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PILGRIM

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Originally appearing in Volume V21, Page 604 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PILGRIM , a wanderer, traveller, particularly to a See also:

holy See also:place (see See also:PILGRIMAGE). The earliest See also:English forms are pileg;See also:im or pelegrim, through Fr. Merin (the See also:original O. Fr. pelegrin is not found), from See also:Lat. peregrinus, a stranger, foreigner, particularly a See also:resident See also:alien in See also:Rome (see See also:PRAETOR, and See also:ROMAN See also:LAW). The Lat. pereger, from which peregrinus is formed, meant " from abroad," " travelled through many lands " (per, through, and ager, See also:country). It was customary for pilgrims to bring back as See also:proof of their pilgrimage to a particular See also:shrine or holy place a badge, usually made of See also:lead or See also:pewter, bearing some figure or See also:device identifying it with the name or place. These " pilgrim signs " are frequently alluded to in literature—notably in the See also:Canterbury Tales and in Piers Plowman. The See also:British Museum and the Musee See also:Cluny in See also:Paris have See also:fine collections of them, mainly dredged from the See also:Thames and the See also:Seine. The badges were generally worn fastened to the pilgrim's See also:hat or cape. Among the best known are those of the See also:cockle or scallop See also:shell of St. See also:James of Compostella in See also:Spain; the " vernicle," a See also:representation of the miraculous See also:head of See also:Christ; the very See also:icon, true See also:image, on St See also:Veronica's handkerchief, at Rome, or of the See also:Abgar portrait at See also:Genoa, of " a vernicle hadde he sowed on his cappe " (Cant. Tales, " Prol." 685); the See also:Amiens badge of the head of See also:John the Baptist on the charger, the See also:cathedral claiming the custody of the relic from 1206 (fig.

I); and the See also:

palm branches or See also:cross of palm See also:leaf, the badge of the " Palmers " pilgrimage to the Holy See also:Land. The most See also:common of the English pilgrims' signs are those of the shrine of See also:Thomas See also:Becket at Canterbury, the greatest centre of pilgrimage in See also:England. These take a variety of forms, d,60me0¢ oocz (From See also:Andrews' See also:Church See also:Treasury.) (From Andrews' Church Treasury,) the cathedral at Amiens. Canterbury. sometimes a See also:simple T, sometimes a See also:bell marked See also:cam See also:pane Thome, the Canterbury bell, most often a figure of the See also:saint, sometimes seated, sometimes See also:riding on a See also:horse, and carrying his episcopal cross, and with See also:hand uplifted in See also:benediction (fig. 2). Some-times the badges took the shape of small ampullae, or vases, as in the See also:case of the badges of the shrine of Our See also:Lady of See also:Walsingham, which were marked with a W and See also:crown. See W. Andrews, Church Treasury (1898), See also:article " Pilgrims' Signs," by Rev. G. S. Tyack; and See also:Guide to See also:Medieval See also:Room, British Museum, p. 69.

The English " Pilgrims' Way."—From See also:

