Pilgrimages

During the middle Ages, many people were endorsed by the church to make pilgrimages to holy places known as shrines. People traveled to these shrines to pray and be in hopes that their sins will be forgiven so they could have a chance at descending into heaven. It is also known that others visited shrines eager to be cured of incurable illnesses. When enduring these journeys, pilgrimages were known to be very dangerous in the middle ages. Pilgrims usually went in groups in order to protect one another. Case in point, Well-off citizens would pay certain people to go on the pilgrimages for them. In 1352 a merchant who lived in London paid a man a great deal of money to travel to Mount Sinai.
In the year, 1174 King Henry ll underwent a pilgrimage to the Canterbury Cathedral to ask for forgiveness from Becket, a man he took part in murdering. He also asked for penance from the monks of Canterbury to curse him. King Louis Vll of France also went to visit the Canterbury Cathedral to visit Beckets tomb praying to the saint’s aid in trying to cure his son, Phillip who was deathly ill. After praying to the saint’s aid, Phillip was cured and nursed back to good health. The Pope and the Catholic Church in Rome were appalled when they heard that Henry had shattered Beckets shrine. In 1538, the Pope announced to his citizens that Henry Vll had been shunned from the Catholic Church.
In general, pilgrimages were long journeys that had a spiritual and moral significance. It can also be known as a journey to travel to a shrine of a person’s belief in God.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/NORpilgrimage.htm
http://www.loyno.edu/~letchie/becket/tour/default.htm