medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Dear Marina,
>Other than Rocamadour, which pilgrimage site would aristocratic women,
barren or hoping for a son, visit in the 13th and 14th centuries?
Jim Bugslag knows a lot more about this than i do, but he seems to be away
from the office just at present.
it seems that Our Lady of Chartres was an important pilgrimage site for women
(aristocratic) and otherwise, especially from the later m.a. (when we start to
have some documentation) and well into quite recent times.
the major relic in the possession of the cathedral was an item believed to
have been the nightgown which the B.V.M. wore on Her own special Birthday,
given by Charles the Bald in the 9th c.
the image of the _sancta camisia_ appears on the earliest "pilgrims' badges"
which have survived (13th century?) :
http://www.ariadne.org/centrechartraine/badges/newbadges.html
(many "badges" survive from Rocamadour also, and they are of much higher
quality than those we have from Chartres :
http://www.ariadne.org/centrechartraine/badges/spencer/spencer_rocamadour/spencer245a.jpg
more in this subdirectory :
http://www.ariadne.org/centrechartraine/badges/spencer/spencer_rocamadour
Diana Webb talks a bit about Rocamadour in her _Pilgrims and Pilgrimage in the
Medieval West_ (London: I.B. Taurus Publishers, 1999), pp. 124, part of which
i've put up here :
http://www.ariadne.org/centrechartraine/badges/webb/webb124-133.htm#_ftnref1
)
and, at some point before the 17th c. was adopted as part of the "armes" of
the chapter of Chartres :
http://www.ariadne.org/centrechartraine/images/1696.gif
(upper right)
there's a bit more on the pilgrimage itself by the Learned canon Yves
Delaporte here :
http://www.ariadne.org/centrechartraine/voile/dghe-8v.html
of particular interest to you will be :
"...les pèlerins y accédaient pour la vénérer et rapportaient de Chartres,
comme objets de dévotion, soit de véritables chemises, destinées surtout
aux gens de guerre ou aux futures mères, soit de petits insignes en forme de
"chemisette", encore en usage [c.551] aujourd'hui."
and the accompanying note at the bottom of the page.
i have a dim memory of there being a record of at least one queen (Marie de
Medici) making a pilgrimage to Chartres for reproductive purposes, but, as i
say, Jim Bugslag is the resident Expert in this field and you'll have to hear
the details from him.
best from here,
christopher
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