Winchester, in See also:Hampshire, to Canterbury, in See also:Kent, runs a road or way which can still be traced, now on the See also:present made roads, now as a See also:lane, bridle path, or See also:cart track, now only by a See also:line of See also:ancient yews, hollies or oaks which once bordered it. To this old track the name of " pilgrims' way " has been given, for along it passed the stream of pilgrims coming through Winchester from the See also:south and See also:west of England and from the See also:continent of See also:Europe by way of See also:Southampton to Canterbury Cathedral to view the place of the martyrdom of Thomas Becket, in the See also:north See also:transept, to the See also:relics in the See also:crypt where he was first buried after his See also:murder, in 1170, and the shrine in the Trinity See also:Chapel which See also:rose above his See also:tomb after the See also:translation of the See also:body in 1220. There were two festivals for the pilgrimage, on the 29th of See also:December, the See also:day of the martyrdom, and on the 7th of See also:July, the day of the translation. The summer pilgrimage naturally became the most popular. In 1538 the shrine was destroyed and the relics of the saint scattered, but the See also:great days of the pilgrimage had then passed. See also:Erasmus gives a vivid picture of the glories of the shrine and of all that was shown to the pilgrims on his visit with See also:Colet to Canterbury in 1514. The See also:principal villages, towns and places near or through which the way passed are as follow: Winchester, Alresvord, Ropley, See also:Alton, See also:Farnham (here the way follows the present See also:main road), Seale, See also:Puttenham, by the ruined chapel of St See also:Catherine, outside See also:Guildford, near where the road crosses the Wey above Shalford,' and by the chapel of St Martha, properly of " the See also:martyr," now restored and used as a church, See also:Albury, Shere, Gomshall, See also:Dorking (near here the See also:Mole is crossed), along the See also:southern slope ofBoxhill to See also:Reigate, then through Gatton See also:Park, Merstham, Otford, WVrotham, after which the See also:Medway was crossed, Burham, past the megalithic See also:monument See also:Kit's Coty See also:House, and the site of Boxley See also:Abbey, the See also:oldest after Waverle.y Abbey of Cistercian houses in England, and famous for its miraculous image of the See also:infant saint Rumbold, and the still more famous winking See also:rood or crucifix. The road passes next by Hollingbourne, Lenham and Charing. At Otford, See also:Wrotham and Charing were See also:manor-houses or rather palaces of the archbishops of Canterbury; at Hollingbourne was a manor of the priors of See also:Christchurch. After 1 Shalford See also:Fair, the chapels on the two hills and the See also:Surrey hills are probably the See also:scene of See also:Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, see E. Renouard James, Notes on the Pilgrim's Way in West Surrey (1871). Hollingbourne come Westwell, Eastwell, See also:Boughton Aluph, Godmersham, Chilham See also:Castle, and then at Harbledown, where are the remains of the See also:Hospice of St See also:Nicholas, the road joins Watling See also:Street, by which came the main stream of pilgrims from See also:London, the North and the Midlands.

This road, although its name of the Pilgrims' Way has for See also:

long confined it to the road by which the pilgrims came to Canterbury from Winchester, follows a far older track. Right back into British and even older times the main direction which See also:commerce and travellers followed across southern and western England to the Straits of See also:Dover and the Continent See also:lay from Canterbury along the southern See also:chalk slope of the North See also:Downs to near Guildford, then by the Hog's Back to Farnham. At this point the oldest track went across See also:Salisbury See also:Plain towards See also:Stonehenge and so on to See also:Cornwall. From Farnham westward the only portion of this the oldest track that can now be traced is a small portion that still bears the name of the See also:Harrow (i.e. hoary, old) road. It was in See also:early times abandoned for the road from Winchester to which the stream of travel and commerce from the Continent and the south and south-west of England was diverted. The " pilgrims' way " has been traced fully in Mrs Ady's See also:book The Pilgrims' Way (1893), and the older track in the fullest detail in Hilaire Belloc's The Old Road (1904). The See also:American " Pilgrim Fathers."—In American See also:history the name " Pilgrims " is applied to the earliest settlers of the See also:colony of See also:Plymouth, See also:Massachusetts, and more specifically to the first See also:company of emigrants, who sailed in the " See also:Mayflower " in 162o. They were from the beginning Separatists from the Church of England; they had established See also:Independent (Congregational) churches at Scrooby and See also:Gainsborough early in the 17th See also:century, and some of them had fled to See also:Amsterdam in 16o8 to avoid persecution, and had removed to See also:Leiden in the following See also:year. They sailed from Delftshaven See also:late in July 1620, from Southampton on the 5th of See also:August, from Plymouth on the 6th of See also:September, and late in December 162o founded the colony of Plymouth, Massachusetts. See MASSACHUSETTS; PLYMOUTH, and MAYFLOWER.

End of Article: PILGRIM

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PILGRIMAGE (Fr. pelerinage, Lat. peregrinatio)

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