Medieval Pilgrimage

The Wife of Bath, the Friar, and the Knight

Traveling to a sacred place for the purpose of penance is called a Pilgrimage.

Pilgrimages have a long tradition in the Catholic church.  In the Middle Ages it was an important part of Western culture. It was a sort of status symbol, since the farther you went, the more dangerous (and expensive) the journey.  Greater distance could be claimed as greater penance, so the most wealthy were effectively able to prove they were the most holy.

Distance was not the only factor in determining the sacredness of a place.  Holy sites were frequently locations where a holy vision had been seen.  Lourdes in France is a more recent example.

A pilgrim could not set out on his own.  The journey had to be approved by a priest, and acts of confession and spiritual preparation came first.  Then a host, essentially a tour guide, would lead a group of pilgrims.

In Chaucer's time, Canterbury Cathedral was a very popular destination.  The murder, in 1170, of Thomas Becket remained even centuries later as an important symbol of the pre-eminence of spiritual values over the worldly powers.  Of course Jerusalem remained the top holy destination, but Canterbury was closer, safer, and cheaper.

The pilgrimage soon became hardly more than a sightseeing with a saintly pretense.  Some people even managed to make a living for years afterwards by telling stories of their adventures while on pilgrimage, inventing yarns for those too poor to make their own journey.  Chaucer alludes to this, as did many writers of the time.

But whether the pilgrimage was a saintly penance or not, Chaucer saw an opportunity to reflect upon the times and the culture around him by writing about a cross section of society, telling stories to pass the time while on a journey to the holy shrine of Canterbury.