HumanistHiker
Active Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- Camino Portugues September-October 2023
My mum sent me the review from the Times of 28.10.2023 of a new book "A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages - The World Through Medieval Eyes" by Anthony Bale, which sounds like it might be of interest to folks on the forum.. The focus is on pilgrimage to the Holy Land but I imagine aspects of the 14th century pilgrim experience would be similar for those headed to Santiago.
Never mind all the "help me decide what not to take to get my backpack weight down" guidebooks insisted that a sword was essential to guard against spies, brigands, pirates, theives, molesters and conmen. Henry Bolingbroke, Earl of Derby, took on his pilgrimage to the Holy Land 6 horses, several sets of armour, a feather bed, an assortment of flags, cutlery, pots and an immense amount of food and wine. (He'd have been OK at the Xunta albergues if he brought his own pots and cutlery!)
If even at the best inns, bed linen was only changed once a fortnight, medieval travellers would have been well advised to pack their sheet sleeping bags. Count yourselves lucky that modern albergues have bunk beds - guests then were expected to share their beds with fellow travellers (and, of course, bedbugs).
Tips from John of Gaddesden in "The Rose of Medicine" (c 1314) don't seem that weird having seen the various tips on the Camino forum about blister prevention "The feet should be washed with hot salt water, dried and then rubbed with goat's or ram's fat. One should do the same to one's perineum, on account of all the chafing" and "Before the traveller sets off in the morning he should rub himself with tarragon and marciaton ointment (made of olive oil, beeswax and bay".
The medieval pilgrimage may have been an even more boozy affair than some modern ones. Beer and wine were preferable to drinking the water "which brings about fevers and abscesses and blockages". John of Gaddesden also advised "Absinthe should be sipped, which shall make fatigue and weariness disappear almost completely" (Maybe there's another Camino business opportunity, wayside absinthe stands, before the big hills, so that one is carried up by the green fairy!)
Never mind all the "help me decide what not to take to get my backpack weight down" guidebooks insisted that a sword was essential to guard against spies, brigands, pirates, theives, molesters and conmen. Henry Bolingbroke, Earl of Derby, took on his pilgrimage to the Holy Land 6 horses, several sets of armour, a feather bed, an assortment of flags, cutlery, pots and an immense amount of food and wine. (He'd have been OK at the Xunta albergues if he brought his own pots and cutlery!)
If even at the best inns, bed linen was only changed once a fortnight, medieval travellers would have been well advised to pack their sheet sleeping bags. Count yourselves lucky that modern albergues have bunk beds - guests then were expected to share their beds with fellow travellers (and, of course, bedbugs).
Tips from John of Gaddesden in "The Rose of Medicine" (c 1314) don't seem that weird having seen the various tips on the Camino forum about blister prevention "The feet should be washed with hot salt water, dried and then rubbed with goat's or ram's fat. One should do the same to one's perineum, on account of all the chafing" and "Before the traveller sets off in the morning he should rub himself with tarragon and marciaton ointment (made of olive oil, beeswax and bay".
The medieval pilgrimage may have been an even more boozy affair than some modern ones. Beer and wine were preferable to drinking the water "which brings about fevers and abscesses and blockages". John of Gaddesden also advised "Absinthe should be sipped, which shall make fatigue and weariness disappear almost completely" (Maybe there's another Camino business opportunity, wayside absinthe stands, before the big hills, so that one is carried up by the green fairy!)
