Pilgrimage : The English Experience from Becket to Bunyan

Pilgrimage was a central feature of medieval English life which affected history, politics, art and literature. By reaching beyond the Reformation to explore the transformation of the idea of the pilgrim in Protestant spirituality, this book confronts the religious experience of the English laity over half a millennium.

Pilgrimage was a central feature of medieval English life which affected history, politics, art and literature. The shrines were destroyed during the Reformation and pilgrimage stopped, yet the idea of pilgrimage continued - refashioned - in Protestant theology and in the exploration of the newly discovered world. By reaching beyond the Reformation to explore the transformation of the idea of the pilgrim in Protestant spirituality, this book confronts the religious experience of the English laity over half a millennium. The attractions for pilgrims of journeys to Jerusalem and to Canterbury and other English religious shrines are considered, while the political aspects of pilgrimage are discussed in relation to the architectural, documentary and pictorial evidence for the expression of lay piety in late medieval England. The cult of St Thomas of Canterbury is studied in particular detail, up to the suppression and in the revival of the cult in the sixteenth century.