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I have often read that modern credencials descend from letters that medieval pilgrims sometimes carried that basically said they were a pilgrim and asked for safe passage. Does anyone know of any documentation of this? Have any survived?
I would think than any major pilgrimage museum worth its salt would have a copy or two. Don't they have any in the museums in Santiago?letters that medieval pilgrims sometimes carried that basically said they were a pilgrim and asked for safe passage. Does anyone know of any documentation of this? Have any survived?
I've gone to the Archive's website looking for those online photos you mention above but been unable to find them. Where in the website should I be looking?The archive of the former kingdom of Aragon (Archivo de la Corona de Aragon) has a collection and there are a few photos online, for example one issued for a Polish pilgrim and another one issued for an Abyssinian pilgrim. I don't know what the text says.
They do, it is located right next to the cathedral. I haven't visited it though so I don't know what they have.I would think than any major pilgrimage museum worth its salt would have a copy or two. Don't they have any in the museums in Santiago
Love this. I have a similar text from the Association where I am a member but it is not a separate letter, it is indeed incorporated in the Carnet de Pèlerin, as text in both French and Spanish. The English translation of the French text would say:Here is an example I found of the modern " geloofsbrief " issued by the Flemish Confraternity.
Hi DavidI have often read that modern credencials descend from letters that medieval pilgrims sometimes carried that basically said they were a pilgrim and asked for safe passage. Does anyone know of any documentation of this? Have any survived?
This is also the reason why Compostelas, from the Middle Ages until well into the 19th century and perhaps even into the early 20th century confirmed that the pilgrim had visited the Cathedral and had made confession and received communion and absolution there. This text is gone from contemporary Compostelas; our Compostelas confirm that the pilgrim has visited the Cathedral, after having walked (or biked etc etc) 100 km.they were given permission to take communion and receive absolution in other parishes, including at the destination of their pilgrimage
It is on behalf of someone from just such a living history group that I was asking this question.@David Tallan, below is a screenshot from a video about credentials of medieval pilgrims. It is done by a living history group but I think that they know what they are doing and talking about. The person is giving explanations in the video so it is difficult to get a shot where the facial expression does not look odd. She is holding up such a document; it is modelled after a genuine medieval document (note the red wax seal that makes it an official document).
Medieval pilgrims had a lot less freedom than we have. For example, they were bound to their home parish, and confession, communion and absolution was only possible at their home parish. With these documents, they were given permission to take communion and receive absolution in other parishes, including at the destination of their pilgrimage. It was a different world from ours.
View attachment 125260
Any links to such photos, even without translations, would be deeply appreciated.I am curious now. I found a few photos of medieval credentials for pilgrims but without translation and in a script that I cannot decipher. I did find a translation of such a credential issued in 1509 on behalf of Joanna of Castile and other territories. Interestingly, it is for two monks from South America ("India") who went on pilgrimage to Santiago. Below is the text translated into English. As mentioned, I don't think that such text is even contained in our modern credentials. They really don't have that much in common with the medieval ones.
I, Doña Juana [long list of her titles] to all the councillors, mayors, governors, municipal officials, knights, squires, officers and men of quality of all the cities, towns and boroughs of my kingdoms and lordships and to each and every one of you to whom this letter is shown, greetings and thanks.Know that Brother Micael and Brother Juan, natives of India, have come on pilgrimage to visit Monsignor Santiago de Galicia, with the consent of their superior, and wish to return home. I therefore ask you, if they should happen to pass through your cities, towns and villages, to treat them well and with love, and that you grant them the right to ask for alms on their way, from the good people, and that you neither accept nor tolerate any harm to them, for I hereby take them under my defence and receive them into my custody and safety and under my royal protection. The said assurance I grant them for seven months. These shall run and be counted from the date of this letter .... Given in the noble city of Valladolid, on the 30th day of October 1509. ...Present: Sub-Lieutenant Doctor Caravajal, Doctor Palacio Ramires, Licenciado Polanco, Licenciado Aguirre, Licenciado de Sosa and myself, Luys del Castillo.
