Pilgrims

A pilgrim is someone who goes on a journey to find personal religious or spiritual enlightenment.

This was a much more common occurrence in the Middle Ages than it is now. Generally, going on a pilgrimage meant leaving behind home, family, friends and possessions and wandering; either to a specific destination - like Jerusalem or Santiago de Compostela - or until Divine Providence sent an insight. This aimless kind of pilgrimage helped to spread of Christianity word and also led to the foundation of many of today’s abbeys. 

Pilgrimages were sometimes sponsored by powerful nobles. In Scotland Queen Margaret paid for a free ferry to take pilgrims safely across the Firth of Forth on their way to St Andrews. To this day North Queensferry in Fife and Queensferry in Lothian are named for Margaret’s pilgrim crossing. Pilgrims would sew lead pilgrim badges to their clothes as souvenirs and to gain protection from a Saint.

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