The Mediterranean of Mobility. Contemporary historiography on the Jerusalem pilgrimage before the crusades

Christian pilgrimage to the Holy Land began in the age of Constantine and developed consistently until the eleventh century when pilgrimage’s nature totally changed. Until the end of the nineteenth century studies on the Medieval pilgrimage were closely connected to the history of the crusades. The sense of Hegel’s lesson was not grasped. The German philosopher had emphasized the role of Jerusalem as the centre of the Christian world, focusing on the dual nature of the pilgrimage, between infinity and material, temporality and eternity. During the age of colonialism, French scholars in particular – e.g. Michaud – revealed an increasing interest for the crusades searching for the origins of the French expansion in the Mediterranean area. In this perspective, history of pilgrimage was considered as a sort of brief preface to the history of the crusades. Although the literary sources for a study of pilgrimage were almost all already known and published, the historiographical topic had still not been examined independently. A specialized historiography on Christian pilgrimage was developed in the second quarter of the last century. The interest for the topic gradually grew. With the Nineties, in view of the Jubilee of the Millennium, studies on the history of medieval pilgrimage have largely increased. Anthropological perspective has had a great influence on the Medieval studies on pilgrimage.