Meet the Middle Ages
BackPilgrimages
In the Middle Ages, people often undertook journeys to holy places, shrines, in Europe. These journeys were called pilgrimages and were taken in order to get help from a saint or to thank a saint for being helped.
If someone had done wrong, the parish priest could order him or her to undertake a pilgrimage and to bring a gift as a penance. Well-known shrines were for example Trondheim, with the grave of St. Olaf, and Vadstena with the grave of St. Birgitta. Further away was Santiago de Compostela in Spain, with St. Jacob ´s tomb. Some people went all the way to Jerusalem to visit the places where Jesus Christ himself had been.
Pilgrimages took a very long time and could be dangerous and difficult to undertake. If you had to travel far, you could be gone for years. Before leaving, the pilgrims were blessed by the parish priest. On their return, they brought a token of their pilgrimage. They had, of course a lot to tell when they came home.