Medieval Pilgrimages: Saints, Bones, and Art

Catalog description

This course will examine some of the most popular medieval Christian pilgrimage centers of Europe. We will focus mostly on Santiago de Compostela and Rome, with brief looks at other pilgrimage centers such as Jerusalem, Assisi, and Canterbury. Topics to be covered include the cult of the saints, the pilgrimage roads, architectural settings and their decoration as well as reliquary shrines and related works of art, images and their use in imaginary or mental pilgrimage.