Aspects of Pilgrimage: A Multidisciplinary Approach

This seminar came about as a result of a virtual CMRC coffee morning where several members of the CMRC found common ground in the subject of medieval pilgrimage, despite coming from different disciplines and using very different methods and resources for their research. This seminar brought together those multidisciplinary strands to demonstrate how a variety of very different sources can be used to create a holistic picture of how and why a variety of individuals undertook pilgrimage in the Middle Ages.

Fredrica Teale (PhD student, History) looked at who was undertaking pilgrimages and some of the reasons why they might have done so using evidence from a manuscript from Reading Abbey. Dr Lynn Forest Hill (CMRC Visiting Fellow, English) presented Southampton as a hub for pilgrims and its connection with Middle English romance Sir Bevis of Hampton. Jamie Ingram (PhD student, Archaeology) discussed some of the evidence found at pilgrimage sites of the activities of pilgrims once they arrived at their destination and combined this with literary sources to show how they interacted with those sites as a means to engage with the divine.