o r sister wishes to go on pilgrimage to the Holy Land, every brother and sister shall give him one penny; if to St Jam es's o r to Rome, each shall give a halfpenny, unless he likes to give more; and the pilgrim shall be accompanied outside the gates of the city. And when he returns, and his fellows know it, they shall go and meet him, and go with him to the m other church .123

It is also im portant to bear in mind that (as I have shown earlier) the pilgrimage of life predates the idea of place pilgrimage in Christian thought and practice. The latter grew up as one means o f enhancing the lifelong journey, functioning as a journey within a journey which, correctly viewed, would inspire them anew to the daily task o f walking with G od. Though travel was always risky and pilgrims often did make their wills before 121

Howard (1980),11.

123 S«fwm Mis⑽/，167• 168, 169, 173. English Gilds, 172.

'

And for it is the comyn waie, From England to Rome, I will not saie.

The concluding lines of his narrative seem to imply a parallel between his safe return to England and the hope o f a safe arrival in heaven: See Sumption (1975), Chapter 2, and Hahn (1990). 125 Many such badges were buried with pilgrims. 126 Luttrell (1990) includes the text of the application made by an Englishwoman, Isolda Parewastell* to build a chapel to the Virgin on her return from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. 124

137 Ousterhout (1990b),115. 121 Ousterhout (1990b), 118. 124 Howard (1980), 47. 49. >t0 Probably 1422 or 1423. Sm T wo Pilgrim Itinerarla, p. 25.

195

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

The praie ne to the Lord o f myghtes most T hat brought this Pilgryme to Engelond c o s t. . . A nd when we oute o f this word schuil wende, The joye o f heven he us sende: T hat is my praior, and schal be aie, We may be saved at Domesdaie: And so to his blis he us bringe .131

M ore local pilgrimages do not seem to have generated such texts. Significantly, Howard himself failed to find any accounts o f the Canterbury pilgrimage from which he concludes that 4it m ust have been too familiar to deserve written accounts and the route too easily followed to require an itinerary *.132 There are, however, indications even in texts dealing with the Holy Land, th at pilgrimages were seen as fitting into the everyday life o f the pilgrim. Felix himself went to learn more o f the Scriptures in order to improve his ministry o f preaching. The text o f William Wey’s visit to the Holy L and may not cover the return voyage but there is evidence that, before departing, he secured agreement from no less a person than Henry VI th at upon his return he would resume his position (and income) as a Fellow o f Eton College, a fact that indicates that he for one saw this journey as part o f his everyday life . 133 How ard is so dismissive o f Margery Kempe , 134 whose book antedates F ab rik account by some sixty years, that he fails to note the way in which her pilgrimages are woven into her relationship with her home community. W hen she returned from Jerusalem, M argery not only went to make a thank-offering at Norwich and to share some of the fruits o f her visit with a local vicar, but also had to face accusations o f immoral behaviour which speak eloquently o f underlying antagonism to the idea o f women undertaking pilgrimages at a l l (1.43). M argery’s book also illustrates the need to differentiate, as Howard does not, between the significance attached to local and long-distance pilgrimages. Margery settled her affairs before leaving for the Holy Land (1.26) but visited many English shrines without any such formalities. Evidence from other sources, such as the Paston Letters indicates that local pilgrimages were indeed fitted into norm al life on a fairly pragm atic basis: From the Earl of Oxford: To . . . Ser John Paston, knyght I com aund me to you and hartely thank you for your hawkes and also for your storkes whiche I vndirstond that ye haue sent vnto me . . . acertenyng you that I wolde be right glad to se you in these parties. Neuyrtheles I trust

1,1

Hakluytus, 571-2.

Howard (1980),16-17. 1)1 The king's letter reads: *Wee . . . have licensied hym to execute his said peregrinage, and wol that at suche tyme as he shall retoume unto our College that he be accepted there as a Felawe of the same .. . and that the yerely pension with other Deutes growing unto hym during his said peregrinage . . . be kept to his propre u»e unto his said Retoumynge.' Wey, Itineraries, iii-iv. IM Whom he describes as ‘quite mml• an Incur羼 ble hysteric with a large paranoid trend’. Howard (1980), 34-5. See Chapter 11 on Mtrgtry Kempe.

196

THE CANTERBURY TALES

in short tyme, doing my pilgrimage to Walsingham, to se you in tho parties .135

It is this down-to-earth, everyday approach to place pilgrimage which seems to fit m ost closely with the can terb u ry pilgrimage as Chaucer presents it. He even takes pains to set this particular journey within the context o f his pilgrims* lives. F or the Knight it m arks the custom ary thanksgiving for a safe return from the crusades, and for the Wife o f Bath yet another entertaining interlude in her restless existence. None o f the pilgrims gives the impression that they are journeying away from their everyday lives as they travel towards Canterbury. This is a short-term expedition to a local shrine, not a grand m etaphor for life. It may, therefore, be possible on the basis of m anuscript evidence or literary conjecture to determine the evolution of Chaucer's intentions for the structure of the Canterbury Tales. W hat we cannot do is say that, in terms o f medieval theology or popular practice, the pilgrimage to C anterbury was of its very nature a one­ way journey.

Modes of pilgrimage: opposition or integration? It is in the nature o f the construct that the Parson concludes the tales o f a journey whose destination becomes thereby neither Southw ark nor C anter­ bury, but the Holy City o f Jerusalem .136 The selection o f the last speaker . . . leads to a change of guide, which further coincides with a redirection o f the pilgrims’ goal from earthly Canterbury to heavenly Jerusalem .137 N o longer can the pilgrimage frame associate itself with the fiction about a particular com pany bound on a temporally specific journey. The com pany is now hum ankind, no longer the pilgrims o f the The General Prologue . . . and the goal is not Canterbury b u t 'thilke parfit glorious pilgrymage/ T hat highte Jerusalem celestial/ 138

The above examples illustrate the tendency in Chaucer criticism to assume that a radical shift o f direction takes place during the Parsons Prologue and that the C anterbury pilgrimage is totally superseded by the newly introduced goal o f the heavenly Jerusalem. Yet all o f these comments ignore what the Parson actually says. His offer is T o shewe yow the wey, in this viage, Ot thilke partfit glorious pilgrymage T h at highte Jerusalem celestial. (Parsons Prologue, 49-51)

>>s Paston Letters, 11.484. 116 Baldwin (1955), 84. 1)7 Wenzel (1981), 94. 111 Lawton (1987), 14.

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

The praie ne to the Lord o f myghtes most T hat brought this Pilgryme to Engelond c o s t. . . A nd when we oute o f this word schuil wende, The joye o f heven he us sende: T hat is my praior, and schal be aie, We may be saved at Domesdaie: And so to his blis he us bringe .131

M ore local pilgrimages do not seem to have generated such texts. Significantly, Howard himself failed to find any accounts o f the Canterbury pilgrimage from which he concludes that 4it m ust have been too familiar to deserve written accounts and the route too easily followed to require an itinerary *.132 There are, however, indications even in texts dealing with the Holy Land, th at pilgrimages were seen as fitting into the everyday life o f the pilgrim. Felix himself went to learn more o f the Scriptures in order to improve his ministry o f preaching. The text o f William Wey’s visit to the Holy L and may not cover the return voyage but there is evidence that, before departing, he secured agreement from no less a person than Henry VI th at upon his return he would resume his position (and income) as a Fellow o f Eton College, a fact that indicates that he for one saw this journey as part o f his everyday life . 133 How ard is so dismissive o f Margery Kempe , 134 whose book antedates F ab rik account by some sixty years, that he fails to note the way in which her pilgrimages are woven into her relationship with her home community. W hen she returned from Jerusalem, M argery not only went to make a thank-offering at Norwich and to share some of the fruits o f her visit with a local vicar, but also had to face accusations o f immoral behaviour which speak eloquently o f underlying antagonism to the idea o f women undertaking pilgrimages at a l l (1.43). M argery’s book also illustrates the need to differentiate, as Howard does not, between the significance attached to local and long-distance pilgrimages. Margery settled her affairs before leaving for the Holy Land (1.26) but visited many English shrines without any such formalities. Evidence from other sources, such as the Paston Letters indicates that local pilgrimages were indeed fitted into norm al life on a fairly pragm atic basis: From the Earl of Oxford: To . . . Ser John Paston, knyght I com aund me to you and hartely thank you for your hawkes and also for your storkes whiche I vndirstond that ye haue sent vnto me . . . acertenyng you that I wolde be right glad to se you in these parties. Neuyrtheles I trust

1,1

Hakluytus, 571-2.

Howard (1980),16-17. 1)1 The king's letter reads: *Wee . . . have licensied hym to execute his said peregrinage, and wol that at suche tyme as he shall retoume unto our College that he be accepted there as a Felawe of the same .. . and that the yerely pension with other Deutes growing unto hym during his said peregrinage . . . be kept to his propre u»e unto his said Retoumynge.' Wey, Itineraries, iii-iv. IM Whom he describes as ‘quite mml• an Incur羼 ble hysteric with a large paranoid trend’. Howard (1980), 34-5. See Chapter 11 on Mtrgtry Kempe.

196

THE CANTERBURY TALES

in short tyme, doing my pilgrimage to Walsingham, to se you in tho parties .135

It is this down-to-earth, everyday approach to place pilgrimage which seems to fit m ost closely with the can terb u ry pilgrimage as Chaucer presents it. He even takes pains to set this particular journey within the context o f his pilgrims* lives. F or the Knight it m arks the custom ary thanksgiving for a safe return from the crusades, and for the Wife o f Bath yet another entertaining interlude in her restless existence. None o f the pilgrims gives the impression that they are journeying away from their everyday lives as they travel towards Canterbury. This is a short-term expedition to a local shrine, not a grand m etaphor for life. It may, therefore, be possible on the basis of m anuscript evidence or literary conjecture to determine the evolution of Chaucer's intentions for the structure of the Canterbury Tales. W hat we cannot do is say that, in terms o f medieval theology or popular practice, the pilgrimage to C anterbury was of its very nature a one­ way journey.

Modes of pilgrimage: opposition or integration? It is in the nature o f the construct that the Parson concludes the tales o f a journey whose destination becomes thereby neither Southw ark nor C anter­ bury, but the Holy City o f Jerusalem .136 The selection o f the last speaker . . . leads to a change of guide, which further coincides with a redirection o f the pilgrims’ goal from earthly Canterbury to heavenly Jerusalem .137 N o longer can the pilgrimage frame associate itself with the fiction about a particular com pany bound on a temporally specific journey. The com pany is now hum ankind, no longer the pilgrims o f the The General Prologue . . . and the goal is not Canterbury b u t 'thilke parfit glorious pilgrymage/ T hat highte Jerusalem celestial/ 138

The above examples illustrate the tendency in Chaucer criticism to assume that a radical shift o f direction takes place during the Parsons Prologue and that the C anterbury pilgrimage is totally superseded by the newly introduced goal o f the heavenly Jerusalem. Yet all o f these comments ignore what the Parson actually says. His offer is T o shewe yow the wey, in this viage, Ot thilke partfit glorious pilgrymage T h at highte Jerusalem celestial. (Parsons Prologue, 49-51)

>>s Paston Letters, 11.484. 116 Baldwin (1955), 84. 1)7 Wenzel (1981), 94. 111 Lawton (1987), 14.

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

THE CANTERBURY TALES

That there is a difference between the two forms o f pilgrimage is indicated by the use o f this and thilke;li9 that they are not necessarily in opposition but are capable o f integration 140 is signalled by the Parson's claim that they will be taught the way ‘in this viage’. M oreover， such a polarisation o f destinations is neither necessary to Chaucer's structure nor true to medieval under­ standings o f pilgrimage. As I have already established, there were two main views o f pilgrimage available to Chaucer and his contemporaries. The first regarded pilgrimage to holy places as theologically unsound, since G od was equally available to all people everywhere; as spiritually unhelpful, since it was better either to continue in one's daily life o f service or prayerful contemplation; and as morally dangerous, since the traveller was exposed to a wider range o f tem ptations and was free of the normal constraints imposed by society. The second saw the different interpretations of pilgrimage as mutually supportive and capable of reconciliation. In this latter view, pilgrimage to holy places could assist spiritual growth through prayer, penance and the contem plation o f evidence of G od's grace at work. This, I suggest, is the Parson's view o f the m atter, since he is not only taking part in a Canterbury pilgrimage but mentions with approval the practice o f pilgrimage as an expression o f true penitence (105). I have already indicated that the role o f the Parsons Tale is to offer a spiritually secure route through life, rather than immediate preparation for death, which is after all the only way of actually entering the heavenly city. He is not counselling a with­ drawal from the world but equipping his audience to live in the world in such a way that they will indeed reach heaven rather than be led by sin to hell. He is thus offering the means to utilise place pilgrimage properly, lifting their eyes from the prospect of contem plating the saint in his shrine to a vision of God in heaven. The m atter o f his tale, which, though it is unlikely to be of Chaucer’s invention， is certainly the result of his selection and shaping， first establishes heaven as the pilgrims' long-term goal, then turns to the daily pattern o f obedience and repentance which forms the way there, concluding with a final, motivating glimpse o f the joys which await the faithful pilgrim. Robert Boenig 141 describes the Parsons Tale as neither "mysticar nor •visionary’ ；yet the final lines suggest something o f the warm th o f devotion associated with the contemplative life. Chaucer presents the Parson himself as a role model for an integrated life o f teaching and service, "riche of hooly thoght and werk5, who practises what

he preaches and whose ‘bisynesse’ is to ‘drawen folk to hevene by fairenesse’ (General Prologue, 519-20). Here we have the same kind o f commitment to the pilgrimage o f life as that exemplified by Piers Plowman. Unlike Lang­ land, however, Chaucer does not reject place pilgrimage out of hand. Instead, he places it in the larger context o f earthly life, m arred by transient relationships, trials and uncertainties, yet also holding out the prospect of the eternal security of heaven.

,w Compare General Prologue, 723-4: 'And after w o l1 telle o f our viage/ And al the remenaunt of our pilgrimage.' Is Chaucer himself implying that he has more than one kind of journey in mind? _ Patterson’s interpretation hints more at the posiibility of inte 丨ration:*[The Parson] gives not lo much directions to the heavenly JerusMlem h i the prior and more radical knowledge that "this viage’ itself, the specific journey to Cunlcrbury, cun be io undertaken that it can itself become a 'parfit glorious pilgrymage\ a pilgrimttgt whkh d〇«i not merely lead to but in Tact constitutes Ms highte* - "Jerusalem celeiiittP, PaUirion (1971)* 379, 141 Boenig (1993), 39.

From Prologue to Parson s Tale: pilgrimage and the tales ‘in between’ If pilgrimage itself, as an informing concept (rather than simply a mechanism for gathering storytellers together) is persuasive in relation to the beginning and end o f the poem, it accounts less persuasively for what passes in between .142 Everybody agrees that the Canterbury Tales has a coherent beginning and end, but the large undistributed middle remains to challenge the ingenuity o f the exegete .143

If the role of the Parson s Tale is essentially to integrate various under­ standings oi pilgrimage, what then is the place of the tales which precede it? Many answers to this question have been offered and debated . 144 Their function, I suggest, is straightforward yet profound, for they depict the everyday world through which the pilgrim must journey towards the heavenly home with both its attractions and its flaws clearly displayed. The tales and their prologues are lively and witty, full o f hum our and colour; yet into them are woven a number o f 'pilgrimage cluster, concepts, such as transience, sin, judgem ent and the precarious nature o f hum an achievement. The blend o f fun, honour, bawdiness and betrayal reveals the tensions between hum an aspirations and the realities o f a fallen world, the affirma­ tion o f hum an life shadowed by the theme of m utability, and constant reminders o f the transience o f hum an existence and the frailty o f hum an pleasures. It is not necessary to trace detailed links between the Parson s Tale and the other tales to see the connection. The tales, simply by presenting the excitement and the insecurity o f being hum an, dem onstrate the need for the Kind o f eternal sikernesse which the Parson s Tale, with its emphasis on the (lif perdurable*, offers to those who know th at death, unfaithfulness and the unpredictability o f Fortune threaten even their greatest triumphs. The strong sense o f the transience o f earthly pleasures derives from the recurring themes o f the closeness o f death, both physical and spiritual, the reality of

BUmires(l987),5. Patterson (I978K 372. 144 Patterion iI978> BummiiriMM tt number of views on the relationship between the ZV/r⑽ n .v Tale and the other tule».

143

199

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

THE CANTERBURY TALES

That there is a difference between the two forms o f pilgrimage is indicated by the use o f this and thilke;li9 that they are not necessarily in opposition but are capable o f integration 140 is signalled by the Parson's claim that they will be taught the way ‘in this viage’. M oreover， such a polarisation o f destinations is neither necessary to Chaucer's structure nor true to medieval under­ standings o f pilgrimage. As I have already established, there were two main views o f pilgrimage available to Chaucer and his contemporaries. The first regarded pilgrimage to holy places as theologically unsound, since G od was equally available to all people everywhere; as spiritually unhelpful, since it was better either to continue in one's daily life o f service or prayerful contemplation; and as morally dangerous, since the traveller was exposed to a wider range o f tem ptations and was free of the normal constraints imposed by society. The second saw the different interpretations of pilgrimage as mutually supportive and capable of reconciliation. In this latter view, pilgrimage to holy places could assist spiritual growth through prayer, penance and the contem plation o f evidence of G od's grace at work. This, I suggest, is the Parson's view o f the m atter, since he is not only taking part in a Canterbury pilgrimage but mentions with approval the practice o f pilgrimage as an expression o f true penitence (105). I have already indicated that the role o f the Parsons Tale is to offer a spiritually secure route through life, rather than immediate preparation for death, which is after all the only way of actually entering the heavenly city. He is not counselling a with­ drawal from the world but equipping his audience to live in the world in such a way that they will indeed reach heaven rather than be led by sin to hell. He is thus offering the means to utilise place pilgrimage properly, lifting their eyes from the prospect of contem plating the saint in his shrine to a vision of God in heaven. The m atter o f his tale, which, though it is unlikely to be of Chaucer’s invention， is certainly the result of his selection and shaping， first establishes heaven as the pilgrims' long-term goal, then turns to the daily pattern o f obedience and repentance which forms the way there, concluding with a final, motivating glimpse o f the joys which await the faithful pilgrim. Robert Boenig 141 describes the Parsons Tale as neither "mysticar nor •visionary’ ；yet the final lines suggest something o f the warm th o f devotion associated with the contemplative life. Chaucer presents the Parson himself as a role model for an integrated life o f teaching and service, "riche of hooly thoght and werk5, who practises what

he preaches and whose ‘bisynesse’ is to ‘drawen folk to hevene by fairenesse’ (General Prologue, 519-20). Here we have the same kind o f commitment to the pilgrimage o f life as that exemplified by Piers Plowman. Unlike Lang­ land, however, Chaucer does not reject place pilgrimage out of hand. Instead, he places it in the larger context o f earthly life, m arred by transient relationships, trials and uncertainties, yet also holding out the prospect of the eternal security of heaven.

,w Compare General Prologue, 723-4: 'And after w o l1 telle o f our viage/ And al the remenaunt of our pilgrimage.' Is Chaucer himself implying that he has more than one kind of journey in mind? _ Patterson’s interpretation hints more at the posiibility of inte 丨ration:*[The Parson] gives not lo much directions to the heavenly JerusMlem h i the prior and more radical knowledge that "this viage’ itself, the specific journey to Cunlcrbury, cun be io undertaken that it can itself become a 'parfit glorious pilgrymage\ a pilgrimttgt whkh d〇«i not merely lead to but in Tact constitutes Ms highte* - "Jerusalem celeiiittP, PaUirion (1971)* 379, 141 Boenig (1993), 39.

From Prologue to Parson s Tale: pilgrimage and the tales ‘in between’ If pilgrimage itself, as an informing concept (rather than simply a mechanism for gathering storytellers together) is persuasive in relation to the beginning and end o f the poem, it accounts less persuasively for what passes in between .142 Everybody agrees that the Canterbury Tales has a coherent beginning and end, but the large undistributed middle remains to challenge the ingenuity o f the exegete .143

If the role of the Parson s Tale is essentially to integrate various under­ standings oi pilgrimage, what then is the place of the tales which precede it? Many answers to this question have been offered and debated . 144 Their function, I suggest, is straightforward yet profound, for they depict the everyday world through which the pilgrim must journey towards the heavenly home with both its attractions and its flaws clearly displayed. The tales and their prologues are lively and witty, full o f hum our and colour; yet into them are woven a number o f 'pilgrimage cluster, concepts, such as transience, sin, judgem ent and the precarious nature o f hum an achievement. The blend o f fun, honour, bawdiness and betrayal reveals the tensions between hum an aspirations and the realities o f a fallen world, the affirma­ tion o f hum an life shadowed by the theme of m utability, and constant reminders o f the transience o f hum an existence and the frailty o f hum an pleasures. It is not necessary to trace detailed links between the Parson s Tale and the other tales to see the connection. The tales, simply by presenting the excitement and the insecurity o f being hum an, dem onstrate the need for the Kind o f eternal sikernesse which the Parson s Tale, with its emphasis on the (lif perdurable*, offers to those who know th at death, unfaithfulness and the unpredictability o f Fortune threaten even their greatest triumphs. The strong sense o f the transience o f earthly pleasures derives from the recurring themes o f the closeness o f death, both physical and spiritual, the reality of

BUmires(l987),5. Patterson (I978K 372. 144 Patterion iI978> BummiiriMM tt number of views on the relationship between the ZV/r⑽ n .v Tale and the other tule».

143

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hum an suffering and the unreliability o f hum an love. There are in fact very few tales through which the dark thread o f death does not run, whether they are heroic or comic in tone. In his discussion of the very first tale, Edward Irving comments: D eath certainly plays a m ajor role in the Knight's Tale, where an unforgettable and truly central image is the taas, the tangled heap of dead bodies that the pilours o r plunderers paw their way through and from which they rip the nearly dead Palom on and A rcite .145

It is in fact the contemplation o f the reality o f death (tltther lyvede never m an’’， he seyde/ “ In al this world, that som tyme he ne deyde’” ） which prom pts Egeus to declare

F o r sikerly, whan I was bore, anon Deeth drough the tappe of lyf and leet it gon, A nd ever sithe hath so the tappe yronne Til that almoost al em pty is the tonne. {Reeved Prologue, 3891-4)

Even the comic confusion of the end o f the tale rests in part, as Robert Boenig has pointed out , 151 on the parodying o f a devout death scene. Death, it seems, is almost everywhere in the Canterbury Tales. The Friar's Tale concerns a Summoner snatched away without warning to hell, and the Sum m oners Tale includes the death o f a baby. The Clerk in his Prologue pauses to muse on the deaths o f Petrarch and Lignano: But Deeth, th at wol n at suffre us dweilen heer But as it were a twynklyng o f an ye, Hem bothe hath slayn, and alle shul we dye (Clerk's Prologue, 34-6)

This worlde nys but a thurghfare ful o f wo, And we been pilgrymes, passynge to and fro (K nights Tale, 2847-8)146

and to expound upon the transience o f this world in a passage which recalls the ubi sunt laments which appear in Old English poetry : 147 The grete tounes se we wane and wende Thanne may ye se that al this thyng hath ende. (Knight^ Tale, 3025-6)

Such solemnity sits well with a heroic theme; yet as we turn to the boisterous M illers Tale we find that even in fabliaux the idea of death, particularly sudden death, plays an im portant role in the plot. N ot only is the carpenter the more ready to believe in Nicholas' illness because his own m ind has been running on the frailty of hum an life: This world is now ful tikel, sikerlyl4S I saugh today a cors yborn to chirche T hat now, on M onday last, I saugh hym wirche (Miller's Tale. 3428-30)

but the ever-present threat o f G o d ^ judgem ent 149 lends credibility to the Clerk's deception. As the Reeve introduces his response, he too refers to the fact, expounded in the Fathers , 150 that from the moment o f birth, death is coming closer: 145 Irving (1995), 45. Irving also comments: i n actuality disorder and violence are everywhere in the Knight*s Tale, built into the very nature of things as in Beowulf (48). ,4A Kolve suggests that here Chaucer is presenting a limited, pre-Christian view o f life. JColve (1984), 156-7. 147 This point is made by Irving (1995), 58. See also Westlund (1964), 534. The ubi sunt formula ftUo appears in the Par ⑽ n ’5 7Vi/e: ‘Where been thanne the gaye robes, and the softe shetes and the smale shertes7, (197). 14,1 An interesting conjunction o f ideas which suggeati that the only sure thing about this world is its insecurity. Emmerson and Hertzman (1988), 406 n, l5u For example Augustine: ’For no ») 〇n«r do begin lo live in this dying body than we begin to move ceaselessly toward death. .. th« whol« o f our life li nothing but a race towards death ； Augustine of Hippo, City oj ümi XIII. 10.

and omens o f death weigh heavily on the m ind of the hero of the N u n s Priest's Tale. Even the squeamish Prioress relates a tale o f bloody murder, while the exuberant Wife o f BatWs Prologue^52 not only records the deaths of five husbands but acknowledges the sad truth that the beauty and vitality with which she has secured her trium phs are waning fast: But age, alias, that al wole envenyme, ath me biraft my beautee and my pith. (W ife o f Bath's Prologue, 474-5)

The Pardoners Tale has been described as a narrative fraught with the mystery o f spiritual as well as physical death, with the mystery o f m an’s innate evil and o f G o d ’s inexorable justice .’53

There is real suffering in these tales, its poignancy intensified by the fact that U is so often inflicted by those from whom love, protection and loyalty should be expected. Thus in the Man o f Law's Tale, Constance is subjected to an unwanted marriage by her parents and twice exiled by successive mothers-in-law, while in the Clerk's Tale Griselda endures endless cruel tests at the hands o f her husband. Love, it seems, offers no m ore security than life. Infidelity is rife , 154 no relationship is safe, no marriage sacrosanct . 155 G ood women are oppressed, bad women betray their husbands; both sexes are portrayed as lecherous and predatory . 156 Even the seemingly idyllic partner­ ship o f Dorigen and Averagus is made vulnerable by Dorigen's fear for her Boenig (1995), 48-9. The Wf/e o f Bath's Tale is a story of rape and the threat of capital punishment. tsl Ruggiers (1965),126. See also Emmerson and Hertzman ¢1988), 420. 134 For example the Miller'i Tale, the Shipman's Tale and the Merchant's Tale. 153 Despite the Chriitian teaching about monogamy and fidelity it was an age when family life was often briaf and (Vn|ll«, Sm D u Boulay (1974), 452. For «xurnplf (hi Agurn of January and the Wife of Bath. 131

152

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hum an suffering and the unreliability o f hum an love. There are in fact very few tales through which the dark thread o f death does not run, whether they are heroic or comic in tone. In his discussion of the very first tale, Edward Irving comments: D eath certainly plays a m ajor role in the Knight's Tale, where an unforgettable and truly central image is the taas, the tangled heap of dead bodies that the pilours o r plunderers paw their way through and from which they rip the nearly dead Palom on and A rcite .145

It is in fact the contemplation o f the reality o f death (tltther lyvede never m an’’， he seyde/ “ In al this world, that som tyme he ne deyde’” ） which prom pts Egeus to declare

F o r sikerly, whan I was bore, anon Deeth drough the tappe of lyf and leet it gon, A nd ever sithe hath so the tappe yronne Til that almoost al em pty is the tonne. {Reeved Prologue, 3891-4)

Even the comic confusion of the end o f the tale rests in part, as Robert Boenig has pointed out , 151 on the parodying o f a devout death scene. Death, it seems, is almost everywhere in the Canterbury Tales. The Friar's Tale concerns a Summoner snatched away without warning to hell, and the Sum m oners Tale includes the death o f a baby. The Clerk in his Prologue pauses to muse on the deaths o f Petrarch and Lignano: But Deeth, th at wol n at suffre us dweilen heer But as it were a twynklyng o f an ye, Hem bothe hath slayn, and alle shul we dye (Clerk's Prologue, 34-6)

This worlde nys but a thurghfare ful o f wo, And we been pilgrymes, passynge to and fro (K nights Tale, 2847-8)146

and to expound upon the transience o f this world in a passage which recalls the ubi sunt laments which appear in Old English poetry : 147 The grete tounes se we wane and wende Thanne may ye se that al this thyng hath ende. (Knight^ Tale, 3025-6)

Such solemnity sits well with a heroic theme; yet as we turn to the boisterous M illers Tale we find that even in fabliaux the idea of death, particularly sudden death, plays an im portant role in the plot. N ot only is the carpenter the more ready to believe in Nicholas' illness because his own m ind has been running on the frailty of hum an life: This world is now ful tikel, sikerlyl4S I saugh today a cors yborn to chirche T hat now, on M onday last, I saugh hym wirche (Miller's Tale. 3428-30)

but the ever-present threat o f G o d ^ judgem ent 149 lends credibility to the Clerk's deception. As the Reeve introduces his response, he too refers to the fact, expounded in the Fathers , 150 that from the moment o f birth, death is coming closer: 145 Irving (1995), 45. Irving also comments: i n actuality disorder and violence are everywhere in the Knight*s Tale, built into the very nature of things as in Beowulf (48). ,4A Kolve suggests that here Chaucer is presenting a limited, pre-Christian view o f life. JColve (1984), 156-7. 147 This point is made by Irving (1995), 58. See also Westlund (1964), 534. The ubi sunt formula ftUo appears in the Par ⑽ n ’5 7Vi/e: ‘Where been thanne the gaye robes, and the softe shetes and the smale shertes7, (197). 14,1 An interesting conjunction o f ideas which suggeati that the only sure thing about this world is its insecurity. Emmerson and Hertzman (1988), 406 n, l5u For example Augustine: ’For no ») 〇n«r do begin lo live in this dying body than we begin to move ceaselessly toward death. .. th« whol« o f our life li nothing but a race towards death ； Augustine of Hippo, City oj ümi XIII. 10.

and omens o f death weigh heavily on the m ind of the hero of the N u n s Priest's Tale. Even the squeamish Prioress relates a tale o f bloody murder, while the exuberant Wife o f BatWs Prologue^52 not only records the deaths of five husbands but acknowledges the sad truth that the beauty and vitality with which she has secured her trium phs are waning fast: But age, alias, that al wole envenyme, ath me biraft my beautee and my pith. (W ife o f Bath's Prologue, 474-5)

The Pardoners Tale has been described as a narrative fraught with the mystery o f spiritual as well as physical death, with the mystery o f m an’s innate evil and o f G o d ’s inexorable justice .’53

There is real suffering in these tales, its poignancy intensified by the fact that U is so often inflicted by those from whom love, protection and loyalty should be expected. Thus in the Man o f Law's Tale, Constance is subjected to an unwanted marriage by her parents and twice exiled by successive mothers-in-law, while in the Clerk's Tale Griselda endures endless cruel tests at the hands o f her husband. Love, it seems, offers no m ore security than life. Infidelity is rife , 154 no relationship is safe, no marriage sacrosanct . 155 G ood women are oppressed, bad women betray their husbands; both sexes are portrayed as lecherous and predatory . 156 Even the seemingly idyllic partner­ ship o f Dorigen and Averagus is made vulnerable by Dorigen's fear for her Boenig (1995), 48-9. The Wf/e o f Bath's Tale is a story of rape and the threat of capital punishment. tsl Ruggiers (1965),126. See also Emmerson and Hertzman ¢1988), 420. 134 For example the Miller'i Tale, the Shipman's Tale and the Merchant's Tale. 153 Despite the Chriitian teaching about monogamy and fidelity it was an age when family life was often briaf and (Vn|ll«, Sm D u Boulay (1974), 452. For «xurnplf (hi Agurn of January and the Wife of Bath. 131

152

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husband's safety and the opportunism of Aurelius. Such fears were not without foundation for even if, by chance, your loved one is neither faithless, nor inclined to make unreasonable demands, they may yet be snatched from you by death, as Constance discovered following her reunion with Alla:

unspiritual view of pilgrimages’ which includes thinking o f ‘coming back and having prizes and celebration dinners ’ . 159 As I have indicated earlier, I do not see the Parsons Tale as signalling a withdrawal from life, nor do I feel that there would necessarily have been anything unspiritual, either in having in mind the return journey or in celebrating with a feast. If the Parsons Tale, as I have suggested, offers a means to integrate the moral pilgrimage of daily life and the seeking o f holy places into the longer journey to the heavenly city, then there is no need to see the alternative structures proposed by critics as fundam entally irreconcilable. W hether Chaucer intended his narrative to conclude as the pilgrims neared Canterbury, or whether he intended to bring them back trium phantly to the T abard Inn before they returned to their homes, does not in fact make any difference from the perspective of medieval spirituality. The ending o f the Canterbury Tales does not m ark an end to living either for the characters within the fiction or for the fiction's audience. Both have a long journey still ahead but the Parson offers not only guidance through the difficulties but inspiration to keep moving in the right direction. In their study T h e Canterbury Tales in escatological perspective\ Emmerson and Hertzman comment th at 4the Canterbury Tales does not conclude, as do The Pearl and the Commedia with a vision o f the New Jerusalem or a journey into Paradise ’ , 160 yet the Parson does in fact provide a description of the New Jerusalem, which though brief, fulfils the same function as the vision o f the city in Pearl: to make the recipient want to reach heaven and be willing to change their way of life accordingly. This is not 'passionless piety ' 161 but a word-picture carefully constructed to move and motivate. Sympathetic readings o f the Parsons Tale have been undermined by the apparent rejection o f fiction indicated in both the Parson s Prologue and the Retraction. Critics unwilling to believe that Chaucer could really have intended to jettison his m ost splendid creations, have in their turn rejected what Chaucer does in fact appear to have written . 162 Yet if the Parsons Tale is not, as I have argued, as world-denying as many perceive, then perhaps the Prologue and the Retraction are not as much o f a threat to the idea of fiction as has been feared. The Parson in his Prologue rejects fables, that is stories which contain falsehood , 163 in favour of'm o ralitee and vertuous m ateere5, a not unreasonable stance for a preacher to take. He encourages his audience to review their lives and work and to ask mercy for all that has fallen short of perfect obedience to G od's standards. He also notes that they should recall

But litel while it lasteth, I yow heete, Joye o f this world, for tyme wol nat abyde; F ro day to nyght it changeth as the tyde . . . F or Deeth, that taketh o f heigh and logh his rente, W hen passed was a yeer, evene as I gesse, O ut o f this world this kyng Alla he hente. (M an o f L a w s Tale, 1132-4, 1142-4)

The picture painted by the tales, therefore, simply reflects the realities of medieval life, both positive and negative. Interwoven with the threads of hum our, romance and unabashed sexuality are the darker strands o f betrayal, greed, illness, violence and judgem ent. The Parsons Tale requires no other setting to give it significance. N or is there any need to postulate an intricate pattern of influence either from the tales to the Parson's Tale or vice versa. There are, o f course, echoes to be detected, since the conversation and interaction o f the pilgrims inevitably reveal the characteristics o f the deadly sins which influence hum an nature and the Parson presents an analysis o f the nature and effect o f those same sins. There is, however, no tidy pattern to be observed nor should we expect one. C o n clu sio n M any critics feel that with the Parson's Tale and the Retraction, the Canterbury Tales comes not merely to an end but to a 'dead end', with a rejection o f life and literature, fun and fiction . 157 Thus Derek Pearsall comments: The finality o f the Parson's Tale is the finality of a terminal illness: you are going into a hospital where you will die; various things will be done to you; you will never come out. There is no doubt either about the finality o f the Retraction. It is the final act of The Canterbury Tales, the act of contrition which answers the urgent call for penitence at the end o f the Parson's Tale, and it is ostensibly the final act o f Chaucer's poetic career, in which, symbolically, he unwrites those of his writings that have to do with sin, that is, with earthly desires o r m atters. It is not just the closure o f a fiction but the denial o f fiction and o f any non-doctrinal value that might be attached to it, and the exit from the world o f fiction-making .158

Pearsall in fact argues that the ending, as he describes it, was superseded by a later plan which included a return journey to Southwerk and a four-tale per pilgrim structure. This *new’ scheme he sees as involving *a healthily 117

See Patterson (1978); Cooper (1983). 207 ftpcukl of the Purson's Tale as *a blind alley'. Pearsall (1997b). 34. .

202

159 Pearsall (1997b), 36. Derek Brewer, commenting on an earlier version of this view, sees it as overingenious. Brewer (1998)，274-8. 160 Emmerson and Hertzman (1988), 415. •6, Lawton (1987), 12. 162 Emmerson and Hertzman (1988), 411 f cite Aers (1980) as an example of'critical refusal to deal both seriously and sympathetically with the Retraction*. ,w Parson's Pro/ogu#, 30-4. The Parson it citing ITimothy 1:4; 4:7 and 2 Timothy 4:4 in which the Apostle is concerned nbout false tCMChing, which will lead believers astray. Falsehood is not neceuarily the wm« thing hi Action,

203

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husband's safety and the opportunism of Aurelius. Such fears were not without foundation for even if, by chance, your loved one is neither faithless, nor inclined to make unreasonable demands, they may yet be snatched from you by death, as Constance discovered following her reunion with Alla:

unspiritual view of pilgrimages’ which includes thinking o f ‘coming back and having prizes and celebration dinners ’ . 159 As I have indicated earlier, I do not see the Parsons Tale as signalling a withdrawal from life, nor do I feel that there would necessarily have been anything unspiritual, either in having in mind the return journey or in celebrating with a feast. If the Parsons Tale, as I have suggested, offers a means to integrate the moral pilgrimage of daily life and the seeking o f holy places into the longer journey to the heavenly city, then there is no need to see the alternative structures proposed by critics as fundam entally irreconcilable. W hether Chaucer intended his narrative to conclude as the pilgrims neared Canterbury, or whether he intended to bring them back trium phantly to the T abard Inn before they returned to their homes, does not in fact make any difference from the perspective of medieval spirituality. The ending o f the Canterbury Tales does not m ark an end to living either for the characters within the fiction or for the fiction's audience. Both have a long journey still ahead but the Parson offers not only guidance through the difficulties but inspiration to keep moving in the right direction. In their study T h e Canterbury Tales in escatological perspective\ Emmerson and Hertzman comment th at 4the Canterbury Tales does not conclude, as do The Pearl and the Commedia with a vision o f the New Jerusalem or a journey into Paradise ’ , 160 yet the Parson does in fact provide a description of the New Jerusalem, which though brief, fulfils the same function as the vision o f the city in Pearl: to make the recipient want to reach heaven and be willing to change their way of life accordingly. This is not 'passionless piety ' 161 but a word-picture carefully constructed to move and motivate. Sympathetic readings o f the Parsons Tale have been undermined by the apparent rejection o f fiction indicated in both the Parson s Prologue and the Retraction. Critics unwilling to believe that Chaucer could really have intended to jettison his m ost splendid creations, have in their turn rejected what Chaucer does in fact appear to have written . 162 Yet if the Parsons Tale is not, as I have argued, as world-denying as many perceive, then perhaps the Prologue and the Retraction are not as much o f a threat to the idea of fiction as has been feared. The Parson in his Prologue rejects fables, that is stories which contain falsehood , 163 in favour of'm o ralitee and vertuous m ateere5, a not unreasonable stance for a preacher to take. He encourages his audience to review their lives and work and to ask mercy for all that has fallen short of perfect obedience to G od's standards. He also notes that they should recall

But litel while it lasteth, I yow heete, Joye o f this world, for tyme wol nat abyde; F ro day to nyght it changeth as the tyde . . . F or Deeth, that taketh o f heigh and logh his rente, W hen passed was a yeer, evene as I gesse, O ut o f this world this kyng Alla he hente. (M an o f L a w s Tale, 1132-4, 1142-4)

The picture painted by the tales, therefore, simply reflects the realities of medieval life, both positive and negative. Interwoven with the threads of hum our, romance and unabashed sexuality are the darker strands o f betrayal, greed, illness, violence and judgem ent. The Parsons Tale requires no other setting to give it significance. N or is there any need to postulate an intricate pattern of influence either from the tales to the Parson's Tale or vice versa. There are, o f course, echoes to be detected, since the conversation and interaction o f the pilgrims inevitably reveal the characteristics o f the deadly sins which influence hum an nature and the Parson presents an analysis o f the nature and effect o f those same sins. There is, however, no tidy pattern to be observed nor should we expect one. C o n clu sio n M any critics feel that with the Parson's Tale and the Retraction, the Canterbury Tales comes not merely to an end but to a 'dead end', with a rejection o f life and literature, fun and fiction . 157 Thus Derek Pearsall comments: The finality o f the Parson's Tale is the finality of a terminal illness: you are going into a hospital where you will die; various things will be done to you; you will never come out. There is no doubt either about the finality o f the Retraction. It is the final act of The Canterbury Tales, the act of contrition which answers the urgent call for penitence at the end o f the Parson's Tale, and it is ostensibly the final act o f Chaucer's poetic career, in which, symbolically, he unwrites those of his writings that have to do with sin, that is, with earthly desires o r m atters. It is not just the closure o f a fiction but the denial o f fiction and o f any non-doctrinal value that might be attached to it, and the exit from the world o f fiction-making .158

Pearsall in fact argues that the ending, as he describes it, was superseded by a later plan which included a return journey to Southwerk and a four-tale per pilgrim structure. This *new’ scheme he sees as involving *a healthily 117

See Patterson (1978); Cooper (1983). 207 ftpcukl of the Purson's Tale as *a blind alley'. Pearsall (1997b). 34. .

202

159 Pearsall (1997b), 36. Derek Brewer, commenting on an earlier version of this view, sees it as overingenious. Brewer (1998)，274-8. 160 Emmerson and Hertzman (1988), 415. •6, Lawton (1987), 12. 162 Emmerson and Hertzman (1988), 411 f cite Aers (1980) as an example of'critical refusal to deal both seriously and sympathetically with the Retraction*. ,w Parson's Pro/ogu#, 30-4. The Parson it citing ITimothy 1:4; 4:7 and 2 Timothy 4:4 in which the Apostle is concerned nbout false tCMChing, which will lead believers astray. Falsehood is not neceuarily the wm« thing hi Action,

203

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

their failures not for ^ e lit 5 (134)164 but for repentance. Chaucer in the Retraction reviews his own work as a writer and apparently feels that some parts o f it are more acceptable to G od than others. He does not reject all his C anterbury Tales, only those ‘that sownen into synne’ and it is possible that as a writer possessed o f moral awareness, he may have wondered if characters such as the Wife of Bath had not in fact achieved a vitality and stature which would make an audience unduly sympathetic to their mis­ demeanours. Certainly either Alisoun o f Bath or Alisoun o f Oxenford makes a far m ore dynamic figure than the worthy Griselda. The problem o f making virtue as exciting as vice is that which M ilton faced in Paradise Lost. Chaucer’s response, therefore, is in effect a review o f his own earthly pilgrimage and in M ark Allen’s summary, ‘a recognition of the flaws in all earthly activity *.165 John Wall likewise sees the form o f Chaucer's Retraction as both sincere and adequate exactly because Chaucer, by profession a writer, makes a responsible distinction between all his works: some are unarguably edifying but the secular works will always be that same fallible mixture o f good and evil which we have seen portrayed in the ‘synful folk unstable’ （VII [B2] 1877) o f the pilgrimage. Chaucer the writer as penitent acknowledges firmly that his w orks are the best he was capable o f and yet must be flawed because of *worldIy vanitees*. In that sense only does he disown his w orks .166

This perspective on the ending of the Canterbury Tales and the Retraction is, I believe, consistent with the spiritual understanding which undergirds the whole o f the work. Chaucer’s approach to both Christianity and creativity tends towards inclusivity rather than exclusivity, yet it is clear that he is intensely aware o f tensions in both these spheres. In so far as any medieval writer was able to do, he achieves a degree o f harm onisation between the different understandings of pilgrimage current at the time, while remaining aware that neither the world o f fiction nor the world o f hum an endeavour can in the end m atch the world that is yet to come.

Inner Journeys

There is no need to run to Rom e or Jerusalem to look for [Jesus] there, but turn your thought into your own soul where he is hidden. (Scale, I. 49 )1 F ro spot my spyryt )?er sprang in space; My body on balke {?er bod. In sweuen My goste is gon in G odez grace. (Pearl, 61-3)2

In examining the meanings o f pilgrimage in Middle English texts, I have thus far concentrated m the m ain on the relationship between moral pilgrimage and place pilgrimage, and the outworking o f this relationship in the writings of Langland and Chaucer. There is, however, a third strand of the pilgrim­ age m otif clearly discernible in medieval literature: the paradox oi inner journeying or ‘interior’ pilgrimage, in which progress can only be m ade by staying still. This particular aspect o f pilgrimage plays a significant role within monasucism, anchoritism, mysticism and m editation and is of considerable im portance in the consideration of texts such as the Ancrene Wisse, f x Pilgrimage o fp e L y fe off>e Manhode^ the Scale o f Perfection, Pearl and the ßoolc o f M a rg ^ y ICcmpe. The forms taken by inner journeys were many, including prayer, dreams, visions and the sanctified use o f the imagination. Those who advocated such journeying within the soul commonly insisted that physical stability, together with a corresponding degree o f detachm ent from the world around, was a prerequisite for spiritual growth. The theological basis for such an approach was o f long standing and, for its proponents at least, its logic was unassail­ able. As has been dem onstrated in the earlier chapters o f this study ，the prim ary justification o f Christian place pilgrimage was the desire to encounter the person whose presence made the place holy. Yet New Testament and Since the projected edition of the Scale by the Early English Texts Society is not yet complete, 1 have used the modern English rendering of Cambridge University Library MS Add. 6 6 8 6 and MS Harley 6579, the manuscripts chosen for the forthcoming editions of Books I and II; Hilton,

1

>M 'Looke he that thilke remembraunce ne be to hym no delit by no way but greet shame and sorwe for his gilt.' Parson's Tale, 134. This contrast! with the Wife of Bath's remembering which is marked more by sdf>congratulfttlon th in by il 鏖ni of remorse. ,M Allen (1987), 96. '•* Wall (1986),191. -

Scale, 2 Poems o f the Ptarl Manuscript, 1

The anonymous flftsenth-century Middle English prose translation of de Deguileville's Le

Pèlerinagt d$ la v/# humalM.