I wasn't assuming that these are only of the past. It's just that I was asking in order to help out a medievalist whose specific interest was in how they looked in the Middle Ages.These ad hoc letters of recommendation towards individual pilgrims and a particular pilgrimage are highly variable in form and focus.
And yes that's are present tense, not were past. I have no idea why some might suppose these letters to be things lost in the mist of a distant mediaeval history.
The letter that I have in my credencial for my current and ongoing Camino states :
Je soussigné Mgr René Giuliano, vicaire général émérite du Diocèse de Monaco Pté certifie que Mr JULIAN LORD fait un vrai chemin chrétien vers le Seigneur Jésus.
fait à Monaco
le 5 décembre 2018
(signed)
The first such letter that was given me, at the Cathedral parish of Notre Dame in Paris, states :
CATHÉDRALE NOTRE DAME
6, place du Parvis
75004 PARIS
M Julian Lord commence ce soir pèlerinage à Saint Jacques de Compostela, et il le fait à partir de Notre Dame de Paris. Il a besoin de votre accueil pour pouvoir en vrai continuer sa route comme pèlerin.
J'en donne foi.
<signed>
chapelain de Notre Dame
fait le 19 Juillet 1994
Interesting that the en vrai is so concurrent with my conversion to the Christian Faith on that 1994 Camino ; and eventually so many telling me that I'm a "True Pilgrim" that the most honest became to just accept it.
Looks like you have come to the right placeIt is on behalf of someone from just such a living history group that I was asking this question.
He was going to scribe one for a talk he is giving on medieval pilgrimage, and wondered where he could find a period example to work from.
... and distinguish real pilgrims from fake ones.PS: I've learnt a bit more about these credentials / recommendation letters / safe conducts for pilgrims specifically. They were not known or used before the late Middle Ages. One purpose: to distinguish pilgrims from vagabonds, criminals, beggars.
It was easier than expected. I'm not always 100% certain but here is the gist of the text:figure out the words, given enough time
Below are images of another two but I guess we know by now what they looked like: nothing fancy, no pretty design or colours or drawings, just plain handwritten text, and, in most cases, a transcription, let alone a translation, is very hard to find. And no empty cases for sellos ...It's just that I was asking in order to help out a medievalist whose specific interest was in how they looked in the Middle Ages.
It's not a credencial, it's a passport which just happens to give the pilgrimage to Compostela as the purpose for that person's journey. It asks the various Authorities to grant passage to the passport holder and to assist him (the name is illegible, but the colour of his beard is mentioned) in case of need.This dates from 1829. I have not tried to decipher it but I can make out the words allant en pélérinage à St Jacques de Compostelle [who is going on pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela].
It is issued in the name of the [French] king and signed by the administration of one of the regions of France. It is addressed to the civil and military authorities of the Kingdom of France and to those in the befriended or allied countries and asks them to grant passage to the pilgrim and to assist him in case of need.
Click to enlarge
View attachment 125796
The letters of safe passage developed into the passports system, from the 17th Century onwards.The ‘Credencial’ or pilgrim’s passport evolved from letters of safe passage granted by the church or state (and sometimes the King) to people going a journey through foreign lands. Prospective travellers, both clerics and laymen, combining business with pleasure and/or pilgrimage, needed a ‘licencia’ to leave the country. If pilgrims needed royal protection for their retinue, their lands, possessions and so on, they would travel with the king’s leave, ‘peregre profeturus cum licencia regis.’
A pilgrim needed to visit their priest and make confession before being given a letter stating that he/she is a bona-fide pilgrim, requesting safe passage, exemption from the payment of taxes and tolls and hospitality in the monasteries or ‘hospices’ along the way. As late as 1778 King Charles III introduced safe passage documents for both merchants and pilgrims.
Yep.The contemporary Camino credencial is an invention of the 20th century.
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