Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-mp689 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T03:56:17.929Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

SACRED LANDSCAPES, SPIRITUAL TRAVEL: EMBODIED HOLINESS AND LONG-DISTANCE PILGRIMAGE IN THE CATHOLIC REFORMATION

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 November 2018

Elizabeth Tingle
Elizabeth Tingle*
Affiliation:
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CHESTER
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Long regarded as a medieval tradition which declined into insignificance after Luther, pilgrimage expanded considerably from the mid-sixteenth century, until well after 1750. This paper examines long-distance journeys to shrines, rather than sacred sites themselves, to explore how landscapes travelled were perceived, experienced and used by pilgrims in the Counter-Reformation. Using theory such as phenomenology, the focus is on autobiographical accounts of pilgrimages to two case-study sites, the Mont Saint-Michel in Normandy, northern France, and Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, north-west Spain, roughly between 1580 and 1750. These were shrines with origins in the early medieval period and which attracted a clientele over long distances. These pilgrimages were also in some way affected by religious conflict in the sixteenth century, whether by direct attack by Huguenots as at the Mont, or by war-time disruptions of its routes as with Compostela, as well as the theological and polemical attacks on the practice of pilgrimage itself by Protestant authors. Pilgrimage studies have examined ‘place’ – the shrine – but a focus on ‘landscape’ allows for a consideration of wider religious and cultural contexts, relations and experiences in this period of religious change.

Type
Research Article
Information
Transactions of the Royal Historical Society , Volume 28 , December 2018 , pp. 89 - 106
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Historical Society 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Richeome, Louis, ‘Le pèlerin de Lorète’, in Les oeuvres du R. Père Richeome (2 vols., Paris, 1628), i, 215Google Scholar.

2 Furetière, Antoine, Dictionnaire universelle (3 vols., Paris, 1690)Google Scholar, iii, 85; for example, Le dictionnaire de l'Académie Françoise, 4th edn (2 vols., Paris, 1762), ii, 338, which was widely copied.

3 Christian Pilgrimage, Landscape and Heritage: Journeying into the Sacred, ed. della Dora, V., Maddrell, A., Scafi, A. and Walton, H. (2014), 1Google Scholar.

4 Eliade, Mircea, The Sacred and the Profane. Nature of Religion, trans. Trask, W. R. (New York, 1959)Google Scholar.

5 Nelson, Eric, ‘The Parish in its Landscape: Pilgrimage Processions in the Archdeaconry of Blois, 1500–1700’, French History, 24 (2010), 320CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

6 Miller, Daniel, Stuff (Cambridge, 2010), 71Google Scholar.

7 Session xxv of 3–4 Dec. 1563. Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, ed. Norman Tanner (2 vols., London and Washington, DC, 1990), ii, 796–7.

8 Bergin, Joe, Church, Society and Religious Change in France 1580–1730 (New Haven and London, 2009), 246–8CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

9 Christian Pilgrimage, Landscape and Heritage, ed. della Dora, Maddrell, Scafi and Walton, 5–6.

10 Reframing Pilgrimage. Cultures in Motion, ed. Coleman, Simon and Eade, John (2004), 5CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

11 Christian Pilgrimage, Landscape and Heritage, ed. della Dora, Maddrell, Scafi and Walton, 1.

12 Reframing Pilgrimage, ed. Coleman and Eade, 1.

13 Foucault, Michel, Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, trans. Sheridan, Alan (1977)Google Scholar; Foucault, Michel, A History of Sexuality, i: An Introduction, trans. Hurley, Robert (1979)Google Scholar.

14 Turner, Bryan S., ‘The body in Western society: social theory and its perspectives’, in Religion and the Body, ed. Coakley, Sarah (Cambridge, 1997), 15–16Google Scholar.

15 Reframing Pilgrimage, ed. Coleman and Eade, 16; see also Urry, John, Sociology beyond Societies: Mobilities for the Twenty-First Century (2000)Google Scholar.

16 Christian Pilgrimage, Landscape and Heritage, ed. della Dora, Maddrell, Scafi and Walton, 7.

17 Tilley, Christopher, Interpreting Landscapes. Geologies, Topographies, Identities, Explorations in Landscape Phenomenology 3 (Walnut Creek, CA, 2010), 25Google Scholar.

18 Ibid., p. 25.

19 Ibid., p. 26.

20 Christian Pilgrimage, Landscape and Heritage, ed. della Dora, Maddrell, Scafi and Walton, 1.

21 Ibid., 6–7.

22 de Franceschi, S. Germain, D'encre et de poussière: l’écriture du pèlerinage à l’épreuve de l'intimité du manuscrit (Paris, 2010), 293Google Scholar.

23 ‘Mémoires de Jacques-Auguste de Thou depuis 1553 jusqu'en 1601’, in Choix de chroniques et mémoires sur l'histoire de France, ed. Buchon, J. A. C. (Paris, 1836), 590Google Scholar.