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

their failures not for ^ e lit 5 (134)164 but for repentance. Chaucer in the Retraction reviews his own work as a writer and apparently feels that some parts o f it are more acceptable to G od than others. He does not reject all his C anterbury Tales, only those ‘that sownen into synne’ and it is possible that as a writer possessed o f moral awareness, he may have wondered if characters such as the Wife of Bath had not in fact achieved a vitality and stature which would make an audience unduly sympathetic to their mis­ demeanours. Certainly either Alisoun o f Bath or Alisoun o f Oxenford makes a far m ore dynamic figure than the worthy Griselda. The problem o f making virtue as exciting as vice is that which M ilton faced in Paradise Lost. Chaucer’s response, therefore, is in effect a review o f his own earthly pilgrimage and in M ark Allen’s summary, ‘a recognition of the flaws in all earthly activity *.165 John Wall likewise sees the form o f Chaucer's Retraction as both sincere and adequate exactly because Chaucer, by profession a writer, makes a responsible distinction between all his works: some are unarguably edifying but the secular works will always be that same fallible mixture o f good and evil which we have seen portrayed in the ‘synful folk unstable’ （VII [B2] 1877) o f the pilgrimage. Chaucer the writer as penitent acknowledges firmly that his w orks are the best he was capable o f and yet must be flawed because of *worldIy vanitees*. In that sense only does he disown his w orks .166

This perspective on the ending of the Canterbury Tales and the Retraction is, I believe, consistent with the spiritual understanding which undergirds the whole o f the work. Chaucer’s approach to both Christianity and creativity tends towards inclusivity rather than exclusivity, yet it is clear that he is intensely aware o f tensions in both these spheres. In so far as any medieval writer was able to do, he achieves a degree o f harm onisation between the different understandings of pilgrimage current at the time, while remaining aware that neither the world o f fiction nor the world o f hum an endeavour can in the end m atch the world that is yet to come.

Inner Journeys

There is no need to run to Rom e or Jerusalem to look for [Jesus] there, but turn your thought into your own soul where he is hidden. (Scale, I. 49 )1 F ro spot my spyryt )?er sprang in space; My body on balke {?er bod. In sweuen My goste is gon in G odez grace. (Pearl, 61-3)2

In examining the meanings o f pilgrimage in Middle English texts, I have thus far concentrated m the m ain on the relationship between moral pilgrimage and place pilgrimage, and the outworking o f this relationship in the writings of Langland and Chaucer. There is, however, a third strand of the pilgrim­ age m otif clearly discernible in medieval literature: the paradox oi inner journeying or ‘interior’ pilgrimage, in which progress can only be m ade by staying still. This particular aspect o f pilgrimage plays a significant role within monasucism, anchoritism, mysticism and m editation and is of considerable im portance in the consideration of texts such as the Ancrene Wisse, f x Pilgrimage o fp e L y fe off>e Manhode^ the Scale o f Perfection, Pearl and the ßoolc o f M a rg ^ y ICcmpe. The forms taken by inner journeys were many, including prayer, dreams, visions and the sanctified use o f the imagination. Those who advocated such journeying within the soul commonly insisted that physical stability, together with a corresponding degree o f detachm ent from the world around, was a prerequisite for spiritual growth. The theological basis for such an approach was o f long standing and, for its proponents at least, its logic was unassail­ able. As has been dem onstrated in the earlier chapters o f this study ，the prim ary justification o f Christian place pilgrimage was the desire to encounter the person whose presence made the place holy. Yet New Testament and Since the projected edition of the Scale by the Early English Texts Society is not yet complete, 1 have used the modern English rendering of Cambridge University Library MS Add. 6 6 8 6 and MS Harley 6579, the manuscripts chosen for the forthcoming editions of Books I and II; Hilton,

1

>M 'Looke he that thilke remembraunce ne be to hym no delit by no way but greet shame and sorwe for his gilt.' Parson's Tale, 134. This contrast! with the Wife of Bath's remembering which is marked more by sdf>congratulfttlon th in by il 鏖ni of remorse. ,M Allen (1987), 96. '•* Wall (1986),191. -

Scale, 2 Poems o f the Ptarl Manuscript, 1

The anonymous flftsenth-century Middle English prose translation of de Deguileville's Le

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INNER JOURNEYS

patristic writers repeatedly asserted the omnipresence and universal access­ ibility o f G od through the Holy Spirit. If, as m ust ultimately be the case for all Christians, G od was the prim ary person sought, a different kind o f journey of encounter was surely indicated. M onks, anchorites, mystics and lay people , 4 therefore, were encouraged to withdraw from the world around them in order to travel inwardly. They did so in varying degrees and using different strategies and the extant accounts of their responses reveal the extraordinary flexibility with which different writers employed the linked motifs o f exile, pilgrimage and longing for the heavenly Jerusalem. It is evident, therefore, that withm medieval spirituality, interior pilgrim­ age and the popular practice of place pilgrimage stand at opposite ends of the pilgrimage spectrum, with the daily life ol obedient service advocated by Langland in between. It was o f course quite possible to weave together adjacent strands o f the pilgrimage motif. Just as some people sought to combine place pilgrimage and moral obedience, so others attem pted to fuse the Active Life o f m oral pilgrimage with the inner journeying o f the Contemplative Life . 5 Few, however, sought to reconcile all three. The most notable exception in the context o f medieval English literature was the irrepressibly spiritually ambitious M argery Kempe, whose achievements in this area will be considered in due course.

An essential feature o f this highly specialised pilgrim life was stability, stability o f purpose, matched increasingly by stability o f location. The peregrini who travelled extensively across Europe during the seventh, eighth and ninth centuries, were committed to the paradoxical principle which Jean Leclercq has described as stabilitas in peregrinatione.11*As the first millennium drew to its close, the pendulum was shifting towards the literal stability exemplified in the Benedictine Rule: monasticism became instead a life of peregrinatio in stabilitate:

P eregrinatio in stabilitate: th e cloister a n d th e cell From its very beginnings in the deserts o f Egypt and Judaea , 6 the monastic life had been regarded as a form o f exile, 7 a particular expression o f the pilgrimage o f life. M en and women left their homes, families and comm u­ nities and entered upon a life o f deprivation in this world in order to become citizens of the world to come. This movement was characterised by a rejection o f the values o f hum an society and a willingness to venture (quite literally in the early days) into the desert. Like Abraham they responded to the call to leave their homeland; like Moses and the people o f Israel they travelled through the wilderness to the Promised Land; like Jesus they faced tem ptation and spiritual struggles in the desert .8 The fame o f the Desert Fathers spread into W estern Europe inspiring not only the Celtic peregrini who sought their own 4deserts in the ocean , ,9 but the coenobitic orders developed by Benedict and others . 10 See Hilton's Mixed Life. s In the Fire o f Love Chapter 2 1 ,Rolle states that this is impossible but Hilton encourages it; Hilton (1986). ft See Chapter 2. 1 'Depuis ses origines,le monachisme avail été conftldéré par certains de ses représentants* et des plus authentiques, comme une forme d'exll.' L«clercq (1964), 35. " Luke 4. 4

v Adomnan, Life o f Columba, 1.6. Sm Chipttr 6 iibove. See Lawrence (1984), C hupliri I »ltd 2,

L'institution cénobitique apparaissait comme perm ettant a tous, et même aux plus ardents, ä ceux qui jadis fussent partis en de lointain déserts, une synthèse supérieure de tous les éléments inclus dans la traditionelle pérégrination: le m onastère pouvait être pour tous un désert oü l'on reste stable avec un esprit d^exilé. On avait jadis pratiqué une stabilitas in peregrinatione; on découvrait m aintenant une peregrinatio in stabilitate.n

From the twelfth century onwards came a growth in the num ber of anchorites, who in many respects inherited the m antles of both the Desert F athers 13 and the Celtic peregrini. Their interpretation o f stability took the most extreme form possible as they were literally walled into a cell to explore their inner journey with G od, their bodies stationary th at their spirits might roam free from worldly contam ination or distractions . 14 Their motivation was a refined version of that which drove place pilgrims; here, at least in theory , 15 there was no seeking of material benefits but simply a desire for God and a longing to reach the heavenly Jerusalem. Monasticism as pilgrimage The concept of monasticism as a specialised form of the pilgrimage o f life generates both positive and negative outcomes in M iddle English texts. In f x Pilgrimage o f pe Lyfe o fp e M anhode^ as in the French text from which it is derived, the would-be pilgrim twice comes to grief as he seeks to journey " Leclercq (1961),51.Constable (1976), 131, points out that 'even the highly individualistic Irish monks were expected to seek the permission of their superiors before setting out as peregrini. There are many stories in the Lives of the Irish saints about would-be pilgrims who were dissuaded from leaving by holy men or angelic visitations and about devils who sought to persuade monks to leave their monasteries.' 12 Leclercq (1961),51. 11 Warren (1985), 8-9, comments: *The cell itself, that place from which the anchorite could not venture, was invested with many overlapping meanings. It was a version of the desert home of the first Christian anchorites, the arena of spiritual warfare, a place for contemplation. . . . The anchorite's cell would be both the site of the devil's attack as well as the mountain of contemplation. It was a new version of* the desert cave.’

14 See Warren (1985), Chapter 4. 13 It is possible to argue that for some at least the monastic life represented a certain security in terms of provision of home and food. u Written, according U>the text/for good pilgryme |?at in >is world swich wey wole holde,卜at he go to good hauene and )»nt he h«ue of heuene joyc' (7296-7). See de E>eguilevillef The Pilgrimage o fth t Lyfy a fth i Manhtntr, Tuve (1966), Chapter 3. Henry (1986a), Henry (1986b).

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

INNER JOURNEYS

patristic writers repeatedly asserted the omnipresence and universal access­ ibility o f G od through the Holy Spirit. If, as m ust ultimately be the case for all Christians, G od was the prim ary person sought, a different kind o f journey of encounter was surely indicated. M onks, anchorites, mystics and lay people , 4 therefore, were encouraged to withdraw from the world around them in order to travel inwardly. They did so in varying degrees and using different strategies and the extant accounts of their responses reveal the extraordinary flexibility with which different writers employed the linked motifs o f exile, pilgrimage and longing for the heavenly Jerusalem. It is evident, therefore, that withm medieval spirituality, interior pilgrim­ age and the popular practice of place pilgrimage stand at opposite ends of the pilgrimage spectrum, with the daily life ol obedient service advocated by Langland in between. It was o f course quite possible to weave together adjacent strands o f the pilgrimage motif. Just as some people sought to combine place pilgrimage and moral obedience, so others attem pted to fuse the Active Life o f m oral pilgrimage with the inner journeying o f the Contemplative Life . 5 Few, however, sought to reconcile all three. The most notable exception in the context o f medieval English literature was the irrepressibly spiritually ambitious M argery Kempe, whose achievements in this area will be considered in due course.

An essential feature o f this highly specialised pilgrim life was stability, stability o f purpose, matched increasingly by stability o f location. The peregrini who travelled extensively across Europe during the seventh, eighth and ninth centuries, were committed to the paradoxical principle which Jean Leclercq has described as stabilitas in peregrinatione.11*As the first millennium drew to its close, the pendulum was shifting towards the literal stability exemplified in the Benedictine Rule: monasticism became instead a life of peregrinatio in stabilitate:

P eregrinatio in stabilitate: th e cloister a n d th e cell From its very beginnings in the deserts o f Egypt and Judaea , 6 the monastic life had been regarded as a form o f exile, 7 a particular expression o f the pilgrimage o f life. M en and women left their homes, families and comm u­ nities and entered upon a life o f deprivation in this world in order to become citizens of the world to come. This movement was characterised by a rejection o f the values o f hum an society and a willingness to venture (quite literally in the early days) into the desert. Like Abraham they responded to the call to leave their homeland; like Moses and the people o f Israel they travelled through the wilderness to the Promised Land; like Jesus they faced tem ptation and spiritual struggles in the desert .8 The fame o f the Desert Fathers spread into W estern Europe inspiring not only the Celtic peregrini who sought their own 4deserts in the ocean , ,9 but the coenobitic orders developed by Benedict and others . 10 See Hilton's Mixed Life. s In the Fire o f Love Chapter 2 1 ,Rolle states that this is impossible but Hilton encourages it; Hilton (1986). ft See Chapter 2. 1 'Depuis ses origines,le monachisme avail été conftldéré par certains de ses représentants* et des plus authentiques, comme une forme d'exll.' L«clercq (1964), 35. " Luke 4. 4

v Adomnan, Life o f Columba, 1.6. Sm Chipttr 6 iibove. See Lawrence (1984), C hupliri I »ltd 2,

L'institution cénobitique apparaissait comme perm ettant a tous, et même aux plus ardents, ä ceux qui jadis fussent partis en de lointain déserts, une synthèse supérieure de tous les éléments inclus dans la traditionelle pérégrination: le m onastère pouvait être pour tous un désert oü l'on reste stable avec un esprit d^exilé. On avait jadis pratiqué une stabilitas in peregrinatione; on découvrait m aintenant une peregrinatio in stabilitate.n

From the twelfth century onwards came a growth in the num ber of anchorites, who in many respects inherited the m antles of both the Desert F athers 13 and the Celtic peregrini. Their interpretation o f stability took the most extreme form possible as they were literally walled into a cell to explore their inner journey with G od, their bodies stationary th at their spirits might roam free from worldly contam ination or distractions . 14 Their motivation was a refined version of that which drove place pilgrims; here, at least in theory , 15 there was no seeking of material benefits but simply a desire for God and a longing to reach the heavenly Jerusalem. Monasticism as pilgrimage The concept of monasticism as a specialised form of the pilgrimage o f life generates both positive and negative outcomes in M iddle English texts. In f x Pilgrimage o f pe Lyfe o fp e M anhode^ as in the French text from which it is derived, the would-be pilgrim twice comes to grief as he seeks to journey " Leclercq (1961),51.Constable (1976), 131, points out that 'even the highly individualistic Irish monks were expected to seek the permission of their superiors before setting out as peregrini. There are many stories in the Lives of the Irish saints about would-be pilgrims who were dissuaded from leaving by holy men or angelic visitations and about devils who sought to persuade monks to leave their monasteries.' 12 Leclercq (1961),51. 11 Warren (1985), 8-9, comments: *The cell itself, that place from which the anchorite could not venture, was invested with many overlapping meanings. It was a version of the desert home of the first Christian anchorites, the arena of spiritual warfare, a place for contemplation. . . . The anchorite's cell would be both the site of the devil's attack as well as the mountain of contemplation. It was a new version of* the desert cave.’

14 See Warren (1985), Chapter 4. 13 It is possible to argue that for some at least the monastic life represented a certain security in terms of provision of home and food. u Written, according U>the text/for good pilgryme |?at in >is world swich wey wole holde,卜at he go to good hauene and )»nt he h«ue of heuene joyc' (7296-7). See de E>eguilevillef The Pilgrimage o fth t Lyfy a fth i Manhtntr, Tuve (1966), Chapter 3. Henry (1986a), Henry (1986b).

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

INNER JOURNEYS

towards the heavenly Jerusalem, first in his encounter with the seven deadly sins and then as he attem pts to cross the sea o f the world. It is at this point of need th at the ship 4cleped Religioun, is presented as a costly, yet sure and swift way for the pilgrim to reach the heavenly Jerusalem : 17

types o f good monks: coenobites and anchorites, both committed to obedience and stability; and two types o f bad monks: the worldly and the wanderers. In reality, o f course, the principle o f stabilitas was frequently honoured m ore in the breach than in the observance and there is docum ent­ ary evidence o f many attem pts, by both councils o f the Church and individual monastic leaders, to correct the tendency o f religious to wander outside their cloisters .21 O f particular concern was the question o f place pilgrimage. While it was accepted that some monks and nuns occasionally needed to travel, either to conduct essential business or when directed to move from one community to another, influential figures such as Anselm and Bernard of Clairvaux consistently opposed the idea th at those vowed to a life o f monastic pilgrimage should be perm itted to leave the cloister to engage in pilgrimage to holy places. Leaving aside such pragm atic con­ siderations as the increased risk o f exposure to tem ptation, arguments tend to focus on the relationship between the heavenly and the earthly Jerusalem, which functioned as the archetype o f place pilgrimage. Anselm, for example (writing c . 1086), urged a young m an who was planning to visit the earthly Jerusalem 4to put aside the Jerusalem which is now the vision not o f peace but o f tribulation . . . and begin the way to the heavenly Jerusalem which is the vision of peace *.22 In similar vein, Geoffrey of Vendöme urged: 4We should not stray from the journey o f our profession in order to m ake a journey to Jerusalem / 23 Bernard of Clairvaux goes even further by asserting that the cloister itself prefigures the heavenly Jerusalem . 24 W riting o f a cleric who has become a m onk instead of travelling to the earthly Jerusalem, he states:

]>t wey is lasse and michel shortere to go bi to )?e citee ]>qt Jjo u woldest go to.

(6689) If into Jerusalem hastliche J?ou wolt go, J?ou mustest entere hider in and logge in oon of J?es castelles, eij?er of Cluigni [Cluny] or of Cistiaus [Citeaux] or in anoo)>er. . .. Alle ben defensable and stronge for to keepe gerinne bo)?e body and soule. (6749-54)

Though the pilgrim is warned that penitence will feature large in life on board ship, he is still glad to embrace the offer. His attem pt to journey through the world has hardly been a resounding success: “ ‘Lady,” quod I, •'short wey is good for a recreaunt [defeated] pilgrime, and recreaunt I am and trauailed.’” （6695-6).18 His answer illustrates the common medieval perception th at the pilgrim life in the everyday world was spiritually more hazardous than life in the cloister, which offered a measure of protection from tem ptation . 19 The point is reiterated by Grace Dieu: *It is bettere )>an bi swymmynge: J?ei ben in perile ，J?ilke >at passen bi swymmynge’ （6756-7). The ship m etaphor echoes the m otif o f peregrinatio m siabilitate. Having entered the vessel, the pilgrim in one sense remains stationary as he is carried across the sea. In another sense, however, he is made to progress in spiritual understanding and discipline, experiencing the Gryselichhede o f Helle [H orror o f the pains o f hell], submitting to Obedience and realising that the way to the heavenly city lies through Wilful Pouerte, the voluntary renunciation of all that ties hum an beings to the present world: ‘[Wilfu】 Pouerte] singeth . . . )>at she haj? nothing aboute hire J?at shal withholde hire to passe to J>e citee }?ere she wolde go to* (6876, 6883-4). In m any monastic texts commitment to physical stability is equated with obedience. In theological terms the disobedience and consequent exile o f Adam and Eve is thus reversed as individuals accept voluntary exile, either within their own country or abroad, as a part o f their willingness to submit to G od. The Rule o f the Master and the Rule o f St Benedict both categorise monks according to their commitment to these twin ideals .20 There are two

17 Henry (1986b), 232, points out that this is one of the short-cuts mentioned at the outset of Book I. " Henry (19866), 229, summarises the pilgrim's progress thus far: lHe has no steady road: once out of the church, he finds his path only to lose it at once, to be confronted without warning, by the Sea of the World, bumble about, and apparently succeed in landing only on the shore he originally left (6649).* '• See Dyas (1997a), 105-8. 1(1 The relationship between these tvxia li liill i maiUr of scholarly discussion but it is significant that condemnation of gyrovagu«« it on« eflht Mellomcommon to both.

Philippus vester, volens proficisci Ierosolymam, com pendium viae invenit, et cito pervenit quo volebat___ Stantes sunt iam pedes eius in atriis Ierusalem----Ingressus est sanctam civitatem. . . . Et si vultis scire, Claravallis est. Ipsa est Ierusalem, ei quae in caelis est .25 Y our Philip, wishing to set out to Jerusalem, found a short-cut and quickly arrived where he wished to go___ His feet are already standing in the courts o f Jerusalem___ He has entered the holy city------ And if you wish to know, this is Clairvaux. She herself is Jerusalem, the one which is in heaven.

Elsewhere he reiterates his understanding o f the monastic life as *a pere­ grinatio in which the m onk travelled with his heart while remaining stable 21 See Constable (1976). 22 Anselm, Letter 117 in Opera Omniat ed. F. S. Schmitt. Edinburgh, 1946-61. Cited Constable (1976), 133. See Chapter 3 for the arguments put forward by Gregory of Nyssa in the fourth century. 2J PU 157.162BC. Cited Constable (1976),134. 24 Leclercq (1982), 68-9: St Bernard defines the monk as a dweller in Jerusalem: monachus et lerosolymita. Not that he must be bodily in the city where Jesus died. . . . For the monk this might be anywhen. It Is pArticularly in a place where, far from the world and from sin, one drawl cl〇M to O od. . . . Th« monaitery is then a Jerusalem in anticipation* (my italics).

31 LtU9f 64 In Bernard of Clairvaux, Utttrs,

209

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INNER JOURNEYS

towards the heavenly Jerusalem, first in his encounter with the seven deadly sins and then as he attem pts to cross the sea o f the world. It is at this point of need th at the ship 4cleped Religioun, is presented as a costly, yet sure and swift way for the pilgrim to reach the heavenly Jerusalem : 17

types o f good monks: coenobites and anchorites, both committed to obedience and stability; and two types o f bad monks: the worldly and the wanderers. In reality, o f course, the principle o f stabilitas was frequently honoured m ore in the breach than in the observance and there is docum ent­ ary evidence o f many attem pts, by both councils o f the Church and individual monastic leaders, to correct the tendency o f religious to wander outside their cloisters .21 O f particular concern was the question o f place pilgrimage. While it was accepted that some monks and nuns occasionally needed to travel, either to conduct essential business or when directed to move from one community to another, influential figures such as Anselm and Bernard of Clairvaux consistently opposed the idea th at those vowed to a life o f monastic pilgrimage should be perm itted to leave the cloister to engage in pilgrimage to holy places. Leaving aside such pragm atic con­ siderations as the increased risk o f exposure to tem ptation, arguments tend to focus on the relationship between the heavenly and the earthly Jerusalem, which functioned as the archetype o f place pilgrimage. Anselm, for example (writing c . 1086), urged a young m an who was planning to visit the earthly Jerusalem 4to put aside the Jerusalem which is now the vision not o f peace but o f tribulation . . . and begin the way to the heavenly Jerusalem which is the vision of peace *.22 In similar vein, Geoffrey of Vendöme urged: 4We should not stray from the journey o f our profession in order to m ake a journey to Jerusalem / 23 Bernard of Clairvaux goes even further by asserting that the cloister itself prefigures the heavenly Jerusalem . 24 W riting o f a cleric who has become a m onk instead of travelling to the earthly Jerusalem, he states:

]>t wey is lasse and michel shortere to go bi to )?e citee ]>qt Jjo u woldest go to.

(6689) If into Jerusalem hastliche J?ou wolt go, J?ou mustest entere hider in and logge in oon of J?es castelles, eij?er of Cluigni [Cluny] or of Cistiaus [Citeaux] or in anoo)>er. . .. Alle ben defensable and stronge for to keepe gerinne bo)?e body and soule. (6749-54)

Though the pilgrim is warned that penitence will feature large in life on board ship, he is still glad to embrace the offer. His attem pt to journey through the world has hardly been a resounding success: “ ‘Lady,” quod I, •'short wey is good for a recreaunt [defeated] pilgrime, and recreaunt I am and trauailed.’” （6695-6).18 His answer illustrates the common medieval perception th at the pilgrim life in the everyday world was spiritually more hazardous than life in the cloister, which offered a measure of protection from tem ptation . 19 The point is reiterated by Grace Dieu: *It is bettere )>an bi swymmynge: J?ei ben in perile ，J?ilke >at passen bi swymmynge’ （6756-7). The ship m etaphor echoes the m otif o f peregrinatio m siabilitate. Having entered the vessel, the pilgrim in one sense remains stationary as he is carried across the sea. In another sense, however, he is made to progress in spiritual understanding and discipline, experiencing the Gryselichhede o f Helle [H orror o f the pains o f hell], submitting to Obedience and realising that the way to the heavenly city lies through Wilful Pouerte, the voluntary renunciation of all that ties hum an beings to the present world: ‘[Wilfu】 Pouerte] singeth . . . )>at she haj? nothing aboute hire J?at shal withholde hire to passe to J>e citee }?ere she wolde go to* (6876, 6883-4). In m any monastic texts commitment to physical stability is equated with obedience. In theological terms the disobedience and consequent exile o f Adam and Eve is thus reversed as individuals accept voluntary exile, either within their own country or abroad, as a part o f their willingness to submit to G od. The Rule o f the Master and the Rule o f St Benedict both categorise monks according to their commitment to these twin ideals .20 There are two

17 Henry (1986b), 232, points out that this is one of the short-cuts mentioned at the outset of Book I. " Henry (19866), 229, summarises the pilgrim's progress thus far: lHe has no steady road: once out of the church, he finds his path only to lose it at once, to be confronted without warning, by the Sea of the World, bumble about, and apparently succeed in landing only on the shore he originally left (6649).* '• See Dyas (1997a), 105-8. 1(1 The relationship between these tvxia li liill i maiUr of scholarly discussion but it is significant that condemnation of gyrovagu«« it on« eflht Mellomcommon to both.

Philippus vester, volens proficisci Ierosolymam, com pendium viae invenit, et cito pervenit quo volebat___ Stantes sunt iam pedes eius in atriis Ierusalem----Ingressus est sanctam civitatem. . . . Et si vultis scire, Claravallis est. Ipsa est Ierusalem, ei quae in caelis est .25 Y our Philip, wishing to set out to Jerusalem, found a short-cut and quickly arrived where he wished to go___ His feet are already standing in the courts o f Jerusalem___ He has entered the holy city------ And if you wish to know, this is Clairvaux. She herself is Jerusalem, the one which is in heaven.

Elsewhere he reiterates his understanding o f the monastic life as *a pere­ grinatio in which the m onk travelled with his heart while remaining stable 21 See Constable (1976). 22 Anselm, Letter 117 in Opera Omniat ed. F. S. Schmitt. Edinburgh, 1946-61. Cited Constable (1976), 133. See Chapter 3 for the arguments put forward by Gregory of Nyssa in the fourth century. 2J PU 157.162BC. Cited Constable (1976),134. 24 Leclercq (1982), 68-9: St Bernard defines the monk as a dweller in Jerusalem: monachus et lerosolymita. Not that he must be bodily in the city where Jesus died. . . . For the monk this might be anywhen. It Is pArticularly in a place where, far from the world and from sin, one drawl cl〇M to O od. . . . Th« monaitery is then a Jerusalem in anticipation* (my italics).

31 LtU9f 64 In Bernard of Clairvaux, Utttrs,

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with his body ’:26 ‘It is the vocation o f a m onk to seek not the earthly but the heavenly Jerusalem, and he will do this not by setting out on his feet but by progressing in his dispositions . ’27 Such exhortations put into context the less flattering profiles of monasticism presented by Langland and Chaucer. It is noteworthy that both use the image (possibly first employed by A thanasius in his Life o f S t Anthony)^ of the m onk out o f the cloister being like a fish out of water, suggesting that they are deliberately evoking the central importance of stabilitas within the m onastic calling. Langland's criticisiti is overt ; 29 Chaucer's is veiled but equally dam ning . 30 Both these m onks are hunters , 31 an activity which involves illicit roaming across the countryside; Chaucer's M onk is engaged, as is the Prioress, on a place pilgrimage which, though ostensibly a pious act, in fact contravenes his very identity as a religious. Recognition o f such overt disobedience in the realm of place pilgrimage prom pts a re-examination of the quality o f their life pilgrimage in terms o f obedience and spirituality, areas in which both also clearly fall short. M onastic attitudes to place pilgrimage, therefore, can be seen to function in the writings of Chaucer and Langland as highly significant indicators in exposure of the failings of the ecclesiastical establishment. Thus the two most senior C hurch figures within the Canterbury Tales stand exposed, just like the unashamedly worldly Wife o f Bath, to the charge o f 'wandrynge by the wey\

INNER JOURNEYS

ment as they renounced attachm ent to the world in favour of an existence ‘lived out in the presence o f G od alone ’ . 34 T hroughout anchoritic writings there is a strong sense of leaving the familiar and the com fortable in order to venture into the wilderness with G od， o f being called away from the world in which hum ankind is presently exiled, in order to seek the true homeland. Richard Rolle (b. c . 1300), writing to a nun recently enclosed as an anchoress, promises: 'A nd if J?ou have sorowe for J?i synnes, and for J?ou ert swa lang in exile owte of }?i contre, and forsakes J?er solace o f }?is lyfe, l?ou sal have for \>\ sorow )?e joy of heven .*35 In a passage borrowed from Bernard o f Clairvaux, the au th o r o f Hali Mei&had describes this fallen world as a 6lond o f unlicnesse 5, 36 th at is a land wholly unlike heaven, in which the virgin, though an exile on earth, may yet live as if already a citizen of heaven: *ant i J>is worlt )>et is icleopet 4ilond of unlicnesse” edhalt hire burde in [licnesse] o f heouenlich cunde, )?ah ha beo utlahe >rof ant i licome of lam; ant in bestes bodi neh liueö heouene engel ， (Hali MeWhad, 6/15-18). The theme o f anticipation o f the life o f heaven is given concrete form in a passage which envisages virgins as already inhabiting Sion, that is the heavenly Jerusalem :37 meiden stont )?urh heh lif i J>e tur o f Ieru salem .. . . o f J?et Syon ha bihalt al J?e worlt under hire; ant J?urh englene liflade an t heouenlich J?et ha lead, f?ah ha licomliche wunie upon eorSe, [ha stihed gasteliche], ant is as i Syon, J?e hehe tu r o f heouene. (Hali Meidhad, 2/9-13)

Enclosure as journey The anchoritic life is the ultimate expression o f voluntary exile coupled with physical stabilitas. In the early days o f the monastic movement the terms anchorite and hermit were virtually interchangeable since the activity (anachorein, to withdraw) was almost always linked to one particular location, the eremos or desert . 32 In medieval English spirituality however, anchorite came to mean one whose pilgrimage through life was bounded by physical enclosure. Until the end of the twelfth century anchorites had most frequently been attached to monasteries but from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century they often settled in towns, close to churches, hospitals or town gates . 33 The exile which they experienced, the wilderness to which they retreated, were not physical but spiritual. Though the actual distance traversed may have been small, their enclosure signalled a decisive moveM Constable (1976),136 n. 4 1 .See also Leclercq (1964), 82-4. 27 Bernard of Clairvaux, Letters 431. a, Written c. 360. w Piers Plowman, Passus X.295-315. w Canterbury Tales* General Prologue, 165-297. 3i Chaucer's use 〇r the term outridtrt {Gfmral Prologue, 166) also serves to underline the fact that the Monk all too frequently ii to be found ouiildc rather than inside his monastery. w See Warren (1985), 8. » See Leclercq (1987), 69-70.

This use o f the idea o f Sion has a curious duality. The maiden looks down from her tower on those who, by abandoning purity, have distanced themselves from God. H er own commitment to virginity (and possibly to enclosure as well) 38 has made her an exile from the world. At the same time, however, the tower is presented as the safe place from which the less pure have exiled themselves. Nicholas W atson points out the paradox: Since [Hali Meidhad\ presents virginity as a tower or fortress which the worldly are so foolish as to leave, the anchorage comes implicitly to represent that tower and is thus no longer a place for those who have forsaken the world but on the contrary a place th at the world has forsaken. This is a static image . . . instead o f telling the reader to opt out, it adjures her not to opt in .39 34 Leclercq (1987), 73. 33 Rolle, Form of Living, X .154-7 in English Writings. 56 *What can be a clearer sign of her heavenly origin than that she retains a natural likeness to it in the land of unlikeness, than that as an exile on earth she enjoys the glory of the celibate life, than that she lives like an angel in the celibate body.* Bernard of Clairvaux, Works, v o l.3, 79. This theme, which is also used by William of St Thierry can be traced back to Plotinus. See Hali A/eäM adIntroductionandnoteto6/15-16. 37 See Hali MeÜihaä, Introduction, xxviii-xxx. Compare Ancrene Wisse, 111.90/6: beoS in ierusalem.' 31 Bella Millet luggtili that the text miiy be addressed to anchoresses or nuns. See Hali Mei3hads xxii-xxlil.

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with his body ’:26 ‘It is the vocation o f a m onk to seek not the earthly but the heavenly Jerusalem, and he will do this not by setting out on his feet but by progressing in his dispositions . ’27 Such exhortations put into context the less flattering profiles of monasticism presented by Langland and Chaucer. It is noteworthy that both use the image (possibly first employed by A thanasius in his Life o f S t Anthony)^ of the m onk out o f the cloister being like a fish out of water, suggesting that they are deliberately evoking the central importance of stabilitas within the m onastic calling. Langland's criticisiti is overt ; 29 Chaucer's is veiled but equally dam ning . 30 Both these m onks are hunters , 31 an activity which involves illicit roaming across the countryside; Chaucer's M onk is engaged, as is the Prioress, on a place pilgrimage which, though ostensibly a pious act, in fact contravenes his very identity as a religious. Recognition o f such overt disobedience in the realm of place pilgrimage prom pts a re-examination of the quality o f their life pilgrimage in terms o f obedience and spirituality, areas in which both also clearly fall short. M onastic attitudes to place pilgrimage, therefore, can be seen to function in the writings of Chaucer and Langland as highly significant indicators in exposure of the failings of the ecclesiastical establishment. Thus the two most senior C hurch figures within the Canterbury Tales stand exposed, just like the unashamedly worldly Wife o f Bath, to the charge o f 'wandrynge by the wey\

INNER JOURNEYS

ment as they renounced attachm ent to the world in favour of an existence ‘lived out in the presence o f G od alone ’ . 34 T hroughout anchoritic writings there is a strong sense of leaving the familiar and the com fortable in order to venture into the wilderness with G od， o f being called away from the world in which hum ankind is presently exiled, in order to seek the true homeland. Richard Rolle (b. c . 1300), writing to a nun recently enclosed as an anchoress, promises: 'A nd if J?ou have sorowe for J?i synnes, and for J?ou ert swa lang in exile owte of }?i contre, and forsakes J?er solace o f }?is lyfe, l?ou sal have for \>\ sorow )?e joy of heven .*35 In a passage borrowed from Bernard o f Clairvaux, the au th o r o f Hali Mei&had describes this fallen world as a 6lond o f unlicnesse 5, 36 th at is a land wholly unlike heaven, in which the virgin, though an exile on earth, may yet live as if already a citizen of heaven: *ant i J>is worlt )>et is icleopet 4ilond of unlicnesse” edhalt hire burde in [licnesse] o f heouenlich cunde, )?ah ha beo utlahe >rof ant i licome of lam; ant in bestes bodi neh liueö heouene engel ， (Hali MeWhad, 6/15-18). The theme o f anticipation o f the life o f heaven is given concrete form in a passage which envisages virgins as already inhabiting Sion, that is the heavenly Jerusalem :37 meiden stont )?urh heh lif i J>e tur o f Ieru salem .. . . o f J?et Syon ha bihalt al J?e worlt under hire; ant J?urh englene liflade an t heouenlich J?et ha lead, f?ah ha licomliche wunie upon eorSe, [ha stihed gasteliche], ant is as i Syon, J?e hehe tu r o f heouene. (Hali Meidhad, 2/9-13)

Enclosure as journey The anchoritic life is the ultimate expression o f voluntary exile coupled with physical stabilitas. In the early days o f the monastic movement the terms anchorite and hermit were virtually interchangeable since the activity (anachorein, to withdraw) was almost always linked to one particular location, the eremos or desert . 32 In medieval English spirituality however, anchorite came to mean one whose pilgrimage through life was bounded by physical enclosure. Until the end of the twelfth century anchorites had most frequently been attached to monasteries but from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century they often settled in towns, close to churches, hospitals or town gates . 33 The exile which they experienced, the wilderness to which they retreated, were not physical but spiritual. Though the actual distance traversed may have been small, their enclosure signalled a decisive moveM Constable (1976),136 n. 4 1 .See also Leclercq (1964), 82-4. 27 Bernard of Clairvaux, Letters 431. a, Written c. 360. w Piers Plowman, Passus X.295-315. w Canterbury Tales* General Prologue, 165-297. 3i Chaucer's use 〇r the term outridtrt {Gfmral Prologue, 166) also serves to underline the fact that the Monk all too frequently ii to be found ouiildc rather than inside his monastery. w See Warren (1985), 8. » See Leclercq (1987), 69-70.

This use o f the idea o f Sion has a curious duality. The maiden looks down from her tower on those who, by abandoning purity, have distanced themselves from God. H er own commitment to virginity (and possibly to enclosure as well) 38 has made her an exile from the world. At the same time, however, the tower is presented as the safe place from which the less pure have exiled themselves. Nicholas W atson points out the paradox: Since [Hali Meidhad\ presents virginity as a tower or fortress which the worldly are so foolish as to leave, the anchorage comes implicitly to represent that tower and is thus no longer a place for those who have forsaken the world but on the contrary a place th at the world has forsaken. This is a static image . . . instead o f telling the reader to opt out, it adjures her not to opt in .39 34 Leclercq (1987), 73. 33 Rolle, Form of Living, X .154-7 in English Writings. 56 *What can be a clearer sign of her heavenly origin than that she retains a natural likeness to it in the land of unlikeness, than that as an exile on earth she enjoys the glory of the celibate life, than that she lives like an angel in the celibate body.* Bernard of Clairvaux, Works, v o l.3, 79. This theme, which is also used by William of St Thierry can be traced back to Plotinus. See Hali A/eäM adIntroductionandnoteto6/15-16. 37 See Hali MeÜihaä, Introduction, xxviii-xxx. Compare Ancrene Wisse, 111.90/6: beoS in ierusalem.' 31 Bella Millet luggtili that the text miiy be addressed to anchoresses or nuns. See Hali Mei3hads xxii-xxlil.

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INNER JOURNEYS

In anchoritic texts images of exile frequently double as images of constraint. N ot only do anchorites experience literal imprisonment within a confined space but it is also noticeable that those who write for their guidance and encouragement constantly employ m etaphors o f confinement. As W atson also notes: "Ancrene Wisse is dom inated by images o f enclosure or fixity - wombs, bodies, crucifixions, walls, castles . ' 40 Yet the thrust of these images is not negative but positive; the chamber where the anchoress is confined, which must constantly be guarded from external assault, is also the place where God will come to her afid she will experience a foretaste of heaven . 41 The thirteenth-century Ancrene Wisse repeatedly employs pilgrimage imagery, though the precise point o f the m etaphor changes according to the context. In the section on Tem ptation, the author weaves together the Concept o f anchorites as the spiritual descendants o f the Desert Fathers and the Exodus m otif o f the people o f Israel travelling towards the Promised Land. As in the monastic writings examined earlier in this chapter, the attention o f these stationary pilgrims is repeatedly directed towards reaching the heavenly Jerusalem:

rewards o f those who travel to holy places on earth and those whose goal is heaven:

Wildcmesse is anlich lif of ancre wummge, . . . Bi 卜is wilckmesse wende ure lauerdes folc as exode teleö tow ard te eadi lond o f ierusalem .. . . A nt 3e mine leoue sustren wendeS bi \>c ilke wei tow ard te hehe ierusalem . . . gaö )?ah ful warliche. for i }?is wildernesse beoö u u d e beastes monie. Liun of prude. N eddre of attri onde. Vnicom e o f wreaööe. Beore o f dead slawöe. Vox o f 3isceunge. Suhe o f 3iuernesse. Scorpiun wi9 teil o f stinginde leccherie. (Ancrene Wisse, 101/10-11, 16-24) \>\xs mine leoue sustren i }>e wildernesse l>er 3e gaö in wiö godes folc tow ard ierusalemes lond. (108/19-20)

It is interesting to note that the author explicitly links resistance to the seven deadly sins with the idea o f the pilgrimage through life .42 The image is given additional force through the association o f the desert with demons and monsters who oppose G od’s servants .43 The theme o f pilgrimage is also woven into the sections on confession and penance. The power o f confession to redeem the sinful soul is likened to the entry of the people o f Israel into the Promised Land: 'Schrift reaueS J?e feond his lond. f is sun fule mon. 7 al todriueä chanaan [Canaan] \>q feondes ferd o f helle5 (Ancrene Wisse V.155/ 2-4). In introducing the section on penance, the author refers his audience to Peter's exhortation to those engaged upon the pilgrimage of life: 'Ich hal si ow he seiö as el^eodie 7 pilegrimes. 3 e wifihalaen ow from fleschliche lustes pe weorriö a 3 ein J?e sawle* (VI. 178/6-8) and compares the motivation and 40 Watson (1987),138.

41 Ancrene IVisse (ed. Tolkien), 21/18-23. 41Including 丨 description of _pproprlitt 41 See Chapter 1.

Compare the fa/1.ron'j

(Chapter 10).

J?is b eo3 hali m en pe J^ah h a beon i {>e w orld, h a beoS J^rin as pilegrimes. 7 gaö wiS god liflade to w ard te riche o f heouene. 7 seggeÖ wiö j?e apostle. N o n h ab em u s hie m anentem ciuitatem , set fu tu ru m inquirim us . . . ah habbeÖ h are h eo rte eauer to w ard heouene. 7 ah en wel to habben. for oSer pilegrim es gaS m uche sw ine to sechen ane sontes banes as sein lam es oSer sein giles. A h f e o pilegrim es l>e gaö to w a rd heouene, h a gaö to b eon isontet. 7 to finden godd seolf 7 alle his h ah halhen.

(Ancrene Wisse, VI.178/13-17, 20-5)

Here however, the pilgrim model, though expressive of detachment from the world, is insufficient to convey the fullness o f the anchoritic calling. The author of the Ancrene Wisse, here as elsewhere, is following Bernard ,44 who suggests th at there are in fact three stages of detachm ent from the world: pilgrimage, death and crucifixion. Pilgrims, though dedicated to their task, are still capable o f falling prey to distractions and m aking but slow progress with their journey; the life of the anchorite requires th at its proponents be not only detached from the world b u t dead to its call and even capable of rejoicing in the experience o f crucifixion. Such experiences o f joy in the anchoritic life stem from experiencing the presence o f God, and thus anticipating the glories o f heaven. The reason the anchorites are wooed away from the world is to meet with G od. The ‘desert’ of the anchorhold is thus seen to function in the same positive sense as the wilderness in which G od wooed the people o f Israel: 4Broht tu haues me fra J?e world to bur of J?i buröe. steked me i chambre . . .A swete iesu mi Hues luue wiö blod \>u haues me boht. 7 fram J?e world \>u haues me broht* (Wohunge o f Ure Lauerd, 5725, 587-90).45 Yet in these early writings, such as Ancrene Wisse and the Katherine G roup texts, the experience o f inner encounter with G od still remains on the whole somewhat embryonic .46 F or a fuller development of the meaning of 'interior* pilgrimage we must turn to the mystics o f the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.

44 See Ancrene Wissey edited Shepherd, Appendix, for a translation of the text of Bernard's Seventh Sermon in Lent (PL, 183.183-6). 45 (I will allure her and will lead her into the wilderness: and I will speak to her heart1 (Hosea 2: 14-15). See Chapter 1 above. 4If the anchoress repudiates the world, physical comfort and the pleasure o f sexual intimacy, and engages in ä heroic and anxious struggle against her own sinful nature and the promptings of the devil, she does so not only for the hope of a high heavenly reward . . . but for a union with Christ, her beloved, which begins here in this life.' Anchoritic Spirituality^ Introduction 24. Compare Hilton: *Your state requires you to be contemplative for that ii the purpose tnd intention of your enclosure.' Hilton, Scale, 1.3. 44 See DinzelbKohtr (1987) and Wation (1987) on the differences between the experiences described in anohorltio text! of thi thkrtMnth century and those of the mystics of the fourteenth

and flfUtnth cinturlH.

212

213

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INNER JOURNEYS

In anchoritic texts images of exile frequently double as images of constraint. N ot only do anchorites experience literal imprisonment within a confined space but it is also noticeable that those who write for their guidance and encouragement constantly employ m etaphors o f confinement. As W atson also notes: "Ancrene Wisse is dom inated by images o f enclosure or fixity - wombs, bodies, crucifixions, walls, castles . ' 40 Yet the thrust of these images is not negative but positive; the chamber where the anchoress is confined, which must constantly be guarded from external assault, is also the place where God will come to her afid she will experience a foretaste of heaven . 41 The thirteenth-century Ancrene Wisse repeatedly employs pilgrimage imagery, though the precise point o f the m etaphor changes according to the context. In the section on Tem ptation, the author weaves together the Concept o f anchorites as the spiritual descendants o f the Desert Fathers and the Exodus m otif o f the people o f Israel travelling towards the Promised Land. As in the monastic writings examined earlier in this chapter, the attention o f these stationary pilgrims is repeatedly directed towards reaching the heavenly Jerusalem:

rewards o f those who travel to holy places on earth and those whose goal is heaven:

Wildcmesse is anlich lif of ancre wummge, . . . Bi 卜is wilckmesse wende ure lauerdes folc as exode teleö tow ard te eadi lond o f ierusalem .. . . A nt 3e mine leoue sustren wendeS bi \>c ilke wei tow ard te hehe ierusalem . . . gaö )?ah ful warliche. for i }?is wildernesse beoö u u d e beastes monie. Liun of prude. N eddre of attri onde. Vnicom e o f wreaööe. Beore o f dead slawöe. Vox o f 3isceunge. Suhe o f 3iuernesse. Scorpiun wi9 teil o f stinginde leccherie. (Ancrene Wisse, 101/10-11, 16-24) \>\xs mine leoue sustren i }>e wildernesse l>er 3e gaö in wiö godes folc tow ard ierusalemes lond. (108/19-20)

It is interesting to note that the author explicitly links resistance to the seven deadly sins with the idea o f the pilgrimage through life .42 The image is given additional force through the association o f the desert with demons and monsters who oppose G od’s servants .43 The theme o f pilgrimage is also woven into the sections on confession and penance. The power o f confession to redeem the sinful soul is likened to the entry of the people o f Israel into the Promised Land: 'Schrift reaueS J?e feond his lond. f is sun fule mon. 7 al todriueä chanaan [Canaan] \>q feondes ferd o f helle5 (Ancrene Wisse V.155/ 2-4). In introducing the section on penance, the author refers his audience to Peter's exhortation to those engaged upon the pilgrimage of life: 'Ich hal si ow he seiö as el^eodie 7 pilegrimes. 3 e wifihalaen ow from fleschliche lustes pe weorriö a 3 ein J?e sawle* (VI. 178/6-8) and compares the motivation and 40 Watson (1987),138.

