English Wayfaring Life in the Middle Ages (XIVth Century)

by J. J. Jusserand

[473] Ibid., vol. iii. p. 1033.

[474] See Appendix XVI, p. [445].

[475] On the advertising of certain pilgrimages by means, sometimes, of the most famous of mediæval romances, see the capital work of Joseph Bédier, “Les Légendes épiques, Recherches sur la formation des Chansons de Geste,” Paris, 1908, 4 vols. On the especial veneration of saints who had been road and bridge builders, see III, p. 72, where, speaking of the immense popularity of the pilgrimage to Saint James of Compostela in the eleventh century, Bédier says: “Ce fut l’époque héroïque du pèlerinage. C’est alors que la route romaine commence à se peupler d’asiles pour les voyageurs; c’est alors qu’exercent leur activité les saints que l’Eglise vénère parce qu’ils furent de bons ingénieurs, réparant les chaussées, desséchant les marécages, jetant des ponts sur les rivières et les torrents, saint Dominique de la Calzada, et ce Français, saint Aleaume de Burgos, ancien moine de la Chaise-Dieu.”

[476] “Sane nuper ad aures nostras pervenit quod ad quandam imaginem beatæ Virginis in ecclesia parochiali de Foston noviter collocatam magnus simplicium est concursus, acsi in eadem plus quam in aliis similibus imaginibus aliquid numinis appareret.” Year 1313, Wilkins’ “Concilia,” vol. ii. p. 423.

[477] See e.g. MS. 2 B. vii. in the British Museum, fol. 211, and 10 E. IV., fol. 209. The story of this miracle has been told by numberless authors in the Middle Ages; the text of one version of the tale, with references to the others, will be found in G. F. Warner, “Miracles de Nostre Dame,” Roxburghe Club, 1885, pp. xxxiv and 63.

[478] “Loci e libro veritatum, passages selected from Gascoigne’s Theological Dictionary” (1403–1458), edit. Thorold Rogers, Oxford, 1881, p. 206. This Fullar is known to have come to England, where he saw Gascoigne. Eugene IV was Pope during the second quarter of the fifteenth century.

[479] “No fewer than thirty-eight of these pilgrims’ Meccas in the County of Norfolk alone.” Sidney Heath, “Pilgrim Life in the Middle Ages,” London, 1911, p. 30.

[480] To Edw. Raven, Jan. 20, 1551. “Whole Works,” Giles, 1865, p. 252.

[481] “Henry III, Edward I, Edward III, David Bruce, Q. Catherine after Flodden, Henry VII and Henry VIII visited the famous shrine.” Walcott, “English Minsters,” 1879, II, 229.

[482] The “Image of Darvell Gathern,” greatly venerated by the Welsh, was burnt with him. Ellis, “Original Letters,” 1st series, II, 82 ff.