Wandering Monks, Virgins, And Pilgrims
Subtitle: Ascetic Travel In The Mediterranean World, A.D. 300-800
Publisher: Pennsylvania State University Press
Published: July 30, 2005
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 270
ISBN-13: 9780271026770
Subjects: Christian pilgrimage; World history: BCE to c 500 CE; World history: c 500 to C 1500; Religion - Church History; Religion; Ancient - General; Christianity - History - General; Monasticism; Reference; Christian pilgrims and pilgrimages; Christianity; History; Mediterranean Region; Monastic and religious life; Religious aspects; To 1500; Travel
Description: "Religious travelers were a common sight in the Mediterranean world during Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages. In fact, as Maribel Dietz finds in Wandering Monks, Virgins, and Pilgrims, this formative period in the history of Christianity witnessed an explosion of travel, as both men and women took to the roads, seeking spiritual meaning in a life of itinerancy."

"Eventually, ascetic travel gave way to full-fledged pilgrimage. Dietz explores how and why religious travel and monasticism diverged and altered so greatly. She examines the importance of the Cluniac reform movement and the creation of the pilgrimage center of Santiago de Compostela in the emergence of a new model of religious travel: goal-centered, long-distance pilgrimage aimed not at monks but at the laity." "Wandering Monks, Virgins, and Pilgrims is essential reading for those who study the history of monasticism, for it was in a monastic context that religious travel first claimed an essential place within Christianity. It will also be important for anyone interested in pilgrimage and the role of women in the history of Christianity."--Jacket.