41 Ancrene IVisse (ed. Tolkien), 21/18-23. 41Including 丨 description of _pproprlitt 41 See Chapter 1.

Compare the fa/1.ron'j

(Chapter 10).

J?is b eo3 hali m en pe J^ah h a beon i {>e w orld, h a beoS J^rin as pilegrimes. 7 gaö wiS god liflade to w ard te riche o f heouene. 7 seggeÖ wiö j?e apostle. N o n h ab em u s hie m anentem ciuitatem , set fu tu ru m inquirim us . . . ah habbeÖ h are h eo rte eauer to w ard heouene. 7 ah en wel to habben. for oSer pilegrim es gaS m uche sw ine to sechen ane sontes banes as sein lam es oSer sein giles. A h f e o pilegrim es l>e gaö to w a rd heouene, h a gaö to b eon isontet. 7 to finden godd seolf 7 alle his h ah halhen.

(Ancrene Wisse, VI.178/13-17, 20-5)

Here however, the pilgrim model, though expressive of detachment from the world, is insufficient to convey the fullness o f the anchoritic calling. The author of the Ancrene Wisse, here as elsewhere, is following Bernard ,44 who suggests th at there are in fact three stages of detachm ent from the world: pilgrimage, death and crucifixion. Pilgrims, though dedicated to their task, are still capable o f falling prey to distractions and m aking but slow progress with their journey; the life of the anchorite requires th at its proponents be not only detached from the world b u t dead to its call and even capable of rejoicing in the experience o f crucifixion. Such experiences o f joy in the anchoritic life stem from experiencing the presence o f God, and thus anticipating the glories o f heaven. The reason the anchorites are wooed away from the world is to meet with G od. The ‘desert’ of the anchorhold is thus seen to function in the same positive sense as the wilderness in which G od wooed the people o f Israel: 4Broht tu haues me fra J?e world to bur of J?i buröe. steked me i chambre . . .A swete iesu mi Hues luue wiö blod \>u haues me boht. 7 fram J?e world \>u haues me broht* (Wohunge o f Ure Lauerd, 5725, 587-90).45 Yet in these early writings, such as Ancrene Wisse and the Katherine G roup texts, the experience o f inner encounter with G od still remains on the whole somewhat embryonic .46 F or a fuller development of the meaning of 'interior* pilgrimage we must turn to the mystics o f the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.

44 See Ancrene Wissey edited Shepherd, Appendix, for a translation of the text of Bernard's Seventh Sermon in Lent (PL, 183.183-6). 45 (I will allure her and will lead her into the wilderness: and I will speak to her heart1 (Hosea 2: 14-15). See Chapter 1 above. 4If the anchoress repudiates the world, physical comfort and the pleasure o f sexual intimacy, and engages in ä heroic and anxious struggle against her own sinful nature and the promptings of the devil, she does so not only for the hope of a high heavenly reward . . . but for a union with Christ, her beloved, which begins here in this life.' Anchoritic Spirituality^ Introduction 24. Compare Hilton: *Your state requires you to be contemplative for that ii the purpose tnd intention of your enclosure.' Hilton, Scale, 1.3. 44 See DinzelbKohtr (1987) and Wation (1987) on the differences between the experiences described in anohorltio text! of thi thkrtMnth century and those of the mystics of the fourteenth

and flfUtnth cinturlH.

212

213

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

M ysticism : seeking th e in te rio r Jeru salem There is no need to run to Rome or Jerusalem to look for [Jesus] there, but turn your thought into your own soul where he is hidden. (Scale o f Perfection, 1.49) T han owre lorde opennede my gastly eyenn and schewyd me my saule in myddys of my herte. I sawe my saule swa large as it ware a kyngdom . . . my thought it was a wirschipfulle cite. In myddys o f this cite sittes oure lorde Jhesu. (A Book o f Showings to the Anchoress Julian o f Norwich, Short Text, 268)

It is generally agreed that the writings o f the Middle English mystics represent a further stage along the road which the anchorites and spiritual writers o f the twelfth 47 and thirteenth centuries had already begun to explore .48 In some respects, and this is particularly evident in the writings o f the C/owrf-author (well-known for his anxiety lest unsuitable persons should gain access to his teachings ) , 49 they become more exclusive. In other ways they seem to reflect something of the growing desire o f the laity to be able to experience G od more directly . 50 To read the work o f Rolle, H ilton ， the Ctowrf-author, Julian o f Norwich and Margery Kempe, is to become aware o f the trem endous range of personalities and mystical approaches which existed in this period - and o f the variety o f ways in which the pilgrimage m otif is employed. Rolle encourages those who wish to draw close to G od to meditate upon the Passion of Christ, visiting through the imagination the events and places which feature in the biblical narrative. This type o f m editation, also encouraged by the Pseudo-Bonaventuran Meditations on the Life o f Christ is itself a kind o f peregrinatio in stabilitate, a place pilgrimage o f the mind, which is designed to evoke the emotion, compunction and desire to imitate Christ which should also accompany a literal visit to the Holy Land. Julian o f Norwich’s expressed desire ‘to haue bene th at tyme with M ary Mawdeleyne and with others . . . that I myght haue sene bodylye the passion o f our Lord* is fulfilled through visions o f the

47 Dinzelbacher (1987), 120-5, notes aspects of mystical experience emerging in twelfth-century writers such as Christina of Markyate, Aelred and Godric, which include a burning of the individual to its own interior’， the ‘loving relation to Jesus’， and ‘emotional reaction . . . at contact with the divine’. 41 There has been much discussion about the differences in content and spiritual expectation of earlier anchoritic texts and later mystical writings. There are also differences of opinion about which writers are entitled to be called mystics. Examination of the pilgrimage concept within these various texts offers* I suggest, an opportunity to trace the extent to which this concept provides a common theme, together with insights into the different ways in which this motif could be employed. 49 Cloud o f Unknowing, 2 / 1 9 . . M Watson ¢1987).134-7* observei thut lute medieval English spirituality is 'a spirituality of ascent or progress’， ‘almost cxcluilvoly 雇 ipirltuiltty of the interior life’ and yet is ‘in another sente relatively unspecialiied, nmkln暴 Hull dllllnctlon between the solitary, the monastic and the »ecuiar life'.

INNER JOURNEYS

crucified Christ rather than through travelling to the site o f the Crucifixion. For Rolle and Julian such m editations on G od's revelation form a vital part of the spiritual route to be taken; for the C/owrf-author, on the other hand, true spiritual journeying is described in terms o f the via negativa, a process o f moving away from all th at is known in order to encounter the one who is beyond hum an thought. W alter Hilton offers a middle way, quick to warn o f the dangers of spiritual excess, yet writing with a kind o f controlled passion which is extraordinarily powerful, about the possibility o f encountering u o d within the inner reaches o f the soul. Passion also characterises the Book o f Margery Kempe, though control is not such an obvious feature o f Margery^s response to u o d . M any have dismissed or marginalised M argery's Book; yet there are core elements of her approach to life which have more in common with other, more structured, mystical writers, than might be supposed. Placing the works o f such a disparate group of writers witnin the framework of the pilgrimage m otif provides valuable insights into their comm on heritage, bringing to the fore three elements which are both deeply rooted in biblical and patristic traam o n and highly characteristic o f the later middle ages: interiorisation, anticipation and the prioritisation o f person over place . 51 The interior Jerusalem In exploring the relationship between place pilgrimage and the inner spir­ itual journeys experienced by writers such as Rolle, H ilton and the Cloudauthor, Victor and Edith Turner observe: 'Pilgrimage may be thought o f as extroverted mysticism, just as mysticism is introverted pilgrimage. The pilgrim physically travels a mystical way; the mystic sets forth on an interior spiritual pilgrimage / 52 An insistence on the interior nature of spiritual journeying is indeed intrinsic to medieval mystical writings . 53 In his influential treatise, Itinerarium Mentis in Deum, Bonaventure ( c . 1217-74) describes the stages o f "interior progress, {gradus interiores)54 by which the individual may arrive at the ‘interior Jerusalem ， （ /n ï’wrmorf The treatise draws heavily upon biblical images of exile and pilgrimage, exodus and promised hom eland .56 51 All of which can be observed in Pearl. See below. 52 Turner and Turner (1978), 33-4. J3 Dinzelbacher (1987), 120, speaks of the burning of the individual to its own interior'. Jeffrey comments: T h e goal of the mystics, briefly put, is to be so carried out of the physical world in the ecstasis of contemplation that the soul enters into an inner and utter communion with God, an ^inexpressible foretaste of eternal sw eetness,as Rolle says. The experience is profoundly emotional and interior.' The Law of Love,16. 54 Bonaventure; itinéraire, 1.1. 95 Bonaventure; hinêrain, V II.1. S6 'The Latin term Uintrarium, which could be rendered by the English “itinerary,” in Bonaventure'i day m u n t what p«rtftini to a journey in general,a plan for a journey or a description o f « journ«yi in eod« 111111cal terminology it also meant a prayer for a safe journey or

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

M ysticism : seeking th e in te rio r Jeru salem There is no need to run to Rome or Jerusalem to look for [Jesus] there, but turn your thought into your own soul where he is hidden. (Scale o f Perfection, 1.49) T han owre lorde opennede my gastly eyenn and schewyd me my saule in myddys of my herte. I sawe my saule swa large as it ware a kyngdom . . . my thought it was a wirschipfulle cite. In myddys o f this cite sittes oure lorde Jhesu. (A Book o f Showings to the Anchoress Julian o f Norwich, Short Text, 268)

It is generally agreed that the writings o f the Middle English mystics represent a further stage along the road which the anchorites and spiritual writers o f the twelfth 47 and thirteenth centuries had already begun to explore .48 In some respects, and this is particularly evident in the writings o f the C/owrf-author (well-known for his anxiety lest unsuitable persons should gain access to his teachings ) , 49 they become more exclusive. In other ways they seem to reflect something of the growing desire o f the laity to be able to experience G od more directly . 50 To read the work o f Rolle, H ilton ， the Ctowrf-author, Julian o f Norwich and Margery Kempe, is to become aware o f the trem endous range of personalities and mystical approaches which existed in this period - and o f the variety o f ways in which the pilgrimage m otif is employed. Rolle encourages those who wish to draw close to G od to meditate upon the Passion of Christ, visiting through the imagination the events and places which feature in the biblical narrative. This type o f m editation, also encouraged by the Pseudo-Bonaventuran Meditations on the Life o f Christ is itself a kind o f peregrinatio in stabilitate, a place pilgrimage o f the mind, which is designed to evoke the emotion, compunction and desire to imitate Christ which should also accompany a literal visit to the Holy Land. Julian o f Norwich’s expressed desire ‘to haue bene th at tyme with M ary Mawdeleyne and with others . . . that I myght haue sene bodylye the passion o f our Lord* is fulfilled through visions o f the

47 Dinzelbacher (1987), 120-5, notes aspects of mystical experience emerging in twelfth-century writers such as Christina of Markyate, Aelred and Godric, which include a burning of the individual to its own interior’， the ‘loving relation to Jesus’， and ‘emotional reaction . . . at contact with the divine’. 41 There has been much discussion about the differences in content and spiritual expectation of earlier anchoritic texts and later mystical writings. There are also differences of opinion about which writers are entitled to be called mystics. Examination of the pilgrimage concept within these various texts offers* I suggest, an opportunity to trace the extent to which this concept provides a common theme, together with insights into the different ways in which this motif could be employed. 49 Cloud o f Unknowing, 2 / 1 9 . . M Watson ¢1987).134-7* observei thut lute medieval English spirituality is 'a spirituality of ascent or progress’， ‘almost cxcluilvoly 雇 ipirltuiltty of the interior life’ and yet is ‘in another sente relatively unspecialiied, nmkln暴 Hull dllllnctlon between the solitary, the monastic and the »ecuiar life'.

INNER JOURNEYS

crucified Christ rather than through travelling to the site o f the Crucifixion. For Rolle and Julian such m editations on G od's revelation form a vital part of the spiritual route to be taken; for the C/owrf-author, on the other hand, true spiritual journeying is described in terms o f the via negativa, a process o f moving away from all th at is known in order to encounter the one who is beyond hum an thought. W alter Hilton offers a middle way, quick to warn o f the dangers of spiritual excess, yet writing with a kind o f controlled passion which is extraordinarily powerful, about the possibility o f encountering u o d within the inner reaches o f the soul. Passion also characterises the Book o f Margery Kempe, though control is not such an obvious feature o f Margery^s response to u o d . M any have dismissed or marginalised M argery's Book; yet there are core elements of her approach to life which have more in common with other, more structured, mystical writers, than might be supposed. Placing the works o f such a disparate group of writers witnin the framework of the pilgrimage m otif provides valuable insights into their comm on heritage, bringing to the fore three elements which are both deeply rooted in biblical and patristic traam o n and highly characteristic o f the later middle ages: interiorisation, anticipation and the prioritisation o f person over place . 51 The interior Jerusalem In exploring the relationship between place pilgrimage and the inner spir­ itual journeys experienced by writers such as Rolle, H ilton and the Cloudauthor, Victor and Edith Turner observe: 'Pilgrimage may be thought o f as extroverted mysticism, just as mysticism is introverted pilgrimage. The pilgrim physically travels a mystical way; the mystic sets forth on an interior spiritual pilgrimage / 52 An insistence on the interior nature of spiritual journeying is indeed intrinsic to medieval mystical writings . 53 In his influential treatise, Itinerarium Mentis in Deum, Bonaventure ( c . 1217-74) describes the stages o f "interior progress, {gradus interiores)54 by which the individual may arrive at the ‘interior Jerusalem ， （ /n ï’wrmorf The treatise draws heavily upon biblical images of exile and pilgrimage, exodus and promised hom eland .56 51 All of which can be observed in Pearl. See below. 52 Turner and Turner (1978), 33-4. J3 Dinzelbacher (1987), 120, speaks of the burning of the individual to its own interior'. Jeffrey comments: T h e goal of the mystics, briefly put, is to be so carried out of the physical world in the ecstasis of contemplation that the soul enters into an inner and utter communion with God, an ^inexpressible foretaste of eternal sw eetness,as Rolle says. The experience is profoundly emotional and interior.' The Law of Love,16. 54 Bonaventure; itinéraire, 1.1. 95 Bonaventure; hinêrain, V II.1. S6 'The Latin term Uintrarium, which could be rendered by the English “itinerary,” in Bonaventure'i day m u n t what p«rtftini to a journey in general,a plan for a journey or a description o f « journ«yi in eod« 111111cal terminology it also meant a prayer for a safe journey or

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

INNER JOURNEYS

W e shall be tru e H ebrew s passing over from E gypt to the lan d prom ised to their fathers (E xodus 13: 3ff.); we shall also be C hristians passing over w ith C h rist fro m this world to the father (Jo h n 13:1).

exposition o f interior pilgrimage 61 as a inverted image o f the pilgrimage to the earthly Jerusalem :62

{Itinerarium^ 1.9) By the sta ff o f the cross he passes over the R ed Sea, going fro m E gypt in to the desert, w here he will ta ste the hidden m am a; an d w ith C h rist he rests in the to m b as if d ead to the o u te r w orld b u t experiencing, as fa r as is possible in this w ay farer's state, w h at w as said o n th e cross to the th ief w ho ad h ered to C hrist;

Today you shall be with me in paradise. T he soul, by entering into itself, enters the heavenly Jerusalem , w here beholding the choirs o f angels, it sees in them G od.

(IV.4) This inward movement described by Bonaventure, founded upon prayer, holiness of life and m editation , 57 lies at the heart of the experiences outlined by R ichard Rolle 58 and W alter Hilton. Both, like Bonaventure, see the mystical life as a steady ascent but, while Rolle believes that only those committed to the solitary life are able to enjoy such comm union with G od , 59 Hilton, writing nearly half a century later, is more flexible in his approach. His M ixed Life offers advice to a layman on combining elements o f the Active and Contemplative lives and in the second book of the Scale o f Perfection he also seems to open up the way o f contem plation to a wider audience .60 This apparent liberality also marks a shift towards greater interiorisation, since H ilton seems to be less concerned with physical detachm ent from the world than with an all-absorbing spiritual focus upon the desired goal. He deals in considerable depth with the inherent sinfulness o f the hum an heart, pointing out in Book I that to be enclosed is not in itself to be free from sin. His thoroughgoing exposition o f sin is m atched with a persuasive account of the efficacy o f penance and a powerful a pilgrimage to, or a description of a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. In his title Bonaventure seems to include all of these meanings symbolically, since they are all contained in some way in the piece itself.1 Bonaventure, The Soul's Journeyy Introduction 21. 37 *We must first pray, then live holy lives and thirdly concentrate our attention upon the reflections of truth. By concentrating there we must ascend step by step until we reach the height of the mountain where the God o f gods is seen in Sion.' Bonaventure, The Soul's Journey^ 1.8. 31 '[Rolle] throughout his works associates the solitary life with the interior life of the spirit; in his model the hermit’s conversion from the world is a turning from flesh to spirit, and from outer to inner.* Watson (1989),136. 39 T h e harmony between Rollers sense of himself and of other hermits as specialists of the inner life and his evangelistic desire to share his knowledge breaks down in the insistence that the spiritual life at its highest is practised only by hermits.' Watson (1989),142. 60 John Clark in his introduction to the Scale notes a o f emphasis between the two books; Scale l envisages the contemplative Ufe a» the pretcrve, in principle, of those vowed to the contemplative religious state, while Scalt 2 Met "contemplation" o r (as it is there called) ‘•rcfomiing in feeling’’, as something to whtoh «vti> Chrlitian fthould aspire， whatever his or her state in life1; Hilton, Scale, 19-20. Thli ihift In «mphaiis opens the way for someone like Margery Kempe to explore new wayi of lnU|rftllng myatical experience into life in the wider world.

T h ere is one w ay . . . anyone w ho tak es an d keeps to it shall com e to the city o f Jerusalem , an d never lose his life o r be slain o r die o f w ant. H e w ould often be ro b b e d a n d badly beaten an d suffer g reat distress on his jo u rn ey , b u t his life w ould be safe . . . W h atever you h ear, see o r feel th a t w ould hinder you o n y o u r way, do not willingly stay w ith i t . . . b u t alw ays go fo rth on your w ay a n d think th a t you w a n t to be in Jeru salem ___ I f m en w ant to delay you w ith stories and feed you w ith lies, trying to d raw you to pleasures an d m ake you leave y o u r pilgrim age, tu rn a d e a f ear an d d o n o t reply, saying only th a t you w an t to be in Jerusalem . T h e beginning o f the highw ay along w hich you shall go is reform ing in faith . . . yo u are on the rig h t ro a d if you are now reform ed by the sacram ent o f penance. . . Ju st as a true pilgrim going to Jerusalem leaves behind him house an d land, wife a n d children, a n d m akes him self p o o r and b are o f all th a t he has in order to travel light an d w ith o u t hindrance, so if you w ant to be a spiritual pilgrim you are to m ake yourself nak ed o f all th a t you have . . . Y o u shall w ithin a sh o rt tim e com e to the city o f Jerusalem . (11.21) D o n o t believe [your enemies]. Say n o th in g else b u t th a t y o u w ant to have Jesus a n d be in Jerusalem . . . . K eep o n y o u r w ay to Jerusalem . (11.22) W hen you arc in this darkness you are m uch n earer Jerusalem th a n when you are in the m idst o f th a t false l i g h t . . . the desire to love Jesus, felt in this d ark n ess, kills all sins . . . then you are fast draw ing n ear to Jerusalem . Y ou are n o t th e re yet, b u t before you com e to it you will be able to see it fro m afar, by the sm all sudden gleam s th a t shine th ro u g h little crannies from afar. (11.25)

There is a curious tension involved in H ilton5s use o f this extended pilgrim­ age m etaphor. So vividly realised are the incidents and attitudes which he selects63 from the experiences o f place pilgrims th at the exemplum is in danger o f overshadowing, or even contradicting the application. Hilton's general attitude towards visiting holy places is less than positive. N ot only does he insist that travelling to 'Rom e and Jerusalem* is unnecessary (1.49); he also suggests that place pilgrimage represents an easier option than living a life o f charity, that is pursuing a life o f moral pilgrimage of the kind advocated by Langland: ‘There is no difficulty in . . . going to Rome and Jerusalem on your bare fe e t.. . . But it is a very difficult thing for someone to love his fellow Christian in charity* (1.65).64 Yet for all its potential ambiguity, the power o f the pilgrim image in this context is unm istakable, comm unicating in poetic yet intensely practical form the essentials o f the 61 This conjunction of themes mirrors the three-cornered relationship between the seven deadly sins, penance and the pilgrimage of life topos observed earlier in Piers Plowman and the Canterbury Tales (see Chapters 9 and 10 above). 61 Hussey (1989), \ 2\%when speaking of compilations which include extracts from the mystics, comments that 'the pilgrimage to Jerusalem from Scale II became something of a fifteenthcentury clatiic'. 63 Account! of pitgrimigoi to holy placet» such as those of Felix Fabri and Margery Kempe, suggest that thii li i lonMwhat idMllMd summary. M Compart Qraaory of N y iu «nd Jtromt (Chapter 3 above).

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

INNER JOURNEYS

W e shall be tru e H ebrew s passing over from E gypt to the lan d prom ised to their fathers (E xodus 13: 3ff.); we shall also be C hristians passing over w ith C h rist fro m this world to the father (Jo h n 13:1).

exposition o f interior pilgrimage 61 as a inverted image o f the pilgrimage to the earthly Jerusalem :62

{Itinerarium^ 1.9) By the sta ff o f the cross he passes over the R ed Sea, going fro m E gypt in to the desert, w here he will ta ste the hidden m am a; an d w ith C h rist he rests in the to m b as if d ead to the o u te r w orld b u t experiencing, as fa r as is possible in this w ay farer's state, w h at w as said o n th e cross to the th ief w ho ad h ered to C hrist;

Today you shall be with me in paradise. T he soul, by entering into itself, enters the heavenly Jerusalem , w here beholding the choirs o f angels, it sees in them G od.

(IV.4) This inward movement described by Bonaventure, founded upon prayer, holiness of life and m editation , 57 lies at the heart of the experiences outlined by R ichard Rolle 58 and W alter Hilton. Both, like Bonaventure, see the mystical life as a steady ascent but, while Rolle believes that only those committed to the solitary life are able to enjoy such comm union with G od , 59 Hilton, writing nearly half a century later, is more flexible in his approach. His M ixed Life offers advice to a layman on combining elements o f the Active and Contemplative lives and in the second book of the Scale o f Perfection he also seems to open up the way o f contem plation to a wider audience .60 This apparent liberality also marks a shift towards greater interiorisation, since H ilton seems to be less concerned with physical detachm ent from the world than with an all-absorbing spiritual focus upon the desired goal. He deals in considerable depth with the inherent sinfulness o f the hum an heart, pointing out in Book I that to be enclosed is not in itself to be free from sin. His thoroughgoing exposition o f sin is m atched with a persuasive account of the efficacy o f penance and a powerful a pilgrimage to, or a description of a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. In his title Bonaventure seems to include all of these meanings symbolically, since they are all contained in some way in the piece itself.1 Bonaventure, The Soul's Journeyy Introduction 21. 37 *We must first pray, then live holy lives and thirdly concentrate our attention upon the reflections of truth. By concentrating there we must ascend step by step until we reach the height of the mountain where the God o f gods is seen in Sion.' Bonaventure, The Soul's Journey^ 1.8. 31 '[Rolle] throughout his works associates the solitary life with the interior life of the spirit; in his model the hermit’s conversion from the world is a turning from flesh to spirit, and from outer to inner.* Watson (1989),136. 39 T h e harmony between Rollers sense of himself and of other hermits as specialists of the inner life and his evangelistic desire to share his knowledge breaks down in the insistence that the spiritual life at its highest is practised only by hermits.' Watson (1989),142. 60 John Clark in his introduction to the Scale notes a o f emphasis between the two books; Scale l envisages the contemplative Ufe a» the pretcrve, in principle, of those vowed to the contemplative religious state, while Scalt 2 Met "contemplation" o r (as it is there called) ‘•rcfomiing in feeling’’, as something to whtoh «vti> Chrlitian fthould aspire， whatever his or her state in life1; Hilton, Scale, 19-20. Thli ihift In «mphaiis opens the way for someone like Margery Kempe to explore new wayi of lnU|rftllng myatical experience into life in the wider world.

T h ere is one w ay . . . anyone w ho tak es an d keeps to it shall com e to the city o f Jerusalem , an d never lose his life o r be slain o r die o f w ant. H e w ould often be ro b b e d a n d badly beaten an d suffer g reat distress on his jo u rn ey , b u t his life w ould be safe . . . W h atever you h ear, see o r feel th a t w ould hinder you o n y o u r way, do not willingly stay w ith i t . . . b u t alw ays go fo rth on your w ay a n d think th a t you w a n t to be in Jeru salem ___ I f m en w ant to delay you w ith stories and feed you w ith lies, trying to d raw you to pleasures an d m ake you leave y o u r pilgrim age, tu rn a d e a f ear an d d o n o t reply, saying only th a t you w an t to be in Jerusalem . T h e beginning o f the highw ay along w hich you shall go is reform ing in faith . . . yo u are on the rig h t ro a d if you are now reform ed by the sacram ent o f penance. . . Ju st as a true pilgrim going to Jerusalem leaves behind him house an d land, wife a n d children, a n d m akes him self p o o r and b are o f all th a t he has in order to travel light an d w ith o u t hindrance, so if you w ant to be a spiritual pilgrim you are to m ake yourself nak ed o f all th a t you have . . . Y o u shall w ithin a sh o rt tim e com e to the city o f Jerusalem . (11.21) D o n o t believe [your enemies]. Say n o th in g else b u t th a t y o u w ant to have Jesus a n d be in Jerusalem . . . . K eep o n y o u r w ay to Jerusalem . (11.22) W hen you arc in this darkness you are m uch n earer Jerusalem th a n when you are in the m idst o f th a t false l i g h t . . . the desire to love Jesus, felt in this d ark n ess, kills all sins . . . then you are fast draw ing n ear to Jerusalem . Y ou are n o t th e re yet, b u t before you com e to it you will be able to see it fro m afar, by the sm all sudden gleam s th a t shine th ro u g h little crannies from afar. (11.25)

There is a curious tension involved in H ilton5s use o f this extended pilgrim­ age m etaphor. So vividly realised are the incidents and attitudes which he selects63 from the experiences o f place pilgrims th at the exemplum is in danger o f overshadowing, or even contradicting the application. Hilton's general attitude towards visiting holy places is less than positive. N ot only does he insist that travelling to 'Rom e and Jerusalem* is unnecessary (1.49); he also suggests that place pilgrimage represents an easier option than living a life o f charity, that is pursuing a life o f moral pilgrimage of the kind advocated by Langland: ‘There is no difficulty in . . . going to Rome and Jerusalem on your bare fe e t.. . . But it is a very difficult thing for someone to love his fellow Christian in charity* (1.65).64 Yet for all its potential ambiguity, the power o f the pilgrim image in this context is unm istakable, comm unicating in poetic yet intensely practical form the essentials o f the 61 This conjunction of themes mirrors the three-cornered relationship between the seven deadly sins, penance and the pilgrimage of life topos observed earlier in Piers Plowman and the Canterbury Tales (see Chapters 9 and 10 above). 61 Hussey (1989), \ 2\%when speaking of compilations which include extracts from the mystics, comments that 'the pilgrimage to Jerusalem from Scale II became something of a fifteenthcentury clatiic'. 63 Account! of pitgrimigoi to holy placet» such as those of Felix Fabri and Margery Kempe, suggest that thii li i lonMwhat idMllMd summary. M Compart Qraaory of N y iu «nd Jtromt (Chapter 3 above).

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

INNER JOURNEYS

journey: the distractions which will beset those in search o f G od, the need for single-mindedness and perseverance, and, above all, the need to be possessed by an overwhelming desire to reach the goal. To reject physical journeying is only half the story; what Hilton puts in its place is a journey in which every positive characteristic o f the place pilgrim is taken and set alight with a burning desire for G o d . 65

five stages o f contem plation, the fifth being ‘whanne a m an . . . is reised up to \>e biholdyng of heuenli }?ingis. And )?anne feelij? and perseyuej? he a glymerynge o f heuenly blis’ （Chapter IV).7。 F or the C/owゴ-author， such experiences are more rare and rarified， yet none the less real:

Anticipation A striking element o f the spirituality of Rolle, Hilton and the other English mystics is the tem poral duality o f their ambitions and experiences, a factor noted by M arion Glasscoe who speaks of the m ystics' w itness th a t tru e h u m an fulfilm ent is the co n c o m ita n t o f w h at is experienced as a spiritual jo u rn ey to a goal beyond tim e th a t is occasionally a n ticip ated and know n in tim e, the elem ent w ithin w hich o u r curiously m ixed physical an d spiritual n atu res cohere a n d m atu re. T hey convey a double sense o f experience: th a t o f a linear process; b u t also o f an eternal state o f being w hich inform s an d tran scen d s it, an d w hich is accessed w ithin the stru ctu re o f h u m a n n atu re, itself p ro g ram m ed w ith a restlessness th a t can be assuaged by n o th in g less.66

The mystics, therefore, are prepared, as pilgrims and strangers on earth, to travel the long road to heaven; yet they also wish, through their interior journeying, to be allowed to experience something o f heaven in the present. Rolle in his Incendium Amoris, speaks o f his initial astonishment that such a thing could be possible: 'I had never thought that we exiles could possibly have known such w arm th ’ ,67 yet his own experience leads him to urge others to enjoy such foretastes o f the heavenly homeland: A nd J?i th o g h t sal al be on Jhesu, an d so be receyved aboven al erthly thyng, aboven firm am ent a n d \>c sternes, so }?at \>c egh o f ]?\ h ert m ai loke intil heven.68

Hilton speaks o f the contemplative being Illumined by the grace o f the Holy Spirit to see intellectually the T ruth, which is G od, and also spiritual things, with a soft sweet burning love for him* and encourages the belief that ‘the beginning of this contem plation may be felt in this life’ though ‘the fullness o f it is kept in heaven \ 69 In Eight Chapters on Perfection he outlines 65 As another great English mystical writer of the period made clear» echoing the words of Augustine and Bernard, it is to be Yonne by desires, not by pases o f feet'. Cloud of Unknowing, 112/14. 66 Glasscoe (1993), 4. 67 Rolle, Fire of Love, Prologue. 68 Rolle, Ego Dormio, 259-62 in English Writings. Similarly in Angels' Song, 15, Hilton comments: ^ i s wondyrful onyd may noU3 t be fulfilled parfitely, contynuelly, holyly in }?is lyfe for corrupcion of 卜e flesche，bo 丨anly in )?e blis of heuen.’ 176. M Hilton, Scale, 1.8. Compare Adam of Dryburgh. See James Hogg who quotes Adam's insistence that 'the life of the ceU U H euential to the interior life as water is to fish and sheepfold to sheep* and notes his claim (hut (hc who lives in the cell lives in heaven*. Hogg (1989), 75.

218

J?an wil he sum tym e p a rau en tu re seend o ute a bem e o f goostly Ü3 t, peersyng )?is cloude o f vnknow yng . . . )?an schalt )?ou fele J?ine afïfeccion enflam id wij? ]>e fiire o f his loue, fer m ore J?en I k an telle J>ee, o r m ay, o r wile, a t }?is tym e.71

The priority of person over place Though Bonaventure speaks o f seeking an ‘interior Jerusalem ’ it is clear that in this context, as in the Psalms which Bonaventure expounds, Jerusalem is of importance only as the place in which G od is to be found . 72 The goal of the contemplative is quite definitely not a place but a person : 73 A ccording to o u r spiritual p ro p o sitio n , Jerusalem is as m uch to say sight o f peace a n d stands fo r co ntem plation . . . fo r co n tem p latio n is no th in g o th e r th a n a sight o f Jesus, w ho is tru e peace.

(11.21)

H ilton^ statement makes apparent a simultaneous correspondence and contradistinction between place pilgrimage and interior pilgrimage. As we have seen, the desire to encounter a person was fundam ental to the Christian understanding o f place pilgrimage. To journey to the earthly Jerusalem was in essence to journey to the place on earth where God was most especially present. H ilton’s stress on the etymology o f the name brings out the true nature of both the earthly and the heavenly Jerusalems as settings in which God is to be contemplated and worshipped. At the same time it suggests the irrelevance o f physical travel in such a quest. Dinzelbacher notes th at 'the characteristic feature o f the later mystics is the ecstatic meeting with G od, rather than the ecstatic visit to eschatolo­ gical spaces (which exist in their spiritual world as well but are clearly of less im portance ) ’ .74

70 Hilton, Eight Chapters on Perfection. 71 Cloud of Unknowing, 62/14. 72 Bonaventure states: *We must ascend step by step until we reach the height of the mountain where the God of gods is seen in Sion (Ps. 83: 8)* Bonaventure, The Soul's Journey, 1.8. Compare Hilton: T he God of gods shall be seen in Syon . . . he shall give gifts o f grace to his chosen souls . . . through which grace they shall profit and grow from strength to strength till they come to Syon; that is until they come to contemplation, in which they shall see the God of gods.* Hilton, Scale. 11.19. 71 Ai Huiiey point! out. the myitici described what they did as Contemplation*; Hussey ¢1989), 109. The object of their contemplution was Ood.

74 Dinzetbiclwr (1987), 125.

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

INNER JOURNEYS

journey: the distractions which will beset those in search o f G od, the need for single-mindedness and perseverance, and, above all, the need to be possessed by an overwhelming desire to reach the goal. To reject physical journeying is only half the story; what Hilton puts in its place is a journey in which every positive characteristic o f the place pilgrim is taken and set alight with a burning desire for G o d . 65

five stages o f contem plation, the fifth being ‘whanne a m an . . . is reised up to \>e biholdyng of heuenli }?ingis. And )?anne feelij? and perseyuej? he a glymerynge o f heuenly blis’ （Chapter IV).7。 F or the C/owゴ-author， such experiences are more rare and rarified， yet none the less real:

Anticipation A striking element o f the spirituality of Rolle, Hilton and the other English mystics is the tem poral duality o f their ambitions and experiences, a factor noted by M arion Glasscoe who speaks of the m ystics' w itness th a t tru e h u m an fulfilm ent is the co n c o m ita n t o f w h at is experienced as a spiritual jo u rn ey to a goal beyond tim e th a t is occasionally a n ticip ated and know n in tim e, the elem ent w ithin w hich o u r curiously m ixed physical an d spiritual n atu res cohere a n d m atu re. T hey convey a double sense o f experience: th a t o f a linear process; b u t also o f an eternal state o f being w hich inform s an d tran scen d s it, an d w hich is accessed w ithin the stru ctu re o f h u m a n n atu re, itself p ro g ram m ed w ith a restlessness th a t can be assuaged by n o th in g less.66

The mystics, therefore, are prepared, as pilgrims and strangers on earth, to travel the long road to heaven; yet they also wish, through their interior journeying, to be allowed to experience something o f heaven in the present. Rolle in his Incendium Amoris, speaks o f his initial astonishment that such a thing could be possible: 'I had never thought that we exiles could possibly have known such w arm th ’ ,67 yet his own experience leads him to urge others to enjoy such foretastes o f the heavenly homeland: A nd J?i th o g h t sal al be on Jhesu, an d so be receyved aboven al erthly thyng, aboven firm am ent a n d \>c sternes, so }?at \>c egh o f ]?\ h ert m ai loke intil heven.68

Hilton speaks o f the contemplative being Illumined by the grace o f the Holy Spirit to see intellectually the T ruth, which is G od, and also spiritual things, with a soft sweet burning love for him* and encourages the belief that ‘the beginning of this contem plation may be felt in this life’ though ‘the fullness o f it is kept in heaven \ 69 In Eight Chapters on Perfection he outlines 65 As another great English mystical writer of the period made clear» echoing the words of Augustine and Bernard, it is to be Yonne by desires, not by pases o f feet'. Cloud of Unknowing, 112/14. 66 Glasscoe (1993), 4. 67 Rolle, Fire of Love, Prologue. 68 Rolle, Ego Dormio, 259-62 in English Writings. Similarly in Angels' Song, 15, Hilton comments: ^ i s wondyrful onyd may noU3 t be fulfilled parfitely, contynuelly, holyly in }?is lyfe for corrupcion of 卜e flesche，bo 丨anly in )?e blis of heuen.’ 176. M Hilton, Scale, 1.8. Compare Adam of Dryburgh. See James Hogg who quotes Adam's insistence that 'the life of the ceU U H euential to the interior life as water is to fish and sheepfold to sheep* and notes his claim (hut (hc who lives in the cell lives in heaven*. Hogg (1989), 75.

218

J?an wil he sum tym e p a rau en tu re seend o ute a bem e o f goostly Ü3 t, peersyng )?is cloude o f vnknow yng . . . )?an schalt )?ou fele J?ine afïfeccion enflam id wij? ]>e fiire o f his loue, fer m ore J?en I k an telle J>ee, o r m ay, o r wile, a t }?is tym e.71

The priority of person over place Though Bonaventure speaks o f seeking an ‘interior Jerusalem ’ it is clear that in this context, as in the Psalms which Bonaventure expounds, Jerusalem is of importance only as the place in which G od is to be found . 72 The goal of the contemplative is quite definitely not a place but a person : 73 A ccording to o u r spiritual p ro p o sitio n , Jerusalem is as m uch to say sight o f peace a n d stands fo r co ntem plation . . . fo r co n tem p latio n is no th in g o th e r th a n a sight o f Jesus, w ho is tru e peace.

(11.21)

H ilton^ statement makes apparent a simultaneous correspondence and contradistinction between place pilgrimage and interior pilgrimage. As we have seen, the desire to encounter a person was fundam ental to the Christian understanding o f place pilgrimage. To journey to the earthly Jerusalem was in essence to journey to the place on earth where God was most especially present. H ilton’s stress on the etymology o f the name brings out the true nature of both the earthly and the heavenly Jerusalems as settings in which God is to be contemplated and worshipped. At the same time it suggests the irrelevance o f physical travel in such a quest. Dinzelbacher notes th at 'the characteristic feature o f the later mystics is the ecstatic meeting with G od, rather than the ecstatic visit to eschatolo­ gical spaces (which exist in their spiritual world as well but are clearly of less im portance ) ’ .74

70 Hilton, Eight Chapters on Perfection. 71 Cloud of Unknowing, 62/14. 72 Bonaventure states: *We must ascend step by step until we reach the height of the mountain where the God of gods is seen in Sion (Ps. 83: 8)* Bonaventure, The Soul's Journey, 1.8. Compare Hilton: T he God of gods shall be seen in Syon . . . he shall give gifts o f grace to his chosen souls . . . through which grace they shall profit and grow from strength to strength till they come to Syon; that is until they come to contemplation, in which they shall see the God of gods.* Hilton, Scale. 11.19. 71 Ai Huiiey point! out. the myitici described what they did as Contemplation*; Hussey ¢1989), 109. The object of their contemplution was Ood.

74 Dinzetbiclwr (1987), 125.

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

Margery Kempe: a model of integration?

The Book oj Margery Kempe has intrigued and infuriated modern critics , 75 just as its heroine seems to have intrigued and infuriated her contemporaries. The work claims to be a 'schort tretys and a comfortabyl for synful wrecchys' (Proem, 1-2), charting the spiritual journey o f one who moves from a condition of going astray and experiencing spiritual instability to comm itm ent to the way which would lead her to the joys o f heaven: this creatur whych many yerys had gon wyl[astray] and evyr ben unstable, was parfythly drawen and steryd to entren the wey of hy perfeccyon. (Book of Margery Kempe, Proem, 23-5)76

Yet the text, produced according to the Proem under circumstances of considerable difficulty, is neither a saint's life77 nor a treatise on the mystical way such as those produced by Rolle or H ilton . 78 Its unique character derives largely from the fact that, although it is written in the third person, the narrative voice is in fact that of the chief protagonist, M argery herself .79 Hagiographical texts, though always shaped by a specific agenda, usually claim a measure of detachm ent since they are presented as biographies rather than as autobiographies. In M argery's Book, however, we are apparently offered an ‘inside， view of how the world appears to the one struggling to achieve sanctity, a self-portrait o f a would-be saint. Before accepting the lessons which the Book claims to im part, it is therefore necessary for the reader to evaluate the one whose experiences are portrayed. It is for this reason that the majority of those seeking to interpret M argery's Book have focused upon the problem of understanding Margery herself, together with her relationships with the wider com m unity .80 Like these critics, I too wish to concentrate upon the figure o f M argery as presented in the text. Unlike many of these critics, however, I wish to suggest th at the most useful key to the interpretation of M argery’s character and conduct lies not in seeking to identify physiological or emotional diseases from which she may have suffered , 81 but in the various under­ standings o f pilgrimage which were available to her and which, I believe, shaped her curious history. The rem arkably frank account contained in the Book o f Margery Kempe outlines the history of a proud, ambitious woman, daughter of one wealthy 75 See McEntire (1992b), Introduction. 74 Quotations are taken from Margery Kempe (ed. Windeatt). 77 See Szell (1992) on parallels between the Book and female saints' Lives. 78 In fact as Atkinson observes Margery 'meant her book to be a witness, not a theological treatise*. Atkinson (1983), 24. ， 79 I disagree with Lynn Staley, who in the introduction to her edition of the Book o f Margery Kempe, 8-10, differentiates between Kempe the narrator and Margery the fictional heroine. w See Wilson (1997). See also Stokei (1999), 11 Though these may have been a contributory factor in the expression of her spirituality. 220

INNER JOURNEYS

tradesman and reluctant wife o f another, whose life was changed by a com bination of illness and spiritual revelation. Urged on by the glimpse of heavenly joy which she received in a dream (1.3), M argery expressed her passionate longing to encounter G od in a tireless round o f pilgrimaging as she visited Canterbury, Compostela, Rome, Assisi, Jerusalem and many other holy places 'for gostly [spiritual] helth* (1.10). N o t for M argery the quiet of the cloister or the anchorite’s cell: indeed M aureen Fries， in comparing her with Julian of Norwich, comments th at the two resemble ‘constant m otion opposed to complete stasis ’.82 M argery’s earnest desire for ‘hy contem placyon’ （Proem, 52) resulted in visions, conversations with Christ and his m other and noisy fits o f weeping. These became more pronounced when she journeyed to Rome and Jerusalem and, not surpris­ ingly, made her an uncomfortable travelling companion. Yet M argery's narrative, for all its apparent self-promotion and lack o f order , 83 reveals two elements which make her an im portant figure in the discussion o f the pilgrimage m otif and its various strands o f meaning: a refusal to recognise boundaries and a surprising degree of spiritual integration. There is, I believe, an innate order to M argery's Hie out one which is not immediately apparent to the modern reader. The tendency, observable in both those who would dismiss her mystical pretensions 84 and those who would defend her as a proto-feminist, to focus on the perceived disorderliness o f her behaviour, has acted as a barrier to understanding what she was seeking to achieve within her own terms o f reference. There have been many attem pts to analyse M argery and her behaviour and assess her status within the mystical tradition .85 She has been dismissed as ‘quite m ad ’ ， 86 and described as an example of ‘hysterical devotionalism’ whose case illustrates 'social and sexual repression in the later medieval world 5.87 There have also been suggestions that her behaviour was triggered by a variety of physical and psychiatric problem s . 88 Her approach to spirituality has been written off as bizarre; it has also been recognised, with I believe a considerable measure o f justification， as ‘solidly rooted in medieval spiritual traditions 5. 89 The influence of the Continental women mystics is clearly of particular significance here . 90 M argery enters into the 82 Fries (1984), 229. 83 Both in terms of structure and in terms of the behaviour depicted within it. 84 Knowles (1961),148, concludes that her book *has little in it of deep spiritual wisdom and nothing of true mystical experience*. 83 McEntire (1992b), Introduction, has a useful summary. 86 Howard (1980), 34. 87 Weissman (1982), 202. See also Partner (1991), 60-6. fta Such as various forms of epilepsy. Whilst not excluding the possibility that some of Margery's behaviour may have been prompted by physiological or psychiatric disorders, her Book remains a text which preMnti itielf at a work of spiritual value and part o f it was apparently preserved as such by the Carthuilant.

n Armstrong (1992),17,

w Richie (1981) ixplorai thfM oonncctioni.

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

Margery Kempe: a model of integration?

