Pilgrims returning home in the early days.

[vicrev]

Hi all...Nowdays after walking a Camino,we jump on a plane/train/bus/ whatever, return home.I cant seem to find any reference to very early Pilgrims return journeys eg If they had changed in any way,hardships on the return journey ( if any ), if their home situation changed, etc, etc, after all,the home journey would have been just as long . I hope this subject isnt too negative for some. .......Cheers Vicr

 

[tyrrek]

Hi!

I'm not sure if I'm reading this question correctly. Do you mean if someone had to stop at somewhere like Pamplona although they'd planned to go on to Santiago?

I guess it would depend whether or not;

- they had to go home immediately
- they didn't have to go home but chose to explore Spain/Europe differently
- they had an open ticket and/or their airline allowed them to change bookings
- their insurance covered costs incurred by changes to arrangements

In practical terms it should be easy enough to get public transport to Madrid, Bilbao or elsewhere and fly home from there. You're never too far away from a major transport route in places like Pamplona, Logrono, Burgos, or Leon.

Buen Camino!

 

[vicrev]

Hi ..No, I'm talking about pilgrims in Medieval times etc before trains & planes...Vicr

 

[tyrrek]

Hi ..No, I'm talking about pilgrims in Medieval times etc before trains & planes...Vicr

Ha ha! I suspected I might have misunderstood! Buen Camino!

 

[k-fun]

Margery Kemp, born around 1373 did a pilgrimage to Rome, Jerusalem and Santiago. In the Book of Margery Kemp, one of the earliest English autobiographical writings, she discusses her return voyage to England after arriving to Santiago in a nonchalant way, mentioning only that it took her 5 days to get back to Bristol.

You might find more information in an article published in the Journal of Medieval History by Leigh Ann Craig called "Stronger than men and braver than knights': women and the pilgrimages to Jerusalem and Rome in the later middle ages." She also wrote the book "Wandering Women and Holy Matrons" published by Brill, Leiden and Boston 2009. In this book Chapter Seven is "Home Again: Conclusion on Women as Pilgrims in the Latter Middle Ages"

Hope these help you find some answers.

 

[Rebekah Scott]

I am not a great scholar on early camino literature, but I have read some. It is mostly written by clerics, and it focuses mostly on local conditions, what was done to meet liturgical needs, and often songs and musical settings for Masses. The early records are much more practical guides than the deeply internalized, emotional, "how deeply I have changed" camino writings we know in our time.
They were very different people then, writing very different documents.
Most of us are literate. Most of those pilgrims were not. Their remembrances died with them.
Most of us are much more individualistic than your typical medieval pilgrim. We spend a lot more time in our own heads, analyzing our thoughts and feelings. These guys were deeply integrated into their groups and communities, and their spirituality was likewise much more community based. What they felt and experienced individually was not so important -- although I am always moved at the descriptions of pilgrims falling to their knees and singing a tear-choked "Te Deum" when the spires of the cathedral are first seen from Monte de Gozo. The pilgrim hysteria and joy in the cathedral and the city are mentioned, but almost always in collective forms.
These guys were all about St. James, worship, and faith. They did not waste ink and parchment on their personal reflections.
The walk or ride home was not so important to them. Once you get to Santiago, the rest is just travel, not worth writing about unless robbers attacked -- or you died!