24 Mémoires de Claude Haton, ed. Bourquelot, Félix (Paris, 1858), 895Google Scholar.

25 Gouvello, Hyppolite Le, Vie du pénitent breton Pierre Le Gouvello de Keriolet (Paris, 1890; repr. 1996), 57Google Scholar.

26 Wraxall, N., A Tour through the Western, Southern and Interior Provinces of France in a Series of Letters (Dublin, 1786), 37Google Scholar.

27 Laffi, Domenico, A Journey to the West. The Diary of a Seventeenth-Century Pilgrim from Bologna to Santiago to Compostela, trans. Hall, James (Leiden, 1997), 45Google Scholar.

28 Ibid., 94.

29 Ibid., 113.

30 de Caumont, N., Manier, G. and Bonnecaze, J., Chemins de Compostelle, Trois récits de pèlerins 1417–1726–1748, ed. Dumeige, Valérie (Paris, 2009), 175Google Scholar.

31 Ibid., 174.

32 Laffi, A Journey to the West, 49, 67, 69

33 Archives Départementales (AD) de la Mayenne, parish register Cuillé E dépôt 204/E7 1677, www.archinoe.fr/cg53/visualiseur/visu_etatcivil.php?id=530002805&PHPSID=a0ffbb6763ba8dfe153b5ffdfbd18ae4&w=1366&h=768.

34 AD Mayenne, parish register La Roë, Mairie 1679, www.archinoe.fr/cg53/visualiseur/visu_etatcivil.php?id=530006409&PHPSID=a0ffbb6763ba8dfe153b5ffdfbd18ae4&w=1366&h=768.

35 AD Mayenne, parish register Colombiers-du-Plessis E dépôt 52/E13 1709, www.archinoe.fr/cg53/visualiseur/visu_etatcivil.php?id=530002213&PHPSID=a0ffbb6763ba8dfe153b5ffdfbd18ae4&w=1366&h=768.

36 AD Charente-Maritime H supplément 184 L'Hôpital Neuf de Pons; Even, Pascal, ‘L'Hôpital Neuf de Pons’, in Saint Jacques et la France, ed. Rucquoi, Adeline (Paris, 2003), 492–5Google Scholar.

37 AD Charente-Maritime H supplément 184 L'Hôpital Neuf de Pons.

38 AD Charente-Maritime H supplément 185 L'Hôpital Neuf de Pons.

39 Barret, P. and Gurgand, J.-N., Priez pour nous à Compostelle. La vie des pèlerins sur les chemins de Saint-Jacques (Paris, 1978), 162Google Scholar.

40 Manier, Guillaume, Pèlerinage d'un paysan picard à Saint-Jacques de Compostelle au commencement du XVIIIe siècle, ed. d'Houët, Baron Bonnault (Le Mesnil sur l'Estrées, repr. 2002), xviGoogle Scholar.

41 AD Gironde H non classé Jésuites Saint-James, H 2315 (3) Privilèges, droits etc.; Cavignac, Jean, ‘Un Hôpital doublement spécialisé: l'hôpital Saint-James de Bordeaux (1564–1660)’, Actes du 97 Congrès national des sociétés savantes, Nantes, 1972, section philosophie et histoire (Paris, 1977), 199–200Google Scholar.

42 AD Gironde H non classé Jésuites Saint-James, H 2315 (3).

43 AD Gironde H non classé Jésuites Saint-James, H 2317 Novices, Pèlerins.

44 Barret and Gurgand, Priez pour nous à Compostelle, 168.

45 Julia, Dominique, ‘Pour une géographie européenne du pèlerinage à l’époque moderne et contemporaine’, in Pèlerins et pèlerinages dans l'Europe moderne, ed. Boutry, Philippe and Julia, Dominique (Rome, 2000), 34Google Scholar.

46 Manier, Pèlerinage d'un paysan picard, 6, 23, 34.

47 Ibid., 59, 142–4.

48 Candy, Julie, The Archaeology of Pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago de Compostela. A Landscape Perspective, BAR International Series 1948 (Oxford, 2009), 98Google Scholar.

49 Georges Provost, ‘Les pèlerins accueillis à l'hôpital real de Saint-Jacques’, in Pèlerins et pèlerinages dans l'Europe moderne, ed. Boutry and Julia, 130.

50 Caumont, Manier and Bonnecaze, Chemins de Compostelle, 177.

51 Manier, Pèlerinage d'un paysan picard, 17, 43.

52 Ibid., 16, 19, 27.

53 Ibid., 43–5.

54 Caumont, Manier and Bonnecaze, Chemins de Compostelle, 175.

55 Laffi, A Journey to the West, 48.

56 Julia, Dominique, ‘Curiosité, dévotion et politica peregrinesca. Le pèlerinage de Nicola Albani, melfitain, à Saint-Jacques de Compostelle (1743–45)’, in Rendre ses vœux: les identités pèlerines dans l'Europe modern (XVIe–XVIIIe siècles), ed. Boutry, P., Favre, P.-A. and Julia, D. (Paris, 2000), 281Google Scholar.