The Book oj Margery Kempe has intrigued and infuriated modern critics , 75 just as its heroine seems to have intrigued and infuriated her contemporaries. The work claims to be a 'schort tretys and a comfortabyl for synful wrecchys' (Proem, 1-2), charting the spiritual journey o f one who moves from a condition of going astray and experiencing spiritual instability to comm itm ent to the way which would lead her to the joys o f heaven: this creatur whych many yerys had gon wyl[astray] and evyr ben unstable, was parfythly drawen and steryd to entren the wey of hy perfeccyon. (Book of Margery Kempe, Proem, 23-5)76

Yet the text, produced according to the Proem under circumstances of considerable difficulty, is neither a saint's life77 nor a treatise on the mystical way such as those produced by Rolle or H ilton . 78 Its unique character derives largely from the fact that, although it is written in the third person, the narrative voice is in fact that of the chief protagonist, M argery herself .79 Hagiographical texts, though always shaped by a specific agenda, usually claim a measure of detachm ent since they are presented as biographies rather than as autobiographies. In M argery's Book, however, we are apparently offered an ‘inside， view of how the world appears to the one struggling to achieve sanctity, a self-portrait o f a would-be saint. Before accepting the lessons which the Book claims to im part, it is therefore necessary for the reader to evaluate the one whose experiences are portrayed. It is for this reason that the majority of those seeking to interpret M argery's Book have focused upon the problem of understanding Margery herself, together with her relationships with the wider com m unity .80 Like these critics, I too wish to concentrate upon the figure o f M argery as presented in the text. Unlike many of these critics, however, I wish to suggest th at the most useful key to the interpretation of M argery’s character and conduct lies not in seeking to identify physiological or emotional diseases from which she may have suffered , 81 but in the various under­ standings o f pilgrimage which were available to her and which, I believe, shaped her curious history. The rem arkably frank account contained in the Book o f Margery Kempe outlines the history of a proud, ambitious woman, daughter of one wealthy 75 See McEntire (1992b), Introduction. 74 Quotations are taken from Margery Kempe (ed. Windeatt). 77 See Szell (1992) on parallels between the Book and female saints' Lives. 78 In fact as Atkinson observes Margery 'meant her book to be a witness, not a theological treatise*. Atkinson (1983), 24. ， 79 I disagree with Lynn Staley, who in the introduction to her edition of the Book o f Margery Kempe, 8-10, differentiates between Kempe the narrator and Margery the fictional heroine. w See Wilson (1997). See also Stokei (1999), 11 Though these may have been a contributory factor in the expression of her spirituality. 220

INNER JOURNEYS

tradesman and reluctant wife o f another, whose life was changed by a com bination of illness and spiritual revelation. Urged on by the glimpse of heavenly joy which she received in a dream (1.3), M argery expressed her passionate longing to encounter G od in a tireless round o f pilgrimaging as she visited Canterbury, Compostela, Rome, Assisi, Jerusalem and many other holy places 'for gostly [spiritual] helth* (1.10). N o t for M argery the quiet of the cloister or the anchorite’s cell: indeed M aureen Fries， in comparing her with Julian of Norwich, comments th at the two resemble ‘constant m otion opposed to complete stasis ’.82 M argery’s earnest desire for ‘hy contem placyon’ （Proem, 52) resulted in visions, conversations with Christ and his m other and noisy fits o f weeping. These became more pronounced when she journeyed to Rome and Jerusalem and, not surpris­ ingly, made her an uncomfortable travelling companion. Yet M argery's narrative, for all its apparent self-promotion and lack o f order , 83 reveals two elements which make her an im portant figure in the discussion o f the pilgrimage m otif and its various strands o f meaning: a refusal to recognise boundaries and a surprising degree of spiritual integration. There is, I believe, an innate order to M argery's Hie out one which is not immediately apparent to the modern reader. The tendency, observable in both those who would dismiss her mystical pretensions 84 and those who would defend her as a proto-feminist, to focus on the perceived disorderliness o f her behaviour, has acted as a barrier to understanding what she was seeking to achieve within her own terms o f reference. There have been many attem pts to analyse M argery and her behaviour and assess her status within the mystical tradition .85 She has been dismissed as ‘quite m ad ’ ， 86 and described as an example of ‘hysterical devotionalism’ whose case illustrates 'social and sexual repression in the later medieval world 5.87 There have also been suggestions that her behaviour was triggered by a variety of physical and psychiatric problem s . 88 Her approach to spirituality has been written off as bizarre; it has also been recognised, with I believe a considerable measure o f justification， as ‘solidly rooted in medieval spiritual traditions 5. 89 The influence of the Continental women mystics is clearly of particular significance here . 90 M argery enters into the 82 Fries (1984), 229. 83 Both in terms of structure and in terms of the behaviour depicted within it. 84 Knowles (1961),148, concludes that her book *has little in it of deep spiritual wisdom and nothing of true mystical experience*. 83 McEntire (1992b), Introduction, has a useful summary. 86 Howard (1980), 34. 87 Weissman (1982), 202. See also Partner (1991), 60-6. fta Such as various forms of epilepsy. Whilst not excluding the possibility that some of Margery's behaviour may have been prompted by physiological or psychiatric disorders, her Book remains a text which preMnti itielf at a work of spiritual value and part o f it was apparently preserved as such by the Carthuilant.

n Armstrong (1992),17,

w Richie (1981) ixplorai thfM oonncctioni.

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

INNER JOURNEYS

biblical narrative as outlined in the Pseudo-Bonaventuran M editations^ she manifests a gift o f tears, like M ary o f Oignes (d.1213);92 she undergoes a mystical wedding to Christ like D orothea o f M ontau (1347-94) and Catherine of Siena ( d . 1380); and fearlessly confronts powerful establish­ ment figures in the m anner o f Bridget of Sweden ( d . 1373).93 It is no accident, I suggest, th at Margery consistently describes herself as this creatur. She is in a sense a construct o f all the available spiritual models which her age offered to her - all o f them at once and all of them still in embryonic (some would say 'half-baked*) form. Yet there is a thread of consistent identity running through M argery's self-revelatory narrative - and it is the identity of a pilgrim. M argery's greatest attribute (and greatest problem) is that she wants to be a pilgrim in every sense o f the word. In this sense she is to be regarded not only as an heir to long-established spiritual traditions but as someone who seriously attem pted to develop and apply them to her own time and situation. According to her Book, she is conscious o f the 4wretchyd wordelys exile’ o f hum ankind (Chapter 42) and filled with longing for the ‘blysse of heven， （ C hapter 3)_ She longs for intimacy with G od in this world and her running dialogue with the various persons o f the Trinity functions as her personal equivalent o f the experiences which Rolle, Hilton and the Cloudauthor, in their different ways, interpret as progress in inner journeying: anticipations o f the joys o f heaven vouchsafed to those who are still on the road to the heavenly Jerusalem. As Professor Stan Hussey comments perceptively: ‘[Margery’s] direct access to Christ - in which he often takes the initiative - becomes her way o f transcending the world while still remaining in it . ' 94 M argery, as I indicated at the beginning of this chapter, refused to be bound by the conventional wisdom which, in effect, restricted Christians to enjoying at most two out o f the three chief modes o f pilgrimage: instead she sought to experience a highly unusual 95 combination of interior, moral and place pilgrimage. This instinct to integrate rather than select may be linked with a principle o f specifically feminine spirituality suggested by Sandra J. McEntire:

and visionary. It includes her essential nature and the contradictions which have been imposed upon her by her society and culture .96

T he p a tte rn o f fem ale s p iritu a lity . . . does n o t divide a w om an from herself b u t integrates her in her very self, including everything th a t enters h er sphere. She strives n o t so m uch fo r perfection as co m pletion. F o r w o m a n 's spiritual jo u rn ey , union includes all th a t is hom ely a n d earthly as well as th e mystic

W hether her attitude was due to her gender, tem peram ent, lack of theological understanding or overflowing devotion, M argery's whole tem­ pestuous career was shaped by her desire to simultaneously visit holy places, grow in obedience to G od and anticipate the joys o f heaven through intimate personal encounters with G od. It was this very refusal to choose between the traditional pilgrimage options, together with her determ ination to integrate what m any would consider irreconcilable, which made her so difficult for the ecclesiastical establishment to understand and for more conventional Christians to accept. M argery's whole life is characterised by the breaking down o f commonly accepted boundaries; indeed her eclectic spirituality leaves her vulnerable to charges o f Lollardry. Her attem pts to integrate her experience o f God into everyday life are at the root o f many o f the difficulties which beset her. She shocks clerics through the earthiness of her spirituality yet she also unnerves her fellow pilgrims by taking her spiritual concerns to the dinner table (1,26), She seeks the counsel of Julian o f Norwich; yet her desire for G od does not move her to follow Julian's example o f enclosure . 97 Presumably M argery could have opted for an anchorite's cell but she does not seem to view physical enclosure as a necessary concom itant o f spiritual journeying . 98 Instead her approach seems closer to H ilton's teaching in his M ixed Life and in Book II o f the Scale o f Perfection, in th at externals are seen as less im portant than inner motivation. M argery defied (and continues to defy) classification because she appears to have been either unable or unwilling to acknowledge the problems which had exercised theologians for centuries. The tension between interior pilgrimage and place pilgrimage simply does not seem to exist for her. She cannot perceive any difficulty in taking experiences which were supposed to belong within the cloister or the anchorite's cell out on the road with her, as she deals with the stresses o f daily life at home in East Anglia, and as she travels far and wide in search o f holy places. Strangely enough it is this very lack o f perception which gives M argery's life story its integrity and its stability. Stability may seem a curious word to apply to Margery Kempe; yet there is, I believe, a certain propriety in so doing. O f all the pilgrimage narratives which I have examined, it is M argery's account o f her life and spiritual experience which comes closest to resolving the tension between

v> Entering into the biblical narrative was supposed to shape the perceptions and spiritual growth of the one meditating; Margery, on the other hand, seems to show a strong disposition to do the shaping, as when she engages in a dispute with the Apostles (Chapter 73). 92 See Atkinson (1983), 31-1. Bridget o f Sweden, Liber Ceiesiis. M Husscy(1989), US. Dickman(1980), 169, suggests that Margery may have been influenced by the example of Bridget in seeking a ‘way to transcend the world while staying in it’. 99 She may be in part following the example of Bridget who founded a monastic order as well as undertaking place pilgrimagei m the result of her visions. See Holloway (1992).

w McEntire (1992a), 54-6. 97 Unlike Dorothea of Montau who after undergoing marriage, child-bearing, a vow of chastity, widowhood and pilgrimage to holy places (all experiences which Margery shared), became a recluse. See Gtasscoe (1993), 284-5. 91 Beckwith (1986), 37, comments: 'Margery was a religious woman who refused the space traditionally allotted to religious women - the sanctuary (or imprisonment) provided by the anchore»*! cell or the nunnery.'

222

223

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biblical narrative as outlined in the Pseudo-Bonaventuran M editations^ she manifests a gift o f tears, like M ary o f Oignes (d.1213);92 she undergoes a mystical wedding to Christ like D orothea o f M ontau (1347-94) and Catherine of Siena ( d . 1380); and fearlessly confronts powerful establish­ ment figures in the m anner o f Bridget of Sweden ( d . 1373).93 It is no accident, I suggest, th at Margery consistently describes herself as this creatur. She is in a sense a construct o f all the available spiritual models which her age offered to her - all o f them at once and all of them still in embryonic (some would say 'half-baked*) form. Yet there is a thread of consistent identity running through M argery's self-revelatory narrative - and it is the identity of a pilgrim. M argery's greatest attribute (and greatest problem) is that she wants to be a pilgrim in every sense o f the word. In this sense she is to be regarded not only as an heir to long-established spiritual traditions but as someone who seriously attem pted to develop and apply them to her own time and situation. According to her Book, she is conscious o f the 4wretchyd wordelys exile’ o f hum ankind (Chapter 42) and filled with longing for the ‘blysse of heven， （ C hapter 3)_ She longs for intimacy with G od in this world and her running dialogue with the various persons o f the Trinity functions as her personal equivalent o f the experiences which Rolle, Hilton and the Cloudauthor, in their different ways, interpret as progress in inner journeying: anticipations o f the joys o f heaven vouchsafed to those who are still on the road to the heavenly Jerusalem. As Professor Stan Hussey comments perceptively: ‘[Margery’s] direct access to Christ - in which he often takes the initiative - becomes her way o f transcending the world while still remaining in it . ' 94 M argery, as I indicated at the beginning of this chapter, refused to be bound by the conventional wisdom which, in effect, restricted Christians to enjoying at most two out o f the three chief modes o f pilgrimage: instead she sought to experience a highly unusual 95 combination of interior, moral and place pilgrimage. This instinct to integrate rather than select may be linked with a principle o f specifically feminine spirituality suggested by Sandra J. McEntire:

and visionary. It includes her essential nature and the contradictions which have been imposed upon her by her society and culture .96

T he p a tte rn o f fem ale s p iritu a lity . . . does n o t divide a w om an from herself b u t integrates her in her very self, including everything th a t enters h er sphere. She strives n o t so m uch fo r perfection as co m pletion. F o r w o m a n 's spiritual jo u rn ey , union includes all th a t is hom ely a n d earthly as well as th e mystic

W hether her attitude was due to her gender, tem peram ent, lack of theological understanding or overflowing devotion, M argery's whole tem­ pestuous career was shaped by her desire to simultaneously visit holy places, grow in obedience to G od and anticipate the joys o f heaven through intimate personal encounters with G od. It was this very refusal to choose between the traditional pilgrimage options, together with her determ ination to integrate what m any would consider irreconcilable, which made her so difficult for the ecclesiastical establishment to understand and for more conventional Christians to accept. M argery's whole life is characterised by the breaking down o f commonly accepted boundaries; indeed her eclectic spirituality leaves her vulnerable to charges o f Lollardry. Her attem pts to integrate her experience o f God into everyday life are at the root o f many o f the difficulties which beset her. She shocks clerics through the earthiness of her spirituality yet she also unnerves her fellow pilgrims by taking her spiritual concerns to the dinner table (1,26), She seeks the counsel of Julian o f Norwich; yet her desire for G od does not move her to follow Julian's example o f enclosure . 97 Presumably M argery could have opted for an anchorite's cell but she does not seem to view physical enclosure as a necessary concom itant o f spiritual journeying . 98 Instead her approach seems closer to H ilton's teaching in his M ixed Life and in Book II o f the Scale o f Perfection, in th at externals are seen as less im portant than inner motivation. M argery defied (and continues to defy) classification because she appears to have been either unable or unwilling to acknowledge the problems which had exercised theologians for centuries. The tension between interior pilgrimage and place pilgrimage simply does not seem to exist for her. She cannot perceive any difficulty in taking experiences which were supposed to belong within the cloister or the anchorite's cell out on the road with her, as she deals with the stresses o f daily life at home in East Anglia, and as she travels far and wide in search o f holy places. Strangely enough it is this very lack o f perception which gives M argery's life story its integrity and its stability. Stability may seem a curious word to apply to Margery Kempe; yet there is, I believe, a certain propriety in so doing. O f all the pilgrimage narratives which I have examined, it is M argery's account o f her life and spiritual experience which comes closest to resolving the tension between

v> Entering into the biblical narrative was supposed to shape the perceptions and spiritual growth of the one meditating; Margery, on the other hand, seems to show a strong disposition to do the shaping, as when she engages in a dispute with the Apostles (Chapter 73). 92 See Atkinson (1983), 31-1. Bridget o f Sweden, Liber Ceiesiis. M Husscy(1989), US. Dickman(1980), 169, suggests that Margery may have been influenced by the example of Bridget in seeking a ‘way to transcend the world while staying in it’. 99 She may be in part following the example of Bridget who founded a monastic order as well as undertaking place pilgrimagei m the result of her visions. See Holloway (1992).

w McEntire (1992a), 54-6. 97 Unlike Dorothea of Montau who after undergoing marriage, child-bearing, a vow of chastity, widowhood and pilgrimage to holy places (all experiences which Margery shared), became a recluse. See Gtasscoe (1993), 284-5. 91 Beckwith (1986), 37, comments: 'Margery was a religious woman who refused the space traditionally allotted to religious women - the sanctuary (or imprisonment) provided by the anchore»*! cell or the nunnery.'

222

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physical and spiritual journeying. Firstly, there is an essential continuity in her spiritual life in that the experiences which she undergoes in Compostela, Rom e and Jerusalem are merely different in degree, not in kind, from those which characterise her life at hom e." Like Julian, M argery is profoundly affected by m editating on the events o f the Passion at home: unlike Julian, she also travels to see the setting for herself and weeps and sobs, (as thow sehe had seyn owyr Lord wyth hir bodyly ey sufferyng hys Passyon at that tyme 5 (1.28).99100 Her Book claims that her desire to know G od and to obey him is equally strong in both contexts. When rebuked during her travels abroad for speaking o f ‘the love and goodness o f our Lord, as much at table as in other places', she replies, 4Owyr Lord almyghty is as gret a lord her as in Inglond, and as gret cawse have I to lofe hym her as ther* (1.26). Secondly, she regards her journey to the earthly Jerusalem as part of her lifelong pilgrimage, using it as an opportunity for moral and spiritual growth : 101

substitute for it. In this sense she is returning to the understanding of life as pilgrimage which characterised the early C hurch , 103 yet also seeking to use place pilgrimage as a means of growth in understanding and devotion. M argery's attem pts at integration expose the tensions wmch have fuelled the pilgrimage debate throughout the centuries. A mobile contemplative, whose visions and piety were as likely to manifest themselves as readily in the marketplace as in the M ass, she was also a M artha turned M ary, who yet never quite succeeded in shaking off her worldly responsibilities. M uch of the criticism levelled at M argery in recent discussion centres on her supposed exhibitionism; more telling in terms o f her multi-faceted pilgrim aspirations is the feeling of her contemporaries th at she failed to fulfil her moral responsibilities in terms of her calling as a wife (1.76). Assessment of M argery^ success in combining her pilgrim roles is complicated by m odern feminist agendas; yet William Provost may well be correct when he suggests that the ‘difference between M argery’s troubled and troubling life and Julian’s serene one’ is m ore ‘a m atter o f vocation rather than gender ' . 104 W ith her initiation into mystical experience, Margery becomes, in his phrase, 'vocationally Divalent*. Her callings as wife and contemplative are not necessarily in conflict but any attem pt to reconcile them will, of necessity, be somewhat unorthodox, In terms o f pilgrimage options, Margery is in fact e w ater w atz depe, I d o rst n o t w ade, A nd euer m e longed ay m ore a n d m ore.

(Pearl, 143-4)

Ad Putter points out the similarities between this section o f the poem and the Roman de la Rose but also notes that unlike the Dream er in the Roman, 4the dream er of Pearl remains an outsider , . 114 This ongoing sense o f exile is, however, part o f a long-established tradition rather than the inspiration o f a particular poet. From a theological perspective it is inescapable: as a sinful hum an being, still engaged in the journey o f life, the Dream er may glimpse future joys but cannot yet attain them. N or is the place itself, though comforting, the object of his quest; it is instead simply a new setting for his 'p earr. The shift from the ephemeral beauty of the garden to the imperish­ able splendours of Crystal clyffes' and leaves like 'bornyst syluer* prefigures the transform ation which has taken place in the D ream er’s ‘lost’ child, a transform ation which requires a radical re-evaluation of his perspectives on life. Finding the person he seeks proves in fact to be not the end but the beginning of his spiritual journey . " 5 She is not what he thought her, nor in the end is she the one he should be seeking. Neither the place he is in, nor Ne clene and ly 3 t, J?er schal hys step stable and sty lie ’： \>t innosent is ay sa f by ry 3 t. (Pearl, 678-84)

\>q L am bes vyuez in blysse we bene,

The life o f penitent obedience is not here as 6sikcr for the soul* as the M aiden's own innocence but it remains the surest route available to the mass 0 1 humanity. The M aiden’s surroundings， appearance and behaviour all function as markers o f the difference between the eternal and the tem poral, the soul liberated from sin and the earth-bound m ortal, the fully fledged citizen of heaven and the still-wandering citizen o f the world. The resultant gap in perception serves to heighten the poignancy o f the encounter between father and daughter: T h e painfulness o f th e D re a m e r's en co u n ter w ith the Pearl-mmden arises from the nasty tru th th a t is illustrated by these m isunderstandings: th a t in

116 Blenkner (1970), 230, detects evidence of several of the seven deadly sins in the Dreamer's responses. I,T Compare Cleqnness and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Sec Dyas (1997a), Chapter 8.

228

A ho n d red a n d fo rty J?owsande fiot A s in J?e A pocalyppez h it is sene . . . O n }?e hyl o f Syon . . . J>e nw e cyté 0 Jerusalem . (Pearl, 785-7, 789, 792)

In the Old Testament Sion was understood to be the m ountain in Jerusalem where G od made his dwelling ; 120 in Christian thought it also stood for the heavenly city where Christ reigns in glory. W hat is particularly interesting in the M aiden's discourse, however, is the way in which the main presentations o f the two cities are both used to focus attention on the person o f Christ. The significance o f the earthly Jerusalem in her account is as the setting for C hrist^ crucinxion. Her description sets Putter (1996),180. u, Putter ( \ m ) t U5. 110 See Ch«pten 2 and 3. 1,1

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the person on whom he has built his hopes can in fact meet his needs. Before he is allowed to glimpse the Saviour, however, he m ust be brought to realise his own spiritual shortcomings. The Maiden therefore begins by rebuking him for setting his heart upon so transient a good as her own m ortal self

the course o f their long ‘m eeting’ they never really m eet. As the D ream er p u ts it in a m om ent o f despair, tn eir encounter is both a m eeting and a separation:

F o r }?at >ou lestez w atz b o t a rose }>at flowred an d fayled as k ynde h y t gef. (Pearl, 269-70)

‘W hy schal I boJ?e m ysse and m ete?’ (329) T h e im pact o f the poem depends u p o n this sim ultaneous perception o f the close b o n d they once shared an d o f the gap th a t has now opened up betw een th e m . 118

Putter sees this alienation as inevitable:

In condemning his desire to cross the river, she reminds him that he is still a spiritual exile, heir to the consequences o f A dam 's dismissal from Eden. )?ou wylnez o u er pys w ater to weue; E r m oste >ou ceuer to o)?er counsayl. ]yy corse in clo t m o t calder keue, F o r hit w atz fo rg arte a t p arad y s greue; O u re 3 〇refader hit con mysse 3 eme. (Pearl, 318-22)

Her own assured status as an innocent throws into sharp contrast the spiritual insecurity o f those, like the Dreamer, who have lived long in the world, prey to the enticements o f sin . 116 As always the PeaW-poet is concerned to foreground the twin motifs o f purity and penance : 117

T h e Pearl-msLidcn has n o t only m oved to a S tran g e place', b u t has becom e stran g e herself. This, o f course, is w h at C h ristian teaching tells us. People in heaven will no longer be as we knew th em o n earth . T hey live in p erpetual Dliss, u n b u rd en ed by the m iseries th a t afflict h u m a n beings o n e arth , and no longer conscious o f p ast suffering . 119

The M aiden's apparent detachm ent from the problem s o f her bereaved parent does not necessarily indicate th at she is uncaring; care in this context, however, is denoted not by emotion but by education. Having exposed the Dream er's state of spiritual exile and enlightened him on the vital subjects of grace and penance, she now broadens his horizons to encompass the two cities of Jerusalem. First, she weaves a glancing reference to each into her discussion of salvation:

G ra c e innoug h J>e m o n m ay haue J>at synnez f?enne new , 3 if hym repente, B ot w ith S0 1 3 a n d syt he m o t hit c ra u e ， A nd byde 卜e payne )?erto is bent … H it is a dom k a t n eu er G o d gaue J?at euer }?e gyltlez schulde be schente. \>t gyltyf m ay co n try ssy o u n hente A nd be J?ur3 m ercy to grace J?ry3 t. {Pearl, 661-4, 666-70)

4L orde, q u o schal klym be hy 3 hylle, OJ?er rest w ithinne J?y holy place?' H ym self to onsw are he is n o t dylle: "H ondelyngez h arm e J?at dyt n o t ille, J^at is o f h e rt bo}>e clene and ly 3 t, J?er schal hys step stable and sty lie ’： \>t innosent is ay sa f by ry 3 t. (Pearl, 678-84)

\>q L am bes vyuez in blysse we bene,

The life o f penitent obedience is not here as 6sikcr for the soul* as the M aiden's own innocence but it remains the surest route available to the mass 0 1 humanity. The M aiden’s surroundings， appearance and behaviour all function as markers o f the difference between the eternal and the tem poral, the soul liberated from sin and the earth-bound m ortal, the fully fledged citizen of heaven and the still-wandering citizen o f the world. The resultant gap in perception serves to heighten the poignancy o f the encounter between father and daughter: T h e painfulness o f th e D re a m e r's en co u n ter w ith the Pearl-mmden arises from the nasty tru th th a t is illustrated by these m isunderstandings: th a t in

116 Blenkner (1970), 230, detects evidence of several of the seven deadly sins in the Dreamer's responses. I,T Compare Cleqnness and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Sec Dyas (1997a), Chapter 8.

228

A ho n d red a n d fo rty J?owsande fiot A s in J?e A pocalyppez h it is sene . . . O n }?e hyl o f Syon . . . J>e nw e cyté 0 Jerusalem . (Pearl, 785-7, 789, 792)

In the Old Testament Sion was understood to be the m ountain in Jerusalem where G od made his dwelling ; 120 in Christian thought it also stood for the heavenly city where Christ reigns in glory. W hat is particularly interesting in the M aiden's discourse, however, is the way in which the main presentations o f the two cities are both used to focus attention on the person o f Christ. The significance o f the earthly Jerusalem in her account is as the setting for C hrist^ crucinxion. Her description sets Putter (1996),180. u, Putter ( \ m ) t U5. 110 See Ch«pten 2 and 3. 1,1

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forth, in emotive phrases reminiscent o f the Passion lyrics 121 and the m editations o f Rolle, the nature and the sacrificial death o f Christ:

heavenly throng. Yet when he wakes to find himself back in the garden, it is the lost vision, rather than his lost child , 123 which now preoccupies him. Penitent and possessed o f a new stability o f resolve, he vows himself to a life o f obedient journeying to the heavenly city, so that he too may become one of those who rejoice in the presence of the Saviour. His brief foretaste o f the joys o f heaven is thus seen to motivate a process of m oral reformation. Inner pilgrimage becomes in Pearl the supreme m otivation for the pursuit o f the pilgrimage of life.

In Jerusalem w atz my L em m an slayn A nd rent on rode w ith boyez b olde . . . )?at w atz so fayr o n to byholde (Pearl, 805-6, 810)

W hen her gaze shifts to the New Jerusalem it is the awesome majesty and authority o f Christ which comes into focus (834-40). W hen her uncomprehending parent confuses the old Jerusalem with the new the M aiden is provided with a useful opportunity to explain the relationship between the earthly and the heavenly cities: the old Jerusalem being the setting where forgiveness was purchased, the new Jerusalem the place where its benefits will be enjoyed. O f m otez tw o to carpe clene, A nd Jerusalem hy 3 t boJ?e nawj?eles . . . In 卜at on ou re pes w atz m ad at ene; W ith payne to suffer pe L om be hit chese; In J?at o\>qt is n 〇3 t b o t pes to glene p a t ay schal laste w ith o u ten reles. (Pearl, 949-50, 953-6)

The M aiden's descriptions function in much the same m anner as the meditations outlined by writers such as Pseudo-Bonaventure and Richard Rolle, operating in the realm o f the spiritual imagination. With the Dream er's own sight o f the heavenly Jerusalem, the tone o f the poem changes radically. The Dreamer moves in an instant from a position of being taught about the New Jerusalem to seeing it for himself, 122 from hearing about the Crucifixion to gazing upon the wounds o f the Lamb. He is awed by its shining splendour, yet once again the focus is not in fact on the place but on the person of Christ, for it is his presence which makes heaven what it is: O f sunne ne m one h ad }?ay n o nede; j^e Self G o d w atz h er lom be-ly 3 t ， J^e L om be h er lantyrne, w ithouten drede. Best w atz H e, blyj?est, and m oste to pryse, B ot a w ounde ful wyde an d w eete con wyse A nende H ys h e rt ，） ?ur3 hyde to ren t. (P e a r/ ，1 0 4 5 - 7 , 丨131 ， 1135-6)

Here we are close to the immediacy of the mystical experience, as the dream er is touched by compunction, glimpses and longs to join in the joy of heaven. His continuing spiritual im m aturity is revealed by his refusal to accept his present state o f exile and by his fruitless attem pt to join the I：, Selection of Religious Lyrics, nos. 17 -36. On the description of the New Jerusalem see Field (1986).

230

See Bienkner(l970), 24.

231

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

INNER JOURNEYS

forth, in emotive phrases reminiscent o f the Passion lyrics 121 and the m editations o f Rolle, the nature and the sacrificial death o f Christ:

heavenly throng. Yet when he wakes to find himself back in the garden, it is the lost vision, rather than his lost child , 123 which now preoccupies him. Penitent and possessed o f a new stability o f resolve, he vows himself to a life o f obedient journeying to the heavenly city, so that he too may become one of those who rejoice in the presence of the Saviour. His brief foretaste o f the joys o f heaven is thus seen to motivate a process of m oral reformation. Inner pilgrimage becomes in Pearl the supreme m otivation for the pursuit o f the pilgrimage of life.

In Jerusalem w atz my L em m an slayn A nd rent on rode w ith boyez b olde . . . )?at w atz so fayr o n to byholde (Pearl, 805-6, 810)

W hen her gaze shifts to the New Jerusalem it is the awesome majesty and authority o f Christ which comes into focus (834-40). W hen her uncomprehending parent confuses the old Jerusalem with the new the M aiden is provided with a useful opportunity to explain the relationship between the earthly and the heavenly cities: the old Jerusalem being the setting where forgiveness was purchased, the new Jerusalem the place where its benefits will be enjoyed. O f m otez tw o to carpe clene, A nd Jerusalem hy 3 t boJ?e nawj?eles . . . In 卜at on ou re pes w atz m ad at ene; W ith payne to suffer pe L om be hit chese; In J?at o\>qt is n 〇3 t b o t pes to glene p a t ay schal laste w ith o u ten reles. (Pearl, 949-50, 953-6)

The M aiden's descriptions function in much the same m anner as the meditations outlined by writers such as Pseudo-Bonaventure and Richard Rolle, operating in the realm o f the spiritual imagination. With the Dream er's own sight o f the heavenly Jerusalem, the tone o f the poem changes radically. The Dreamer moves in an instant from a position of being taught about the New Jerusalem to seeing it for himself, 122 from hearing about the Crucifixion to gazing upon the wounds o f the Lamb. He is awed by its shining splendour, yet once again the focus is not in fact on the place but on the person of Christ, for it is his presence which makes heaven what it is: O f sunne ne m one h ad }?ay n o nede; j^e Self G o d w atz h er lom be-ly 3 t ， J^e L om be h er lantyrne, w ithouten drede. Best w atz H e, blyj?est, and m oste to pryse, B ot a w ounde ful wyde an d w eete con wyse A nende H ys h e rt ，） ?ur3 hyde to ren t. (P e a r/ ，1 0 4 5 - 7 , 丨131 ， 1135-6)

Here we are close to the immediacy of the mystical experience, as the dream er is touched by compunction, glimpses and longs to join in the joy of heaven. His continuing spiritual im m aturity is revealed by his refusal to accept his present state o f exile and by his fruitless attem pt to join the I：, Selection of Religious Lyrics, nos. 17 -36. On the description of the New Jerusalem see Field (1986).

230

See Bienkner(l970), 24.

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and W alter Hilton choosing to use the pilgrimage to Jerusalem as a dynamic image o f the mystical life.7

12 M ed iev al co n cep ts o f Jeru salem

Journeying to Jerusalem: An Overview o f Literal and Metaphorical Pilgrimage in Middle English Literature

For to speke o f Ierusalem the holy cytee . . . {Mandeville's Travels)]

If one example above all others serves to focus the extraordinary variety which characterises the use o f the pilgrimage m otif in Middle English literature, it is the idea of journeying to Jerusalem. In medieval spirituality Jerusalem was, in effect, not one city but three, each being the goal o f a different mode o f pilgrimage. To examine the ways in which medieval writers describe journeying to Jerusalem, therefore, is to gain a valuable overview of the use o f the theme o f pilgrimage as a whole. It is also a very fruitful exercise, for the idea o f Jerusalem served as inspiration for a remarkably wide range o f writers. There are a num ber o f extant pilgrimage narratives detailing the journey to the earthly city, which combine piety and practi­ cality in varying degrees.12 In both Pearl and Piers Plowman, the dreamers not only learn in graphic detail of the death of Christ in the earthly Jerusalem3 but are challenged to embark upon lives o f moral pilgrimage by their glimpses o f the Jerusalem on high.4 Even Chaucer's pilgrims, though ostensibly travelling to the shrine of Thom as, are urged by the Parson, the spiritual member o f the group, to focus on reaching the ‘Jerusalem celestial’.5 Spiritual writings in prose similarly testify to the abiding fascination exercised by the idea o f Jerusalem, Ancrene Wisse speaking of the anchorhouse as tJerusalem , where the anchoress need never see anything but peace6 1 Mandeville's Travels, 54. This work, though 'a compilation at second-hand of other men's travels' containing *a sufficient number of inaccuracies and inconsistencies to make it extremely improbable that its author ever left his native Europe' (op. cit. Intro, xiv) is relevant to this discussion in that it claims (and through its popularity demonstrates) the fact that 'many men desiren for to here speke of the Holy Lond and han thereof gret solace and comfort' (op. cit. 3). 3 See Davies (1992) for an analysis of the different types of material produced by and for pilgrims. * 1 Pearl, 793-828; Piers Phwnum, XVIH.6-91. 4 Pearl, 960-1194; Piers Plow man, 1.1-16. 5 Parson's Prologue%51. * Ancrene Wisse (ed. Tolkien), 111.90/6: *3C beoö in ierusalem.'

232

Such profound preoccupation with the idea of Jerusalem was hardly surprising - Jerusalem, centre o f the earth;8 Jerusalem, city o f David, whose Psalms formed the very backbone o f medieval worship; Jerusalem, whose stones witnessed the ministry, death and resurrection of the Saviour and was thus, supremely, the place where the visible presence of G od had been made manifest on earth.9 Moreover, in Christian theology, the earthly city foreshadowed a yet more dazzling prospect: behind the earthly Jerusalem the devout believer could glimpse, distant but glorious, the holy city described in the Book of Revelation, the new Jerusalem where the Lam b o f God reigns in trium ph and all Christians find their true home. The earthly Jerusalem was the supreme pilgrimage goal, not only because of its past but because o f the heavenly city o f which it was both antetype and guarantee. It is evident, however, that as far as Middle English writers were concerned, belief in a heavenly Jerusalem both stimulated and challenged devotion to the earthly city. This tension was of dual origin, being both an integral part of the spiritual inheritance o f the Middle Ages and an expression o f contem porary debate. As I have already established, during this period the general concept of life as pilgrimage encompassed three main strands o f expression: interior pilgrimage, moral pilgrimage and place pilgrimage. There had always been questions about the extent to which these various forms of spirituality could be reconciled. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries in England, however, these questions multiplied and took on new force. N ot only did the followers o f John Wyclif begin to query the authenticity o f relics and the value o f place pilgrimage,10 but the widespread development o f lay spirituality11 also prom pted questions about modes of spiritual journey such as monasticism and pilgrimage to holy places, both of which could be construed as escapist and both of which were demonstrably open to abuse. Contem porary debate about the relative value of different forms o f pilgrimage, intensified by the growth in lay piety, found a particular focus in the multi-layered significance o f Jerusalem. Medieval allegorical interpretation offered a fourfold reading of Jerusalem: T h e 7 Hilton, Scale, IU 9-26. g See French (1992). 4 Bernard Hamilton describes Jerusalem as the "greatest relic in Christendom, for no other place on earth w«i more hallowed by God's presence than the city where his Son had been crucified and hid risen (Vom the dead*. Hamilton ¢1994), 696. 10 See Part III, Introduction. 11 Fuelled in part by th« pmchlng of the friars and the growth in literacy.

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and W alter Hilton choosing to use the pilgrimage to Jerusalem as a dynamic image o f the mystical life.7

12 M ed iev al co n cep ts o f Jeru salem

Journeying to Jerusalem: An Overview o f Literal and Metaphorical Pilgrimage in Middle English Literature

For to speke o f Ierusalem the holy cytee . . . {Mandeville's Travels)]

If one example above all others serves to focus the extraordinary variety which characterises the use o f the pilgrimage m otif in Middle English literature, it is the idea of journeying to Jerusalem. In medieval spirituality Jerusalem was, in effect, not one city but three, each being the goal o f a different mode o f pilgrimage. To examine the ways in which medieval writers describe journeying to Jerusalem, therefore, is to gain a valuable overview of the use o f the theme o f pilgrimage as a whole. It is also a very fruitful exercise, for the idea o f Jerusalem served as inspiration for a remarkably wide range o f writers. There are a num ber o f extant pilgrimage narratives detailing the journey to the earthly city, which combine piety and practi­ cality in varying degrees.12 In both Pearl and Piers Plowman, the dreamers not only learn in graphic detail of the death of Christ in the earthly Jerusalem3 but are challenged to embark upon lives o f moral pilgrimage by their glimpses o f the Jerusalem on high.4 Even Chaucer's pilgrims, though ostensibly travelling to the shrine of Thom as, are urged by the Parson, the spiritual member o f the group, to focus on reaching the ‘Jerusalem celestial’.5 Spiritual writings in prose similarly testify to the abiding fascination exercised by the idea o f Jerusalem, Ancrene Wisse speaking of the anchorhouse as tJerusalem , where the anchoress need never see anything but peace6 1 Mandeville's Travels, 54. This work, though 'a compilation at second-hand of other men's travels' containing *a sufficient number of inaccuracies and inconsistencies to make it extremely improbable that its author ever left his native Europe' (op. cit. Intro, xiv) is relevant to this discussion in that it claims (and through its popularity demonstrates) the fact that 'many men desiren for to here speke of the Holy Lond and han thereof gret solace and comfort' (op. cit. 3). 3 See Davies (1992) for an analysis of the different types of material produced by and for pilgrims. * 1 Pearl, 793-828; Piers Phwnum, XVIH.6-91. 4 Pearl, 960-1194; Piers Plow man, 1.1-16. 5 Parson's Prologue%51. * Ancrene Wisse (ed. Tolkien), 111.90/6: *3C beoö in ierusalem.'

232

Such profound preoccupation with the idea of Jerusalem was hardly surprising - Jerusalem, centre o f the earth;8 Jerusalem, city o f David, whose Psalms formed the very backbone o f medieval worship; Jerusalem, whose stones witnessed the ministry, death and resurrection of the Saviour and was thus, supremely, the place where the visible presence of G od had been made manifest on earth.9 Moreover, in Christian theology, the earthly city foreshadowed a yet more dazzling prospect: behind the earthly Jerusalem the devout believer could glimpse, distant but glorious, the holy city described in the Book of Revelation, the new Jerusalem where the Lam b o f God reigns in trium ph and all Christians find their true home. The earthly Jerusalem was the supreme pilgrimage goal, not only because of its past but because o f the heavenly city o f which it was both antetype and guarantee. It is evident, however, that as far as Middle English writers were concerned, belief in a heavenly Jerusalem both stimulated and challenged devotion to the earthly city. This tension was of dual origin, being both an integral part of the spiritual inheritance o f the Middle Ages and an expression o f contem porary debate. As I have already established, during this period the general concept of life as pilgrimage encompassed three main strands o f expression: interior pilgrimage, moral pilgrimage and place pilgrimage. There had always been questions about the extent to which these various forms of spirituality could be reconciled. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries in England, however, these questions multiplied and took on new force. N ot only did the followers o f John Wyclif begin to query the authenticity o f relics and the value o f place pilgrimage,10 but the widespread development o f lay spirituality11 also prom pted questions about modes of spiritual journey such as monasticism and pilgrimage to holy places, both of which could be construed as escapist and both of which were demonstrably open to abuse. Contem porary debate about the relative value of different forms o f pilgrimage, intensified by the growth in lay piety, found a particular focus in the multi-layered significance o f Jerusalem. Medieval allegorical interpretation offered a fourfold reading of Jerusalem: T h e 7 Hilton, Scale, IU 9-26. g See French (1992). 4 Bernard Hamilton describes Jerusalem as the "greatest relic in Christendom, for no other place on earth w«i more hallowed by God's presence than the city where his Son had been crucified and hid risen (Vom the dead*. Hamilton ¢1994), 696. 10 See Part III, Introduction. 11 Fuelled in part by th« pmchlng of the friars and the growth in literacy.

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AN OVERVIEW OF PILGRIMAGE IN MIDDLE ENGLISH

m aterial Jerusalem is the city placed in Judaea, the mystical is the Church, the m oral is the faithful soul, the anagogical the heavenly h o m e /12 In Middle English texts we see these concepts developed in ways which both complement and contradict one another. Jerusalem can be seen to function not as a single place but as a series of images, each o f which develops a different strand o f theological understanding and devotional practice. It is, by turns, an earthly city made holy by G od, the heavenly city described in the Book of Revelation, the cloister,13 and an inner spiritual reality within the soul where G od may be encountered. In approaching each text we need to ascertain precisely which Jerusalem is in the writer's mind and how they seek to journey there. Some value highly the practice o f travelling to the earthly city; others regard it with deep suspicion. These widely varying attitudes towards the status o f the earthly Jerusalem can only be understood by reference to the deep-rooted and, as I have suggested in this study, fundam entally irreconcilable tension inherited from the early centuries of the Church. As I have noted earlier, it is a significant characteristic of Jewish and Christian pilgrimage that places have traditionally been made holy only through association with a person.14 In the Old Testam ent15 and the early chapters o f the Gospels,16 Jerusalem was regarded as special because it was the place where G od dwelt: 'Blessed be the Lord out o f Sion, who dwelleth in Jerusalem ’ （ Psalm 134: 21). Two main factors prompted a revision of this view within the early Church. Firstly, the rejection o f Christ by the Jewish authorities and the subsequent devastation suffered by the city in 70 and 135, m eant that Christians came to see Jerusalem as an example of a place which had come under the judgem ent o f G od.17 Secondly, the belief that G od had sent the Spirit at Pentecost m eant that he was now understood to dwell in the Church in every place. There was no longer, therefore, any sense in which G od could be said to be especially present in Jerusalem .18 F or the first three centuries o f the Church the significance of Jerusalem was thus

historical19 rather than theological or devotional20 and those who travelled there during this period appear to have done so in order to elicit information rather than to encounter God. The pages o f the New Testam ent21 and the writings o f the early Fathers22 portrayed Christians as strangers and pilgrims on earth, exiled from Eden by A dam 's sin and called to citizenship o f the New Jerusalem through the sacrifice o f Christ. Their priority was not to seek God in any earthly city but to concentrate on a lifelong pilgrimage through this perilous world to the homeland o f heaven. In the fourth century, however, with the conversion o f Constantine came a reaffirmation o f the spiritual significance of ‘place’， a development which probably owed something to the pagan background o f the em peror.23 Palestine as a whole (and Jerusalem in particular), was reclaimed as a geographical area, a Holy Land, where God had not only acted in the past but could still be encountered in the present. W hat Helena did through her ‘rediscovery’ of sites， Constantine through his building programme, and Cyril o f Jerusalem through his teaching and development of liturgy,24 was to restore to the earthly Jerusalem a sense o f the imm anent presence o f God. Jerusalem once again came to be seen as a place where a Person could be encountered. The resultant change in the status o f Jerusalem was paralleled by the emergence o f a network o f holy places across Christen­ dom .25 This development, of course, did not go unopposed either at the time or in subsequent centuries.26 W hat I have termed place pilgrimage was to its supporters a valuable com ponent o f the pilgrimage o f life. To its detractors it was at best an irrelevance and at worst a dangerous distraction from the true pilgrim life o f devotion to G od in the place of one’s calling. This controversy surfaces m any times during the succeeding centuries but never with such force as in late medieval England, where orthodox and Wycliffite voices both raised doubts about traditional practices. Medieval pilgrims travelled to Jerusalem in search of forgiveness and salvation and out o f devotion to Christ.27 But could not all these objectives be equally well if not better fulfilled at home? This is a question with which Middle English writers wrestled and which fuelled so much o f their creativity. The idea o f journeying to Jerusalem, precisely because biblical and patristic writers sanctioned such a wealth o f possible

12 'Quatuor siquidem civitates in divina Scriptura fuisse perhibenlur, quarum unaquaeque Hierusalem nuncupatur, id est, materialis et mystica, moralis et anagogica. Materialis Hierusalem est quaedem civitas in Judaea posita, mystica vero est Ecclesia, moralis quaelibet fidelis anima, anagogica coelestis patria.' Hugh of Folieto, De Claustro Animae, 4.1, P L ,176.1131. L' Thus Bernard declares of the abbey of Clairvaux: 'She herself is Jerusalem, the one which is in heaven/ Bernard of Clairvaux, Letters, 64. See Chapter 11. 14 In pagan religion holiness was regarded as impersonal and inherent in the place, in nature'. MacCormack (1990),10. 15 See Wilken (1992), Chapter 1. 16 See Walker (1996) for an examination of the way this perception changes within the Gospel narratives. 17 Pionius: *1 saw the land which until now has borne witness to the wrath of God' Mart. Pionii. 1V.18. Cited Taylor (1993), 313., 1,1 kln contrast to Judaism. . . there was no place in Christianity for a devotion to Jerusalem or a belief in its inherent holiness. . . . The New Testament instead encouraged Christians to focus their spiritual attention on the heavenly Jerusalem (Gal.4:26; H eb.12: 22) for this heavenly city now fulfilled all that the earthly city had been iniended to enjoy.' Walker ( 1990), 4Q 1.

234

19 As for example in the visits of Melito of Sardis, Alexander of Cappadocia and Origen. See Chapter 3. 20 Walker (1994), 80. 21 Hebrews 11:13-16;13: 12,13;1 Peter 1:1;2:11. 22 For examples see Chapter 2. 2, "Constantine brought to Christianity a pagan notion of the sanctity of things and places.' TayloM 1993), 308. 24 Walker (1990),17, 33. See also Egerias Travels for an account of the liturgy which developed under Cyril’s guidance. 39 See Markui(1994). See Conatablc (1976) Mnd Cnrdmiin (1982). See WHrd (1987). 124-5.

