Publication: The Pilgrim’s Way
By Ella Prendergast
I have been appointed the task to tell you about the Pilgrim’s Way. This is a medieval path from Winchester to Canterbury. The main thing that a pilgrimage needs to make it a ‘pilgrimage’ is somewhere holy to go to. However, pilgrimages often start and end in a holy place: Winchester and Canterbury are both holy places as they both have cathedrals.
The murder of Thomas Becket took place on a cold December evening. His life was extinguished by the fatal blow of a knight’s sword. He had angered King Henry II by apparently stealing a sum of money that had passed through his hands as chancellor. In reality, the king had placed him in charge of the monarchy. He was to be used as a “puppet” so that the king could have more control over both the nobility and the religious church. When Thomas Becket began to rebel and do the right thing, his best interests were with his public. This angered the king and induced tales of betrayal and robbery.
Thomas fled to France and hid in exile for six years! The king was absolutely furious and said (in modern terms) “Who can kill this geezer? I don’t like him no more!” The King’s outrage inspired four knights to sail to England and murder the “pest” themselves (Becket had returned to England by this point).
The murderers entered Canterbury Cathedral. They dragged the bewildered Becket, intending to kill him outside or take him hostage. Becket clung to the pillar next to him, refusing to move. One knight, enraged by this, swung his sword as hard as he could. Becket simply raised his head, hands in prayer, and prayed to St. Mary, the church of God and to the blessed martyr Denys. At that moment the brave Thomas received three strong strikes of the knight’s sword. He exclaimed in pain, “For the name of Jesus and the protection of the church I am ready to embrace death.” At this moment, the final blow of the knight’s sword hit Becket like a boulder and he was dead.
The Canterbury Tales was written by Geoffrey Chaucer. He was later branded the father of English literature! The tales are a series of stories that these travelers told to each other on the Pilgrim’s Way to pass the time. The two funniest stories are told by two pilgrims who don’t get on well and therefore attempt to humiliate each other in each of their stories: The Millers Tale and The Reeve’s Tale. Most of the rudest four-letter words today were likely to have been around in Chaucer’s day.
In this sense, this in itself is a journey from the Anglo Saxon period to now, 2007. These tales create a good account of a pilgrimage. But the Pilgrims in The Canterbury Tales aren’t all going on the pilgrimage for the right reasons; it’s a bit like going into a holy place and telling a lot of rude jokes!
Did you know?
■ Some people walked the pilgrimage on their knees, in prayer...OUCH! It usually took 20-30 days to travel the 120 mile (192km) Pilgrim’s Way by foot.
■ You can no longer walk the Pilgrim’s Way accurately as only two thirds of it remain intact. Over the years the other third had been destroyed.
■ The first package tours were organized pilgrimages to the Holy Land (Jerusalem). Protection, lodging, and travel were all included.
■ The Pilgrim’s Way could also be made from London as shown in the map.
Nowadays people more commonly associate pilgrimages with that of the Islamic faith and their pilgrimage to Mecca. This is known to Muslims as the Hajj. Each Muslim is expected to make this journey at least once in his or her lifetime. Two million Muslims traveled the Hajj in 1999. Men tend to do this more than women.
To some people, hobbies such as cycling, dance or horse-riding can substitute for a religion. A friend of mine on his bike took the same route of the Pilgrim’s Way during the London Cyclo Sportive. It took him seven and a half hours to complete the course, traveling at about 20 miles per hour. In some ways this is similar to a Pilgrimage; it is a journey taken to accomplish something that a person will gain something from. What separates it from the dictionary definition of a Pilgrimage, however, is the fact that it is not holy.