Pilgrimage to Jerusalem and the Holy Land, 1187-1291
Lead Research Organisation:
Cardiff University
Department Name: Sch of History, Archaeology & Religion
Abstract
Pilgrim texts provide a wealth of information not only about Holy Land pilgrimage itself, but also about church history, architecture, topography, material culture, and the social and economic conditions existing in Palestine in different periods. I have made considerable use of them in my four-volume corpus of churches in the Kingdom of Jerusalem, due for completion in spring 2007. A series of translations of Jerusalem pilgrim texts with commentaries by John Wilkinson (Egeria's Travels [1971], Jerusalem Pilgrims before the Crusades [1977], and Jerusalem Pilgrimage, 1099-1185 [1988]) documents the history of pilgrimage to the Holy Land from the time of Constantine until just before the fall of the city to Saladin in 1187. The texts of the thirteenth century, however, have not yet been studied as a group in this way. The aim of this project is therefore to analyse and discuss the principal Latin and Old French pilgrimage texts (and one in Greek) written between the fall of Crusader Jerusalem to Saladin in 1187 and the loss of Acre to the Mamluk sultan, al-Ashraf Khalil, in 1291, and to provide new English translations of a selection of the more significant of them.
The pilgrimage texts from this period are of particular interest, but because the existing editions of them are scattered across a variety of rather obscure publications, they tend to be under-used by historians. (The compilation with Italian translations by S. de Sandoli, Itinera Hierosolymitana Crucesignatorum (saec. XII-XIIII), 4 vols [Jerusalem 1978-84], goes some way to addressing the problem, but relies on some defective editions, besides introducing new errors.) In the first place they tend to be more detailed than the texts of the twelfth century. They are also often more original, representing first-hand accounts of travellers rather than reworkings of older texts. Taken together, they document the changes that occurred in the physical condition of the Holy Places and in the pattern of pilgrimage to them after the fall of Jerusalem in 1187, during its brief reoccupation by the Franks between 1229 and 1244, and during the period from 1260 onwards when the Mamluks gradually took military control of the whole country from the Franks and Ayyubids.
The principal questions to be addressed by the project are:
1. What changes affected the sites and monuments visited by Christian pilgrims to Jerusalem and the Holy Land during the period 1187-1291?
2. How was pilgrimage itself affected by the political circumstances of the gradual loss of the Holy Land to the Ayyubids and Mamluks, in terms of travelling conditions, the routes taken, and the way in which pilgrimage was organized?
3. How did the perceptions, priorities and goals of pilgrims change, and to what extent were their expectations fulfilled by what they saw and experienced?
4. What do the pilgrim texts tell us about the condition of and interaction between different religious and ethnic groups (eastern and western Christians, Muslims, and Jews) under Frankish and Muslim rule?
I have identified some 39 texts and of these have selected 17 for translation. The resulting book will begin with an introduction discussing the context and dating of the translated texts and the light that they and other sources (including archaeology) shed on the development of Holy Land pilgrimage in this period. The translations will be accompanied by explanatory footnotes, identifying and commenting on the sites mentioned and pointing readers to sources of further information about them. The book will end with a comprehensive list of pilgrimage texts and maps of the period, and a detailed index.
I anticipate that as well as addressing the question of how Holy Land pilgrimage changed in the thirteenth century this project will also result in the production of a valuable resource, that will be of use to researchers inthe fields of history, archaeology, art and architectural history, and religious studies.
The pilgrimage texts from this period are of particular interest, but because the existing editions of them are scattered across a variety of rather obscure publications, they tend to be under-used by historians. (The compilation with Italian translations by S. de Sandoli, Itinera Hierosolymitana Crucesignatorum (saec. XII-XIIII), 4 vols [Jerusalem 1978-84], goes some way to addressing the problem, but relies on some defective editions, besides introducing new errors.) In the first place they tend to be more detailed than the texts of the twelfth century. They are also often more original, representing first-hand accounts of travellers rather than reworkings of older texts. Taken together, they document the changes that occurred in the physical condition of the Holy Places and in the pattern of pilgrimage to them after the fall of Jerusalem in 1187, during its brief reoccupation by the Franks between 1229 and 1244, and during the period from 1260 onwards when the Mamluks gradually took military control of the whole country from the Franks and Ayyubids.
The principal questions to be addressed by the project are:
1. What changes affected the sites and monuments visited by Christian pilgrims to Jerusalem and the Holy Land during the period 1187-1291?
2. How was pilgrimage itself affected by the political circumstances of the gradual loss of the Holy Land to the Ayyubids and Mamluks, in terms of travelling conditions, the routes taken, and the way in which pilgrimage was organized?
3. How did the perceptions, priorities and goals of pilgrims change, and to what extent were their expectations fulfilled by what they saw and experienced?
4. What do the pilgrim texts tell us about the condition of and interaction between different religious and ethnic groups (eastern and western Christians, Muslims, and Jews) under Frankish and Muslim rule?
I have identified some 39 texts and of these have selected 17 for translation. The resulting book will begin with an introduction discussing the context and dating of the translated texts and the light that they and other sources (including archaeology) shed on the development of Holy Land pilgrimage in this period. The translations will be accompanied by explanatory footnotes, identifying and commenting on the sites mentioned and pointing readers to sources of further information about them. The book will end with a comprehensive list of pilgrimage texts and maps of the period, and a detailed index.
I anticipate that as well as addressing the question of how Holy Land pilgrimage changed in the thirteenth century this project will also result in the production of a valuable resource, that will be of use to researchers inthe fields of history, archaeology, art and architectural history, and religious studies.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Reginald Pringle (Principal Investigator) |