The first book to give an account of the major pilgrimage traditions of
all the great religions of the world.
Pilgrimage, the journey to a distant sacred goal, is found in all the
great religions of the world. It is a journey both outwards to hallowed
places and inwards to spiritual improvement; it can express penance for
past evils, or the search for future good; the pilgrim may pursue
spiritual ecstasy in the sacred sites of a particular faith, or seek a
miracle through the medium of god or saint. Throughout the world,
pilgrims move invisibly in huge numbers among the tourists of today,
indistinguishable from them except in purpose. In England each year 000
pilgrims make the journey to Canterbury cathedral and the shrine of
Thomas Becket; the great festival at Prayaga on the Ganges attracts over
fifteen million men and women. This is the first book to offer a survey
of the great pilgrimage traditions. It outlines the history of different
customs and brings together some of the common themes, revealing in the
process surprising similarities in practice among pilgrims of widely
differing beliefs and times. RICHARD BARBER's interests range widely
over the middle ages. He is the author of The Knight and Chivalry and
the Penguin Guide to Medieval Europe;he has also written biographies of
the Henry II and the Black Prince, and a history, The Pastons: A Family
in the Wars of the Roses, as well as two classic Arthurian books,
Arthurian Legends and King Arthur: Hero and Legend.Cover illustration:
The scallop shell symbol of pilgrims to the shrine of St James at
Santiago de Compostela. This scallop shell, still showing simple
colouring, was found inthe grave of a young man buried in Keynsham Abbey
in the 12th century; the holes in the beak, for attaching the shell to
the pilgrim's scrip, are clearly visible.
