Pilgrimage to Rome in the Middle Ages

Pilgrimage to Rome throughout the Middle Ages carried a major health warning. Depending on the route taken by travellers, they could expect to meet with a selection of the following: shipwreck; avalanche; robbers; warring armies and malaria. Prudent pilgrims made their wills before setting out. Their troubles were not over if they reached Rome, since their misadventures often left them impoverished, in which case food and accommodation were hard to come by. Other travellers faced the opposite risk of hijacking by landlords so eager for their custom that they snatched them from rival establishments.

Debra Birch's lively account of pilgrimage to Rome throughout the medieval period is well-documented and clearly presented. She introduces the reader to the sources for the subject, including several entertaining travel-diaries, then discusses the cult of the saints; the nature of the journey to Rome and the obligations and privileges of the status of pilgrim.