Pilgrimage: An Image of Mediaeval Religion

In a fascinating work of history, Jonathan Sumption brings alive the traditions of pilgrimage prevalent in Europe from the beginning of Christianity to the end of the fifteenth century. Vividly describing such major destinations as Jerusalem, Rome, Santiago de Compostela and Canterbury, he examines both major figures - popes, kings, queens, scholars, villains - and the common people of their day. With great sympathy he evokes their achievements and failures, and addresses the question of what motivated such extraordinary quests.

Jonathan Sumption is a former History Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, and a practising QC. He is the author of Pilgrimage and The Albigensian Crusade, as well as the first three volumes in his celebrated history of the Hundred Years War - Trial by Battle, Trial by Fire and Divided Houses. He was awarded the 2009 Wolfson History Prize for Divided Houses.