239

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m aterial Jerusalem is the city placed in Judaea, the mystical is the Church, the m oral is the faithful soul, the anagogical the heavenly h o m e /12 In Middle English texts we see these concepts developed in ways which both complement and contradict one another. Jerusalem can be seen to function not as a single place but as a series of images, each o f which develops a different strand o f theological understanding and devotional practice. It is, by turns, an earthly city made holy by G od, the heavenly city described in the Book of Revelation, the cloister,13 and an inner spiritual reality within the soul where G od may be encountered. In approaching each text we need to ascertain precisely which Jerusalem is in the writer's mind and how they seek to journey there. Some value highly the practice o f travelling to the earthly city; others regard it with deep suspicion. These widely varying attitudes towards the status o f the earthly Jerusalem can only be understood by reference to the deep-rooted and, as I have suggested in this study, fundam entally irreconcilable tension inherited from the early centuries of the Church. As I have noted earlier, it is a significant characteristic of Jewish and Christian pilgrimage that places have traditionally been made holy only through association with a person.14 In the Old Testam ent15 and the early chapters o f the Gospels,16 Jerusalem was regarded as special because it was the place where G od dwelt: 'Blessed be the Lord out o f Sion, who dwelleth in Jerusalem ’ （ Psalm 134: 21). Two main factors prompted a revision of this view within the early Church. Firstly, the rejection o f Christ by the Jewish authorities and the subsequent devastation suffered by the city in 70 and 135, m eant that Christians came to see Jerusalem as an example of a place which had come under the judgem ent o f G od.17 Secondly, the belief that G od had sent the Spirit at Pentecost m eant that he was now understood to dwell in the Church in every place. There was no longer, therefore, any sense in which G od could be said to be especially present in Jerusalem .18 F or the first three centuries o f the Church the significance of Jerusalem was thus

historical19 rather than theological or devotional20 and those who travelled there during this period appear to have done so in order to elicit information rather than to encounter God. The pages o f the New Testam ent21 and the writings o f the early Fathers22 portrayed Christians as strangers and pilgrims on earth, exiled from Eden by A dam 's sin and called to citizenship o f the New Jerusalem through the sacrifice o f Christ. Their priority was not to seek God in any earthly city but to concentrate on a lifelong pilgrimage through this perilous world to the homeland o f heaven. In the fourth century, however, with the conversion o f Constantine came a reaffirmation o f the spiritual significance of ‘place’， a development which probably owed something to the pagan background o f the em peror.23 Palestine as a whole (and Jerusalem in particular), was reclaimed as a geographical area, a Holy Land, where God had not only acted in the past but could still be encountered in the present. W hat Helena did through her ‘rediscovery’ of sites， Constantine through his building programme, and Cyril o f Jerusalem through his teaching and development of liturgy,24 was to restore to the earthly Jerusalem a sense o f the imm anent presence o f God. Jerusalem once again came to be seen as a place where a Person could be encountered. The resultant change in the status o f Jerusalem was paralleled by the emergence o f a network o f holy places across Christen­ dom .25 This development, of course, did not go unopposed either at the time or in subsequent centuries.26 W hat I have termed place pilgrimage was to its supporters a valuable com ponent o f the pilgrimage o f life. To its detractors it was at best an irrelevance and at worst a dangerous distraction from the true pilgrim life o f devotion to G od in the place of one’s calling. This controversy surfaces m any times during the succeeding centuries but never with such force as in late medieval England, where orthodox and Wycliffite voices both raised doubts about traditional practices. Medieval pilgrims travelled to Jerusalem in search of forgiveness and salvation and out o f devotion to Christ.27 But could not all these objectives be equally well if not better fulfilled at home? This is a question with which Middle English writers wrestled and which fuelled so much o f their creativity. The idea o f journeying to Jerusalem, precisely because biblical and patristic writers sanctioned such a wealth o f possible

12 'Quatuor siquidem civitates in divina Scriptura fuisse perhibenlur, quarum unaquaeque Hierusalem nuncupatur, id est, materialis et mystica, moralis et anagogica. Materialis Hierusalem est quaedem civitas in Judaea posita, mystica vero est Ecclesia, moralis quaelibet fidelis anima, anagogica coelestis patria.' Hugh of Folieto, De Claustro Animae, 4.1, P L ,176.1131. L' Thus Bernard declares of the abbey of Clairvaux: 'She herself is Jerusalem, the one which is in heaven/ Bernard of Clairvaux, Letters, 64. See Chapter 11. 14 In pagan religion holiness was regarded as impersonal and inherent in the place, in nature'. MacCormack (1990),10. 15 See Wilken (1992), Chapter 1. 16 See Walker (1996) for an examination of the way this perception changes within the Gospel narratives. 17 Pionius: *1 saw the land which until now has borne witness to the wrath of God' Mart. Pionii. 1V.18. Cited Taylor (1993), 313., 1,1 kln contrast to Judaism. . . there was no place in Christianity for a devotion to Jerusalem or a belief in its inherent holiness. . . . The New Testament instead encouraged Christians to focus their spiritual attention on the heavenly Jerusalem (Gal.4:26; H eb.12: 22) for this heavenly city now fulfilled all that the earthly city had been iniended to enjoy.' Walker ( 1990), 4Q 1.

234

19 As for example in the visits of Melito of Sardis, Alexander of Cappadocia and Origen. See Chapter 3. 20 Walker (1994), 80. 21 Hebrews 11:13-16;13: 12,13;1 Peter 1:1;2:11. 22 For examples see Chapter 2. 2, "Constantine brought to Christianity a pagan notion of the sanctity of things and places.' TayloM 1993), 308. 24 Walker (1990),17, 33. See also Egerias Travels for an account of the liturgy which developed under Cyril’s guidance. 39 See Markui(1994). See Conatablc (1976) Mnd Cnrdmiin (1982). See WHrd (1987). 124-5.

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interpretations, provided a unique focus for the spiritual debates and tensions of late English medieval society.

m ajority o f pilgrim accounts o f this period. Although most record the indulgences to be won at particular sites, they show a m arked tendency to concentrate on the practicalities o f the journey, anxious to warn other travellers o f the pitfalls o f money-changers, mouldy food - and m arauding Saracens. The Itineraries o f William Wey, a Fellow o f Eton College who travelled to the Holy Land in 1458 and 1462, are typical in this respect. He is careful to note the spiritual rewards to be gleaned from the long and hazardous journey:

Jo u rn e y in g to th e E a rth ly C ity The Jerusalem pilgrimage was, unquestionably, the m ost dangerous and the most significant o f all place pilgrimages. The concept o f a Christian Holy Land prom oted by Constantine continued to grip the hearts o f believers despite the loss o f Jerusalem, first to the Persians in 614 and then to Moslem forces in 638. Throughout the succeeding centuries pilgrims continued to make their way to the holy city. Some appear to have visited the holy places without incident; others lost their possessions and even their lives.28 The sufferings o f Christians in and around Jerusalem were used by Pope U rban II in 1095 in proclaiming the First Crusade.29 One account of his speech not only argues the need to protect fellow-believers but also asserts the centrality, geographical,30 spiritual and emotional, o f the city of Jerusalem in Christian thought: Jerusalem is the navel o f the world; the land is fruitful above all others, like another paradise of delights. This the Redeemer of the hum an race has m ade illustrious by his coming, has beautified by his presence, has consecrated by suffering, has redeemed by death, has glorified by burial. This royal city, therefore, situated at the center o f the world, is now held captive . . . she seeks and desires to be liberated .31

The crusaders won, then lost the city but the pilgrims continued to make the journey, sometimes tolerated， sometimes m altreated by the ‘Saracens’ who feature in so many narratives.32 U nfortunately there are very few extant accounts in English o f pilgrim journeys to Jerusalem during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.33 A Latin text relates the journey of Simon Fitzsimons, a F riar M inor who, modelling himself on A braham , set off from Ireland in 1322, full o f high-sounding phrases: H aving refused the crown o f honour and having removed entirely other annoying things which cause loss of time and which are wont to tighten fetters and beget difficulties, and, wishing to go forth . . . from my native land and paternal home, as did o f old A braham . . . we set out for the Holy Land .34

After such a high-flown opening, his description of Jerusalem is surprisingly brief and confined to factual inform ation, an attitude which characterises the JB See Peters (1985), Chapters 6 and 7. 29 See Hamilton (1994). M See French (1992), on the process by which Jerusalem came to occupy the central place in medieval maps. 11 Krey (1921),30-2. Cited Peters (1985), 281-2. 3J The term 'Arabs' was usually reserved for the Bedouin. See Peters (1985), 433. 33 See Schur (1980) for a comprehensive survey of Jerusalem pilgrimage narratives. M Western Pilgrims, 2. This collection alio contains two further accounts by English pilgrims of this period which were atio originally written in Latin and which contain similar material.

236

. . . when wee be passyd that place, We shal se Jerusalem in short space. Then knele wee downe apoun oure kne, W hen wee that holy cyte see; F o r to all that thydyr come Ys yeve and graunt ful remmyssioun .35

He is, however, also concerned to warn o f the dangers o f consuming unfam iliar food: When ye com to dyuerse havynnys be wel ware o f dyuerse frutys, for they be not acordyng to yowre complexioun, and they gender a blody fluxe; and yf an Englyschman haue that sykenes hyt ys a mervel and scape hyt but he dye thereof .36

He also warns that the wine at Ram allah is ‘febyl and dere’ while th at to be had in Jerusalem is ‘goyd wyne’ b u t still 'dere’. The highly informative Information fo r Pilgrims unto the Holy Land, which though printed around 1498, drew heavily on earlier accounts, particularly that of Wey himself, also offers a wealth o f invaluable advice.37 The pilgrim should avoid the lowest p art of the ship from Venice which is ‘ryght evyll & smoulderyng hote and stynkynge5, and instead find a place amidships in order to keep 'his brayne and stomacke in tempre*. T hat galleys should ever sail safely from Venice to Jaffa seems astonishing if all pilgrims followed the advice to carry not only ‘a lytell cauldron’， a ‘fryenge p an n e\ barrels o f water and wine, laxatives, restoratives and spices, a cage o f chickens and a feather bed.38 Pilgrims should move swiftly on disem barkation at Jaffa to choose the best mule; they should also watch out for those Saracens who will 4go talkyng [with] you [and] make gode chere: but thi woll stele from you yf they m aye\ This delightful work lists the sites to be visited and the pilgrimages to be made but, as with many 35 Wey, Itineraries^ 9. 36 Wey, Itineraries, 6. 3T Information for Pilgrims. No page numbers. ,s The author (drawing here on the narrative of William Wey) directs the pilgrim to a spot beside St Mark'i Church in Venice where not only the said feather bed but also a mattress, pillow, two pain of ihMt» and ■ quilt can be purchased for the grand total of three ducats. What is more, the vendor will puroh«M back the bed on the pilgrim's return for a ducat and a half •though Ü b« brok籲《 nd wortrf.

237

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interpretations, provided a unique focus for the spiritual debates and tensions of late English medieval society.

m ajority o f pilgrim accounts o f this period. Although most record the indulgences to be won at particular sites, they show a m arked tendency to concentrate on the practicalities o f the journey, anxious to warn other travellers o f the pitfalls o f money-changers, mouldy food - and m arauding Saracens. The Itineraries o f William Wey, a Fellow o f Eton College who travelled to the Holy Land in 1458 and 1462, are typical in this respect. He is careful to note the spiritual rewards to be gleaned from the long and hazardous journey:

Jo u rn e y in g to th e E a rth ly C ity The Jerusalem pilgrimage was, unquestionably, the m ost dangerous and the most significant o f all place pilgrimages. The concept o f a Christian Holy Land prom oted by Constantine continued to grip the hearts o f believers despite the loss o f Jerusalem, first to the Persians in 614 and then to Moslem forces in 638. Throughout the succeeding centuries pilgrims continued to make their way to the holy city. Some appear to have visited the holy places without incident; others lost their possessions and even their lives.28 The sufferings o f Christians in and around Jerusalem were used by Pope U rban II in 1095 in proclaiming the First Crusade.29 One account of his speech not only argues the need to protect fellow-believers but also asserts the centrality, geographical,30 spiritual and emotional, o f the city of Jerusalem in Christian thought: Jerusalem is the navel o f the world; the land is fruitful above all others, like another paradise of delights. This the Redeemer of the hum an race has m ade illustrious by his coming, has beautified by his presence, has consecrated by suffering, has redeemed by death, has glorified by burial. This royal city, therefore, situated at the center o f the world, is now held captive . . . she seeks and desires to be liberated .31

The crusaders won, then lost the city but the pilgrims continued to make the journey, sometimes tolerated， sometimes m altreated by the ‘Saracens’ who feature in so many narratives.32 U nfortunately there are very few extant accounts in English o f pilgrim journeys to Jerusalem during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.33 A Latin text relates the journey of Simon Fitzsimons, a F riar M inor who, modelling himself on A braham , set off from Ireland in 1322, full o f high-sounding phrases: H aving refused the crown o f honour and having removed entirely other annoying things which cause loss of time and which are wont to tighten fetters and beget difficulties, and, wishing to go forth . . . from my native land and paternal home, as did o f old A braham . . . we set out for the Holy Land .34

After such a high-flown opening, his description of Jerusalem is surprisingly brief and confined to factual inform ation, an attitude which characterises the JB See Peters (1985), Chapters 6 and 7. 29 See Hamilton (1994). M See French (1992), on the process by which Jerusalem came to occupy the central place in medieval maps. 11 Krey (1921),30-2. Cited Peters (1985), 281-2. 3J The term 'Arabs' was usually reserved for the Bedouin. See Peters (1985), 433. 33 See Schur (1980) for a comprehensive survey of Jerusalem pilgrimage narratives. M Western Pilgrims, 2. This collection alio contains two further accounts by English pilgrims of this period which were atio originally written in Latin and which contain similar material.

236

. . . when wee be passyd that place, We shal se Jerusalem in short space. Then knele wee downe apoun oure kne, W hen wee that holy cyte see; F o r to all that thydyr come Ys yeve and graunt ful remmyssioun .35

He is, however, also concerned to warn o f the dangers o f consuming unfam iliar food: When ye com to dyuerse havynnys be wel ware o f dyuerse frutys, for they be not acordyng to yowre complexioun, and they gender a blody fluxe; and yf an Englyschman haue that sykenes hyt ys a mervel and scape hyt but he dye thereof .36

He also warns that the wine at Ram allah is ‘febyl and dere’ while th at to be had in Jerusalem is ‘goyd wyne’ b u t still 'dere’. The highly informative Information fo r Pilgrims unto the Holy Land, which though printed around 1498, drew heavily on earlier accounts, particularly that of Wey himself, also offers a wealth o f invaluable advice.37 The pilgrim should avoid the lowest p art of the ship from Venice which is ‘ryght evyll & smoulderyng hote and stynkynge5, and instead find a place amidships in order to keep 'his brayne and stomacke in tempre*. T hat galleys should ever sail safely from Venice to Jaffa seems astonishing if all pilgrims followed the advice to carry not only ‘a lytell cauldron’， a ‘fryenge p an n e\ barrels o f water and wine, laxatives, restoratives and spices, a cage o f chickens and a feather bed.38 Pilgrims should move swiftly on disem barkation at Jaffa to choose the best mule; they should also watch out for those Saracens who will 4go talkyng [with] you [and] make gode chere: but thi woll stele from you yf they m aye\ This delightful work lists the sites to be visited and the pilgrimages to be made but, as with many 35 Wey, Itineraries^ 9. 36 Wey, Itineraries, 6. 3T Information for Pilgrims. No page numbers. ,s The author (drawing here on the narrative of William Wey) directs the pilgrim to a spot beside St Mark'i Church in Venice where not only the said feather bed but also a mattress, pillow, two pain of ihMt» and ■ quilt can be purchased for the grand total of three ducats. What is more, the vendor will puroh«M back the bed on the pilgrim's return for a ducat and a half •though Ü b« brok籲《 nd wortrf.

237

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others of its kind,39 its tone is practical rather than devotional.40 The chief exception to this pragm atic rule is the Book o f Margery Kempe, which is more concerned to chart pathways o f the spirit than to offer advice on selecting a docile mule.

M ount Zion and the Church, the Bride o f Christ, is revealed 4clothed in white linen, (19: 8). It is not surprising therefore that the remainder o f this complex poem is devoted to teaching about the pilgrimage of life: how to avoid sin, how to live a life pleasing to G od and thus to come at last to the heavenly city:

Jo u rn e y in g to Jeru salem in Piers Plow m an, the C anterbury Tales a n d Pearl Piers Plowman It has already been dem onstrated in this study that with the exception o f the travel accounts and guides described in the previous section, the majority o f extant Middle English texts view geographical pilgrimage with considerable suspicion, if not downright disapproval. As we have seen, the harshest criticism is found in Piers Plowman, where wandering is viewed as synon­ ymous with sinfulness41 and pilgrims and palmers are characterised as hypocrites and liars: Pilgrymes and palmeres plighten hem togidere T o seken Seint Jame and seintes in Rome; W enten forth in hire wey with many wise tales, And hadden leve to lyen al hire lif after. (Piers Plowman^ Prologue^ 46-9)

In the poem Langland offers two kinds of journey to Jerusalem. Firstly, in the Prologue the Dreamer is confronted with the heavenly Jerusalem,42 described initially as a tower on a hill (P rologue,14) and subsequently as a castle on a m ountain (1.1-4). The tower is the dwelling place o f Truth,43 the m ountain is Zion upon which is built the city o f G od.44 From this symbolic representation of the heavenly Jerusalem descends a 'lovely lady* clothed in linen. H er name is Holy Church, her task to point the Dream er to the tower where T ruth dwells and to teach him the way of salvation. These early passages in the poem are deeply indebted to the picture o f the heavenly Jerusalem contained in the Book o f Revelation, where G od is described as the one whose judgements are 4true and ju s t\ Christ is pictured standing on w The accounts in Latin by pilgrims from other European countries, such as Felix Fabri and Pietro Casola, which have a strong devotional emphasis but do not come within the scope of this study. M Duff comments that 'the name pilgrim hardly seems to apply to the traveller for whose information the book was issued*. Information for Pilgrims, Introduction xiii. 4> Langland is firmly committed to the idea of stability and the need for men and women to serve God in their allotted place in the community. See Chapter 9. 1,3 Compare the opening vision of de Deguileville's The Pilgrimage o f the Lyfe o f the Manhode, which was translated from French into Middle English in the early fifteenth century. The C-tex( reads: *And say [saw] a tour [tower], as Y trowed [believed]: Treuthc was thereynne*; Langland, Piers Plowman: An Edition o f the C-Text, Prologue^ IS. For Truth as a biblical name for God see John 14: 6 and Psalm 30: 6. 44 See Schmidt, The VhUm o f Piern Pbwnwn, 413 n. I.

238

Ac tho that werche wel as Holy W rit telleth, And enden as I er seide in truthe, that is the beste, Mowe be siker th a t hire soule shul wende to hevene, Ther T ruthe is in Trinitee (Piers Plowman, 1.130-3 )

Clearly Langland does not believe that geographical pilgrimage is likely to contribute to the longer spiritual journey which every Christian must make. In one of the best-known sections of the poem Reason preaches a sermon on Christian living which explicitly condemns journeying to holy places: And ye that seke Seynt James and seyntes of Rome, Seketh Seynt T ruth, for he m ay save yow alle. (Piers Plowman, V.56-7)

Moreover, when his sermon prom pts his audience to a mass pilgrimage in search of T ruth, no one knows where such a saint is to be found: There was wight noon so wys, the wey thider kouthe. (Piers Plowman, V.513)

Even a professional pilgrim, his hat laden with the emblems of Assisi, Compostela and Rome, who has travelled the Holy Land and visited the shrines o f many saints, declares th at he has never heard a palm er (a Jerusalem pilgrim) enquire for such a person. Piers the ploughman alone knows the way to T ru th ’s dwelling, a path which leads via the Ten Commandments, to the experience o f Love, Penance and Grace (V.560608). T ruth subsequently sends Piers instructions not to travel in search of his dwelling but instead to stay at home and to live out his faith within his calling as a ploughman (VII. 1-8). It is plain from these passages that Langland regards the visiting o f saints' shrines as a substitute for living as a Christian and the seeking of saints as a substitute for seeking T ruth himself. His attitude highlights two of the great tensions in the pilgrimage debate: the danger that within popular spirituality pilgrimage to an earthly goal could obscure or even undermine the longerterm objective of reaching the heavenly Jerusalem, and the concern that use of the saints as intermediaries might harm rather than enhance a direct relationship with G od.45 Langland instead points his audience to the importance o f repentance, the dangers posed by the seven deadly sins, and Jerome felt it necessary to distinguish between the iatria (worship) offered to God and the (butia (veneration) properly iiccorded to the saints; P L 23.390. The point is also made by the Second Council of Nica«« (787).

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others of its kind,39 its tone is practical rather than devotional.40 The chief exception to this pragm atic rule is the Book o f Margery Kempe, which is more concerned to chart pathways o f the spirit than to offer advice on selecting a docile mule.

M ount Zion and the Church, the Bride o f Christ, is revealed 4clothed in white linen, (19: 8). It is not surprising therefore that the remainder o f this complex poem is devoted to teaching about the pilgrimage of life: how to avoid sin, how to live a life pleasing to G od and thus to come at last to the heavenly city:

Jo u rn e y in g to Jeru salem in Piers Plow m an, the C anterbury Tales a n d Pearl Piers Plowman It has already been dem onstrated in this study that with the exception o f the travel accounts and guides described in the previous section, the majority o f extant Middle English texts view geographical pilgrimage with considerable suspicion, if not downright disapproval. As we have seen, the harshest criticism is found in Piers Plowman, where wandering is viewed as synon­ ymous with sinfulness41 and pilgrims and palmers are characterised as hypocrites and liars: Pilgrymes and palmeres plighten hem togidere T o seken Seint Jame and seintes in Rome; W enten forth in hire wey with many wise tales, And hadden leve to lyen al hire lif after. (Piers Plowman^ Prologue^ 46-9)

In the poem Langland offers two kinds of journey to Jerusalem. Firstly, in the Prologue the Dreamer is confronted with the heavenly Jerusalem,42 described initially as a tower on a hill (P rologue,14) and subsequently as a castle on a m ountain (1.1-4). The tower is the dwelling place o f Truth,43 the m ountain is Zion upon which is built the city o f G od.44 From this symbolic representation of the heavenly Jerusalem descends a 'lovely lady* clothed in linen. H er name is Holy Church, her task to point the Dream er to the tower where T ruth dwells and to teach him the way of salvation. These early passages in the poem are deeply indebted to the picture o f the heavenly Jerusalem contained in the Book o f Revelation, where G od is described as the one whose judgements are 4true and ju s t\ Christ is pictured standing on w The accounts in Latin by pilgrims from other European countries, such as Felix Fabri and Pietro Casola, which have a strong devotional emphasis but do not come within the scope of this study. M Duff comments that 'the name pilgrim hardly seems to apply to the traveller for whose information the book was issued*. Information for Pilgrims, Introduction xiii. 4> Langland is firmly committed to the idea of stability and the need for men and women to serve God in their allotted place in the community. See Chapter 9. 1,3 Compare the opening vision of de Deguileville's The Pilgrimage o f the Lyfe o f the Manhode, which was translated from French into Middle English in the early fifteenth century. The C-tex( reads: *And say [saw] a tour [tower], as Y trowed [believed]: Treuthc was thereynne*; Langland, Piers Plowman: An Edition o f the C-Text, Prologue^ IS. For Truth as a biblical name for God see John 14: 6 and Psalm 30: 6. 44 See Schmidt, The VhUm o f Piern Pbwnwn, 413 n. I.

238

Ac tho that werche wel as Holy W rit telleth, And enden as I er seide in truthe, that is the beste, Mowe be siker th a t hire soule shul wende to hevene, Ther T ruthe is in Trinitee (Piers Plowman, 1.130-3 )

Clearly Langland does not believe that geographical pilgrimage is likely to contribute to the longer spiritual journey which every Christian must make. In one of the best-known sections of the poem Reason preaches a sermon on Christian living which explicitly condemns journeying to holy places: And ye that seke Seynt James and seyntes of Rome, Seketh Seynt T ruth, for he m ay save yow alle. (Piers Plowman, V.56-7)

Moreover, when his sermon prom pts his audience to a mass pilgrimage in search of T ruth, no one knows where such a saint is to be found: There was wight noon so wys, the wey thider kouthe. (Piers Plowman, V.513)

Even a professional pilgrim, his hat laden with the emblems of Assisi, Compostela and Rome, who has travelled the Holy Land and visited the shrines o f many saints, declares th at he has never heard a palm er (a Jerusalem pilgrim) enquire for such a person. Piers the ploughman alone knows the way to T ru th ’s dwelling, a path which leads via the Ten Commandments, to the experience o f Love, Penance and Grace (V.560608). T ruth subsequently sends Piers instructions not to travel in search of his dwelling but instead to stay at home and to live out his faith within his calling as a ploughman (VII. 1-8). It is plain from these passages that Langland regards the visiting o f saints' shrines as a substitute for living as a Christian and the seeking of saints as a substitute for seeking T ruth himself. His attitude highlights two of the great tensions in the pilgrimage debate: the danger that within popular spirituality pilgrimage to an earthly goal could obscure or even undermine the longerterm objective of reaching the heavenly Jerusalem, and the concern that use of the saints as intermediaries might harm rather than enhance a direct relationship with G od.45 Langland instead points his audience to the importance o f repentance, the dangers posed by the seven deadly sins, and Jerome felt it necessary to distinguish between the iatria (worship) offered to God and the (butia (veneration) properly iiccorded to the saints; P L 23.390. The point is also made by the Second Council of Nica«« (787).

239

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AN OVERVIEW OF PILGRIMAGE IN MIDDLE ENGLISH

the need to learn the truths o f Christian doctrine. As part of the learning process the poet incorporates a second journey to Jerusalem, this time a dream visit to the earthly city to witness Christ's sufferings and death (XVII). This witnessing o f the Passion narrative is a necessary part of the Dream er's theological education. In its dram atic presentation and sense of involvement it mirrors the meditations advocated by Richard Rolle46 and the author o f the Pseudo-Bonaventuran Meditations on the Life o f Christ among others. The meditative technique o f entering into the biblical narrative, and in particular the practice o f journeying* in the imagination through space and time to witness the Crucifixion of Christ, was common in late medieval spirituality and offers an interesting parallel, in its oojectives and effects, to the practice o f place pilgrimage. Those who desired to enter into the events o f C hrist's Passion, whether through the use o f their spiritual imaginations or by standing in the very spot where the Saviour had suffered, were seeking an immediacy o f experience which would enrich and inspire their spiritual journeys. Langland taps into this rich vein of spiritual encouragement in order to move and motivate his audience as they pursue their aaily journey to the heavenly Jerusalem.

in the journey to Canterbury corresponds with criticism levelled both by members o f the Church hierarchy and Lollard critics52 would seem to indicate his own awareness o f the potential for abuse in this ostensibly spiritual exercise. A particular example o f the question m arks which Chaucer appears to place over the practice of place pilgrimage, and one which is particularly relevant to the role of Jerusalem, is his portrayal of the Wife of Bath, who is, significantly, the most widely travelled pilgrim in the Canterbury Tales. The journeys attributed to her are certainly impressive. N ot only has she been to Rome, Compostela and Cologne but she has visited Jerusalem no fewer than three times, a prodigious feat when the perils described by real-life pilgrims such as William Wey are taken into account. H er journeying, however, is summarised in a phrase which by its nature and context places a question m ark over the spirit in which it is undertaken. Inserted between the list o f holy places she has visited and a description indicating her disposition towards lechery, comes a line which suggests the use o f double (if not triple) entendre: she knows much, says Chaucer, of'w andrynge by the weye* (General Prologue, 467). Since the Wife o f Bath herself in the Prologue to her Tale reveals that she uses pilgrimages to look for new lovers (551-7), this line seems to imply that despite the time and effort she has devoted, particularly to travelling to Jerusalem, her journeys lack spiritual direction and presumably spiritual profit. H er supposedly pious activities are in fact occasions for wandering, a word which, as we have seen in Piers Plowman, has a strong connotation of spiritual lostness.53 Her gender is also highly significant in this context. As we have seen, pilgrimages by women had been regarded with suspicion from the creation o f the Holy Land onwards.54 Jerome, writing in the late fourth century, was scandalised by a female pilgrim whose dress, conduct and companions made her, in his opinion， fit to be ‘the bride o f N ero ， ；Gregory o f Nyssa voiced similar concerns.55 D uring the Anglo-Saxon period Boniface, am ong others, expressed concern lest female English pilgrims fall into immorality. A thirteenth-century poem makes a similar point:

The Canterbury Tales There is no explicit criticism of place pilgrimage in the Canterbury Tales, not even from the Parson, who, though accused o f Lollard47 sympathies because of his dislike o f swearing,48 shows no Lollard disapproval o f pilgrimages.49 Yet a thread o f implied questioning o f this practice can be seen to run through the work, the most obvious examples o f this technique being the descriptions o f the M onk and the Prioress, both o f whom have strayed far from their cloisters, and the inappropriate behaviour of the m ajority o f the would-be pilgrims,50 who are shown riding in comfort rather than walking, and indulging in indecorous conversation rather than religious observance.51 The extent to which Chaucer's presentation o f religious and lay participants 4fc Rolle (c.1300-49) in his Meditations on the Passion speaks as though present in Jerusalem: *A Lord . . . in |?is gronynge， and in |?is mychel pyne, J?ou gost owt of Jerusalem toward J?i deth. cytc is so noble, J>e pupyl is so mychel,)?e folke comyth rennynge owt of iche a strete.' Rolle, English Huntings, 23. 47 A term which originally denoted a follower of John Wyclif (c. 1330-84) but was later applied to anyone critica! of the Church. Lollards emphasised the authority of the Bible and strongly opposed indulgences, pilgrimages, clerical celibacy and the doctrine of transubstantiation. See Part II, Introduction. 41 IU170-7. 49 For Lollard objections to pilgrimage sec for example Two Wyclij'fite Texts, 61-4. Thorpe asserts that the majority of pilgrims to earthly shrines arc ignorant of the essentials of the faith and that their motivation is ^ o re to hiive richeiies and prosperite of ]>is world >an for to be enricid vertues in her souli»* (63). 50 See Chapter 10. M See Constable (1976), I3(M2,

240

Petit licentiam uxor nefaria ut vadat peregre per monasteria, et tecta subiens prostibularia, plus ilia celebrat quam sanctuaria. The wayward wife asks leave to tour the monasteries abroad, and, entering the brothels, she frequents them more than the shrines .56

52 On pilgrimage by religious sec Chapter 11;on criticisms of the laity see Chapter 10. See Chapter 9. Despite, ironically, the role played by the Empress Helena in the creation of many of the holy places. See Chapttr 3. S9 See Chapter 3. MCited Mann (197)),123. 53 54

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

AN OVERVIEW OF PILGRIMAGE IN MIDDLE ENGLISH

the need to learn the truths o f Christian doctrine. As part of the learning process the poet incorporates a second journey to Jerusalem, this time a dream visit to the earthly city to witness Christ's sufferings and death (XVII). This witnessing o f the Passion narrative is a necessary part of the Dream er's theological education. In its dram atic presentation and sense of involvement it mirrors the meditations advocated by Richard Rolle46 and the author o f the Pseudo-Bonaventuran Meditations on the Life o f Christ among others. The meditative technique o f entering into the biblical narrative, and in particular the practice o f journeying* in the imagination through space and time to witness the Crucifixion of Christ, was common in late medieval spirituality and offers an interesting parallel, in its oojectives and effects, to the practice o f place pilgrimage. Those who desired to enter into the events o f C hrist's Passion, whether through the use o f their spiritual imaginations or by standing in the very spot where the Saviour had suffered, were seeking an immediacy o f experience which would enrich and inspire their spiritual journeys. Langland taps into this rich vein of spiritual encouragement in order to move and motivate his audience as they pursue their aaily journey to the heavenly Jerusalem.

in the journey to Canterbury corresponds with criticism levelled both by members o f the Church hierarchy and Lollard critics52 would seem to indicate his own awareness o f the potential for abuse in this ostensibly spiritual exercise. A particular example o f the question m arks which Chaucer appears to place over the practice of place pilgrimage, and one which is particularly relevant to the role of Jerusalem, is his portrayal of the Wife of Bath, who is, significantly, the most widely travelled pilgrim in the Canterbury Tales. The journeys attributed to her are certainly impressive. N ot only has she been to Rome, Compostela and Cologne but she has visited Jerusalem no fewer than three times, a prodigious feat when the perils described by real-life pilgrims such as William Wey are taken into account. H er journeying, however, is summarised in a phrase which by its nature and context places a question m ark over the spirit in which it is undertaken. Inserted between the list o f holy places she has visited and a description indicating her disposition towards lechery, comes a line which suggests the use o f double (if not triple) entendre: she knows much, says Chaucer, of'w andrynge by the weye* (General Prologue, 467). Since the Wife o f Bath herself in the Prologue to her Tale reveals that she uses pilgrimages to look for new lovers (551-7), this line seems to imply that despite the time and effort she has devoted, particularly to travelling to Jerusalem, her journeys lack spiritual direction and presumably spiritual profit. H er supposedly pious activities are in fact occasions for wandering, a word which, as we have seen in Piers Plowman, has a strong connotation of spiritual lostness.53 Her gender is also highly significant in this context. As we have seen, pilgrimages by women had been regarded with suspicion from the creation o f the Holy Land onwards.54 Jerome, writing in the late fourth century, was scandalised by a female pilgrim whose dress, conduct and companions made her, in his opinion， fit to be ‘the bride o f N ero ， ；Gregory o f Nyssa voiced similar concerns.55 D uring the Anglo-Saxon period Boniface, am ong others, expressed concern lest female English pilgrims fall into immorality. A thirteenth-century poem makes a similar point:

The Canterbury Tales There is no explicit criticism of place pilgrimage in the Canterbury Tales, not even from the Parson, who, though accused o f Lollard47 sympathies because of his dislike o f swearing,48 shows no Lollard disapproval o f pilgrimages.49 Yet a thread o f implied questioning o f this practice can be seen to run through the work, the most obvious examples o f this technique being the descriptions o f the M onk and the Prioress, both o f whom have strayed far from their cloisters, and the inappropriate behaviour of the m ajority o f the would-be pilgrims,50 who are shown riding in comfort rather than walking, and indulging in indecorous conversation rather than religious observance.51 The extent to which Chaucer's presentation o f religious and lay participants 4fc Rolle (c.1300-49) in his Meditations on the Passion speaks as though present in Jerusalem: *A Lord . . . in |?is gronynge， and in |?is mychel pyne, J?ou gost owt of Jerusalem toward J?i deth. cytc is so noble, J>e pupyl is so mychel,)?e folke comyth rennynge owt of iche a strete.' Rolle, English Huntings, 23. 47 A term which originally denoted a follower of John Wyclif (c. 1330-84) but was later applied to anyone critica! of the Church. Lollards emphasised the authority of the Bible and strongly opposed indulgences, pilgrimages, clerical celibacy and the doctrine of transubstantiation. See Part II, Introduction. 41 IU170-7. 49 For Lollard objections to pilgrimage sec for example Two Wyclij'fite Texts, 61-4. Thorpe asserts that the majority of pilgrims to earthly shrines arc ignorant of the essentials of the faith and that their motivation is ^ o re to hiive richeiies and prosperite of ]>is world >an for to be enricid vertues in her souli»* (63). 50 See Chapter 10. M See Constable (1976), I3(M2,

240

Petit licentiam uxor nefaria ut vadat peregre per monasteria, et tecta subiens prostibularia, plus ilia celebrat quam sanctuaria. The wayward wife asks leave to tour the monasteries abroad, and, entering the brothels, she frequents them more than the shrines .56

52 On pilgrimage by religious sec Chapter 11;on criticisms of the laity see Chapter 10. See Chapter 9. Despite, ironically, the role played by the Empress Helena in the creation of many of the holy places. See Chapttr 3. S9 See Chapter 3. MCited Mann (197)),123. 53 54

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

Such insinuations, o f course, form part o f a broader misogynist tradition, yet seem particularly unjust when set alongside the fact that the Germ an traveller Arnold von H arff in his Holy Land narrative seems to have regarded as an indispensable part o f a (male) pilgrim’s vocabulary the phrase, ‘W om an may I sleep with you?’ which he helpfully supplies in Greek, Slavonic, Arabic and 'the Jewish speech'.57 Chaucer, o f course, was using traditional material for his own purposes but it is surely indicative o f some reservations towards geographical pilgrimage that he should m ake the most active tplace-pilgrim, o f the Canterbury group a woman, and a woman o f unm istakably low m orals at that. The presentation o f C haucer^ pilgrims in the General Prologue and subsequently through their tales and interaction suggests strongly that participation in place pilgrimage does not o f itself effect change. It may, however, provide a context, a space for reflection, in which such change may be m ore readily experienced. Certainly this appears to be the hope o f the Parson, a character to whom Chaucer attributes a rare integrity58 and to whom he allocates the concluding tale.59 The Parson tells his fellow travellers th at he will show them the way in this viage O f thilke parfit glorious pilgrymage T hat highte Jerusalem celestial. (Parson s Prologue, 49-51)

There are many ways, he says, to the heavenly Jerusalem but the surest is penitence. He therefore offers them instruction in the practice o f penance, including a comprehensive survey o f the seven deadly sins. Like Langland, Chaucer thus draws a very close connection between the practice o f life pilgrimage to the heavenly city and the value of penance and a life of obedience. Chaucer, however, goes a step further in delineating the joys of the heavenly Jerusalem. In the process he draws an implicit comparison between the short-term benefits to be derived from visiting the shrine o f Thom as, such as the hope o f physical healing and a sight o f the glittering treasures which adorned the sainfs shrine, and the eternal joys which await weary pilgrims as they reach their heavenly goal and gaze upon God himself: there joye has no contrarioustee o f wo ne grevaunce; ther alle harmes been passed o f this present ly f . . . ther as the body, th at whilom was syk, freele, and fieble, and m ortal, is in m o rta l. . . ther as ne is neither hunger, thurst, ne coold, but every soule replenyssed with the sighte o f the parfit knowynge of God. (Parsons Tale, 1076-9)

AN OVERVIEW OF PILGRIMAGE IN MIDDLE ENGLISH

Pearl The supreme vision of the heavenly Jerusalem in Middle English literature comes in the exquisitely fashioned alliterative poem Pearl ( c . 1390) which, like Piers Plowman, concerns a n arrato r whose dream journey is intended to inspire him to persevere in his life journey to that eternal city.60 The poem also offers an intricate exploration o f the relationship between person and place, through a series of scene changes, during each of which the focus shifts from a place associated with a person to the person themselves. Grieving beside the grave of his infant daughter, whose burial m ound he treats alm ost as a reliquary or shrine, the n arrato r is transported in a dream to meet his ‘lost’ child in person and discovers that she has in fact become a Pearl M aiden, one of the 144,000 virgins who form the retinue o f the Lam b of G od in the new Jerusalem. Like Holy Church in Piers Plowman, the Maiden^s function is to instruct. In the process o f enlightening her somewhat obtuse parent, she introduces him first to the old Jerusalem, then to the city described in the Apocalypse. Significantly, in both instances the place is im portant only as a setting for the Lamb o f God. It is his glimpse o f the Lamb and o f the wound he has suffered for m ankind which affects the Dreamer most profoundly. When the vision is abruptly cut short, he vows to devote his life to finding the way to the city, so that he too may become one of those who rejoice in the sight of the Saviour. J o u rn e y in g to th e in te rio r Jeru salem A similar pre-eminence of person over place can be also be seen in W alter H ilton's treatise on the contemplative life: the Scale o f Perfection. Here the pilgrimage o f life is expressed in terms o f an inner journey o f the soul towards what Bonaventure calls an ‘interior Jerusalem，.61 This journey requires constant movement away from sin and towards heaven; this movement is essentially inward.62 Hilton, however, chooses to express it in an extended m etaphor based upon the geographical pilgrimage to Jerusalem, an image from which he elicits rem arkably positive lessons on sacrifice, single-mind­ edness and security. A pilgrim 'going to Jerusalem leaves behind him house and land, wife and children . . . if you w ant to be a spiritual pilgrim you m ust make yourself naked o f all you have’ （11.21). ‘If men want to delay you . . . trying to draw you with pleasures and m ake you leave your pilgrimage turn a deaf ear and do not reply, saying that you want only to be in Jerusalem.’ Just 60 Sarah Stanbury (1988),117-31, asserts that "Pearl is in essence a journey to Jerusalem\ I

57 Arnold von HarfT, Pilgrimage, 77, 9 1, 131, 220. s®The Parson's role in life as described in the General Prologue (519) is *to drawen folk to hevene' which makes the stated purpose of his Tale particularly appropriate. S9 On the position and function of the Parsons Tale see Wenzel(1981) and Chapter 10 above.

242

suggest that it is in fact a journey to two Jerusalems and that the links and contrasts between the two cities form an important part of the dream revelation. See Chapter 11. 61 Bonaventure,/Mra/r#, 7,1, 62 As another Englilh myitlcal writer of the period indicates, it is to be "ronne by desires, not by paiei of feet', Cloud ^ Unkfiowtngt 112/14.

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

Such insinuations, o f course, form part o f a broader misogynist tradition, yet seem particularly unjust when set alongside the fact that the Germ an traveller Arnold von H arff in his Holy Land narrative seems to have regarded as an indispensable part o f a (male) pilgrim’s vocabulary the phrase, ‘W om an may I sleep with you?’ which he helpfully supplies in Greek, Slavonic, Arabic and 'the Jewish speech'.57 Chaucer, o f course, was using traditional material for his own purposes but it is surely indicative o f some reservations towards geographical pilgrimage that he should m ake the most active tplace-pilgrim, o f the Canterbury group a woman, and a woman o f unm istakably low m orals at that. The presentation o f C haucer^ pilgrims in the General Prologue and subsequently through their tales and interaction suggests strongly that participation in place pilgrimage does not o f itself effect change. It may, however, provide a context, a space for reflection, in which such change may be m ore readily experienced. Certainly this appears to be the hope o f the Parson, a character to whom Chaucer attributes a rare integrity58 and to whom he allocates the concluding tale.59 The Parson tells his fellow travellers th at he will show them the way in this viage O f thilke parfit glorious pilgrymage T hat highte Jerusalem celestial. (Parson s Prologue, 49-51)

There are many ways, he says, to the heavenly Jerusalem but the surest is penitence. He therefore offers them instruction in the practice o f penance, including a comprehensive survey o f the seven deadly sins. Like Langland, Chaucer thus draws a very close connection between the practice o f life pilgrimage to the heavenly city and the value of penance and a life of obedience. Chaucer, however, goes a step further in delineating the joys of the heavenly Jerusalem. In the process he draws an implicit comparison between the short-term benefits to be derived from visiting the shrine o f Thom as, such as the hope o f physical healing and a sight o f the glittering treasures which adorned the sainfs shrine, and the eternal joys which await weary pilgrims as they reach their heavenly goal and gaze upon God himself: there joye has no contrarioustee o f wo ne grevaunce; ther alle harmes been passed o f this present ly f . . . ther as the body, th at whilom was syk, freele, and fieble, and m ortal, is in m o rta l. . . ther as ne is neither hunger, thurst, ne coold, but every soule replenyssed with the sighte o f the parfit knowynge of God. (Parsons Tale, 1076-9)

AN OVERVIEW OF PILGRIMAGE IN MIDDLE ENGLISH

Pearl The supreme vision of the heavenly Jerusalem in Middle English literature comes in the exquisitely fashioned alliterative poem Pearl ( c . 1390) which, like Piers Plowman, concerns a n arrato r whose dream journey is intended to inspire him to persevere in his life journey to that eternal city.60 The poem also offers an intricate exploration o f the relationship between person and place, through a series of scene changes, during each of which the focus shifts from a place associated with a person to the person themselves. Grieving beside the grave of his infant daughter, whose burial m ound he treats alm ost as a reliquary or shrine, the n arrato r is transported in a dream to meet his ‘lost’ child in person and discovers that she has in fact become a Pearl M aiden, one of the 144,000 virgins who form the retinue o f the Lam b of G od in the new Jerusalem. Like Holy Church in Piers Plowman, the Maiden^s function is to instruct. In the process o f enlightening her somewhat obtuse parent, she introduces him first to the old Jerusalem, then to the city described in the Apocalypse. Significantly, in both instances the place is im portant only as a setting for the Lamb o f God. It is his glimpse o f the Lamb and o f the wound he has suffered for m ankind which affects the Dreamer most profoundly. When the vision is abruptly cut short, he vows to devote his life to finding the way to the city, so that he too may become one of those who rejoice in the sight of the Saviour. J o u rn e y in g to th e in te rio r Jeru salem A similar pre-eminence of person over place can be also be seen in W alter H ilton's treatise on the contemplative life: the Scale o f Perfection. Here the pilgrimage o f life is expressed in terms o f an inner journey o f the soul towards what Bonaventure calls an ‘interior Jerusalem，.61 This journey requires constant movement away from sin and towards heaven; this movement is essentially inward.62 Hilton, however, chooses to express it in an extended m etaphor based upon the geographical pilgrimage to Jerusalem, an image from which he elicits rem arkably positive lessons on sacrifice, single-mind­ edness and security. A pilgrim 'going to Jerusalem leaves behind him house and land, wife and children . . . if you w ant to be a spiritual pilgrim you m ust make yourself naked o f all you have’ （11.21). ‘If men want to delay you . . . trying to draw you with pleasures and m ake you leave your pilgrimage turn a deaf ear and do not reply, saying that you want only to be in Jerusalem.’ Just 60 Sarah Stanbury (1988),117-31, asserts that "Pearl is in essence a journey to Jerusalem\ I

57 Arnold von HarfT, Pilgrimage, 77, 9 1, 131, 220. s®The Parson's role in life as described in the General Prologue (519) is *to drawen folk to hevene' which makes the stated purpose of his Tale particularly appropriate. S9 On the position and function of the Parsons Tale see Wenzel(1981) and Chapter 10 above.

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suggest that it is in fact a journey to two Jerusalems and that the links and contrasts between the two cities form an important part of the dream revelation. See Chapter 11. 61 Bonaventure,/Mra/r#, 7,1, 62 As another Englilh myitlcal writer of the period indicates, it is to be "ronne by desires, not by paiei of feet', Cloud ^ Unkfiowtngt 112/14.

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

as the traveller drawing near to Jerusalem sees ‘from afar’ small sudden gleams shining from that city, so the contemplative passing through spiritual darkness will experience glimpses o f the light o f Christ (II.25).63 The goal o f the contemplative is, once again, not a place but a person: A ccording to our spiritual proposition, Jerusalem is as much to say sight o f peace and stands for contem plation . . . for contem plation is nothing other than a sight of Jesus, who is true peace’ （11.21).Despite the positive lessons that he draws from the practice o f place pilgrimage, the life that Hilton advocates is based upon spiritual not physical journeying. In the first Book o f the Scale he wrote: (there is no need to run to Rome or Jerusalem to look for [Jesus] there, but turn your thought into your own soul where he is hidden* (1.49). This concept o f peregrinatio in stabilitate^ woven into the history of monasticism, shaped the lives o f m ost mystics65 and anchorites. Thus the longing expressed by the anchoress Julian o f Norwich to (be there* at the Crucifixion was fulfilled not by visiting the sites of the Passion in the earthly Jerusalem, but through revelations granted as she lay on her sick-bed in England. Thus far it would appear that surviving Middle English literary texts do not incline towards the practice o f place pilgrimage, preferring instead to emphasise the pilgrimage o f life and, in the case of the mystics, the quest for the interior Jerusalem. Yet as we have seen, there is one English text which seeks to combine the attributes o f every kind o f pilgrimage, the Book o f Margery Kempe. Professor Stan Hussey has commented that M argery's Book *reads like a despairing attem pt to bring some order to a kaleidoscope of journeys, visions, accusations and sobbings*.66 If, however, we place M argery’s book against the background o f multiple interpretations of pilgrimage, we can see that it is the pilgrimage m otif with its various strands o f meaning which gives shape and some degree of meaning to M argery's narrative. Defying the conventions of medieval spirituality, Margery is attem pting to tap into every strand o f pilgrimage spirituality simultaneously, providing herself with an impossible challenge and the world around with a highly confusing example o f religious fervour. Margery, for example, was not alone in reacting with violent emotion to being in the earthly Jerusalem and it is instructive to compare the antagonism which her tears and emotional outbursts have so often provoked, with Felix Fabri's account of a visit to the Holy Sepulchre some seventy years later.67 As we have seen,68 some members o f his group were moved to sob, to cry out, even to fall prostrate on the ground; meanwhile others stood by and scoffed. There is no doubt which set o f pilgrims has F abri’s approval: 63 Hilton, Scale. 64 Leclercq (1961),51. 65 With the exception of some European mystics such as Bridget of Sweden who travelled widely. 66 Hussey (1989)，117. 67 Fabri visited the Holy Land in 1480 and 1483. M See Chapter 8.

