medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
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> the custom of pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela of placing their hand on
the base of the trumeau of the west portal,
>Does anyone know of other such instances of this practice?
yes, and know.
the first --and only-- mention of this interesting practice i've heard was in
one of the novels of Zoe Oldenbourg --either The Cornerstone or its
prequel/sequel.
an old, blind castelain from Champagne makes a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and
places his hand on some statue on a portal either there or somewhere along the
way.
a touching scene.
not a great writer, Oldenbourg, but i believe she did her homework and
incidents like that are surely based in some original source she saw --most of
her stuff seemed to me to be drawn from literary sources, though not, perhaps,
this one.
note that at least one of the statue columns of the RP has a missing foot
--though it is one of the kings or queens of the central doorway, i believe,
and not, therefore, particularly "popular" as a saint, i should think.
there was, of course, originally a trumeau on that portal which may have been
lost --or, perhaps, it was just rubbed into Oblivion by the Passing Crowd.
the way the bases of many of the piers in the nave of the cathedral have a
high polish, doubtless from the butts of innumerable pilgrims over the
centuries, has always been of interest to me.
c
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