 |
 |
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture > > Pilgrim churches must have had some sort of open door policy since > > so many accounts of miracles at saints' shrines report that > > petitioners slept overnight near or even on the shrine inside the > > church. > not only miracles seem to have happened there. A decretal (X 3. 40. 4) > mentions quarrels and fights, leading to wounds and homicide, between > pilgrims contending to be close to the altar of Santiago de Compostela > during night. In fact, the west portal of Santiago de Compostela, the Portico de la Gloria, was completely open until the 16th century, when doors were installed in it, so that they could be closed. In general, security concerns were increasingly an issue at that period. Earlier, in Chartres Cathedral, there were not only church wardens who slept in the church for security, but in the early 14th century, they were provided with dogs! At Chartres, it would appear to have only been on popular feast days, like the Assumption, that pilgrims would have needed to bed down in the church or its porches, since there was an Hotel Dieu established right in front of the cathedral in the late 11th century, which could have accommodated "the usual" flow of pilgrims. Perhaps the best known medieval example of the practice of sleeping in churches, however, comes from the many pilgrimage accounts of visitors to the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, where night-time vigils were extremely common. Cheers, Jim Bugslag ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html