As a result of this steady increase in the number of pilgrims, the old arrangements for their accommodation were found defi cient. Consequently hospices arose which were designed exclu sively for the pilgrim. Those on the Alpine passes are common knowledge. The oldest, that on the Septimer pass, dates from the Carolingian period, though it was restored in 1120 by the bishop Wido of Chur : that on the Great St. Bernard was founded in the loth century, and reorganized in the 13th. To this century may also be assigned the hospice on the Simplon; to the 14th those on the St. Gothard and the Lukmanier. Similarly, the Mediterranean towns, and Jerusalem in particular, had their pilgrim-refuges. Service in the hospices was regularly performed by the hospital fraternities—that is to say, by lay associations working under the authorization of the Church. The most important of these was the fraternity of the Hospitale hierosolymitanum, founded between 1°65 and 1075; for hence arose the order of St. John, the earliest of the orders of knighthood. (See ST. JOHN OF JERU SALEM, KNIGHTS OF.) In addition to the hospital of Jerusalem, numerous others were under its charge in Acre, Cyprus, Rhodes, Malta, etc. Associations were formed to assist pilgrims bound for the East ; one being the Confrerie des pelerins de Terre-Sainte in Paris, founded in 1325 by Louis de Bourbon, count of Clermont (afterwards first duke of Bourbon).
But since, in the middle ages, the Holy Land was no longer held by a Christian Power, the protection of the pilgrims was no less necessary than their sustenance. This fact, after the close of the 11th century, led to the Crusades (q.v.), which in many respects are to be regarded as armed pilgrimages. For the old dream of the pilgrim, to view the country where God had walked as man, lived on in the Crusades—a fact which is demonstrated by the letters of Bernard of Clairvaux, with the songs of Walther von der Vogelweide and other Crusaders. And, since the strongest motive in the pilgrimage was the acquisition of indulgences, unnumbered thousands were moved to assume the Cross, when, in 1o95, Urban II. promised them plenary indulgence. The conquest of Jerusalem, and the erection of a Christian empire in Palestine, naturally swelled the influx of pilgrims. And though in 1187 the Holy City again fell into the hands of the infidel, while in 1291 the loss of Acre eliminated the last Christian possession in Palestine, the pilgrimages still proceeded. It was not till the Reformation, the wars of the 16th century, and the loss of Rhodes, Candia and Cyprus to the Turks, that any appreciable alteration was effected. When Ignatius de Loyola (q.v.) set sail in 1523 from Venice to Palestine, only some thirteen souls could be mustered on the pilgrim-ship, while eight or nine others sailed with the Venetian state-vessel as far as Cyprus. A considerable number had aban doned their pilgrimage and returned home on the news of the fall of Rhodes.
For pilgrimage overseas, as it was styled, the permission of the Church was still requisite. The pilgrims made their journey
in grey cowls fastened by a broad belt. On the cowl they wore a red cross; and a broad-brimmed hat, a staff, sack and gourd completed their equipment. During their travels the beard was allowed to grow, and they prepared for departure by confession and communion. Of their hymns many are yet extant ("Jeru salem mirabilis," "In gottes namen faren wir," etc.). Ships belonging to the knights of St. John and the Knights Templars conducted the commerce with Palestine, and the pilgrims formed themselves into unions, elected a "master" and concluded their agreements, as to the outward voyage and return, in common. The expenses of the journey to Palestine were no light matter. In the 12th century they may be estimated at 10o marks of silver (L200) for the ordinary pilgrim. The expenses of the princes and lords were, of course, much heavier. Duke William of Saxony, who was in Jerusalem in 1461, spent no less than Lio,000 on his journey. (See Prutz, Kulturgeschichte der Kreuzzuge, pp. 106 sqq.; Rohricht, Deutsche Pilgerreisen, p. 42.) Great as was the number of pilgrims oversea, it was yet far exceeded by that of the visitants to the "threshold of the apostles," i.e., Rome, which received their greatest impetus through the inauguration of the so-called Year of Jubilee.
Of the other pilgrim-resorts, we shall only emphasize the most important. Priority of mention is due to St. James of Compo stella (Santiago, in the Spanish province of Galicia). Here the attraction for the pilgrim was the supposed possession of the body of James the son of Zebedee. The first connection of the apostle with Spain is to be traced in the Poema de aris b. Mar. et xii. apost. dedic., which is ascribed to Aldhelm (d. 709) and con tains a story of his preaching in that country. The earliest account of the transference of his relics to the Peninsula is found in Notker Balbulus (d. 912, Martyrol. in Jul. xxv.). But in Spain belief in this cherished possession was universal; and, step by step, the theory won credence throughout the West. In England, indeed, the shrine of St. James of Compostella became practically the most favoured devotional resort ; and in the i 2th century its visitation had attained such popularity that a pilgrimage thither was ranked on a level with one to Rome or Jerusalem. In France St. Martin remained the chief goal of the pilgrim; while Notre Dame de Sous-Terre in Chartres (with a portrait of the "black Virgin"), Le Puy-en-Velay (dep. Haute Loire), and others, also enjoyed considerable celebrity. In England pilgrimages were made to the tomb of the murdered archbishop, Thomas a Becket, in Canterbury Cathedral. The setting of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales gives a vivid idea of the motley company of pilgrims ; but it seems probable that Germany also sent a contingent. In addition, Wal singham, Peterborough, St. Davids, Holywell, and St. Andrews in Scotland were much frequented. In lower Germany, Cologne and Aix-la-Chapelle, in Switzerland Einsiedeln, were the principal resorts.