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Vidi nam que in omnibus praetactis devotionibus peregrinorum, quod quidam stolidi et aridi peregrini， imo bestiales animales, spiritum Dei non habentes ， stabant et caeterorum devotiones, fletus, prostrationes, pectorum punctiones et caetera talia subsannabant et deridebant. Et quod dam nabilius est, isti rudes et coeci omni devotione et affectione vacui, spurcitiis repleti tales devotos judicabant fatuos, hypocritas, ostentatores, fictos et non sanae mentis esse, eosque postea despectui habebant .69 I have seen . . . dull and unprofitable pilgrims . . . not having the spirit o f G o d ， who stood and smiled mockingly at the prayers, tears, prostrations, beating o f breasts and the like, which were done by the rest. W hat is even m ore dam nable is th at these brutish men . . . hold such devout people to be fools, hypocrites, vainglorious, deceivers, and brain-sick, and ever thereafter treated them with scorn .70

Pious pilgrims such as Fabri were conscious that place-pilgrimage involved several different levels of journeying - physical, em otional and spiritual. Those who merely covered the geographical distance were but 'unprofitable pilgrims1, resembling those condemned by Langland. Those who also journeyed within their souls had much to gain. In this group, it seems, M argery Kempe deserves inclusion. W ith all her faults, and she herself adm itted many, it seems th at in terms of journeying to Jerusalem Margery achieved a rem arkable degree of integration. C o n clu sio n This chapter has sought to illustrate some o f the many ways in which images o f Jerusalem were used in the depiction o f literal and m etaphorical pilgrim­ age. One im portant question, however, has not been addressed. M uch m odern criticism refers, m atter-of-factly, to 'literal journeys to holy places' and to 'the metaphor o f life as pilgrimage5. The evidence presented in this chapter, and indeed in this study as a whole, suggests, however, that this perspective may not in fact be in accord with th at manifested within medieval spirituality. In the m ajority o f texts which I have examined, the supreme significance o f pilgrimage is seen to lie in seeking the New Jerusalem, the eternal reality o f which the earthly city is but a shadow. As a thirteenth-century sermon points out: Multi nostrum crucem poenitentiae assumpserunt in hac Quadragesima, proponentes ire in illam santam Hierusaiem celestem. Tales vere peregrini s u n t. . . haec peregrinatio in hoc excellentior est aliis, quia propter hanc fiunt aliae, et si haec non fiat, aliae parum valent. M any o f us have taken up our cross o f penance . . . intending to go towards that holy celestial Jerusalem. Such are truly pilgrims. . . . This pilgrimage is superior to all other pilgrimages, because it is for its sake that

M Fabri, Eva$atorium%239, 70 Fabri, Book o f tht WandfHngst 1.284.

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as the traveller drawing near to Jerusalem sees ‘from afar’ small sudden gleams shining from that city, so the contemplative passing through spiritual darkness will experience glimpses o f the light o f Christ (II.25).63 The goal o f the contemplative is, once again, not a place but a person: A ccording to our spiritual proposition, Jerusalem is as much to say sight o f peace and stands for contem plation . . . for contem plation is nothing other than a sight of Jesus, who is true peace’ （11.21).Despite the positive lessons that he draws from the practice o f place pilgrimage, the life that Hilton advocates is based upon spiritual not physical journeying. In the first Book o f the Scale he wrote: (there is no need to run to Rome or Jerusalem to look for [Jesus] there, but turn your thought into your own soul where he is hidden* (1.49). This concept o f peregrinatio in stabilitate^ woven into the history of monasticism, shaped the lives o f m ost mystics65 and anchorites. Thus the longing expressed by the anchoress Julian o f Norwich to (be there* at the Crucifixion was fulfilled not by visiting the sites of the Passion in the earthly Jerusalem, but through revelations granted as she lay on her sick-bed in England. Thus far it would appear that surviving Middle English literary texts do not incline towards the practice o f place pilgrimage, preferring instead to emphasise the pilgrimage o f life and, in the case of the mystics, the quest for the interior Jerusalem. Yet as we have seen, there is one English text which seeks to combine the attributes o f every kind o f pilgrimage, the Book o f Margery Kempe. Professor Stan Hussey has commented that M argery's Book *reads like a despairing attem pt to bring some order to a kaleidoscope of journeys, visions, accusations and sobbings*.66 If, however, we place M argery’s book against the background o f multiple interpretations of pilgrimage, we can see that it is the pilgrimage m otif with its various strands o f meaning which gives shape and some degree of meaning to M argery's narrative. Defying the conventions of medieval spirituality, Margery is attem pting to tap into every strand o f pilgrimage spirituality simultaneously, providing herself with an impossible challenge and the world around with a highly confusing example o f religious fervour. Margery, for example, was not alone in reacting with violent emotion to being in the earthly Jerusalem and it is instructive to compare the antagonism which her tears and emotional outbursts have so often provoked, with Felix Fabri's account of a visit to the Holy Sepulchre some seventy years later.67 As we have seen,68 some members o f his group were moved to sob, to cry out, even to fall prostrate on the ground; meanwhile others stood by and scoffed. There is no doubt which set o f pilgrims has F abri’s approval: 63 Hilton, Scale. 64 Leclercq (1961),51. 65 With the exception of some European mystics such as Bridget of Sweden who travelled widely. 66 Hussey (1989)，117. 67 Fabri visited the Holy Land in 1480 and 1483. M See Chapter 8.

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Vidi nam que in omnibus praetactis devotionibus peregrinorum, quod quidam stolidi et aridi peregrini， imo bestiales animales, spiritum Dei non habentes ， stabant et caeterorum devotiones, fletus, prostrationes, pectorum punctiones et caetera talia subsannabant et deridebant. Et quod dam nabilius est, isti rudes et coeci omni devotione et affectione vacui, spurcitiis repleti tales devotos judicabant fatuos, hypocritas, ostentatores, fictos et non sanae mentis esse, eosque postea despectui habebant .69 I have seen . . . dull and unprofitable pilgrims . . . not having the spirit o f G o d ， who stood and smiled mockingly at the prayers, tears, prostrations, beating o f breasts and the like, which were done by the rest. W hat is even m ore dam nable is th at these brutish men . . . hold such devout people to be fools, hypocrites, vainglorious, deceivers, and brain-sick, and ever thereafter treated them with scorn .70

Pious pilgrims such as Fabri were conscious that place-pilgrimage involved several different levels of journeying - physical, em otional and spiritual. Those who merely covered the geographical distance were but 'unprofitable pilgrims1, resembling those condemned by Langland. Those who also journeyed within their souls had much to gain. In this group, it seems, M argery Kempe deserves inclusion. W ith all her faults, and she herself adm itted many, it seems th at in terms of journeying to Jerusalem Margery achieved a rem arkable degree of integration. C o n clu sio n This chapter has sought to illustrate some o f the many ways in which images o f Jerusalem were used in the depiction o f literal and m etaphorical pilgrim­ age. One im portant question, however, has not been addressed. M uch m odern criticism refers, m atter-of-factly, to 'literal journeys to holy places' and to 'the metaphor o f life as pilgrimage5. The evidence presented in this chapter, and indeed in this study as a whole, suggests, however, that this perspective may not in fact be in accord with th at manifested within medieval spirituality. In the m ajority o f texts which I have examined, the supreme significance o f pilgrimage is seen to lie in seeking the New Jerusalem, the eternal reality o f which the earthly city is but a shadow. As a thirteenth-century sermon points out: Multi nostrum crucem poenitentiae assumpserunt in hac Quadragesima, proponentes ire in illam santam Hierusaiem celestem. Tales vere peregrini s u n t. . . haec peregrinatio in hoc excellentior est aliis, quia propter hanc fiunt aliae, et si haec non fiat, aliae parum valent. M any o f us have taken up our cross o f penance . . . intending to go towards that holy celestial Jerusalem. Such are truly pilgrims. . . . This pilgrimage is superior to all other pilgrimages, because it is for its sake that

M Fabri, Eva$atorium%239, 70 Fabri, Book o f tht WandfHngst 1.284.

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the others are undertaken, and if it is not realised, all the others are o f little value .71

It would not seem unreasonable, therefore, to suggest that within medieval spirituality, it may in fact have been ‘geographical’ pilgrimage which was the m etaphor, a m iniature version o f that longer, more complex journey which every soul must choose to undertake. W hat then was the value o f journeying to the earthly Jerusalem and other holy places? It is clear from this study that, from the fourth century onwards, there were inherent tensions within the pilgrimage concept as Christians struggled to reconcile aspects o f interior, moral and place pilgrimage within an overall commitment to the pilgrimage o f life.72 The Anglo-Saxon Church can be seen to have absorbed many different interpretations of pilgrimage from its roots in Celtic and Rom an Christianity,73 though in time the emphases of the latter, particularly in terms of pilgrimage to holy places and a geographically fixed form o f monasticism, gained precedence. By the later M iddle Ages attitudes towards various modes o f pilgrimage were becoming more polarised. Yet, on the very eve of the Reform ation, it is possible to observe some kind o f resolution o f the ongoing tensions. Chaucer's fictional Parson and the peripatetic Margery Kcmpe may seem an unlikely combination; yet in both we can detect attem pts to reconcile the irreconcilable. The Parson, though adam ant regarding the true goal of hum ankind, is shown conceding that there are many 'weyes espirituels, which lead to the city on high.74 Margery, though only partially successful in communicating her spiritual desires, sought to avail herself o f all the weyes which she could access in her quest for the same goal. Underlying both M argery’s narrative and the Parson’s instruction is a single m otivation which, as this study has sought to show, forms an essential element of every type o f pilgrimage: the desire to encounter God. F or the aim o f all true Christian pilgrims was not in the final analysis to see Jerusalem, earthly or heavenly, but to see Jesus. Their supreme goal was not a place but a person. Mystics and contemplatives may have preferred to visit the earthly Jerusa­ lem through m editation alone and to seek an 'interior Jerusalem , where they could gaze upon the face o f G od in the quiet o f their cells. F or many others, however, not least among them the redoubtable Margery Kempe， the perils of the voyage from Venice, the trials o f the long and weary road from Jaffa and the joy of reaching the city where salvation had been won, served both as paradigm and inspiration, as they too pursued the lifelong journey which would bring them at last into the eternal presence of God.

71 William Peraldus, Sermo I dominicae quartae in Quadragesima; in Guilelmus Alvernus, Opera Omnia, Orleans and Paris, 1674, II. 50. Cited Wenzel (1981),98.

72 See Chapters 1-4. ” Sec Chapters 5-7. 74 Riverside Chaucer, Parson \s Tale, 79,

246

Conclusion This study asks a fundam ental but hitherto largely ignored question: what precisely did pilgrimage mean to medieval writers? T hat deceptively simple query has prom pted m any others. How m any meanings might pilgrimage have? Where did these meanings come from? How well did various under­ standings o f pilgrimage combine within medieval spirituality? Who were the true pilgrims - those who sought Terne halwes* {General Prologue, 14), those who withdrew into the cloister or the anchorite’s cell， or those who simply walked the path o f daily obedience? In order to answer these questions it has been necessary to examine the way in which Christian ideas o f pilgrimage came into being, shaped by the Bible, the classical pagan world, the writings of the Church Fathers and the impulses of popular religion. In the process I have identified a num ber o f factors which need to be borne in mind in any discussion of the pilgrimage motif. Firstly, it has become clear that the primary meaning oi pilgrimage within Christian thought is concerned with the journey o f individual believers through an alien world to the homeland of heaven. Like Adam and Eve, all are involuntary exiles from the joys of Eden; those who wish may imitate Abraham and other biblical figures in choosing to become pilgrims en route to heaven. Through this theological, historical and literary survey, I have dem onstrated the consistent presence and significant influence of the concept o f the pilgrimage o f life, from the earliest days o f the Church through its expression in Anglo-Saxon spirituality and literature, to its widespread use in Middle English literature. The weight o f this influence, I suggest, has not always been fully recognised in discussions o f Old and Middle English texts. It is evident th at the linked concepts of exile on earth and of seeking a homeland in heaven together undergird a surprising num ber o f Oia English poems and prose works. Similarly, Middle English writers exhibit a strong awareness o f the life pilgrimage m otif which has im portant implications for the interpretations of their works. As I indicated in the preface, there has been a strong tendency in discussions o f Middle English literature to concentrate upon the practice of place pilgrimage, thus failing to give due weight to aspects of interior and m oral pilgrimage which are crucial to the interpretation of texts such as Piers Plowman and the Canterbury Tales. Secondly, it is apparent that, within the overarching concept of life as journey, there are three main elements which have been held in tension (with varying degrees o f success) throughout the centuries: interior, moral and place pilgrimage. In attempting to summarise the relationship o f these elements it is helpful to regard moral pilgrimage as the core element o f the

247

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

the others are undertaken, and if it is not realised, all the others are o f little value .71

It would not seem unreasonable, therefore, to suggest that within medieval spirituality, it may in fact have been ‘geographical’ pilgrimage which was the m etaphor, a m iniature version o f that longer, more complex journey which every soul must choose to undertake. W hat then was the value o f journeying to the earthly Jerusalem and other holy places? It is clear from this study that, from the fourth century onwards, there were inherent tensions within the pilgrimage concept as Christians struggled to reconcile aspects o f interior, moral and place pilgrimage within an overall commitment to the pilgrimage o f life.72 The Anglo-Saxon Church can be seen to have absorbed many different interpretations of pilgrimage from its roots in Celtic and Rom an Christianity,73 though in time the emphases of the latter, particularly in terms of pilgrimage to holy places and a geographically fixed form o f monasticism, gained precedence. By the later M iddle Ages attitudes towards various modes o f pilgrimage were becoming more polarised. Yet, on the very eve of the Reform ation, it is possible to observe some kind o f resolution o f the ongoing tensions. Chaucer's fictional Parson and the peripatetic Margery Kcmpe may seem an unlikely combination; yet in both we can detect attem pts to reconcile the irreconcilable. The Parson, though adam ant regarding the true goal of hum ankind, is shown conceding that there are many 'weyes espirituels, which lead to the city on high.74 Margery, though only partially successful in communicating her spiritual desires, sought to avail herself o f all the weyes which she could access in her quest for the same goal. Underlying both M argery’s narrative and the Parson’s instruction is a single m otivation which, as this study has sought to show, forms an essential element of every type o f pilgrimage: the desire to encounter God. F or the aim o f all true Christian pilgrims was not in the final analysis to see Jerusalem, earthly or heavenly, but to see Jesus. Their supreme goal was not a place but a person. Mystics and contemplatives may have preferred to visit the earthly Jerusa­ lem through m editation alone and to seek an 'interior Jerusalem , where they could gaze upon the face o f G od in the quiet o f their cells. F or many others, however, not least among them the redoubtable Margery Kempe， the perils of the voyage from Venice, the trials o f the long and weary road from Jaffa and the joy of reaching the city where salvation had been won, served both as paradigm and inspiration, as they too pursued the lifelong journey which would bring them at last into the eternal presence of God.

71 William Peraldus, Sermo I dominicae quartae in Quadragesima; in Guilelmus Alvernus, Opera Omnia, Orleans and Paris, 1674, II. 50. Cited Wenzel (1981),98.

72 See Chapters 1-4. ” Sec Chapters 5-7. 74 Riverside Chaucer, Parson \s Tale, 79,

246

Conclusion This study asks a fundam ental but hitherto largely ignored question: what precisely did pilgrimage mean to medieval writers? T hat deceptively simple query has prom pted m any others. How m any meanings might pilgrimage have? Where did these meanings come from? How well did various under­ standings o f pilgrimage combine within medieval spirituality? Who were the true pilgrims - those who sought Terne halwes* {General Prologue, 14), those who withdrew into the cloister or the anchorite’s cell， or those who simply walked the path o f daily obedience? In order to answer these questions it has been necessary to examine the way in which Christian ideas o f pilgrimage came into being, shaped by the Bible, the classical pagan world, the writings of the Church Fathers and the impulses of popular religion. In the process I have identified a num ber o f factors which need to be borne in mind in any discussion of the pilgrimage motif. Firstly, it has become clear that the primary meaning oi pilgrimage within Christian thought is concerned with the journey o f individual believers through an alien world to the homeland of heaven. Like Adam and Eve, all are involuntary exiles from the joys of Eden; those who wish may imitate Abraham and other biblical figures in choosing to become pilgrims en route to heaven. Through this theological, historical and literary survey, I have dem onstrated the consistent presence and significant influence of the concept o f the pilgrimage o f life, from the earliest days o f the Church through its expression in Anglo-Saxon spirituality and literature, to its widespread use in Middle English literature. The weight o f this influence, I suggest, has not always been fully recognised in discussions o f Old and Middle English texts. It is evident th at the linked concepts of exile on earth and of seeking a homeland in heaven together undergird a surprising num ber o f Oia English poems and prose works. Similarly, Middle English writers exhibit a strong awareness o f the life pilgrimage m otif which has im portant implications for the interpretations of their works. As I indicated in the preface, there has been a strong tendency in discussions o f Middle English literature to concentrate upon the practice of place pilgrimage, thus failing to give due weight to aspects of interior and m oral pilgrimage which are crucial to the interpretation of texts such as Piers Plowman and the Canterbury Tales. Secondly, it is apparent that, within the overarching concept of life as journey, there are three main elements which have been held in tension (with varying degrees o f success) throughout the centuries: interior, moral and place pilgrimage. In attempting to summarise the relationship o f these elements it is helpful to regard moral pilgrimage as the core element o f the

247

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

pilgrimage o f life, to which some individuals added interior pilgrimage or place pilgrimage but very rarely both. During the period under discussion, both interior and moral pilgrimage tended to emphasise physical stability. The form er advocated withdrawal from the world that the would-be pilgrim might travel more freely within their spirit; the latter implied an ongoing commitment to a particular calling, religious or secular, expressed in daily obedience. Place pilgrimage, in contrast, was essentially about mobility; not only did it remove men and women from their normal context but it also carried an in-built element of physical and moral danger, thus exposing those who undertook journeys to holy places to accusations o f irresponsi­ bility, instability and immorality. In theory, place pilgrimage was a valuable way o f expressing and strengthening the life pilgrimage o f an individual; in practice it was often seen as a distraction from, or a substitute for, real devotion. Thirdly, there has been through the centuries an observable process of oscillation between these different modes o f pilgrimage. It is as if a form of spirituality which advocates the worship o f an omnipresent (but invisible) G od and the pursuit o f a remote (and equally invisible) heavenly goal is constantly subverted and reoriented by an innate hum an impulse towards modes o f religious expression which are both tangible and quantifiable. Thus there is a persistent tendency to supplement (and, in popular spirituality, almost to replace) a lifelong journey to heaven in the company o f a G od who cannot be seen, with journeys to holy places and prayers to saints whose relics at least can be touched. This tendency manifests itself in a pattern o f shifts between an emphasis on journeying into the unknown with God, expressed through a life of daily obedience, and journeying to a holy place to in order to meet G od either directly or through intermediaries. This is expressed first in the Old Testament narrative in the contrast between the experiences of A braham and the Exodus journey o f the Israelites, and the system o f fixed-place pilgrimage, with its emphasis on Jerusalem as the place where God dwelt. In time, the clear emphasis in the writings of New Testam ent and the early Church on the omnipresence o f G od and the moral dimension o f life pilgrimage was likewise subtly modified as, from the fourth century onwards, a network of holy places spread across Christen­ dom. Even the Reform ation, with its reaffirmation o f life pilgrimage and rejection o f relics and holy places, was not the last word on this subject, since the last one hundred and fifty years have seen remarkable developments in place pilgrimage, not only within Protestantism , but also amongst those of little or no faith at all. My object in seeking to establish the theological and devotional heritage of medieval writers has been to Tacilitate the study o f the pilgrimage motif within Old and Middle English literature. The perspectives which I have identified above are, I believe, of vtluo in interpreting and evaluating the use o f various pilgrimage oonoiptl In medieval texts and I have sought to

CONCLUSION

illustrate ways in which their application may shed some light on well-worn problems. Such a survey m ust o f necessity be incomplete; such a journey must leave many byways as yet unexplored. This particular pilgrimage can make no claim to completeness; it has merely sought to identify and m ap some of the roads to be taken.

249

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

pilgrimage o f life, to which some individuals added interior pilgrimage or place pilgrimage but very rarely both. During the period under discussion, both interior and moral pilgrimage tended to emphasise physical stability. The form er advocated withdrawal from the world that the would-be pilgrim might travel more freely within their spirit; the latter implied an ongoing commitment to a particular calling, religious or secular, expressed in daily obedience. Place pilgrimage, in contrast, was essentially about mobility; not only did it remove men and women from their normal context but it also carried an in-built element of physical and moral danger, thus exposing those who undertook journeys to holy places to accusations o f irresponsi­ bility, instability and immorality. In theory, place pilgrimage was a valuable way o f expressing and strengthening the life pilgrimage o f an individual; in practice it was often seen as a distraction from, or a substitute for, real devotion. Thirdly, there has been through the centuries an observable process of oscillation between these different modes o f pilgrimage. It is as if a form of spirituality which advocates the worship o f an omnipresent (but invisible) G od and the pursuit o f a remote (and equally invisible) heavenly goal is constantly subverted and reoriented by an innate hum an impulse towards modes o f religious expression which are both tangible and quantifiable. Thus there is a persistent tendency to supplement (and, in popular spirituality, almost to replace) a lifelong journey to heaven in the company o f a G od who cannot be seen, with journeys to holy places and prayers to saints whose relics at least can be touched. This tendency manifests itself in a pattern o f shifts between an emphasis on journeying into the unknown with God, expressed through a life of daily obedience, and journeying to a holy place to in order to meet G od either directly or through intermediaries. This is expressed first in the Old Testament narrative in the contrast between the experiences of A braham and the Exodus journey o f the Israelites, and the system o f fixed-place pilgrimage, with its emphasis on Jerusalem as the place where God dwelt. In time, the clear emphasis in the writings of New Testam ent and the early Church on the omnipresence o f G od and the moral dimension o f life pilgrimage was likewise subtly modified as, from the fourth century onwards, a network of holy places spread across Christen­ dom. Even the Reform ation, with its reaffirmation o f life pilgrimage and rejection o f relics and holy places, was not the last word on this subject, since the last one hundred and fifty years have seen remarkable developments in place pilgrimage, not only within Protestantism , but also amongst those of little or no faith at all. My object in seeking to establish the theological and devotional heritage of medieval writers has been to Tacilitate the study o f the pilgrimage motif within Old and Middle English literature. The perspectives which I have identified above are, I believe, of vtluo in interpreting and evaluating the use o f various pilgrimage oonoiptl In medieval texts and I have sought to

CONCLUSION

illustrate ways in which their application may shed some light on well-worn problems. Such a survey m ust o f necessity be incomplete; such a journey must leave many byways as yet unexplored. This particular pilgrimage can make no claim to completeness; it has merely sought to identify and m ap some of the roads to be taken.

249

BIBLIOGRAPHY Primary sources Adom nan. Life o f Columba, ed. A. O. and M. O. Anderson. London: Thomas Nelson, 1961. ^ lfric . Catholic Homilies, v o l . 1 , ed. and trans. B. Thorpe. London: Oxford University Press, 1844. i^lfric. Lives o f the Saints: Being a Set o f Sermons on Saints' Days9 ed. W. W. Skeat. EETS OS 76, 82, 9 4 , 114. London: Oxford University Press, 1881-1900. ^Blfric. The Old English Version o f the Heptateuch, ed. S. J. Crawford. EETS OS 160. London: Oxford University Press, 1921. Aelred o f Rievaulx. De Institutione Inclusarum: Two Middle English Translations, ed. John Ayto and A lexandra Barrett. EETS OS 287. London: Oxford University Press, 1984. Age o f Bede (Bede: Life o f Cuthbert; Eddius Stephanus: Life o f Wilfrid; Bede: Lives o f the Abbots o f Wearmouth and Jarrow; Voyage o f S t Brendan), ed. D. H. Farmer, trans. J. F. W ebb, revised edn. H arm ondsw orth: Penguin, 1983. Alan o f Lille. The A rt o f Preaching, v o l.23, ed. Gillian R. Evans. Cistercian Studies. Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1981. Alcuin. The Bishops, Kings, and Saints o f York, ed. Peter Godman. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1982. Aldhelm. Prose Works, ed. M. Lapidge and M. Herren. Cambridge: Brewer, 1979. Aldhelm. Riddles o f Aldhelm, trans. J. H. Pitman. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1925. Anchoritic Spirituality: Ancrene Wisse and Associated IVorks，txaxis. Arme Savage and Nicholas W atson, Classics o f W estern Spirituality. New York: Paulist Press, 1991. Ancrene Wisse Edited fro m M S. Corpus Christi College Cambridge 402, ed. J. R. R. Tolkien. EETS OS 249. London: Oxford University Press, 1962. Ancrene Wisse, Parts S ix and Seven, ed. Geoffrey Shepherd. London: Nelson, 1959. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, trans. G. N. Garm onsway, revised edn. London: Dent, 1972. Anglo-Saxon Missionaries in Germany, ed. C. H. Talbot, revised edn. London: Sheed and W ard ，1954. Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records, 6 vols., ed. G. P. K rapp and E. V. K. Dobbie, revised edn. New York: Columbia University Press, 1931-42. Anglo-Saxon Prose, trans. Michael Swanton, revised edn. London: Dent, 1979. Anglo-Saxon Saints and Heroes, ed. Clinton Albertson. Fordham University Press, 1967. The Apocryphal New Testament, trans. M. R. James. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1924. The Apostolic Fathers, trans. Francis X. Glimm, Joseph M .-F. M arique and Gerald G. Walsh. The Fathers o f the Church, v o l . 1 . W ashington, DC: Catholic University Press o f America, 1969. Arnold von HarfT. The Pilgrimage o f Arnold von Harff, trans. Malcolm Letts. London: H akluyt Society, 1946. A ssess L(fie o f King Alfred ond Other Contemporary Works, trans. Simon Keynes and

Michael Lapidge. Harmondiworth: Penguin, 1983.

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

Athanasius. The Life of St Anthony, ed. R obert T. Meyer. Ancient Christian Writers, v o l . 10. M aryland: The Newman Press, 1950. Augustine o f Hippo. St Augustine on the Psalms, trans. Scholastica Hegbin and Felicitas Corrigan. London: Longman, 1961. Augustine o f Hippo. Concerning the City o f God against the Pagans, trans. Henry Bettenson. H arm ondsworth: Penguin, 1972. Augustine o f Hippo. Confessions, trans. Vernon J. Bourke. The Fathers o f the Church, v o l.21. W ashington, DC: Catholic University of America, 1953. Augustine o f Hippo. De Doctrina Christiana, trans. R. P. H. Green. Oxford Early Christian Texts. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995. Bede. Commentary on the Seven Catholic Epistles o f Bede the Venerable, trans. David H urst. Cistercian Studies Series, v o l . 82. Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1985. Bede. Complete Works o f the Venerable Bede, v o l . 4, trans. J. A. Giles. London: W hittaker, 1843. Bede. Ecclesiastical History o f the English People, ed. Bertram Colgrave and R. A. B. M ynors. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969. Bede. Homilies on the Gospels, Book One: Advent to Lent, trans. Lawrence T. M artin and D avid H urst, Cistercian Studies Series, v o l . 110. Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1991. Bede. Homilies on the Gospels, Book Two: Lent to the Dedication o f the Church, trans. Lawrence T. M artin and David H urst, Cistercian Studies Series, vol. 111. K alam azoo: Cistercian Publications, 1991. Bede. De Temporum Ratione, ed. C. W. Jones. Corpus Christianorum Series Latina, vol. 123B. T urnhout, 1978. Benedict. The Rule of St Benedict, trans. Justin McCann. London: Sheed and W ard, 1976. Bernard of Clairvaux. Epistolae: /. Corpus Epistolarum 1-180, ed. J. Leclercq, and H. Rochais. S. Bernardi Opera, vo!. 7. Rome: Editiones Cistercienses, 1974. Bernard o f Clairvaux. Letters o f St Bernard o f Clairvaux, trans. Bruno Scott James. London: Bum s & Oates, 1953. Bernard o f Clairvaux. The Works o f Bernard o f Clairvaux Volume Three: On the Song o f Songs II, trans. Kilian Walsh. Cistercian Fathers, v o l.7. Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1976. The Holy Bible: D ouay Version. Translated from the Latin Vulgate. D ouay A. D. 1609: Rheims A. D . 1582. London: Catholic T ruth Society, 1955. The Bückling Homilies o f the Tenth Century, ed. R. Morris. EETS OS 58, 63, 73. London: Oxford University Press, 1880. Bonaventure, Itinêraire de Vesprit vers Dieu, ed. Henry Duméry. Paris: Bibliotneque des textes philosophiques, 1990. Bonaventure. The Soul's Journey into God, The Tree o f Life, The Life of St Francis, trans. Ewert Cousins. The Classics o f W estern Spirituality. New York: Paulist Press, 1978. Boniface. The Letters o f St Boniface, trans. E. Emerton. New York: Colum bia University Press, 1940. Bridget o f Sweden. The Liber Celestis of St Bridget of Sweden. Volume I: Textt ed. Roger Ellis, EETS OS 291. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987. Caesarius o f Arles. Sancti Caesarii Arelatensis Sermones, ed. D. Germani M orin, C orpus Christianorum Series Latina, vol. 104. Turnholt: Brepols, 1953. Caesarius o f Arles. Sermons^ v o l.2, trans. M ary Magdeleine Mueller. The Fathers of the Church, vol. 47. W ashington, DC: Catholic University o f America Press, 1963.

232

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Capgrave, John. Ye Solace of Pilgrimes. A Description of Rome, circa A. D .1450, ed. C. A. Mills and H. M. Bannister. London: O xford University P re s s ,1911. Casola, Pietro. Canon Pietro Casolas Pilgrimage to Jerusalem in the Year 1494y ed. M. M. Newett. Manchester: M anchester University Press, 1907. Chastising o f God's Children, ed. J. Bazire and E. Colledge. Oxford: Blackwell, 1957. Chaucer, Geoffrey. Riverside Chaucer, ed. Larry D. Benson, third edn. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988. The Cloud o f Unknowing and Book o f Privy Counsellings ed. Phyllis Hodgson. EETS OS 218. London: Oxford University Press, 1944. Councils and Synods, 2 vols., ed. D. W hitelock, M. Brett and C. N. L. Brooke. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1981. Cursor MundU v o l.4, ed. R. M orris. EETS OS 99. London: Oxford University Press, 1884. Cyprian. Letters o f St Cyprian o f Carthage, v o l . 1 , trans. G . W. Clarke. Ancient Christian W riters, v o l.43. New York: Newman Press, 1984. Cyprian. Treatises, trans. Roy J. Deffari. The Fathers o f the Church, v o l . 36. W ashington, DC: Catholic University o f America, 1958. Cyril o f Jerusalem. The Works o f St Cyril o f Jerusalem, v o l.2, trans. Leo McCauley, SJ, and Anthony A. Stephenson. The Fathers o f the Church, v o l.64. Washington, DC: Catholic University o f America Press, 1970. de Deguileville, Guillaume. The Pilgrimage o f Human Life, trans. Eugene Clasby. G arland Library o f M edieval Literature, v o l.76. New York: G arland, 1992. de Deguileville, Guillaume. The Pilgrimage o f the Lyfe o f the Manhode, 2 vols., ed. Avril Henry. EETS OS 288, 292. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1 9 8 5 ,1988. Deonise Hid Divinitie and Other Treatises on Prayer^ ed. P. H odgson. EETS OS 231. London: Oxford University Press, 1955. Dream o f the Rood, ed. B. Dickins and A. S. C. Ross, 4th edn. London: M ethuen, 1954. 〇 ƒ f/ie iïöoc/, ed. Michael Swanton， revised edn. Exeter: University 〇【 Exeter Press, 1987. Early Christian Writings: The Apostolic Fathers, trans. Maxwell Staniforth. H armondsworth: Penguin, 1968. EETS: Early English Text Society. Egerias Travels^ ed. John Wilkinson. London: SPCK, 1971. English Fourteenth Century Apocalypse with Prose Commentaryt ed. Elis fn d n e r. Lund: Gleerup, 1961. English Gilds, ed. L. Toulmin Smith and L. Brentano. EETS OS 40. London: Oxford University Press, 1870. English Historical Documents Vol.1 c. 500-1042, ed. D orothy W hitelock, second edn. London: Eyre M e th u e n ,1979. English Mystics of the Middle Ages, ed. Barry W indeatt. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994. English Wycliffite Sermons, v o l.1 ,ed. Anne H udson. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1983. Eusebius. The Ecclesiastical History and the Martyrs o f Palestine^ v o l.1 ,trans. H ugh Jackson Lawlor and John O ulton. London: SPCK, 1927. Eusebius. Eusebius, trans. Henry Wace and Philip Schaff. Select Library o f Nicene and Post-Niccne Fathers, v o l . 1 .G ran d Rapids: Eerdmans, 1952. Exodus, ed. Peter J. Lucas, revised edn. Exeter: Exeter University Press, 1994. Fabri, Felix. The Book of the Wanderings of Brother Felix Fabri, trans. A. Stewart.

London: Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society, 1896. Fabri, Felix. Evagalorium in Tirrae Sanctae, Arabiae et Aegypto Peregrinationem, ed. C. D. Huiler. Stuttgart, 1843.

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

Athanasius. The Life of St Anthony, ed. R obert T. Meyer. Ancient Christian Writers, v o l . 10. M aryland: The Newman Press, 1950. Augustine o f Hippo. St Augustine on the Psalms, trans. Scholastica Hegbin and Felicitas Corrigan. London: Longman, 1961. Augustine o f Hippo. Concerning the City o f God against the Pagans, trans. Henry Bettenson. H arm ondsworth: Penguin, 1972. Augustine o f Hippo. Confessions, trans. Vernon J. Bourke. The Fathers o f the Church, v o l.21. W ashington, DC: Catholic University of America, 1953. Augustine o f Hippo. De Doctrina Christiana, trans. R. P. H. Green. Oxford Early Christian Texts. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995. Bede. Commentary on the Seven Catholic Epistles o f Bede the Venerable, trans. David H urst. Cistercian Studies Series, v o l . 82. Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1985. Bede. Complete Works o f the Venerable Bede, v o l . 4, trans. J. A. Giles. London: W hittaker, 1843. Bede. Ecclesiastical History o f the English People, ed. Bertram Colgrave and R. A. B. M ynors. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969. Bede. Homilies on the Gospels, Book One: Advent to Lent, trans. Lawrence T. M artin and D avid H urst, Cistercian Studies Series, v o l . 110. Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1991. Bede. Homilies on the Gospels, Book Two: Lent to the Dedication o f the Church, trans. Lawrence T. M artin and David H urst, Cistercian Studies Series, vol. 111. K alam azoo: Cistercian Publications, 1991. Bede. De Temporum Ratione, ed. C. W. Jones. Corpus Christianorum Series Latina, vol. 123B. T urnhout, 1978. Benedict. The Rule of St Benedict, trans. Justin McCann. London: Sheed and W ard, 1976. Bernard of Clairvaux. Epistolae: /. Corpus Epistolarum 1-180, ed. J. Leclercq, and H. Rochais. S. Bernardi Opera, vo!. 7. Rome: Editiones Cistercienses, 1974. Bernard o f Clairvaux. Letters o f St Bernard o f Clairvaux, trans. Bruno Scott James. London: Bum s & Oates, 1953. Bernard o f Clairvaux. The Works o f Bernard o f Clairvaux Volume Three: On the Song o f Songs II, trans. Kilian Walsh. Cistercian Fathers, v o l.7. Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1976. The Holy Bible: D ouay Version. Translated from the Latin Vulgate. D ouay A. D. 1609: Rheims A. D . 1582. London: Catholic T ruth Society, 1955. The Bückling Homilies o f the Tenth Century, ed. R. Morris. EETS OS 58, 63, 73. London: Oxford University Press, 1880. Bonaventure, Itinêraire de Vesprit vers Dieu, ed. Henry Duméry. Paris: Bibliotneque des textes philosophiques, 1990. Bonaventure. The Soul's Journey into God, The Tree o f Life, The Life of St Francis, trans. Ewert Cousins. The Classics o f W estern Spirituality. New York: Paulist Press, 1978. Boniface. The Letters o f St Boniface, trans. E. Emerton. New York: Colum bia University Press, 1940. Bridget o f Sweden. The Liber Celestis of St Bridget of Sweden. Volume I: Textt ed. Roger Ellis, EETS OS 291. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987. Caesarius o f Arles. Sancti Caesarii Arelatensis Sermones, ed. D. Germani M orin, C orpus Christianorum Series Latina, vol. 104. Turnholt: Brepols, 1953. Caesarius o f Arles. Sermons^ v o l.2, trans. M ary Magdeleine Mueller. The Fathers of the Church, vol. 47. W ashington, DC: Catholic University o f America Press, 1963.

232

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Capgrave, John. Ye Solace of Pilgrimes. A Description of Rome, circa A. D .1450, ed. C. A. Mills and H. M. Bannister. London: O xford University P re s s ,1911. Casola, Pietro. Canon Pietro Casolas Pilgrimage to Jerusalem in the Year 1494y ed. M. M. Newett. Manchester: M anchester University Press, 1907. Chastising o f God's Children, ed. J. Bazire and E. Colledge. Oxford: Blackwell, 1957. Chaucer, Geoffrey. Riverside Chaucer, ed. Larry D. Benson, third edn. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988. The Cloud o f Unknowing and Book o f Privy Counsellings ed. Phyllis Hodgson. EETS OS 218. London: Oxford University Press, 1944. Councils and Synods, 2 vols., ed. D. W hitelock, M. Brett and C. N. L. Brooke. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1981. Cursor MundU v o l.4, ed. R. M orris. EETS OS 99. London: Oxford University Press, 1884. Cyprian. Letters o f St Cyprian o f Carthage, v o l . 1 , trans. G . W. Clarke. Ancient Christian W riters, v o l.43. New York: Newman Press, 1984. Cyprian. Treatises, trans. Roy J. Deffari. The Fathers o f the Church, v o l . 36. W ashington, DC: Catholic University o f America, 1958. Cyril o f Jerusalem. The Works o f St Cyril o f Jerusalem, v o l.2, trans. Leo McCauley, SJ, and Anthony A. Stephenson. The Fathers o f the Church, v o l.64. Washington, DC: Catholic University o f America Press, 1970. de Deguileville, Guillaume. The Pilgrimage o f Human Life, trans. Eugene Clasby. G arland Library o f M edieval Literature, v o l.76. New York: G arland, 1992. de Deguileville, Guillaume. The Pilgrimage o f the Lyfe o f the Manhode, 2 vols., ed. Avril Henry. EETS OS 288, 292. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1 9 8 5 ,1988. Deonise Hid Divinitie and Other Treatises on Prayer^ ed. P. H odgson. EETS OS 231. London: Oxford University Press, 1955. Dream o f the Rood, ed. B. Dickins and A. S. C. Ross, 4th edn. London: M ethuen, 1954. 〇 ƒ f/ie iïöoc/, ed. Michael Swanton， revised edn. Exeter: University 〇【 Exeter Press, 1987. Early Christian Writings: The Apostolic Fathers, trans. Maxwell Staniforth. H armondsworth: Penguin, 1968. EETS: Early English Text Society. Egerias Travels^ ed. John Wilkinson. London: SPCK, 1971. English Fourteenth Century Apocalypse with Prose Commentaryt ed. Elis fn d n e r. Lund: Gleerup, 1961. English Gilds, ed. L. Toulmin Smith and L. Brentano. EETS OS 40. London: Oxford University Press, 1870. English Historical Documents Vol.1 c. 500-1042, ed. D orothy W hitelock, second edn. London: Eyre M e th u e n ,1979. English Mystics of the Middle Ages, ed. Barry W indeatt. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994. English Wycliffite Sermons, v o l.1 ,ed. Anne H udson. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1983. Eusebius. The Ecclesiastical History and the Martyrs o f Palestine^ v o l.1 ,trans. H ugh Jackson Lawlor and John O ulton. London: SPCK, 1927. Eusebius. Eusebius, trans. Henry Wace and Philip Schaff. Select Library o f Nicene and Post-Niccne Fathers, v o l . 1 .G ran d Rapids: Eerdmans, 1952. Exodus, ed. Peter J. Lucas, revised edn. Exeter: Exeter University Press, 1994. Fabri, Felix. The Book of the Wanderings of Brother Felix Fabri, trans. A. Stewart.

London: Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society, 1896. Fabri, Felix. Evagalorium in Tirrae Sanctae, Arabiae et Aegypto Peregrinationem, ed. C. D. Huiler. Stuttgart, 1843.

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Fasciculus Morum: A Fourteenth-Century Preacher's Handbook, ed. Siegfried Wenzel.

John Chrysostom. Homilies on the Gospel o f John and the Epistle to the Hebrews, ed. Philip Schaff. A Select Library o f the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers o f the Christian Church, v o l . 14. New Y ork, 1889. John o f W urtzburg. Description o f the Holy Land, ed. A. Stewart. London: PPTS, 1890. Julian o f Norwich. A Book of Showings to the Anchoress Julian o f Norwich. Volume I: Short Text and Introduction; Volume II: Long Text, ed. Edm und College and James Walsh. Toronto: Pontifical Institute o f Medieval Studies, 1978. Kempe, Margery. The Book o f Margery Kempe^ ed. Sanford Brown Meech and Hope Emily Allen. EETS OS 212. London: Oxford University Press, 1940. Kempe, Margery. The Book o f Margery Kempe, ed. Lynn Staley. TEAM S Middle English Texts. Kalamazoo: W estern Michigan University, 1996. Kempe, Margery. The Book of Margery Kempe, trans. B. A. W indeatt. London: Penguin, 1985. Kempe, Margery. The Book o f Margery Kempe, ed. B. W indeatt. Longman A nnotated Texts. Harlow: Longman, 2000. Langland, William. Piers Plowman: An Edition o f the C~Text, ed. Derek Pearsall and Elizabeth Salter. London: Edward A rnold, 1978. Langland, William. Piers Plowman. A Parallel Edition o f the A, B, C and Z Versions. Volume I. Text, ed. A. V. C. Schmidt, 1995. Langland, William. Piers Plowman: The Prologue and Passus I-V II o f the B-Text as Found in Bodleian MS. Laud Misc. 581, ed. J. A. W. Bennett. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972. Langland, William. The Vision o f Piers Plowman: A Critical Edition o f the B-Text Based on Trinity College Cambridge M S B15.17, ed. A. V. C. Schmidt, second edn. London: J. M. Dent, 1995. Langland, William, The Vision o f William Concerning Piers the Plowman, in Three Parallel Texts, ed. W. W. Skeat. Oxford, 1886. Lavynham, Richard. A Litel Tretys on the Seven Deadly Sins by Richard Lavynham, ed. J. P. W. M. van Zutphen. Rome: Institutum Carm elitanum , 1956. The Law o f Love: English Spirituality in the Age o f Wyclif, trans. David Lyle Jeffrey. G rand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1988. Liber Psalmorum: The West-Saxon Psalms, ed. J. W. Bright and R. L. Ramsay. Boston and London, 1907. The Lives o f the Desert Fathers: The Historia Mortachorum in Aegypto, trans. N orm an Russell. USA: Cistercian Publications, 1980. Love, Nicholas. Mirror o f the Blessed Life o f Jesus Christy ed. M ichael Sargent. New York: G arland, 1992. M alory, Thomas. Works, ed. Eugène Vinaver. London: Oxford University Press, 1971. Mandeville. Travels^ ed. M. C. Seymour. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1967. MED: Middle English Dictionary, ed. H ans K urath and Sherman M. Kuhn. Michigan: University o f Michigan P re s s ,1952-. Medieval Dramay ed. David Bevington. Boston: H oughton Mifflin, 1975. Medieval English Lyrics: A Critical Anthology, ed. R. T. Davies. London: Faber, 1963.

University Park and London: Pennsylvania University Press, 1989. Felix. Life o f Saint Guthlac, ed. B. Colgrave. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1956. Fifty Earliest English Wills, ed. Frederick J. Furnivall. EETS OS 78. London, 1882. Genesis A: A New Edition, ed. A. N. D oane. Madison: University o f Wisconsin Press, 1978. GeofTroy de La T our Landry. The Book of the Knight of the Tower, ed. M. L. Offord, EETS SS 2. London: O xford University Press, 1971. Gregory the Great. Morals on the Book o f Job. Library o f the Fathers o f the Holy Catholic Church, v o l.2. Oxford: John Henry Parker, 1845. G regory the Great. King Alfred's West-Saxon Version of Gregory's Pastoral Careyed. H enry Sweet. EETS OS 45. London: Trubner, 1871. Gregory o f Nyssa. Select Writings and Letters of Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa, ed. William M oore and Henry Austin Wilson, trans. Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. Select Library o f the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers o f the Christian C hurch, vol. 5. G rand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1954. Hakluytus Posthumus or Purchas His Pilgrimes, v o l.7, ed. Samuel Purchas. Glasgow: Jam es M acLehose and Sons, 1905. Mali Meidhad, ed. Bella Millett. EETS OS 284. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982. Hilton, W alter. Eight Chapters on Perfection, ed. Fum io Kuriyagawa. Tokyo: University o f K e io ,1967. Hilton, W alter. Mixed Life, ed. S. J. Ogilvie-Thompson. Salzburg Studies in English Literature: Elizabethan and Renaissance Studies, v o l.92:15. Salzburg, 1986. H ilton, W alter. The Scale of Perfection, ed. John P. H. Clark and Rosemary D orw ard. Classics o f W estern Spirituality. New York: Paulist Press, 1991. Information for Pilgrims unto the Holy Land, ed. E. G ordon DufT. London: Lawrence and Bullen, 1893. Jacob's Well: An English Treatise on the Cleansing of Mans Conscience^ ed. A rthur Brandeis. EETS OS 115. London: O xford University Press, 1900. Jacobus de Voragine. The Golden Legend, ed. Alfred Arpland. London: Holbein Society, 1978. Jerome. The Homilies o f St Jerome, v o l . 1 : On the Psalms (1-59), trans. M arie Liguori Ewald. The Fathers o f the Church, 48. W ashington DC: Catholic University o f America Press, 1964. Jerome. Letters and Selected Works, v o l . 6, trans. Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. Select Library o f the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers o f the Church. G rand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1954. Jerusalem Pilgrimage 1099-1185, ed. John Wilkinson. London: H akluyt Society, 1988. Jerusalem Pilgrims before the Crusades, ed. John Wilkinson. W arminster: Aris and Philips, 1977. Jocelin o f Brakelond. The Chronicle o f Jocelin o f Brakelond, trans. H. E. Butler. London: Thom as Nelson, 1949. John Cassian. Conferences, trans. Colm Luibheid. Classics o f Western Spirituality. New York: Paulist Press, 1985. John Chrysostom. Baptismal Instructions, trans. Paul W. Harkins. Ancient Christian W riters, v o l.3 1 .London: Longman, 1963. John Chrysostom. Homilies on Genesis !ë~45, trans. Robert C. Hill. The Fathers of the Church, v o l . 82. W aihington, DC: Catholic University o f America Press, 1990. *

234

Medieval English Prose for Women: Selections from the Katherine Group and Ancrene Wisse, ed. B. Millett and J. Wogan-Browne. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990. Meditations on the H fe o f Christ, trans. Isa Ragusa and Rosaline B. Green, second edn. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1977. Middle English Sermons, ed. W. O. Rois. EETS OS 209. London: Oxford University Press, 1940.

