PILGRIMAGE ROUTES SHAPED EUROPE - COULD THEY SAVE IT?

‘Europe was born from pilgrimage and Christianity is its mother tongue’ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

By the X and XI centuries Christianity had spread across all of Europe and the act of pilgrimage had become as important a cornerstone in the life of medieval men, as the Grand Tour was for the enlightened men of the 16th century, and arguably both can be considered archetypes of modern-day tourism. People from across the continent began journeying to the sacred cultic places spread across Europe, creating an intricate web of roads connecting Rome in the south, Santiago in the west and Jerusalem in the east to Cluny, Utrecht, Canterbury and many other northern European destinations of the time .

To accommodate the needs of this steady flow of pilgrims, hospices, towns and whole cities were born, monasteries and churches were built, bridges and roads were constructed, and through them all passed a steady stream of pilgrims, priests, merchants, soldiers and royalty. Along these routes distant pilgrims interacted with local residents, religious and political ideas travelled, commerce flourished and technological innovation spread. The Caminos became a trading platform for goods and a melting pot for knowledge, weaving the identity of a Europe where people of different cultures lived according to similar values and ideals : a concept not so distant from that of the European founding fathers, Spinelli, Adenauer, Monnet, Schumann and De Gasperi.
Hints to this shared cultural identity can be found in the artistic styles which united the whole continent. Along the caminos for example, travelled what was known as the ‘arte nueva’, or Romaneqsue today, an architectural style, which for nearly three centuries united Latins, Francs, Germans and northerners, considered to be the first example of a common western and Christian identity. Another example, investigated at length by Joseph Bedier, is the link between pilgrimages and the popular spread across Europe of epic poems of chivalry or Chanson de Geste, such as King Arthur, Chanson de Roland or Chanson d’Orgier. To further assert the relevance of pilgrimage routes in the Middle Ages it is worth relating to the works of one of the most important literary figures of the time, Dante Alighieri. Other than defining himself a pilgrim in the Divine Comedy, in his opus Vita Nova Dante explores the meaning of pilgrimage and defines three different typologies pf pilgrims:

Palmieri (of the palm) – those who travelled to Jerusalem

Peregrini – those who travelled to Santiago

Romei – those who travelled to Rome

With the fading of the European Ideal, could pilgrimage routes become a cornerstone of united European Citizenship?