The Cult of Saints and their associated relics were of major importance in medieval Europe. Saints’ relics contributed to the prestige of the places where they were located and to the influence of the communities or individuals who owned them. Many churchmen travelled widely to collect relics and there are even cases of Holy theft, when the body of an important saint was stolen by a community.

The beliefs and practices associated with the relics of the saints had a profound effect on church architecture. The provision of crypts for saintly burials had a marked effect on church design, while the great Romanesque churches of the pilgrimage routes evolved a design that could accommodate large numbers of pilgrims without disrupting the monastic services. The writing of saints’ lives was an important branch of medieval literature, and the arts of painting and sculpture were also inspired by the deeds of the saints.

During the medieval period the numbers of pilgrims visiting major shrines rose dramatically. By the late 14th century Chaucer could write of a group of pilgrims travelling together that included members of the church, a knight and his squire, guildsmen and even common people such as the miller and the reeve as a perfectly normal occurrence. People went on pilgrimage to cure illness, to seek salvation or to fulfil a sacred oath, but as the period went on the reasons for some pilgrimages might have become somewhat less religious. Chaucer’s Wife of Bath, for instance, seems to have spent much of her time travelling more for pleasure than for salvation.

Field Trips
St Albans Abbey and the adjacent Roman town of Verulamium.
Gloucester Cathedral and St Oswald’s Priory , Gloucester

Go to:

              Suggested Reading List

              List of Approved Websites

(clicking on the title of the book will take you to a site containing further details; either from Amazon, or from another supplier)

• Brown, P. The Cult of Saints, Its Rise and Function in Latin Christianity University of Chicago Press, 1981
• Crook, J. The Architectural Setting of the Cult of Saints in the Early Christian West c. 300 – c. 1200, Clarendon Press, 2000 ISBN 1 357910 864 2
• Hopper, S. To Be A Pilgrim: the Medieval Pilgrimage Experience Sutton Publishing, 2002, ISBN 0 7509 2620 1
• Lasko, P. Ars Sacra 800 – 1200 Yale University Press, 1994, ISBN 0 300 05367 3
• Stopford, J. (ed) Pilgrimage Explored York Medieval Press, 1999, ISBN 0 9529734 3 X

• Adair, J. The Pilgrim’s Way: Shrines and Saints in Britain and Ireland Thames and Hudson, 1978, ISBN 0 50025061 8
• Biddle, M. The Tomb of Christ Sutton Publishing, 1999, ISBN 0 7509 1926 4
• Blair, J. Saint Frideswide: Patron of Oxford The Perpetua Press, 1988,
  ISBN 0 9508 4889 1
• Butler, L.A.S. & Morris, R.K. The Anglo-Saxon Church Council for British Archaeology, 1986, ISBN 0 906780 54 3
• Conant, K.J. Carolingian and Romanesque Architecture 800 – 1200 Penguin Books, 1973, ISBN 14 056013 0
• Dodwell, C.R. Anglo-Saxon Art: A New Perspective Cornell University Press; Reprint edition, 1985, ISBN 0801493005
• Hamilton, B. The Christian World of the Middle Ages Sutton Publishing, 2003, ISBN 0 7509 2405 5
• Howard-Johnston, J. & Hayward, P.A. (eds) The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages OUP, 1999, ISBN 0 19 925354 4
• Marner, D. St Cuthbert: his life and cult in medieval Durham British Library, 2000,
  ISBN 0 7123 4686 4
• Phillips, A. The Hallowing of England: a guide to the saints of Old England and their places of pilgrimage Anglo-Saxon Books, 1994, ISBN 1 898281 08 4
• Rollason, D.W. Two Anglo-Saxon Rituals University of Leicester, Vaughan Paper no. 33, 1988,
  ISBN 0 901507 38 5
• Romero, A-M, Saint Denis: emerging powers (English Edition trans. by Azizeh Azodi) Caisse Nationale des Monuments Historiques et des Sites, 1992, ISBN 2 87682 074 9
• Sharp, M. The Way and the Light Aurum Press, 2000, ISBN 1 85410 722 4
Shaver-Crandell, A. & Gerson, P. The Pilgrim’s Guide to Santiago de Compostela Harvey Miller Publishers, 1995, ISBN 1 872501 93 1
• Smith, A. Sixty Saxon Saints Anglo-Saxon Books, 1994, ISBN 1 898281 07 6
• Spencer, B. Salisbury & South Wiltshire Museum Medieval Catalogue -
  part 2: Pilgrim Souvenirs & Secular Badges Salisbury & South Wiltshire Museum, 1990, ISBN 0 947535 12 8
• Tatton-Brown, T. & Munby, J. The Archaeology of Cathedrals Oxford University Committee for Archaeology, 1996, ISBN 0 947816 42 9
• Woodman, F. The Architectural History of Canterbury Cathedral Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1981, ISBN 0 7100 0752 3

• Abbo of Fleury: The Martyrdom of St Edmund
• Aids for Studying Saints’ Cults
• An Anthology of Translated Texts Illustrative of the History of the Cult of the Saints
• Background on the Canterbury Tales
• Bede: Life of St Cuthbert
• Canterbury Tales
• Confraternity of St James
• The Cult of Saints and their Relics
• Early British Kingdoms: Saintly Biographies
• El Camino de Santiago
• The Electronic Canterbury Tales
• The End of the Ancient Other World (PDF file)
• Hagiography
• History of Santiago Pilgrimage
• Illustrated Gazetteer of Anglo-Saxon Churches
• Internet Medieval Sourcebook: Saints’ Lives
• John Lydgate's Prologue to the Siege of Thebes
• List of Pilgrimage Sites
• Medieval Pilgrimage
• Medieval Pilgrims
• Patron Saints Index
• Pilgrimage
• Pilgrimages (Catholic Encyclopaedia)
• Pilgrims’ Progress
• Relics (Catholic Encyclopaedia)
• Relics and Reliquaries in Medieval Christianity
• Resources for the study of Thomas Becket
• Short History of the Pilgrim’s Way
• Shorter South English Legendary Life of St Frideswide
• Shrines of St Edburga
• Shrines of Tynmouth
• Shrines to St Oswald
• St Martin of Tours (Catholic Encyclopaedia)
• St Swithun’s Shrine at Winchester Cathedral
• St Thomas Becket (Catholic Encyclopaedia)
• Virtual Pilgrimage

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