This book is the first major study of Welsh pilgrimage in the later Middle Ages, encouraged by a number of recent articles and scholarly studies related to various pilgrimage sites and their histories. The introduction provides a welcome summary of the research on this topic, from the early twentieth century to the present. While the book is not a comprehensive study of all pilgrimage sites in Wales nor of the pilgrim experience itself in Wales, it is a thematic study of pilgrimage within, from, and to Wales from the late eleventh century to the beginning of the Reformation. It is thus informed by Norman sources and accounts, especially by recorded comments and statements by Norman church officials assigned to reform the Welsh Church regarding aspects of Welsh holy sites, relics, and beliefs. Modern theories related to pilgrimage, sacred travel, authenticity, sensory experience, virtual pilgrimage, family networking and patronage, political uses of pilgrimage, and promotion of pilgrimage are all examined and discussed throughout the volume.
The role of the Welsh Church in the early twelfth century to promote the development of pilgrimage destinations and shrines is considered in the first chapter, especially related to southern Wales. Competition and marketing, the provision of indulgences, and canonization were not very effective in this effort, and the book demonstrates through primary sources how these methods were attempted. Of particular interest was what was promoted at various shrines: the grave, the body/bodies, or secondary relics. For Welsh sites, it is apparent that the body of the saint was less important than the death-site and/or gravesite.
Chapter 2 then considers the importance of the pilgrim journey, while chapter 3 incorporates modern theories related to spiritual magnetism by pilgrims in their decisions regarding selected pilgrimages (duration, distance, and difficulty of access), and explores the need for heavenly intercession in the life of the twelfth-century pilgrim in Wales. Locality was an important consideration in the selection and visitation of sacred sites, as was reciprocal loyalty between saints and their local communities. Chapter 4 examines the authenticity of the pilgrim experience at the shrine itself. The role of the senses and the personal observations by Welsh poets of individual pilgrimage sites provides a contemporary experience of what the medieval pilgrim saw and felt.
Chapter 5 focuses on the role of family in promoting sacred sites and pilgrimage traditions in late medieval Wales. Here the author delves into specifics regarding various cults in north-west Wales, including that of St. Winifred's Well in Holywell and various holy wells in the diocese of St. Asaph. The idea of collective virtual pilgrimage and overseas pilgrimage is then explored in vhapter 6 through the medium of Welsh poetry performed orally to audiences in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, providing narrative accounts of these journeys which were popular in other parts of Europe at the same time. This allowed families and groups of people to vicariously journey to remote sacred sites through the art of musical and narrative performance. The final chapter delves into the political aspects of Welsh pilgrimage, particularly by England's kings. The findings indicate that, despite previous assumptions that this happened, there is in fact no real evidence that the English or the Welsh exploited or politicized the Welsh saints in any way, and the author provides various discussion points related to this analysis. In the conclusion, the author ties all of her research together to provide a compelling summary of Welsh pilgrimage and sacred sites during the later medieval period.
I found this book to be well-written and highly enlightening. The thoroughness with which the author delves into both the sources of information and their relation to modern theories of researching and documenting the pilgrimage experience truly provides unique documentation of a specific region during a specific time period. Various maps of sacred sites discussed in the text are interspersed throughout the volume, and the detailed notes at the end of each chapter along with the bibliography provided at the end of the book all support the assumptions and statements provided in the introduction. As an example, the exploits of three generations of the Stradling family of St. Donat's in the Vale of Glamorgan from the early fifteenth through late sixteenth centuries provides an interesting drama in chapter 5. By documenting the various political, religious, and familial interests of this family in south Wales as just one example, the author demonstrates the intersections and complexities between sacred and secular society in late medieval Wales. It also shows how important Welsh families tried to distance or integrate themselves into the various Norman political and religious factions during this time period. This volume is an excellent read for researchers of medieval sacred sites, pilgrimages, and relics, and will be a great asset for those involved in medieval culture, Norman England, and Norman Wales.