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Fasciculus Morum: A Fourteenth-Century Preacher's Handbook, ed. Siegfried Wenzel.

John Chrysostom. Homilies on the Gospel o f John and the Epistle to the Hebrews, ed. Philip Schaff. A Select Library o f the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers o f the Christian Church, v o l . 14. New Y ork, 1889. John o f W urtzburg. Description o f the Holy Land, ed. A. Stewart. London: PPTS, 1890. Julian o f Norwich. A Book of Showings to the Anchoress Julian o f Norwich. Volume I: Short Text and Introduction; Volume II: Long Text, ed. Edm und College and James Walsh. Toronto: Pontifical Institute o f Medieval Studies, 1978. Kempe, Margery. The Book o f Margery Kempe^ ed. Sanford Brown Meech and Hope Emily Allen. EETS OS 212. London: Oxford University Press, 1940. Kempe, Margery. The Book o f Margery Kempe, ed. Lynn Staley. TEAM S Middle English Texts. Kalamazoo: W estern Michigan University, 1996. Kempe, Margery. The Book of Margery Kempe, trans. B. A. W indeatt. London: Penguin, 1985. Kempe, Margery. The Book o f Margery Kempe, ed. B. W indeatt. Longman A nnotated Texts. Harlow: Longman, 2000. Langland, William. Piers Plowman: An Edition o f the C~Text, ed. Derek Pearsall and Elizabeth Salter. London: Edward A rnold, 1978. Langland, William. Piers Plowman. A Parallel Edition o f the A, B, C and Z Versions. Volume I. Text, ed. A. V. C. Schmidt, 1995. Langland, William. Piers Plowman: The Prologue and Passus I-V II o f the B-Text as Found in Bodleian MS. Laud Misc. 581, ed. J. A. W. Bennett. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972. Langland, William. The Vision o f Piers Plowman: A Critical Edition o f the B-Text Based on Trinity College Cambridge M S B15.17, ed. A. V. C. Schmidt, second edn. London: J. M. Dent, 1995. Langland, William, The Vision o f William Concerning Piers the Plowman, in Three Parallel Texts, ed. W. W. Skeat. Oxford, 1886. Lavynham, Richard. A Litel Tretys on the Seven Deadly Sins by Richard Lavynham, ed. J. P. W. M. van Zutphen. Rome: Institutum Carm elitanum , 1956. The Law o f Love: English Spirituality in the Age o f Wyclif, trans. David Lyle Jeffrey. G rand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1988. Liber Psalmorum: The West-Saxon Psalms, ed. J. W. Bright and R. L. Ramsay. Boston and London, 1907. The Lives o f the Desert Fathers: The Historia Mortachorum in Aegypto, trans. N orm an Russell. USA: Cistercian Publications, 1980. Love, Nicholas. Mirror o f the Blessed Life o f Jesus Christy ed. M ichael Sargent. New York: G arland, 1992. M alory, Thomas. Works, ed. Eugène Vinaver. London: Oxford University Press, 1971. Mandeville. Travels^ ed. M. C. Seymour. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1967. MED: Middle English Dictionary, ed. H ans K urath and Sherman M. Kuhn. Michigan: University o f Michigan P re s s ,1952-. Medieval Dramay ed. David Bevington. Boston: H oughton Mifflin, 1975. Medieval English Lyrics: A Critical Anthology, ed. R. T. Davies. London: Faber, 1963.

University Park and London: Pennsylvania University Press, 1989. Felix. Life o f Saint Guthlac, ed. B. Colgrave. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1956. Fifty Earliest English Wills, ed. Frederick J. Furnivall. EETS OS 78. London, 1882. Genesis A: A New Edition, ed. A. N. D oane. Madison: University o f Wisconsin Press, 1978. GeofTroy de La T our Landry. The Book of the Knight of the Tower, ed. M. L. Offord, EETS SS 2. London: O xford University Press, 1971. Gregory the Great. Morals on the Book o f Job. Library o f the Fathers o f the Holy Catholic Church, v o l.2. Oxford: John Henry Parker, 1845. G regory the Great. King Alfred's West-Saxon Version of Gregory's Pastoral Careyed. H enry Sweet. EETS OS 45. London: Trubner, 1871. Gregory o f Nyssa. Select Writings and Letters of Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa, ed. William M oore and Henry Austin Wilson, trans. Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. Select Library o f the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers o f the Christian C hurch, vol. 5. G rand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1954. Hakluytus Posthumus or Purchas His Pilgrimes, v o l.7, ed. Samuel Purchas. Glasgow: Jam es M acLehose and Sons, 1905. Mali Meidhad, ed. Bella Millett. EETS OS 284. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982. Hilton, W alter. Eight Chapters on Perfection, ed. Fum io Kuriyagawa. Tokyo: University o f K e io ,1967. Hilton, W alter. Mixed Life, ed. S. J. Ogilvie-Thompson. Salzburg Studies in English Literature: Elizabethan and Renaissance Studies, v o l.92:15. Salzburg, 1986. H ilton, W alter. The Scale of Perfection, ed. John P. H. Clark and Rosemary D orw ard. Classics o f W estern Spirituality. New York: Paulist Press, 1991. Information for Pilgrims unto the Holy Land, ed. E. G ordon DufT. London: Lawrence and Bullen, 1893. Jacob's Well: An English Treatise on the Cleansing of Mans Conscience^ ed. A rthur Brandeis. EETS OS 115. London: O xford University Press, 1900. Jacobus de Voragine. The Golden Legend, ed. Alfred Arpland. London: Holbein Society, 1978. Jerome. The Homilies o f St Jerome, v o l . 1 : On the Psalms (1-59), trans. M arie Liguori Ewald. The Fathers o f the Church, 48. W ashington DC: Catholic University o f America Press, 1964. Jerome. Letters and Selected Works, v o l . 6, trans. Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. Select Library o f the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers o f the Church. G rand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1954. Jerusalem Pilgrimage 1099-1185, ed. John Wilkinson. London: H akluyt Society, 1988. Jerusalem Pilgrims before the Crusades, ed. John Wilkinson. W arminster: Aris and Philips, 1977. Jocelin o f Brakelond. The Chronicle o f Jocelin o f Brakelond, trans. H. E. Butler. London: Thom as Nelson, 1949. John Cassian. Conferences, trans. Colm Luibheid. Classics o f Western Spirituality. New York: Paulist Press, 1985. John Chrysostom. Baptismal Instructions, trans. Paul W. Harkins. Ancient Christian W riters, v o l.3 1 .London: Longman, 1963. John Chrysostom. Homilies on Genesis !ë~45, trans. Robert C. Hill. The Fathers of the Church, v o l . 82. W aihington, DC: Catholic University o f America Press, 1990. *

234

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The Miracles o f St James: Translations from the Liber Sancti Jacobi. New York: Italica Press, 1996. Mirk, John. John Myrc: Instructions for Parish Priests, ed. Edw ard Peacock. EETS OS 3 1 .London: Oxford University Press, 1868. M irk, John. Mirk's Festial, ed. T. Erbe. EETS OS 96. London: Oxford University Press, 1905. OED: Oxford English Dictionary, ed. J. A. Simpson and E. S. C. Weiner. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989. The Old English Elegies, ed. Anne L. Klinck. Montreal: M cGill-Queen's University Press, 1992. The Old English Exodus, ed. Edw ard Burroughs Irving. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1953. Origen. The Writings o f Origen, v o l.2, ed. Frederick Crombie. Ante-Nicene Library, v o l.4. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1872. Paston Letters and Papers o f the Fifteenth Century, v o l.2, ed. N orm an Davis. Oxford: C larendon Press, 1976. Paulinus o f Nola. Leiters, v o l . 2, trans. P. G. Walsh. Ancient Christian Writers. M aryland: W estminster Press, 1962. PG: Patrologia Graeca, ed. J. P. Migne. Paris: G a m ie r ,1857-. The Phoenix, ed. N. F. Blake. Manchester: M anchester University Press, 1964.

The Pilgrim’s Guide: A Twelfth Century Guide for the Pilgrim to St James of Compostela, trans. James H ogarth. London: Confraternity o f St James, 1992. PL: Patrologia Latina, ed. J. P. Migne. Paris: G am ier, 1844-64. Poems o f the Pearl Manuscript, ed. Malcolm Andrew and R onald W aldron, revised

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Two Lives o f St. Cuthbert: A Life by an Anonymous Monk o f Lindisfarne and Bedes Prose Life, ed. Bertram Colgrave. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1940. Two Pilgrim Itineraries o f the Later Middle Ages, ed. R obert Brian Tate and Thorlac Turville-Petre. Santiago: X unta de Galicia, 1995.

Two o f the Saxon Chronicles Parallel, v o l . 1 , ed. Charles Plummer. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1892.

Two Wycliffite Texts, ed. Anne H udson. EETS OS 301. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993.

Vercelli Homilies, ed. D. S. Scragg. EETS SS 300. Oxford: O xford University Press, 1992. Vulgate. Biblia Sacra Vulgata, ed. R obert Weber. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelge­ sellschaft, 1983.

Western Pilgrims: The Itineraries o f fr. Simon Fitzsimmons (1322-23), A Certain Englishman (1344-45), Thomas Brygg (1392), ed. Eugene H oade. Publications o f the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum , v o l . 18. Jerusalem: Franciscan Press, 1952. Wey, William. The Itineraries o f William Wey. London: Roxburghe Club, 1857.

Weye o f Paradys. The Middle English Weye of Paradys and the Middle French Vote de Paradis: A Parallel-Text Edition, ed. F. N. M. Diekstra. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1991. The Wohunge o f Ure Lauerd, ed. M eredith W. Thompson. EETS OS 241. London: Oxford University Press, 1958.

Women Defamed and Women Defended: An Anthology o f Medieval Texts, ed. Alcuin Blamires with K aren P ratt and C. W. M arx. Oxford: C larendon Press, 1992.

Yorksnire Writers, ed. C. H orstm an. London: Swan S onnenschein,1896.

cdn. Exeter: University o f Exeter Press, 1987.

Prymer or Lay Folks' Prayer Book, ed. H. Littlehales. EETS OS 1 0 5 ,109. London, 1895-7.

Le Psautier romain, ed. Robert Weber. Rom e, 1953. Regularis Concordia Anglicae Nationis^ ed. Thom as Symons. London: Nelson, 1953. Rolle, Richard. English Writings of Richard Rolle, ed. Hope Emily Allen. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1931. Rolle, Richard. The Fire o f Love, trans. Clifford Wolters. London: Penguin, 1972. The Rule o f the Master, trans. Luke Eberle. Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1977. The Sarum Missal in English, ed. Vernon Staley. London: Alexander M oring, 1911. 7%e Sea/arer ，ed. I . し G ordon. London: M ethuen ，1960. A Selection o f Religious Lyrics, ed. Douglas G ray. Oxford: C larendon Press, 1975. Selections from English Wycliffite Writings, ed. Anne H udson. Cambridge: Cam ­ bridge University Press, 1978. Sources and Analogues o f Old English Poetry, v o l . 1 ,ed. M. J. B. Allen and D. G. Caldcr. Cambridge: Brewer, 1976. Summa Virtutum de Remediis Anintae, ed. Siegfried Wenzel. The Chaucer Library. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1989. Tertullian. Disciplinary, Moral and Ascetical Works, trans. R udolph Arbesmann, Emily Joseph Daly and Edwin A. Quain. The Fathers o f the Church, v o l . 40. W ashington, DC: Catholic University of America, 1959. T hom as a Kempis. The Imitation o f Christ, trans. Betty A. K nott. London: Fount, 1996. Three Late Medieval Morality Plays: Mankind, Everyman, Mundus et Infans, ed. G. A. Lester. New Mermaids. London: A. & C. Black; New York: W. W. N orton, 1981. Three Lives o f English Saints, cd. Michael W intcrbottom . Toronto: Pontifical Institute for Medieval Studies, 1972.

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The Miracles o f St James: Translations from the Liber Sancti Jacobi. New York: Italica Press, 1996. Mirk, John. John Myrc: Instructions for Parish Priests, ed. Edw ard Peacock. EETS OS 3 1 .London: Oxford University Press, 1868. M irk, John. Mirk's Festial, ed. T. Erbe. EETS OS 96. London: Oxford University Press, 1905. OED: Oxford English Dictionary, ed. J. A. Simpson and E. S. C. Weiner. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989. The Old English Elegies, ed. Anne L. Klinck. Montreal: M cGill-Queen's University Press, 1992. The Old English Exodus, ed. Edw ard Burroughs Irving. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1953. Origen. The Writings o f Origen, v o l.2, ed. Frederick Crombie. Ante-Nicene Library, v o l.4. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1872. Paston Letters and Papers o f the Fifteenth Century, v o l.2, ed. N orm an Davis. Oxford: C larendon Press, 1976. Paulinus o f Nola. Leiters, v o l . 2, trans. P. G. Walsh. Ancient Christian Writers. M aryland: W estminster Press, 1962. PG: Patrologia Graeca, ed. J. P. Migne. Paris: G a m ie r ,1857-. The Phoenix, ed. N. F. Blake. Manchester: M anchester University Press, 1964.

The Pilgrim’s Guide: A Twelfth Century Guide for the Pilgrim to St James of Compostela, trans. James H ogarth. London: Confraternity o f St James, 1992. PL: Patrologia Latina, ed. J. P. Migne. Paris: G am ier, 1844-64. Poems o f the Pearl Manuscript, ed. Malcolm Andrew and R onald W aldron, revised

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Two Lives o f St. Cuthbert: A Life by an Anonymous Monk o f Lindisfarne and Bedes Prose Life, ed. Bertram Colgrave. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1940. Two Pilgrim Itineraries o f the Later Middle Ages, ed. R obert Brian Tate and Thorlac Turville-Petre. Santiago: X unta de Galicia, 1995.

Two o f the Saxon Chronicles Parallel, v o l . 1 , ed. Charles Plummer. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1892.

Two Wycliffite Texts, ed. Anne H udson. EETS OS 301. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993.

Vercelli Homilies, ed. D. S. Scragg. EETS SS 300. Oxford: O xford University Press, 1992. Vulgate. Biblia Sacra Vulgata, ed. R obert Weber. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelge­ sellschaft, 1983.

Western Pilgrims: The Itineraries o f fr. Simon Fitzsimmons (1322-23), A Certain Englishman (1344-45), Thomas Brygg (1392), ed. Eugene H oade. Publications o f the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum , v o l . 18. Jerusalem: Franciscan Press, 1952. Wey, William. The Itineraries o f William Wey. London: Roxburghe Club, 1857.

Weye o f Paradys. The Middle English Weye of Paradys and the Middle French Vote de Paradis: A Parallel-Text Edition, ed. F. N. M. Diekstra. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1991. The Wohunge o f Ure Lauerd, ed. M eredith W. Thompson. EETS OS 241. London: Oxford University Press, 1958.

Women Defamed and Women Defended: An Anthology o f Medieval Texts, ed. Alcuin Blamires with K aren P ratt and C. W. M arx. Oxford: C larendon Press, 1992.

Yorksnire Writers, ed. C. H orstm an. London: Swan S onnenschein,1896.

cdn. Exeter: University o f Exeter Press, 1987.

Prymer or Lay Folks' Prayer Book, ed. H. Littlehales. EETS OS 1 0 5 ,109. London, 1895-7.

Le Psautier romain, ed. Robert Weber. Rom e, 1953. Regularis Concordia Anglicae Nationis^ ed. Thom as Symons. London: Nelson, 1953. Rolle, Richard. English Writings of Richard Rolle, ed. Hope Emily Allen. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1931. Rolle, Richard. The Fire o f Love, trans. Clifford Wolters. London: Penguin, 1972. The Rule o f the Master, trans. Luke Eberle. Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1977. The Sarum Missal in English, ed. Vernon Staley. London: Alexander M oring, 1911. 7%e Sea/arer ，ed. I . し G ordon. London: M ethuen ，1960. A Selection o f Religious Lyrics, ed. Douglas G ray. Oxford: C larendon Press, 1975. Selections from English Wycliffite Writings, ed. Anne H udson. Cambridge: Cam ­ bridge University Press, 1978. Sources and Analogues o f Old English Poetry, v o l . 1 ,ed. M. J. B. Allen and D. G. Caldcr. Cambridge: Brewer, 1976. Summa Virtutum de Remediis Anintae, ed. Siegfried Wenzel. The Chaucer Library. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1989. Tertullian. Disciplinary, Moral and Ascetical Works, trans. R udolph Arbesmann, Emily Joseph Daly and Edwin A. Quain. The Fathers o f the Church, v o l . 40. W ashington, DC: Catholic University of America, 1959. T hom as a Kempis. The Imitation o f Christ, trans. Betty A. K nott. London: Fount, 1996. Three Late Medieval Morality Plays: Mankind, Everyman, Mundus et Infans, ed. G. A. Lester. New Mermaids. London: A. & C. Black; New York: W. W. N orton, 1981. Three Lives o f English Saints, cd. Michael W intcrbottom . Toronto: Pontifical Institute for Medieval Studies, 1972.

256

Secondary sources Abou-El-Haj, Barbara. 1997. The Medieval Cult o f Saints: Formations and Trans­ formations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Adams, R o b e rt.1988. ‘Langland’s Theology’. In A ばord (1988)，87-114. Aers, David. 1975. Piers Plowman and Christian Allegory. London: Edward Arnold. Aers, David. 1980. Chaucer, Langland and the Creative Imagination. London: Routledge. Aers, David. 1986a Chaucer. Brighton: Harvester. Aers, David. 1986b. Medieval Literature: Criticism, Ideology and History. Brighton: Harvester. Aers, David. 1988. Community, Gender and Individual Identity: English Writing 13601430. London and New York: Routledge. Aers, David, and Lynn Staley. 1996. The Powers o f the Holy: Religion, Politics, and Gender in Late Medieval English Culture. Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press. Aertsen, Henk, and R o lf Bremmer, eds. 1994. Companion to Old English Poetry. Amsterdam: V. U. University Press. Alexander, Michael. 1983. Old English Literature. London: Macmillan. Alford, John A. 1988. A Companion to Piers Plowman. Berkeley: University of California Press. Alford, John A., ed. 1992. Piers Plowman: A Guide to the Quotations. Binghampton: Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies. Alford, John A. 1993. The Figure of Repentance in Piers Plowman'. In Such Werkes to Werche: Essays on Piers Plowman in Honor o f David C Fowler, ed. M. F.

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Allchin, A. M . 1980. 'Julian of Norwich and the Continuity of T radition'. In Glasscoe (1980), 72-85. Allen, H. E . 1918. T h e Origin o f the Ancrene Riwle\ Proceedings o f the M odern Language Association o f America 33: 474-546. Allen, Judson Boyce. 1973. T h e Old Way and the Parson's Way: An Ironic Reading o f the Parson's Tale', Journal o f Medieval and Renaissance Studies 3: 255-71. Allen, M ark. 1987. 'Penitential Sermons, the Manciple and the End o f the Canterbury Tales% Studies in the Age o f Chaucer 9: 77-96. Anderson, M . D . 1963. Drama and Imagery in English Medieval Churches. Cam ­ bridge: Cambridge University Press. Andrew, Malcolm, e d . 1991. Critical Essays on Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. M ilton Keynes: Open University Press. A rm strong， Elizabeth Psakis. 1992. ‘“ U nderstanding by Feeling” in Margery K em pe's Book\ In M cEntire (1992b), 17-35. A rngart (Anderson), O. S . 1937. The Seafarer: An Interpretation. Lund: Kungl. H um anistika Vetenskapssamfundets i Lund Ärsberättelse. Astell, Ann W . 1996. Chaucer and the Universe of Learning. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press. Aston, M argaret. 1984. Lollards and Reformers: Images and Literacy in Late Medieval Religion. London: Hambledon. A tkinson, Clarissa, W . 1983. Mystic and Pilgrim: The Book and the World o f Margery Kempe. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press. Baker, Denise. 1980. *From Plowing to Penitence: Piers Plowman and FourteenthCentury Theology', Speculum 55: 715-25. Baldwin, A. P . 1984. T h e Tripartite Reform ation of the Soul in The Scale of Perfection, Pearl and Piers Plowman\ In Glasscoe (1984), 136-49. Baldwin, Ralph. 1955. The Unity o f the Canterbury Tales. Anglistics v o l . 5. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde and Bagger. Barber, Richard. 1991. Pilgrimages. W oodbridge: Boydell & Brewer. Barclay, William. 1964. New Testament Words. London: SCM Press. Barrett, Alexandra. 1980. ^ n c h o ritic Aspects o f Ancrene Wisse\ Medium ^v u m 49: 32-56. Beckwith, Sarah. 1986. *A Very M aterial Mysticism: The Medieval Mysticism of M argery Kempe*. In Aers (1986b), 34-57. Beer, Frances. 1992. Women and Mystical Experience in the Middle Ages. W oodbridge: Boydell & Brewer. B ell,W ., and N. D. Emerson. 1932. The Church in Ireland AD 432-1932. Dublin: Church o f Ireland Printing and Pub. Co. Bennett, J. A. W . 1982. Poetry of the Passion: Studies in Twelve Centuries o f English Verse. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Benson, Larry D., and Siegfried Wenzel, eds. 1982. The Wisdom of Poetry: Essays in Early English Literature in Honor of Morton W. Bloomfield. Kalamazoo: Medieval Institute Publications. Benson, David C., and Elizabeth Robertson, eds. 1990. Chaucer's Religious Tales. Cambridge: Brewer. Besserman, Lawrence L . 1988. Chaucer and the Bible: A Critical Review of Research, Indexes and Bibliography. New York: G arland. Bestul, Thom as H . 1989. C h au cer's Parson's Tale and the Late-Medieval Tradition o f Religious M editation', Speculum 64: 600-19. Bestul, Thom as H . 1997. 'Antecedents: The Anselmian and Cistercian C ontribu­ tions*. In Pollard and Boenig (1997),1-2P

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Garde, Judith. 1991. Old English Poetry in Christian Perspective: A Doctrinal Approach. Cambridge: Brewer. G ardiner, Frank Cook. 1971. The Pilgrimage o f Desire: A Study o f Theme and Genre in Medieval Literature. Leiden: E. J. Brill. G ardner, H. L . 1936. 'W alter Hilton and the Mystical Tradition in England*, Essays and Studies 22\ 108-13. G arrett, Charlotte. 1995. T h e Soul Journey of Margery Kempe: Hysteria, Vision and Record，. In W hitaker (1995)，157-70. G atch, M ilton McC. 1977. Preaching and Theology in Anglo-Saxon England. Toronto: University o f T oronto Press. Geary, Patrick. 1978. Furta Sacra: The Theft o f Relics in the Central Middle Ages. Princeton: Princeton University Press. G eorgianna, Linda. 1981. The Solitary Se(f: Individuality in the Ancrene Wisse.

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Mystics and the Medieval English Religious Tradition: Essays in Honour o f S. S. Hussey, ed. H. Phillips. Cambridge: Brewer. Glasscoe, M arion. 1993. English Medieval Mystics: Games o f Faith, ed. C. Brewer and N . H. Keeble. Longman Medieval and Renaissance Library. London and New York: Longman. G odden, Malcolm. 1984. T low m en and H ermits in Langland's Piers Plowman\ Review of English Studies n.s. 35:129-63. G odden, Malcolm. 1990. The Making o f Piers Plowman. London and New York: Longman. G odden, Malcolm. 1991. *Biblical Literature: The Old T estam ent5. In G odden and Lapidge (1991), 206-26. G odden, M alcolm, and M ichael Lapidge, eds. 1991. The Cambridge Companion to Old English Literature, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Godfrey, John. 1962. The Church in Anglo-Saxon England. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Goldm an, Stephen H . 1979. T h e Use o f Christian Belief in Old English Poems o f Exile', Res Publica Litterarum 2: 69-80. Goldsmith, M argaret. 1970. The Mode and Meaning o f Beowulf. London: Athlone Press. Goldsmith, M argaret. 1987. 4W iirs Pilgrimage in Piers Plowman B \ In Medieval Literature and Antiquities: Studies in Honour o f Basil Cottle, ed. M. Stokes and L. B. Burton. Cambridge: Brewer, 119-32. G ougaud, L . 1932. Christianity in Celtic Lands. London: Sheed and W ard. G rabois, A. 1985. 'A nglo-N orm an England and the Holy Land*. In Anglo-Norman Studies VII: Proceedings o f the Battle Conference 1984, ed. R. A. Brown. W oodbridge: Boydell Press. G ray, Douglas. 1972. Themes and Images in the Medieval English Religious Lyric. London: Routledge & Kegan PaulG ray ，Douglas. 1986. ‘Books o f C om fort’. In K ratzm ann and Simpson (1986)，209-

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a«"

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Kolve, V. A. 1984. Chaucer and the Imagery o f Narrative: The First Five Canterbury Tales. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

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a«"

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Vasta, Edward. 1965. The Spiritual Basis o f Piers Plowman. The Hague: M outon. Vasta, Edward, and Zacharias P. Thundy, eds. 1979. Chaucerian Problems and Perspectives: Essays Presented to Paul E. Beichner C. S. C. N otre D am e and London: University o f N otre Dame Press. Vauchez, Andre. 1993. The Laity in the Middle Ages: Religious Beliefs and Devotional Practices, trans. M argery J. Schneider. N otre Dame: University o f N otre Dame Press. Vaughan, Miceal F., e d . 1993. Such Werkis to Werche: Essay on Piers Plowman in Honor o f David C. Fowler. Michigan: Colleagues Press. V ersnel,H . S . 1981. Faith, Hope and Worship: Aspects of Religious Mentality in the Ancient World, voi. 2, Studies in Greek and R om an Religion. Leiden: E. J. Brill. Vickrey, John F . 1982. 'Some Hypotheses Concerning The Seafarer, Lines \~A1\ Archiva 219: 55-77. Von Allmen, J., ed. 1958. Vocabulary o f the Bible. London: Lutterw orth Press. W akelin, M . 1979. *Richard Rolle and the Language of Mystical Experience in the Fourteenth Century', Downside Review 97:192-203. W alker, Peter. 1990. Holy City, Holy Places? Christian Attitudes to Jerusalem and the Holy Land in the Fourth Century. Oxford: Clarendon Press. W alker, Peter, ed. 1994. Jerusalem Past and Present in the Purposes of God, second edn. G rand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House. Walker, Peter. 1996. Jesus and the Holy City: New Testament Perspectives on Jerusalem. G rand Rapids and Cambridge: Eerdmans. Wall, John. 1986. T enance as Poetry in the Late Fourteenth Century'. In K ratzm ann and Simpson (1986), 179-91. Walsh, K atherine, ed. 1985. The Bible in the Medieval World. Oxford: Blackwell. W ard, Benedicta. 1987. Miracles and the Medieval Mind: Theory, Record and Event 1000-1215, revised edn. Aldershot: W ildwood House. W ard, Benedicta. 1990. The Venerable Bede. London: Geoffrey Chapman. W ard, Benedicta. 1991. Bede and the Psalter. Jarrow Lecture. Jarrow: St Paulas C hurch ，1991. W ard, H. Snowden. 1905. The Canterbury Pilgrimage. Philadelphia and London. W arren, Ann K . 1985. Anchorites and Their Patrons in Medieval England. Berkeley: University o f California Press. W asserman, Julian, and R obert J. Blanch, eds. 1986. Chaucer in the Eighties, New York: Syracuse University Press. W atkin, E. I. 1979. On Julian o f Norwich and in Defence o f Margery Kempe, revised edn. Exeter: University o f Exeter Press. W atkins, Oscar D . 1961. A History of Penance. New York: Burt Franklin. W atson, Nicholas. 1987. T h e M ethods and Objectives o f Thirteenth-Century Anchoritic D evotion'. In Glasscoe (1987), 132-53. W atson, Nicholas. 1989. 'R ichard Rolle as Elitist and as Popularist: The Case o f Judica Me'. In Sargent (1989), 123-43. W atson, Nicholas. 1993. Richard Rolle and Invention o f Authority. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ' W atts, V. E . 1963. 'Pearl as a C onsolatio\ Medium /E\um 32: 34-6. W ebb, D iana. 1999. Pilgrimsand Pilgrimage in the Medieval West. London and New York: I. B. Tauris. Webb, D iana. 2000. Pilgrimage in Medieval England, London: Hambledon. Wcissman, Hope Phyllis. 1982. "Margery Kempe in Jerusalem: Hysterica Compassio in the Late Middle Ages*. In Acts of interpretation: The Text in Its Context

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W im satt， James I. 1984. ‘St. Bernard, the Canticle o f Canticles, and Mystical Poetry’. In Szarmach (1984), 77-95. Wittig, Joseph S . 1972. 'Piers Plowman B IX -X II: Elements in the Design o f the Inward Journey*, Traditio 28: 211-80. W oo, Constance, and William Matthews. 1970. T h e Spiritual Purpose of the Canterbury Tales', Comitatus 1:85-109. W oods, J. Douglas, and David A. E. Pelterel, eds. 1985. The Anglo-Saxons: Synthesis and Achievement. Ontario: Wilfrid Laurier University Press. Woolf, Rosemary. 1958. 'D octrinal Influences on The Dream o f the R o o d , Medium j£vum 27:137-53. Woolf, Rosemary. 1%6. ‘Saints’ Lives’. In Stanley (1966)，37-65. Woolf, Rosemary. 1975. 'The Wanderer, The Seafarer and the G enre o f Planctus\ In Nicholson and Frese (1975), 192-207. W ormald, Patrick, D onald Bullough, and Roger Collins, eds. 1983. Ideal and Reality in Frankish and Anglo-Saxon Society: Studies Presented to J. M. Wallace-Hadrill. Oxford: Blackwell. W right, Charles D . 1992. The Irish Tradition in Old English Literature, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Wuerst, K enneth S . 1947. Hebrews in the Greek New Testament. London: Pickering and Inglis. W urtele, Douglas. 1980. T h e Penitence o f Geoffrey Chaucer', Viator 11:335-59. W ybourne, Catherine, Dame. 1996. 'Seafarers and Stay-at-Homes: Anglo-Saxon Nuns and M ission5, Downside Review: 246-66. Yorke, Barbara. 1990. Kings and Kingdoms o f Early Anglo-Saxon England. London: Seaby. Zacher, Christian K . 1976. Curiosity and Pilgrimage; The Literature o f Discovery in Fourteenth Century England. Baltimore and London: John H opkins University Press.

IN D E X Abel，14, 73, 74 model pilgrim, 34, 7 5 , 111 Abraham , 3 ,1 8 , 38, 39, 40, 42, 49, 248 covenant with G od, 79 model o f voluntary exile, 9, 12, 31,76, 78, 8 7 -8, 9 6 , 100,107,109, 206, 236 prototype pilgrim, 5, 16,19-20, 52, 77, 138,153,247 sojourner, 15-17, 22 Adam, 3, 9 9 ,1 3 8 ,1 4 2 burial at C a lv a ry ,134 descendants, 98,107, 109, 148, 235, 247 exile, 13-14,19, 23, 68, 7 1 ,7 2 -3 , 74, 86, 89, 90, 9 3 , 106,107,156, 208， 228 home in Paradise, 76, 85-6 s i n , 14,18, 21， 208 A dam of Dryburgh, 218 Adom nan, Life o f Columba, 92, 96, 98,102, 206 Aelred o f Rievaulx, De Institutione Inclusarum, 52 Alexander, bishop of Jerusalem, 43, 46 Ambrose, bishop o f M ilan, translation o f martyrs, 59, 62, on p en iten ce,188 a m p u lla e ,141 anchorites, 1 5 n ,146,190, 205-6, 210-13, 214, 226 anticipation o f heaven, 213 Celtic, 98 interior pilgrimage ，2, 6,162, 205 desert/wilderness ，17, 30, 8 8 ,1 6 1 ，191，

212

enclosure as journey, 210-13 stability, 126, 149, 207, 209, 210-11 ， 244 w ith d raw al,5 卿 flto hermits Ancrene W isse ,1 0 , 12, 1 5 , 1 7 , 1 4 6 ,162,

183,205,212-13 Jerusalem,161,191,211,232 seven deadly lini, 161,191 wilderneii,161, 191

Anglo-Saxon Chronicley 95, 9 6 , 100,101, 113 Anglo-Saxon Church, 5, 68, 8 1 , 9 5 , 100, 111-12, 115-1 6 ,124,246 Anglo-Saxon pilgrims to Rome, 100-4 anti-feminist writers, 54 apocalyptic writings Jewish, 41 New Testament, 243 see also Bible, Revelation A rk o f the C o v e n a n t,19, 40 A rnold von H arff, 129, 242 Athanasius, 29-30, 58, 210 see also Life o f S t Anthony Augustine o f C anterbury, 35, 45, 63, 99, 115 Augustine o f H ippo, 23, 35,176, 218 City o f God, 27, 3 2 ^ , 62, 68, 75, 76, 92,111-12, 154, 200 Confessions, 32 De Doctrina Christiana, 78 ,1 5 2 ,1 5 6 Ennarationes in Psalmos, 115 Pilgrim Church, 32-4 saints, 62-3

Basil the Great, 24, 32 Bede, the Venerable, 33, 45, 58, 63,104, 122, 1 3 0 ,176 Commentary on Ezra, 91-2 Commentary on the Seven Catholic Epistles, 116 Death Song, 92 De Locis Sanctis L ib ellu s,1 0 1 ,102 Ecclesiastical History, 45, 63, 91,97, 101，1 0 2 ,1 0 9 ,1 1 4 ,115 Life o f C u th b ert,1 0 2 ,115 Lives o f the Abbots^ 100 Benedict Biscop, 5 ,1 0 0 - 1 ,104 Benedict o f N ursia, 206 Rule, 96,114, 208 B eo w u lf,14,17, 72, 74-5, 200 Bethlehem, 4, 49, 50, 5 1 ,5 3 ,1 8 4 Bible

interpretation,13

281

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

W im satt， James I. 1984. ‘St. Bernard, the Canticle o f Canticles, and Mystical Poetry’. In Szarmach (1984), 77-95. Wittig, Joseph S . 1972. 'Piers Plowman B IX -X II: Elements in the Design o f the Inward Journey*, Traditio 28: 211-80. W oo, Constance, and William Matthews. 1970. T h e Spiritual Purpose of the Canterbury Tales', Comitatus 1:85-109. W oods, J. Douglas, and David A. E. Pelterel, eds. 1985. The Anglo-Saxons: Synthesis and Achievement. Ontario: Wilfrid Laurier University Press. Woolf, Rosemary. 1958. 'D octrinal Influences on The Dream o f the R o o d , Medium j£vum 27:137-53. Woolf, Rosemary. 1%6. ‘Saints’ Lives’. In Stanley (1966)，37-65. Woolf, Rosemary. 1975. 'The Wanderer, The Seafarer and the G enre o f Planctus\ In Nicholson and Frese (1975), 192-207. W ormald, Patrick, D onald Bullough, and Roger Collins, eds. 1983. Ideal and Reality in Frankish and Anglo-Saxon Society: Studies Presented to J. M. Wallace-Hadrill. Oxford: Blackwell. W right, Charles D . 1992. The Irish Tradition in Old English Literature, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Wuerst, K enneth S . 1947. Hebrews in the Greek New Testament. London: Pickering and Inglis. W urtele, Douglas. 1980. T h e Penitence o f Geoffrey Chaucer', Viator 11:335-59. W ybourne, Catherine, Dame. 1996. 'Seafarers and Stay-at-Homes: Anglo-Saxon Nuns and M ission5, Downside Review: 246-66. Yorke, Barbara. 1990. Kings and Kingdoms o f Early Anglo-Saxon England. London: Seaby. Zacher, Christian K . 1976. Curiosity and Pilgrimage; The Literature o f Discovery in Fourteenth Century England. Baltimore and London: John H opkins University Press.

IN D E X Abel，14, 73, 74 model pilgrim, 34, 7 5 , 111 Abraham , 3 ,1 8 , 38, 39, 40, 42, 49, 248 covenant with G od, 79 model o f voluntary exile, 9, 12, 31,76, 78, 8 7 -8, 9 6 , 100,107,109, 206, 236 prototype pilgrim, 5, 16,19-20, 52, 77, 138,153,247 sojourner, 15-17, 22 Adam, 3, 9 9 ,1 3 8 ,1 4 2 burial at C a lv a ry ,134 descendants, 98,107, 109, 148, 235, 247 exile, 13-14,19, 23, 68, 7 1 ,7 2 -3 , 74, 86, 89, 90, 9 3 , 106,107,156, 208， 228 home in Paradise, 76, 85-6 s i n , 14,18, 21， 208 A dam of Dryburgh, 218 Adom nan, Life o f Columba, 92, 96, 98,102, 206 Aelred o f Rievaulx, De Institutione Inclusarum, 52 Alexander, bishop of Jerusalem, 43, 46 Ambrose, bishop o f M ilan, translation o f martyrs, 59, 62, on p en iten ce,188 a m p u lla e ,141 anchorites, 1 5 n ,146,190, 205-6, 210-13, 214, 226 anticipation o f heaven, 213 Celtic, 98 interior pilgrimage ，2, 6,162, 205 desert/wilderness ，17, 30, 8 8 ,1 6 1 ，191，

212

enclosure as journey, 210-13 stability, 126, 149, 207, 209, 210-11 ， 244 w ith d raw al,5 卿 flto hermits Ancrene W isse ,1 0 , 12, 1 5 , 1 7 , 1 4 6 ,162,

183,205,212-13 Jerusalem,161,191,211,232 seven deadly lini, 161,191 wilderneii,161, 191

Anglo-Saxon Chronicley 95, 9 6 , 100,101, 113 Anglo-Saxon Church, 5, 68, 8 1 , 9 5 , 100, 111-12, 115-1 6 ,124,246 Anglo-Saxon pilgrims to Rome, 100-4 anti-feminist writers, 54 apocalyptic writings Jewish, 41 New Testament, 243 see also Bible, Revelation A rk o f the C o v e n a n t,19, 40 A rnold von H arff, 129, 242 Athanasius, 29-30, 58, 210 see also Life o f S t Anthony Augustine o f C anterbury, 35, 45, 63, 99, 115 Augustine o f H ippo, 23, 35,176, 218 City o f God, 27, 3 2 ^ , 62, 68, 75, 76, 92,111-12, 154, 200 Confessions, 32 De Doctrina Christiana, 78 ,1 5 2 ,1 5 6 Ennarationes in Psalmos, 115 Pilgrim Church, 32-4 saints, 62-3

Basil the Great, 24, 32 Bede, the Venerable, 33, 45, 58, 63,104, 122, 1 3 0 ,176 Commentary on Ezra, 91-2 Commentary on the Seven Catholic Epistles, 116 Death Song, 92 De Locis Sanctis L ib ellu s,1 0 1 ,102 Ecclesiastical History, 45, 63, 91,97, 101，1 0 2 ,1 0 9 ,1 1 4 ,115 Life o f C u th b ert,1 0 2 ,115 Lives o f the Abbots^ 100 Benedict Biscop, 5 ,1 0 0 - 1 ,104 Benedict o f N ursia, 206 Rule, 96,114, 208 B eo w u lf,14,17, 72, 74-5, 200 Bethlehem, 4, 49, 50, 5 1 ,5 3 ,1 8 4 Bible

interpretation,13

281

INDEX

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

Canterbury, 44, 130, 1 3 5 ,1 3 6 ,1 3 7 ,139, 171〜8 , 1 7 9 -8 5 ,190,192,196, 221 ， 247 see also Thomas Becket Canterbury T a les,1 ,2 , 3, 7 ,1 0 , 25, 27, 131, 135, 138, 139, 167, 171-204, 217, 232, 246, 247 Canterbury as goal, 179-85 com munitas, 174-8 motivation o f pilgrims, 44 modes o f pilgrimage, 197-202 one way journey, 192-7 4 0 ,4 1 , 8 1 , 150 place pilgrimage, 240-2 E zekiel,40, 41 monasticism, 210 J o e l,41 see also indiviaual tales Zechariah， 41 Capgrave, John, A ugustinian friar of 4 Esdras, 41 K ing's Lynn, 129, 132 T obit, 41 M atthew ，21 ，29-30, 3 5 , 150 Castle o f Perseverance, 162 Celtic churches, 115, 124, 246 M a r k ,13, 32, 38 L u k e ,17, 21 ，42, 59, U i ，151， 206 penance, 98-9 Jo h n ，13, 21，7 8 , 151，157, 169, 184, peregrini, 5 ,1 7 , 9 9 , 193, 206-7 pilgrim ag e,15,16, 95-9 216, 238 saints, 31 Acts, 39, 43, 45, 57, 1 5 0 ,154 Chaucer ，2, 5 ,1 6 , 5 4 , 127,141 ，144,162, 2 C o rin th ia n s,15, 22, 24, 227 167, 171-204, 205 Ephesians, 24, 45,108 Balade de Bon C o n seyl,1,18, 27 Philippians, 24, 57 also Canterbury Tales James, 106, 157,184 1 Peter, 4, 24-5, 29, 35, 76,109, 151, Christ and Satan, 72, 73, 83 Christ /, 80 162, 235 Christ III, 73, 82 1 John, 22,150 citizenship of heaven, 4, 22-6, 27-34, 53, Hebrews, 3, 5,16, 22-4, 28, 35, 69, 69, 87, 88,107, 235 1 0 9 ,110,111,235 Clerk's Tale, 201 Revelation, 4 ,1 3 , 25, 41,57, 83, Cloud o f Unknowing, 214, 215, 219, 222, 152, 233, 234, 238 225 Bückling Homilies, 72, 77, 89, 92-3, cluster o f pilgrimage concepts, 3, z3-5, 109 35-6, 69, 80-2, 86, 88, 9 2 , 1 0 6 ,199 Boniface, 90, 95, 9 7 , 1 0 0 ,102-3, 104, Com postela ，129,130 ，131- 2 , 135,139 ， 182, 241 142, 1 4 5 ,1 5 4 ,155, 177, 178, 179， Letter to Cuthbert, 103 221 ，224, 239, 241 Bridget o f Sweden, St, 222 see also James the G reat, St Bromyard, John, 143,168 com munitas, 174-8 Bugga, A b b e ss,103 consecration legends, 40 Bugga, niece o f E a n g y th ,104 C onstantine, 4, 32, 33, 36, 38, 4 7 ,4 8 ,4 9 , 58, 59, 64, 235, 236 Caesarius o f Arles, 9 3 , 1 1 1 ,112 contemplative life, 6 ,1 9 8 , 206, 216, 243 life as pilgrimage, 34-5 Cain ，3, 34, 71 ，76, 98, 9 9 , 106,111 ，134, see aiso interior pilgrimage criticism of place pilgrimage, 141-4, 148 168-9 Grendel, 74-5 B oniface,103 exile， 14 Gregory ofNyssa, 53-4, 24J wanderer, 73, 75 Hilton, 217, 219 C a n a a n ite s,17, 39, 40

Bible (cont ): books in order Genesis ，1 2 ,13-16, 39, 72, 75, 79 ， 109,148 E x o d u s ,18, 216 D euteronom y, 18, 39, 40 2 S am u el,20, 40 J o b , 19, 35, 83,112 Psalms ，4 ,1 5 ,1 8 ,1 9 , 33, 40, 65, 92, 1 0 6 ,111，113-23, 150, 151，159，

im m o rality ,143 Langland, 154-6 Lollards, 143-4, 233 monks and nuns, 103-4, 142-3 C r o s s ,13, 49, 50-2, 78, 82, 8 6 - 7 ,102， 109, 133-4, 141，184, 216, 168, 245 cult o f the saints, 3, 4 ,1 0 , 36, 55,168, 180 Anglo-Saxon Church, 99-104 Augustine o f Hippo, 62-3 early developments, 56-8 lives, 87-91,92, 102,115 mediators, 65,168, 239, 248 miracle stories, 129,136 opposition, julian the A postate, 60 Vigilantius, 60-1 regulation, 58 riv a lry ,136 sh rin e s ,1,59-63, 64, 9 5 ,1 0 0 - 2 ,124, 130-2, 135-7, 139-41 Victricius o f Rouen, 60 Cuthbert, St, 30, 90,102, 1 1 5 ,1 3 0 ,136, 179 Cyprian, bishop o f Carthage, 28-9,57,58 To Demetrian, 28 On Mortality, 29,109 Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem, 235 Cathechesis, 47, 49 Daniel, 79-80, 111 David, king o f I s ra e l,19, 20, 38, 40, 49, 8 4 , 101，116,149,233 de Deguileville, Ouillaume, Pilgrimage o f the L yfe o f the Manhode ， monasticism as pilgrimage, 207-8 seven deadly sins, 161-2 Delphi, 45 Descent into H e11， 13 desert, 27, 33, 38, 43,103, 206, 207 see also wilderness Desert Fathers ，17, 30, 88, 89, 96, 98 ， 1 9 3 ,206,207,212 devotional tourism, 55 diaspora (Gk. dispersion), 24 Dream o f the Rood, 71 ,7 8 , 86, 87,102, 104,120 earthly Jerusalem,10,18, 20, 38, 39,