57 Philippa Woodcock, pers. comm.

58 Michel de Saint-Martin, Le voyage fait au Mont Saint-Michel (en 1634) par la confrèrie de St-Pierre de Caen avec 22 ecclésiastiques et plusieurs habitants des autres paroisses, dont M. Pierrre de Rasivignan, fils ainé de M. de Chamboy, gouverneur de la ville et chasteau de Caen (Caen, 1654), 428.

59 Georges Provost, ‘Identité paysanne et “pèlerinage au long cours” dans la France des XVII – XIX siècles’, in Rendre ses vœux, ed. Boutry, Favre and Julia, 395.

60 Manier, Pèlerinage d'un paysan picard, 1.

61 Caumont, Manier and Bonnecaze, Chemins de Compostelle, 175.

62 Laffi, A Journey to the West, 142.

63 Julia, ‘Curiosité, dévotion et politica peregrinesca. Le pèlerinage de Nicola Albani’, 298.

64 ‘Introduction’, in Sacred Space in Early Modern Europe, ed. Coster, Will and Spicer, Andrew (Cambridge, 2005), 9Google Scholar.

65 Glénisson, Jean, ‘De Pons à Blaye, sur le chemin de Saint-Jacques’, in Saint Jacques et la France (Paris, 2003), 469–84Google Scholar.

66 P. Woodcock, pers. comm.

67 Manier, Pèlerinage d'un paysan picard, 54, 59, 108, 112.

68 Laffi, A Journey to the West, 137.

69 Ibid., 35, 93, 126, 131.

70 Saint-Martin, Le voyage fait au Mont Saint-Michel (en 1634).

71 Julia, ‘Curiosité, dévotion et politica peregrinesca. Le pèlerinage de Nicola Albani’, 299, 301.

72 Candy, The Archaeology of Pilgrimage, 17.

73 Ibid., 22.

74 de Granada, Luis, Istruttione de’ Peregrini che vanno alla Madonna di Loreto, et ad altri luoghi Santi (Macerata, 1575)Google Scholar; Richeome, ‘Le pèlerin de Lorète’. For discussion of other examples, see Maes, Bruno, Les livrets de pèlerinage. Imprimerie et culture dans la France moderne (Rennes, 2016)Google Scholar.

75 Simiz, Stefano, Confréries urbaines et dévotion en Champagne (1450–1830) (Villeneuve-d'Ascq, 2002), 214–29Google Scholar; Froeschlé-Chopard, M.-H., Dieu pour tous et Dieu pour soi. Histoire des confréries et de leurs images à l’époque moderne (Paris, 2006)Google Scholar.

76 Williams, Wes, Pilgrimage and Narrative in the French Renaissance (Oxford, 1998), 173CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

77 Jean Mesnard, ‘La quête du pèlerin de Saint-Jacques selon Alphonse Dupront’, in Saint Jacques et la France, ed. Rucquoi, 17.

78 Barret and Gurgand, Priez pour nous à Compostelle, 115.

79 Candy, The Archaeology of Pilgrimage, 7.

80 Quatremaire, Robert, L'Histoire abbregée du Mont Saint-Michel (Paris, 1668)Google Scholar.

81 Julia, Dominique, ‘Le pèlerinage au Mont-Saint-Michel du XVe au XVIIIe siècle’, in Culte et pèlerinages à Saint Michel en Occident. Les trois monts dédié s à l'archange, ed. Bouet, Pierre, Otranto, Giorgio and Vauchez, André (Rome, 2003), 306Google Scholar.

82 Collet, M., La Vie de Monsieur de Quériolet, prestre et conseiller au parlement de Rennes, ami du Père Bernard (Saint-Malo, 1680, 1771), 82Google Scholar.

83 Reframing Pilgrimage, ed. Coleman and Eade, 10.

84 de Granada, Luis, Le vrai chemin et adresse pour acquerir et parvenir à la grace de Dieu (Paris, 1579)Google Scholar; Williams, Pilgrimage and Narrative, 85.

85 Williams, Pilgrimage and Narrative, 172.

86 Pamela J. Stewart and Andrew Strathern, Landscape, Memory and History. Anthropological Perspectives (2003), p. 5.

87 Nalle, S. T., God in La Mancha. Religious Reform and the People of Cuenca, 1500–1650 (Baltimore, 1992), 135Google Scholar.

88 Bireley, Robert, ‘Early Modern Catholicism as a Response to the Changing World of the Long Sixteenth Century’, Catholic Historical Review, 95 (2009), 239Google Scholar.

89 Soergel, Philip M., Wondrous in his Saints. Counter-Reformation and Propaganda in Bavaria (Berkeley, 1993), 119Google Scholar.

90 Christian Pilgrimage, Landscape and Heritage, ed. della Dora, Maddrell, Scafi and Walton, 6.

91 Candy, The Archaeology of Pilgrimage, 133.

92 Christian Pilgrimage, Landscape and Heritage, ed. della Dora, Maddrell, Scafi and Walton, 6.

93 Monumenta ignatiana: epistolae et instructions (12 vols., Madrid, 1903–11), Ep 6:523.