46^7,62,79,114,128,129,130,131, 14S,134, 182,193, 203,219

Aelia Capitolina, 42 antetype o f heaven, 4, 38, 233, 235-6 Canterbury Tales, 240-2 centre o f the earth, 40, 236 ‘Christian A thens’， 9 destruction, 4 2 -J developments post-325, 48-55, 65 Felix F a b r i,133, 244-5 G o d ’s dwelling place ，6 , 19-20, 248 journeys to, 139, 140, 141, 236-8 M argery Kempe, 224 medieval concepts, 233-6 return from, 195-6 ‘sin city’， 54 William Wey ，1 3 3 4 , 237 Zion, 40-1 Eden ，68, 75, 80,109, 142, 146, 156, 228, 235, 247 Edm und, St, 130, 131,181 Egeria ，32, 49, 50-1 ，55, 235 enclosure， 2 K M 3 eternal security, 25, 69 ,1 1 8 ,1 9 9 etymology o f pilgrimage, 1-2, 20, 75, 219 Eusebius, bishop o f Caesarea, 43, 49 Demonstratio Evangelica, 9, 48 Ecclesiastical History, 29, 42, 46, 47, 48 Everyman,, 159, 161,166 ex voto offerings, classical pagan religion, 44 m ed iev al,140 exile, 2 ,1 7 ,2 1 ,2 3 ,2 5 , 35,64, 81-2, 85-6, 93,124, 215, 222 caused by d isobedience,18, 79 from heaven, 2, 89 h u m a n k in d ,15,19, 28, 69, 80, 93,146, 148, 151,247 monasticism, 31-2, 181-2, 206-10 New Testam ent v ie w ,13 Old Testam ent models, 3 ,1 2 ,1 8 ,1 9 , 20, 39, 41 penance, 98-9, 113, 134,193 exile in Old English poetry, A braham , 77-8 A dam and Eve, 72-3 Cain, 73-6 fallen angels, 85 Grendel, 74-5 Nebuchadnezzar, 79-80 N oah, 76- フ Old English E x o d u s, 109

283

INDEX

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

Canterbury, 44, 130, 1 3 5 ,1 3 6 ,1 3 7 ,139, 171〜8 , 1 7 9 -8 5 ,190,192,196, 221 ， 247 see also Thomas Becket Canterbury T a les,1 ,2 , 3, 7 ,1 0 , 25, 27, 131, 135, 138, 139, 167, 171-204, 217, 232, 246, 247 Canterbury as goal, 179-85 com munitas, 174-8 motivation o f pilgrims, 44 modes o f pilgrimage, 197-202 one way journey, 192-7 4 0 ,4 1 , 8 1 , 150 place pilgrimage, 240-2 E zekiel,40, 41 monasticism, 210 J o e l,41 see also indiviaual tales Zechariah， 41 Capgrave, John, A ugustinian friar of 4 Esdras, 41 K ing's Lynn, 129, 132 T obit, 41 M atthew ，21 ，29-30, 3 5 , 150 Castle o f Perseverance, 162 Celtic churches, 115, 124, 246 M a r k ,13, 32, 38 L u k e ,17, 21 ，42, 59, U i ，151， 206 penance, 98-9 Jo h n ，13, 21，7 8 , 151，157, 169, 184, peregrini, 5 ,1 7 , 9 9 , 193, 206-7 pilgrim ag e,15,16, 95-9 216, 238 saints, 31 Acts, 39, 43, 45, 57, 1 5 0 ,154 Chaucer ，2, 5 ,1 6 , 5 4 , 127,141 ，144,162, 2 C o rin th ia n s,15, 22, 24, 227 167, 171-204, 205 Ephesians, 24, 45,108 Balade de Bon C o n seyl,1,18, 27 Philippians, 24, 57 also Canterbury Tales James, 106, 157,184 1 Peter, 4, 24-5, 29, 35, 76,109, 151, Christ and Satan, 72, 73, 83 Christ /, 80 162, 235 Christ III, 73, 82 1 John, 22,150 citizenship of heaven, 4, 22-6, 27-34, 53, Hebrews, 3, 5,16, 22-4, 28, 35, 69, 69, 87, 88,107, 235 1 0 9 ,110,111,235 Clerk's Tale, 201 Revelation, 4 ,1 3 , 25, 41,57, 83, Cloud o f Unknowing, 214, 215, 219, 222, 152, 233, 234, 238 225 Bückling Homilies, 72, 77, 89, 92-3, cluster o f pilgrimage concepts, 3, z3-5, 109 35-6, 69, 80-2, 86, 88, 9 2 , 1 0 6 ,199 Boniface, 90, 95, 9 7 , 1 0 0 ,102-3, 104, Com postela ，129,130 ，131- 2 , 135,139 ， 182, 241 142, 1 4 5 ,1 5 4 ,155, 177, 178, 179， Letter to Cuthbert, 103 221 ，224, 239, 241 Bridget o f Sweden, St, 222 see also James the G reat, St Bromyard, John, 143,168 com munitas, 174-8 Bugga, A b b e ss,103 consecration legends, 40 Bugga, niece o f E a n g y th ,104 C onstantine, 4, 32, 33, 36, 38, 4 7 ,4 8 ,4 9 , 58, 59, 64, 235, 236 Caesarius o f Arles, 9 3 , 1 1 1 ,112 contemplative life, 6 ,1 9 8 , 206, 216, 243 life as pilgrimage, 34-5 Cain ，3, 34, 71 ，76, 98, 9 9 , 106,111 ，134, see aiso interior pilgrimage criticism of place pilgrimage, 141-4, 148 168-9 Grendel, 74-5 B oniface,103 exile， 14 Gregory ofNyssa, 53-4, 24J wanderer, 73, 75 Hilton, 217, 219 C a n a a n ite s,17, 39, 40

Bible (cont ): books in order Genesis ，1 2 ,13-16, 39, 72, 75, 79 ， 109,148 E x o d u s ,18, 216 D euteronom y, 18, 39, 40 2 S am u el,20, 40 J o b , 19, 35, 83,112 Psalms ，4 ,1 5 ,1 8 ,1 9 , 33, 40, 65, 92, 1 0 6 ,111，113-23, 150, 151，159，

im m o rality ,143 Langland, 154-6 Lollards, 143-4, 233 monks and nuns, 103-4, 142-3 C r o s s ,13, 49, 50-2, 78, 82, 8 6 - 7 ,102， 109, 133-4, 141，184, 216, 168, 245 cult o f the saints, 3, 4 ,1 0 , 36, 55,168, 180 Anglo-Saxon Church, 99-104 Augustine o f Hippo, 62-3 early developments, 56-8 lives, 87-91,92, 102,115 mediators, 65,168, 239, 248 miracle stories, 129,136 opposition, julian the A postate, 60 Vigilantius, 60-1 regulation, 58 riv a lry ,136 sh rin e s ,1,59-63, 64, 9 5 ,1 0 0 - 2 ,124, 130-2, 135-7, 139-41 Victricius o f Rouen, 60 Cuthbert, St, 30, 90,102, 1 1 5 ,1 3 0 ,136, 179 Cyprian, bishop o f Carthage, 28-9,57,58 To Demetrian, 28 On Mortality, 29,109 Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem, 235 Cathechesis, 47, 49 Daniel, 79-80, 111 David, king o f I s ra e l,19, 20, 38, 40, 49, 8 4 , 101，116,149,233 de Deguileville, Ouillaume, Pilgrimage o f the L yfe o f the Manhode ， monasticism as pilgrimage, 207-8 seven deadly sins, 161-2 Delphi, 45 Descent into H e11， 13 desert, 27, 33, 38, 43,103, 206, 207 see also wilderness Desert Fathers ，17, 30, 88, 89, 96, 98 ， 1 9 3 ,206,207,212 devotional tourism, 55 diaspora (Gk. dispersion), 24 Dream o f the Rood, 71 ,7 8 , 86, 87,102, 104,120 earthly Jerusalem,10,18, 20, 38, 39,

46^7,62,79,114,128,129,130,131, 14S,134, 182,193, 203,219

Aelia Capitolina, 42 antetype o f heaven, 4, 38, 233, 235-6 Canterbury Tales, 240-2 centre o f the earth, 40, 236 ‘Christian A thens’， 9 destruction, 4 2 -J developments post-325, 48-55, 65 Felix F a b r i,133, 244-5 G o d ’s dwelling place ，6 , 19-20, 248 journeys to, 139, 140, 141, 236-8 M argery Kempe, 224 medieval concepts, 233-6 return from, 195-6 ‘sin city’， 54 William Wey ，1 3 3 4 , 237 Zion, 40-1 Eden ，68, 75, 80,109, 142, 146, 156, 228, 235, 247 Edm und, St, 130, 131,181 Egeria ，32, 49, 50-1 ，55, 235 enclosure， 2 K M 3 eternal security, 25, 69 ,1 1 8 ,1 9 9 etymology o f pilgrimage, 1-2, 20, 75, 219 Eusebius, bishop o f Caesarea, 43, 49 Demonstratio Evangelica, 9, 48 Ecclesiastical History, 29, 42, 46, 47, 48 Everyman,, 159, 161,166 ex voto offerings, classical pagan religion, 44 m ed iev al,140 exile, 2 ,1 7 ,2 1 ,2 3 ,2 5 , 35,64, 81-2, 85-6, 93,124, 215, 222 caused by d isobedience,18, 79 from heaven, 2, 89 h u m a n k in d ,15,19, 28, 69, 80, 93,146, 148, 151,247 monasticism, 31-2, 181-2, 206-10 New Testam ent v ie w ,13 Old Testam ent models, 3 ,1 2 ,1 8 ,1 9 , 20, 39, 41 penance, 98-9, 113, 134,193 exile in Old English poetry, A braham , 77-8 A dam and Eve, 72-3 Cain, 73-6 fallen angels, 85 Grendel, 74-5 Nebuchadnezzar, 79-80 N oah, 76- フ Old English E x o d u s, 109

283

INDEX

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

exile in Old English poetry (coni)\ saints’ lives ，87-91 Satan, 71-2, 83-85 Seafarer,109-14 Wanderer, 105-7 exile, involuntary, 68, 71 A dam and E v e ,14 C a in ,14 S a ta n ,13 exile in Old English homilies, 92-4 exile in Piers Plowman, 147-53 exile in Pearl, 226-30 exile, voluntary, 5, 7 1 ,9 5 - 8 ,101 A braham , 9 ,1 2 , 31,76, 78, 87, 88, 96, 1 0 0 ,1 0 7 ,109, 206, 236 anchorites, 210-13 monasticism, 206-10 exodus from Egypt, 6 ,17-18, 20, 38, 42, 7 7 , 109,212,215,248 experience o f pilgrimage, 137-41 em otion 19, 20, 50-2, 140, 244-5 F a l l , 1 3 ,1 8 ,1 9 , 38, 77, 80,134,148 Feast o f Tabernacles, 40 Felix F a b r i,19, 37,128,129, 133, 140-1, 145, 177, 195-6, 217, 238 pilgrims at Holy Sepulchre, 244-5 Felix, Life o f Guthlac, 58, 74, 88-9,102 Fitz-eisulf, J o r d a n ,135 Fitzralph, Archbishop o f Armagh, on im a g e s,168 Foy, S t , 132 Friars Tale9201

General Prologue, 56,128, 172, 176, 178, 183,197, 242

Genesis A, 71,76 G odric o f Finchale, 122, 136,134 Gospel o f Nicoäemus, 73 Gregory o f Nyssa, 9, 65,103, 168, 182, 209,217 criticisms o f pilgrimage, 53-4, 241 Gregory the G reat, 23, 45, 63, 9 3 , 111, 115 Morals on J o b , 19, 35, 7 1 , 1 1 2 ,163 G re n d e l,14,17, 71 ，72, 74, 75, 89 fen and wilderness, 75 gur (so jo u rn er),1,15, 20 G uthlac, S t , 17, 30, 58, 71 ，74, 75. 86， 87-90, 102, 107,131

Halt Mei8hadt 2\\

H aukyn, 164,166 healing, 6,1 0 , 25, 4 1 ,4 4 , 59, 62, 63, 64, 102, 168, 180, 183-4, 242 shrines in ancient G re e c e ,140 heavenly Jerusalem, 25-6, 4 1 , 1 8 4 ,193, 206, 207, 208, 221 ，222, 232_5 homeland of pilgrims, 4, 22, 23, 24, 25-6, 27-9, 32, 81,93 Ancrene Wisse^ 161 Parsons Tale, 125, 162, 177, 190-2, 197-8, 203, 242 Pearl, 226, 229-31,243 Piers Plowman,152, 238-40

Pilgrimage of the Lyfe o f the Manhode, 161， 208

Scale o f Perfection,166 see also New Jerusalem Helena ，4, 49, 235, 241 Hereford, 135,140 St E th e lb e rt,135 St Thom as C a n tilu p e ,135 hermits, 30, 88, 96, 9 7 ,1 2 2 ,149, 210, 216 see also anchorites Hildebert o f Le M a n s ,142 H ilton, W alter, 2 , 1 2 7 ,146, 214, 215, 216, 220, 222 Angels' Song, 218 Eight Chapters on Perfection, 219 Mixed Life, 5,1 2 6 , 206, 223, 225 Scale o f Perfection^ 22,151, 156, 160, 1 6 1 ,1 6 2 ,1 6 6 ,190, 205, 213, 216, 217-19, 218-19, 233, 243-4 Holy L a n d ,1,32 fourth-century developments, 4, 36, 37, 48-55, 64-5, 235 medieval visitors, 128-9, 130, 132-4, 140-1 ，1 5 4 ,1 6 8 ,1 7 8 ,193-6,214 ， 235-7, 239, 241-2, 244 holy p la c e s,1 ,3 , 4, 6,1 0 , 36, 37-8, 56, 132-4, 141, 168, 177, 198, 203, 213, 221, 223, 224-5, 234-5, 236, 245-6 Anglo-Saxon spirituality, 100-4 Constantine and Helena, 47-9 criticism, 53-4, 143, 154, 158, 170, 173,181 ，209, 21 7 ,2 3 3 ,2 3 9 ,2 4 1 ， 248 Cyril o f Jerusalem, 49 Early church attitudes, 46-7 fourth-century developments, 48-55 Jewish background, 38-41 New Testament writers, 41-2 pagan background, 43-6

re p lic a s,195 saints ，56, 59, 62-3 see also sacred places Holy Sepulchre, 133, 140, 195, 244 Holy Spirit, omnipresence of, 53 images, pagan gods, 45 s a in ts ,168 indulgences, 6 , 1 2 8 ,129, 132, 134, 189, 193, 224, 237, 240 interior Jerusalem, 215-17, 243-4, anticipation o f heavenly city, 218-19 anchorites, 211-13 monasticism, 208-10 mystics, 218-19 interior pilgrimage, 5, 6, 7 ,9 6 ,1 4 6 , 206, 223, 248, 233, 244 anchorites, 210-13 meditation, 214 m o n asticism ,104 mystics, 214-19, 243 stabilitas, 206-12, 244 Pearl, 226 Piers Plowman, 156,158 Israelites, 17-19, 28, 39, 69, 77-8, 92, 109, 248 see also people o f Israel James the Great, St, cult, 132,13^-5,139-40,141,154,157, 1 7 7 ,194, 239 Jacob, 22, 39, 40, 4 1 , 1 1 0 ,121, 138,187 Jerome, 9,19, 31,47,48, 51-4, 61,65,75, 99,114, 1 3 3 ,168, 217, 239, 241 Jerusalem, see earthly Jerusalem; heavenly Jerusalem; interior Jerusalem John C h ry so sto m ,16, 29, 5 9 , 110 Judea, 38, 47, 206, 234 Julian o f Norwich, 214, 221, 223, 225, 244

Knights Tale, 200 Langland, W illiam ,1 ,2 , 5 ,1 6 , 37,125, 1 2 7 ,1 4 1 ,1 4 4 ,1 7 3 ,1 7 7 ,1 7 8 ,1 8 9 ， 199, 205, 206, 210, 217, 238, 239 ， 242, 245

see also Piers Plowman Letter o f Barnabas 28 L 鬱 tttr o f St Chmm 2i

、

Letter to Diognetus, 28 Liber Sancti Jacobi， see Veneranda Dies licences for p ilg rim s,138 Life o f Pachomius, 30 Life of St Anthony,17, 29, 30, 58, 89, 210

Life o f St Boniface， 92 Life o f Wilfrid,100 life pilgrimage, 3-7, 104, 124, 142, 156, 1 5 7 ,1 5 8 ,1 6 4 ,1 7 0 ,1 7 3 , 210, 242 ， 247-8 Caesarius o f Arles, 34~5 Gregory the G reat, 23, 35,112 Old English literature, 68-70, 7 1 ,7 6 8, 80-2, 85-94, 105-7 New Testament, 21-5 patristic writings, 27-9, 32-6 Piers Plowman, 146, 1 4 8 ,1 5 3 ,154-61 Parson's Tale, 186-92 see also pilgrimage of life liminality, 174-7 liturgy for departing p ilg rim s,138 local pilgrimages, 137,196 Lollards, 143, 169,173 see also Wycliffite L u c ife r,13, 79, 8 3 , 1 4 3 ,164 see also Satan

Man of Law*s Tale, 201-2 M argery Kempe, 5 ,1 9 , 51-2, 128, 131, 137, 1 3 9 ,1 4 0 ,177, 206, 214, 246 Book, 7,129, 130, 1 3 1 ,196, 205, 216, 220-6, 238, 244-5 M arian sh rin e s ,132 M artin of T ours, St, 58, 59,132 Martyrdom of St Polycarp, 57, 58 m artyrs, 29, 56, 57, 58, 60t 62 M ary the H arlot, 30 meditation, 6 , 1 1 5 , 1 2 1 ,205, 214, 216, 246 Meditations on the Life o f Christ, 52, 214, 240 Melito, bishop o f Sardis, 46 Miller's Tale, 200, 201 Miracles o f St Osmund,135 Mixed Life, 5, 22,126, 206,216, 223, 225 mobility, 7, 9 6 , 126, 1 4 8 ,1 5 9 ,173, 248 see also stability modes o f pilgrimage, 3, 5 ,6 ,2 0 ,145,222, 246, 248 Canterbury Tales, 202 Piers Plowman^ 154-61 monasticism, 6t 24, 30-1,88, 96, 97, 98,

28J

INDEX

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

exile in Old English poetry (coni)\ saints’ lives ，87-91 Satan, 71-2, 83-85 Seafarer,109-14 Wanderer, 105-7 exile, involuntary, 68, 71 A dam and E v e ,14 C a in ,14 S a ta n ,13 exile in Old English homilies, 92-4 exile in Piers Plowman, 147-53 exile in Pearl, 226-30 exile, voluntary, 5, 7 1 ,9 5 - 8 ,101 A braham , 9 ,1 2 , 31,76, 78, 87, 88, 96, 1 0 0 ,1 0 7 ,109, 206, 236 anchorites, 210-13 monasticism, 206-10 exodus from Egypt, 6 ,17-18, 20, 38, 42, 7 7 , 109,212,215,248 experience o f pilgrimage, 137-41 em otion 19, 20, 50-2, 140, 244-5 F a l l , 1 3 ,1 8 ,1 9 , 38, 77, 80,134,148 Feast o f Tabernacles, 40 Felix F a b r i,19, 37,128,129, 133, 140-1, 145, 177, 195-6, 217, 238 pilgrims at Holy Sepulchre, 244-5 Felix, Life o f Guthlac, 58, 74, 88-9,102 Fitz-eisulf, J o r d a n ,135 Fitzralph, Archbishop o f Armagh, on im a g e s,168 Foy, S t , 132 Friars Tale9201

General Prologue, 56,128, 172, 176, 178, 183,197, 242

Genesis A, 71,76 G odric o f Finchale, 122, 136,134 Gospel o f Nicoäemus, 73 Gregory o f Nyssa, 9, 65,103, 168, 182, 209,217 criticisms o f pilgrimage, 53-4, 241 Gregory the G reat, 23, 45, 63, 9 3 , 111, 115 Morals on J o b , 19, 35, 7 1 , 1 1 2 ,163 G re n d e l,14,17, 71 ，72, 74, 75, 89 fen and wilderness, 75 gur (so jo u rn er),1,15, 20 G uthlac, S t , 17, 30, 58, 71 ，74, 75. 86， 87-90, 102, 107,131

Halt Mei8hadt 2\\

H aukyn, 164,166 healing, 6,1 0 , 25, 4 1 ,4 4 , 59, 62, 63, 64, 102, 168, 180, 183-4, 242 shrines in ancient G re e c e ,140 heavenly Jerusalem, 25-6, 4 1 , 1 8 4 ,193, 206, 207, 208, 221 ，222, 232_5 homeland of pilgrims, 4, 22, 23, 24, 25-6, 27-9, 32, 81,93 Ancrene Wisse^ 161 Parsons Tale, 125, 162, 177, 190-2, 197-8, 203, 242 Pearl, 226, 229-31,243 Piers Plowman,152, 238-40

Pilgrimage of the Lyfe o f the Manhode, 161， 208

Scale o f Perfection,166 see also New Jerusalem Helena ，4, 49, 235, 241 Hereford, 135,140 St E th e lb e rt,135 St Thom as C a n tilu p e ,135 hermits, 30, 88, 96, 9 7 ,1 2 2 ,149, 210, 216 see also anchorites Hildebert o f Le M a n s ,142 H ilton, W alter, 2 , 1 2 7 ,146, 214, 215, 216, 220, 222 Angels' Song, 218 Eight Chapters on Perfection, 219 Mixed Life, 5,1 2 6 , 206, 223, 225 Scale o f Perfection^ 22,151, 156, 160, 1 6 1 ,1 6 2 ,1 6 6 ,190, 205, 213, 216, 217-19, 218-19, 233, 243-4 Holy L a n d ,1,32 fourth-century developments, 4, 36, 37, 48-55, 64-5, 235 medieval visitors, 128-9, 130, 132-4, 140-1 ，1 5 4 ,1 6 8 ,1 7 8 ,193-6,214 ， 235-7, 239, 241-2, 244 holy p la c e s,1 ,3 , 4, 6,1 0 , 36, 37-8, 56, 132-4, 141, 168, 177, 198, 203, 213, 221, 223, 224-5, 234-5, 236, 245-6 Anglo-Saxon spirituality, 100-4 Constantine and Helena, 47-9 criticism, 53-4, 143, 154, 158, 170, 173,181 ，209, 21 7 ,2 3 3 ,2 3 9 ,2 4 1 ， 248 Cyril o f Jerusalem, 49 Early church attitudes, 46-7 fourth-century developments, 48-55 Jewish background, 38-41 New Testament writers, 41-2 pagan background, 43-6

re p lic a s,195 saints ，56, 59, 62-3 see also sacred places Holy Sepulchre, 133, 140, 195, 244 Holy Spirit, omnipresence of, 53 images, pagan gods, 45 s a in ts ,168 indulgences, 6 , 1 2 8 ,129, 132, 134, 189, 193, 224, 237, 240 interior Jerusalem, 215-17, 243-4, anticipation o f heavenly city, 218-19 anchorites, 211-13 monasticism, 208-10 mystics, 218-19 interior pilgrimage, 5, 6, 7 ,9 6 ,1 4 6 , 206, 223, 248, 233, 244 anchorites, 210-13 meditation, 214 m o n asticism ,104 mystics, 214-19, 243 stabilitas, 206-12, 244 Pearl, 226 Piers Plowman, 156,158 Israelites, 17-19, 28, 39, 69, 77-8, 92, 109, 248 see also people o f Israel James the Great, St, cult, 132,13^-5,139-40,141,154,157, 1 7 7 ,194, 239 Jacob, 22, 39, 40, 4 1 , 1 1 0 ,121, 138,187 Jerome, 9,19, 31,47,48, 51-4, 61,65,75, 99,114, 1 3 3 ,168, 217, 239, 241 Jerusalem, see earthly Jerusalem; heavenly Jerusalem; interior Jerusalem John C h ry so sto m ,16, 29, 5 9 , 110 Judea, 38, 47, 206, 234 Julian o f Norwich, 214, 221, 223, 225, 244

Knights Tale, 200 Langland, W illiam ,1 ,2 , 5 ,1 6 , 37,125, 1 2 7 ,1 4 1 ,1 4 4 ,1 7 3 ,1 7 7 ,1 7 8 ,1 8 9 ， 199, 205, 206, 210, 217, 238, 239 ， 242, 245

see also Piers Plowman Letter o f Barnabas 28 L 鬱 tttr o f St Chmm 2i

、

Letter to Diognetus, 28 Liber Sancti Jacobi， see Veneranda Dies licences for p ilg rim s,138 Life o f Pachomius, 30 Life of St Anthony,17, 29, 30, 58, 89, 210

Life o f St Boniface， 92 Life o f Wilfrid,100 life pilgrimage, 3-7, 104, 124, 142, 156, 1 5 7 ,1 5 8 ,1 6 4 ,1 7 0 ,1 7 3 , 210, 242 ， 247-8 Caesarius o f Arles, 34~5 Gregory the G reat, 23, 35,112 Old English literature, 68-70, 7 1 ,7 6 8, 80-2, 85-94, 105-7 New Testament, 21-5 patristic writings, 27-9, 32-6 Piers Plowman, 146, 1 4 8 ,1 5 3 ,154-61 Parson's Tale, 186-92 see also pilgrimage of life liminality, 174-7 liturgy for departing p ilg rim s,138 local pilgrimages, 137,196 Lollards, 143, 169,173 see also Wycliffite L u c ife r,13, 79, 8 3 , 1 4 3 ,164 see also Satan

Man of Law*s Tale, 201-2 M argery Kempe, 5 ,1 9 , 51-2, 128, 131, 137, 1 3 9 ,1 4 0 ,177, 206, 214, 246 Book, 7,129, 130, 1 3 1 ,196, 205, 216, 220-6, 238, 244-5 M arian sh rin e s ,132 M artin of T ours, St, 58, 59,132 Martyrdom of St Polycarp, 57, 58 m artyrs, 29, 56, 57, 58, 60t 62 M ary the H arlot, 30 meditation, 6 , 1 1 5 , 1 2 1 ,205, 214, 216, 246 Meditations on the Life o f Christ, 52, 214, 240 Melito, bishop o f Sardis, 46 Miller's Tale, 200, 201 Miracles o f St Osmund,135 Mixed Life, 5, 22,126, 206,216, 223, 225 mobility, 7, 9 6 , 126, 1 4 8 ,1 5 9 ,173, 248 see also stability modes o f pilgrimage, 3, 5 ,6 ,2 0 ,145,222, 246, 248 Canterbury Tales, 202 Piers Plowman^ 154-61 monasticism, 6t 24, 30-1,88, 96, 97, 98,

28J

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

monasticism (cont.): 160-81, 205-7, 209-10, 233, 244, 246 as stationary pilgrimage, 29-32, 95 ，

210 place pilgrimage, 103-4 voluntary exile, 4 m oral pilgrimage ，6, 7, 22, 25, 27, 29 ， 158, 203, 205, 206, 217, 225, 232 ， 233, 247, 248 motivation of pilgrims, 132-7 material benefits, 6,1 0 , 33, 59, 63,133, 134-6, 183, 207 spiritual benefits, 133-4 mysticism, see interior pilgrimage N ebuchadnezzar, 79, 9 9 , 111 New Jerusalem, 203 see also heavenly Jerusalem, N oah, 76, 77, 88 Nuns Priest's Tale, 138, 201

Old English Exodus,18, 69, 77, 108,110 Old English homilies, 92 Origen, 28, 38, 43, 46, 57, 235 pagan religion holy places, 3, 43, 45, 234 motivation o f pilgrims, 44 pilgrimage to, 44 shrine of Aesclepius, 44 Palestine, 4, 29, 31，32, 37, 46,47, 48,49, 5 0 ,5 2, 53, 55, 96, 9 9 , 133,235 P a ra d ise ,14, 21, 23, 30, 31,73, 76, 80, 82, 89, 90, 91,195, 203, 204, 227 Pardoner's Tale, 131, 172, 201 Parson, 2, 6, 2 2 , 1 2 5 ,127, 1 6 2 ,172,178, 232, 240, 246 Parsons Tale, 6, 25-6, 127, 176-7, 1834, 200, 212, 242 r o le ,11,174, 185-92, 197-9, 202-4 Pastons, the, 130, 1 4 0 ,1 9 6 ,197 Paul the Hermit, 30 Paula, 51,52, 54, 55 Pearl, 2, 7 ,1 0 ,1 4 , 25, 91,127, 203, 205, 215,226-3 1 ,2 3 2 ,2 4 3 penance, 73, 74, 78, 80, 95, 9 8 - 9 ,100， 106, 134, 158, 159, 164, 177, 178, 187-91 ，198,216-17, 228-9, 242, 245

Penitential o f Coiumban, 74» 98 Penitential o f Cummean, 98

people of Is ra e l,3 ,1 5 , 20, 206, 212, 213 see also Israelites p ere g rin atio ,1,2 , 28, 35 peregrinatio in stabilitate, 98,160, 206-13, 214-19, 244 peregrinatio pro am ore dei, 5, 95-8, 114 perfect pilgrim age,17, 96 person and place, 39, 56,168-70, 176, 180,184,185, 208, 215, 219, 226 ， 229-30, 234-5, 243, 244, 246

Phoenix,名5 Piers Plowman,1 ,2 , 3, 7 ,1 0 ,1 6 , 22, 25, 27, 37,125, 126, 127, 128, 131, 142, 1 7 3 ,1 7 7 ,1 7 8 ,1 8 9 ,1 9 2 ,1 9 9 , 210， 217,232, 24 1 ,2 4 3 ,2 4 7 interior p ilgrim age,156,159-60 journeys to Jerusalem, 238-40 life pilgrimage, 145-7 modes of pilgrim age,145 patterns o f p ilg rim ag e,154 m oral pilgrimage, 156-7 Palm er ，155-6 person and place, 168-70 place pilg rim ag e,156 search for T r u t h ,155 wandering, 147-53 Pietro C a s o la ,129 Pilgrim Church City o f God^ 32-5 Piers Plowman, 32-5 Pilgrim o f Bordeaux, 49 pilgrimage one-way jo u r n e y ,192ィ pilgrimage debate, 3 , 6, 38,104,126,225, 233, 239 fourth-century arguments, 53-5 Gregory of Nyssa, 53-4 Jerom e ，52-3 late medieval, 126-7, 141-4 pilgrimage narratives ‘A Certain Englishman’，1 2 9 ,141 A rnold von Harff, 129, 242 John Capgrave, 129,132 Egeria ，32, 49, 50-1 ，55, 235 Felix F a b r i,19, 3 7 , 1 2 8 ,129, 133, 140-1 ，1 4 5 ,1 7 7 ,195-6, 217, 238 ， 244-5

Information for Pilgrims unto the Holy Margery Kcmpe, 7 , 1 2 9 ,1 3 0 ,1 3 1 ,196, 205, 216, 22(W ( 238, 244.5

INDEX

Pietro C a s o la ,129 Pilgrim o f Bordeaux, 49 Simon Fitzsimons, f r ia r ,1 2 9 ,138, 140, 236 Thom as Brygg, 129,133 William W e y ,128,129,1334 , 196， 237, 241 pilgrimage o f life, 3-7, 16, 20, 21-5, 68, 9 5 ,1 0 9 ,126, 138, 142,194, 231,235, 239, 244, 246-8 monasticism, 206-10 Piers Plowman, 145-7, 152-61,170 seven deadly sins, 161-8, 174, 190-1, 212, 217 see also life pilgrimage Pionius on JerusaJem, 43 place pilgrimage, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9 ,1 0 ,1 5 , 16,19,20, 37,42, 70, 86, 95, 9 8 ,104, 124, 126, 127, 128, 141，222-6 ， 233-5, 236-42, 244-8 Canterbury Tales, 171-84, 1 8 6 ,192-7, 198-9 microcosm o f life p ilg rim ag e,138 see also holy places; criticism o f place pilgrimage preparation for pilgrimage le g a l,137 s p iritu a l,138 Promised L and ，1 5 ,1 7 ,1 8 ,1 9 ,2 8 ,4 3 ,77, 78, 79, 92 ，109, 51，206,212 Psalms o f A sc e n t,19,114 Psalms o f L a m e n t,116 pilgrim b a d g e s ,141

Ruthwell Cross, substitute for p ilg rim ag e,104

sacrament o f Penance, 7,147, 162, 167, 1 9 0 ,191 sacred places, fourth-century developments, 38 characteristics, 38 sacred geography, 56 sacred topography, 38 see also holy places saints, see cult o f the saints Salisbury， 135 Satan, 3,13, 21 ，71 ，72,73,74, 76,83,84, 85, 86, 89, 9 9 , 103 as exiJe，】3, 83 enemy of h u m a n k in d ,13 Scale o f Perfection, 22,161, 162, 166, 205, 213, 216, 223, 243 S 叫か rer, 2 3 , ミ7, 6乂 68,69, 70, 83,90, 93, 96 ，105，106 , 114，115 , 116，117,118, 119, 120, 121，1 2 2 ,123 Land and Sea, 108-13 Old English Exodus, 108-13 P sa lm s,113-23 seven deadly sins, 6, 7, 25,147, 153, 160, 1 6 1 ,162, 163, 1 6 4 ,165, 1 6 6 ,167, 174, 176, 187, 191, 208, 212, 217, 228, 239, 242 ⑽ ， 162 Parson s Tale, 162 pilgrim’s en e m ie s,147 Shepherd of Hermas, 28 sojourners, I, 2, 19, 2 0 , 1 1 0 ,114 Reeve s Prologue, 200-1 A braham , 15-17, 22 Reeve s Tale, 131 Israelites, 17 R eform ation ，4, 3 7 ,129,141 ，246, 248 h u m a n k in d ,15 relics，4, 5, 50, 55, 56, 57, 59, 60, 62, 63, New Testament, 21-4 65, 86’ 9 5 , 1 0 0 ,102, 126, 128, 131， Solomon, 39, 40, 91 132, 141，169, 182, 195, 233, 248 stability, 7,96, 126, 1 4 2 ,148-9, 150, 159, R o c a m a d o u r,141 182, 205, 207-10, 224, 231，238, 248 Rolle ，Richard, 214, 215, 216, 218, 220, stabilitas ，98,103, 104, 207, 209, 210 222, 230, 240 Stephen ，St，39, 41 ，45, 57, 62 Form o f Living, 211 Summa Praedicanti Feriae, 143, 179 Rome, 5, 28, 31，32, 43, 47, 52,59 syncretism, 3 ，10,18, 63 pilgrimage to f 17, 37, 95, 97,100-4, Syon ，211 ，219,2 2 9 1 2 5 ,1 2 8 ,1 2 9 ,1 3 0 ,131, 1 3 4 ,137， 139, 145, 1 5 4 ,155,丨 79,182, 194, Tale o f Melibee,191 195, 205, 213.217, 221,224, 238, tactile piety, 65 Tcmpie ，39, 42, 46, 91 239, 241, 244 Rood 〇 Bromholm, 13) Tcrtullian,

r

Ruin, 69

De Corona, 57

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

monasticism (cont.): 160-81, 205-7, 209-10, 233, 244, 246 as stationary pilgrimage, 29-32, 95 ，

210 place pilgrimage, 103-4 voluntary exile, 4 m oral pilgrimage ，6, 7, 22, 25, 27, 29 ， 158, 203, 205, 206, 217, 225, 232 ， 233, 247, 248 motivation of pilgrims, 132-7 material benefits, 6,1 0 , 33, 59, 63,133, 134-6, 183, 207 spiritual benefits, 133-4 mysticism, see interior pilgrimage N ebuchadnezzar, 79, 9 9 , 111 New Jerusalem, 203 see also heavenly Jerusalem, N oah, 76, 77, 88 Nuns Priest's Tale, 138, 201

Old English Exodus,18, 69, 77, 108,110 Old English homilies, 92 Origen, 28, 38, 43, 46, 57, 235 pagan religion holy places, 3, 43, 45, 234 motivation o f pilgrims, 44 pilgrimage to, 44 shrine of Aesclepius, 44 Palestine, 4, 29, 31，32, 37, 46,47, 48,49, 5 0 ,5 2, 53, 55, 96, 9 9 , 133,235 P a ra d ise ,14, 21, 23, 30, 31,73, 76, 80, 82, 89, 90, 91,195, 203, 204, 227 Pardoner's Tale, 131, 172, 201 Parson, 2, 6, 2 2 , 1 2 5 ,127, 1 6 2 ,172,178, 232, 240, 246 Parsons Tale, 6, 25-6, 127, 176-7, 1834, 200, 212, 242 r o le ,11,174, 185-92, 197-9, 202-4 Pastons, the, 130, 1 4 0 ,1 9 6 ,197 Paul the Hermit, 30 Paula, 51,52, 54, 55 Pearl, 2, 7 ,1 0 ,1 4 , 25, 91,127, 203, 205, 215,226-3 1 ,2 3 2 ,2 4 3 penance, 73, 74, 78, 80, 95, 9 8 - 9 ,100， 106, 134, 158, 159, 164, 177, 178, 187-91 ，198,216-17, 228-9, 242, 245

Penitential o f Coiumban, 74» 98 Penitential o f Cummean, 98

people of Is ra e l,3 ,1 5 , 20, 206, 212, 213 see also Israelites p ere g rin atio ,1,2 , 28, 35 peregrinatio in stabilitate, 98,160, 206-13, 214-19, 244 peregrinatio pro am ore dei, 5, 95-8, 114 perfect pilgrim age,17, 96 person and place, 39, 56,168-70, 176, 180,184,185, 208, 215, 219, 226 ， 229-30, 234-5, 243, 244, 246

Phoenix,名5 Piers Plowman,1 ,2 , 3, 7 ,1 0 ,1 6 , 22, 25, 27, 37,125, 126, 127, 128, 131, 142, 1 7 3 ,1 7 7 ,1 7 8 ,1 8 9 ,1 9 2 ,1 9 9 , 210， 217,232, 24 1 ,2 4 3 ,2 4 7 interior p ilgrim age,156,159-60 journeys to Jerusalem, 238-40 life pilgrimage, 145-7 modes of pilgrim age,145 patterns o f p ilg rim ag e,154 m oral pilgrimage, 156-7 Palm er ，155-6 person and place, 168-70 place pilg rim ag e,156 search for T r u t h ,155 wandering, 147-53 Pietro C a s o la ,129 Pilgrim Church City o f God^ 32-5 Piers Plowman, 32-5 Pilgrim o f Bordeaux, 49 pilgrimage one-way jo u r n e y ,192ィ pilgrimage debate, 3 , 6, 38,104,126,225, 233, 239 fourth-century arguments, 53-5 Gregory of Nyssa, 53-4 Jerom e ，52-3 late medieval, 126-7, 141-4 pilgrimage narratives ‘A Certain Englishman’，1 2 9 ,141 A rnold von Harff, 129, 242 John Capgrave, 129,132 Egeria ，32, 49, 50-1 ，55, 235 Felix F a b r i,19, 3 7 , 1 2 8 ,129, 133, 140-1 ，1 4 5 ,1 7 7 ,195-6, 217, 238 ， 244-5

Information for Pilgrims unto the Holy Margery Kcmpe, 7 , 1 2 9 ,1 3 0 ,1 3 1 ,196, 205, 216, 22(W ( 238, 244.5

INDEX

Pietro C a s o la ,129 Pilgrim o f Bordeaux, 49 Simon Fitzsimons, f r ia r ,1 2 9 ,138, 140, 236 Thom as Brygg, 129,133 William W e y ,128,129,1334 , 196， 237, 241 pilgrimage o f life, 3-7, 16, 20, 21-5, 68, 9 5 ,1 0 9 ,126, 138, 142,194, 231,235, 239, 244, 246-8 monasticism, 206-10 Piers Plowman, 145-7, 152-61,170 seven deadly sins, 161-8, 174, 190-1, 212, 217 see also life pilgrimage Pionius on JerusaJem, 43 place pilgrimage, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9 ,1 0 ,1 5 , 16,19,20, 37,42, 70, 86, 95, 9 8 ,104, 124, 126, 127, 128, 141，222-6 ， 233-5, 236-42, 244-8 Canterbury Tales, 171-84, 1 8 6 ,192-7, 198-9 microcosm o f life p ilg rim ag e,138 see also holy places; criticism o f place pilgrimage preparation for pilgrimage le g a l,137 s p iritu a l,138 Promised L and ，1 5 ,1 7 ,1 8 ,1 9 ,2 8 ,4 3 ,77, 78, 79, 92 ，109, 51，206,212 Psalms o f A sc e n t,19,114 Psalms o f L a m e n t,116 pilgrim b a d g e s ,141

Ruthwell Cross, substitute for p ilg rim ag e,104

sacrament o f Penance, 7,147, 162, 167, 1 9 0 ,191 sacred places, fourth-century developments, 38 characteristics, 38 sacred geography, 56 sacred topography, 38 see also holy places saints, see cult o f the saints Salisbury， 135 Satan, 3,13, 21 ，71 ，72,73,74, 76,83,84, 85, 86, 89, 9 9 , 103 as exiJe，】3, 83 enemy of h u m a n k in d ,13 Scale o f Perfection, 22,161, 162, 166, 205, 213, 216, 223, 243 S 叫か rer, 2 3 , ミ7, 6乂 68,69, 70, 83,90, 93, 96 ，105，106 , 114，115 , 116，117,118, 119, 120, 121，1 2 2 ,123 Land and Sea, 108-13 Old English Exodus, 108-13 P sa lm s,113-23 seven deadly sins, 6, 7, 25,147, 153, 160, 1 6 1 ,162, 163, 1 6 4 ,165, 1 6 6 ,167, 174, 176, 187, 191, 208, 212, 217, 228, 239, 242 ⑽ ， 162 Parson s Tale, 162 pilgrim’s en e m ie s,147 Shepherd of Hermas, 28 sojourners, I, 2, 19, 2 0 , 1 1 0 ,114 Reeve s Prologue, 200-1 A braham , 15-17, 22 Reeve s Tale, 131 Israelites, 17 R eform ation ，4, 3 7 ,129,141 ，246, 248 h u m a n k in d ,15 relics，4, 5, 50, 55, 56, 57, 59, 60, 62, 63, New Testament, 21-4 65, 86’ 9 5 , 1 0 0 ,102, 126, 128, 131， Solomon, 39, 40, 91 132, 141，169, 182, 195, 233, 248 stability, 7,96, 126, 1 4 2 ,148-9, 150, 159, R o c a m a d o u r,141 182, 205, 207-10, 224, 231，238, 248 Rolle ，Richard, 214, 215, 216, 218, 220, stabilitas ，98,103, 104, 207, 209, 210 222, 230, 240 Stephen ，St，39, 41 ，45, 57, 62 Form o f Living, 211 Summa Praedicanti Feriae, 143, 179 Rome, 5, 28, 31，32, 43, 47, 52,59 syncretism, 3 ，10,18, 63 pilgrimage to f 17, 37, 95, 97,100-4, Syon ，211 ，219,2 2 9 1 2 5 ,1 2 8 ,1 2 9 ,1 3 0 ,131, 1 3 4 ,137， 139, 145, 1 5 4 ,155,丨 79,182, 194, Tale o f Melibee,191 195, 205, 213.217, 221,224, 238, tactile piety, 65 Tcmpie ，39, 42, 46, 91 239, 241, 244 Rood 〇 Bromholm, 13) Tcrtullian,

r

Ruin, 69

De Corona, 57

PILGRIMAGE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE

Thom as a Kempis, 169,182 Thom as Becket, 1 3 0 ,1 3 1 ,135-6, 139, 1 4 0 ,1 4 1 ,172, 179-80, 184-5 Thom as Bryg 夢，1 2 9 ,133 Thom as C a n tilu p e ,140 T horpe ，William ，143，167，183， 184 transience earthly goods ，24, 28 ，152, 80 ，107，

112 hum an society, 119,147 life, 9 3 ,1 0 6 ,1 2 0 present world ，22, 30 ，111， Two Wycliffite Texts, 143, 144, 168, 177, 183,184, 240

Veneranda D ies, 14,132, 134, 138,139 Vercelli Homilies,15, 68, 72, 76, 93, 94, 1 0 2 ,109 vicarious pilgrim ages,136 Victricius o f Rouen, De Laude Sanctorum, 56, 60 Vigilantius, 60, 61

spiritual in d ic a to r,148 Wey, William, 128, 129, 1 3 3 -4 ,196, 237, 241 Weye o f Paradis^ 163-4 Wife of Bath, 2, 54,128, 131, 139, 143, 1 7 9 ,1 8 2 -3 ,197, 204, 210, 241 Wife o f Bath's Prologue, 137, 201 Wife of Bath's Tale, 201 wilderness ，5, 7, 28, 64, 75, 77, 8 0 ,1 5 1 ， 191 Ancrene Wissey 161 anticipation o f P a ra d ise ,17, 31 place of spiritual growth, 17-18 Desert F a th e rs ,17, 24, 3 0 -1 ,8 9 , 206 Exodus ex perience,18, 69,109 fens as eq u iv ale n t,17, 88-9 in anchoritic life, 210-13 multiple m e an in g s,17 place of co n tem p latio n ,17 place of te s tin g ,17,19, 21 see also desert Wilfrid, St, 5 ,1 2 ,1 6 ,1 7 , 9 1 , 100,101, 124 Willibald, St, 90, 9 2 ,1 0 1 -2 ,1 0 3 W illibrord ，St ，9 2 , 102 women pilgrims，54,102- 3,136, 140， 141，143, 1 8 2 -3 ,196,241 Wyclif ，John ，10,143, 233 Wycliffite, 126, 173, 235

W a lsin g h am ,168 Wanderer, 23, 69, 70, 83, 90,105, 106, 107 Guthlac B9 107 life pilgrimage, 106-7 wandering, 3, 20, 24, 75, 81,83, 96, 97, 1 4 2 ,1 4 5 ,147—5 3 ,159,170,178,181 ， 228, 238, 241 Z ion ，4 0 ,4 1，152, 238

288