13 



thirty years later, io 1407, a notable Lollard, 

 William Thorpe by name, expressed even stronger 

 feeling against the pilgrims ; he even hinted that 

 the moral conduct of the mixed compfiuies was 

 not above Ruspicion, and sternly denounced the 

 noisy bands which disturbed the country side with 

 their singiug and piping and the jangling of the 

 Canterbury bells. All this was more than a 

 century before Erasmus visited Canterbury. 

 Another hundred and fifty years passed by before 

 the final catastrophe took place, when every out- 

 ward sign of the shrine of St. Thomas peiished. 

 To-night, however, I have no desire to dwtllupon 

 the extioction of pilgriuiages, that is a question 

 which ri^^htly belongs to the history of another 

 period. 'ihe Reformation belongs to another 

 story. Befure that event, especially in the later 

 Middle Ages, there were a hundred and one good 

 reasons for "going a-pilgriming." Besides such 

 reasons as the discharge of a vow, made in sickness 

 or in danger, the desire of obtaining forgiveness 

 4or the past, or future sins of seeking the protec- 

 tion of some special saint or martyr, procuring an 

 alleviation of trouble or sickness, there were many 

 more woi Idly. To travel, to satisfy curiosity, to 

 avoid unpleasant companionship at home, and 

 even to win a wager. Thus, in I'.iGl, the Duke of 

 Anjou, then a prisoner in London, was granted a 

 license to be absent for a month on the score of 

 ill-health, and to "disport" towards St. Thomas 

 of Canterbury. Sir Richard Torkington gives us 

 the picture reversed. " In a moment of great dis- 

 tress," he tails us, " he and his companions vowed 

 pilgrimages to our Lady of Loeeto in Italia, and 

 some to our Lady of VValsingham, and some that 

 were Englishmen to St. Thomas of Canterbury." 

 Erasmus, in his conversation of " Rash Vows," 

 puts this excuse into the mouth of the spokesman, 

 "Some of us neighliours were drinking together, 

 and when the wine had a little warmed us, there 

 was one who announced that he was determined to 

 sfilute St. James, another that he wculd salute St. 

 Peter. Upon that, one or another engaged to join 

 the company and at length it was proposed that 

 all should go together ; so lest T should appear a 

 shabby messmite, I swore that I'd go to. Pre- 

 sently it began to be debated whether we should 

 be Koamors or wend to Compostella. At last it 

 was determined, God willing, we should set outfor 

 both." The pilgrim of the liter Middle Ages may 

 indeed be regarded almost as the lineal ancestor 

 of tourist, tripper, excursionist, and globe-trotter 

 of to-day. The treasures of the religious houses, 

 their appointments and their jewellery no less 

 than their holy relics, were the museums and 

 picture galleries he went to see. Besides the 

 bones and other bodily remains of the saints and 

 martyrs, there were innumerable curiosities, either 

 genuine or believed to be genuine, to be visited if 

 not revered. There was the bed of the Virgin, 

 the wool she wove, the garment the made or wore, 

 there were fragments ot the cross, and fragments 

 of the rock upon which it stood ; in one treasury 

 there was even said to be Aaron's rod and a speci- 

 men of the red clay out of which God made Adam. 

 Bat apart from doubtful relics, as we have seen, 

 there were countless attractions for the pilgrim of 

 genuine merit and unfailing interest, and in 



Chaucer's day the party which he and his con- 

 tinuator so vividly portray, resemble nothing so 

 much in modern life as a personally conducted 

 t)ur by a Cook or Gaze. We have seen that 

 although other English hi*Ilows, such as our Lady 

 of Walsingham, enjoyed their day of popularity 

 and fashion, none of them had so strong and 

 abiding an interest for all classes of pilgrims as 

 our own shrine of St. Thomas of Cauterbmy, 

 Besides the ordinary insignia of his garb, the 

 pilgrim wore conspicuously on his cap and cloak 

 various special signs in token that he had accom- 

 plished some particular pilgrimage. When we 

 remember that every hallow used its own special 

 signs peculiar to the place itself and its patron 

 saint, or relating to the chief trea-,ures of its 

 shrine, we can readily understand that the 

 maiufacture of these signacula or tokens must 

 have assumed in many localities very consideruble 

 proportions. That the industry was a highly 

 lucrative one may be inferred from the fact that 

 free trade in these little signs seams to have 

 formed no part of the faith of those who were 

 engaged in the industry, for it is recorded that 

 the manufacture was protected not only by the 

 spiritual powers but by the temporal authorities 

 as well. Pope Alexander III., Pope Gregory IX., 

 and Pope Clement V. all issued Papal Bulls 

 against counterfeiting the signs of St. James, of 

 Compostella, and in I'S'j-i Queen Joanne of Naples 

 proclaimed an edict for the protection of the 

 monks of St. Maximin against forgers of the 

 signs of St. Mary. They seem to have been 

 made of various perishable materials as well as 

 of metal, the generality of them being made up 

 in the form of personal ornaments, such as 

 pendants, pins, ring?, and brooches and bado-es 

 for fastening to the dress. Tub metil signs were 

 usually made of lead and sometimes of pewter 

 and tin, though there is no reason to suppose 

 that they were not eccasionally made of more 

 precious metals. That the smelting pot may be 

 responsible for the non-existence of any in gold 

 iji more than probable, and it is a remarkable fact 

 that only three or four of silver gilt have hitherto- 

 been discovered. Of those made of more perish- 

 able materials none at all have come down to us, 

 although one " hallow " or shrine of pilgrimac^q in 

 England has enriched our lan/udge with a 

 synonym for gaudj and worthless flimsiness. The 

 word " tawdry" is derived from the name of St. 

 Audrey, or more correctly iKtbeldryt'^ wh'> in the 

 seventh century founded the great monastery of 

 Ely, where her body still lies On her feast-day, 

 June 23, a great fair was held at Ely and, it would 

 seem, elsewhere in East AngUa, at which immense 

 quantities of lace and ribbons were sold as tokens 

 of" St. Audery," and "tawdry" thus came to denote 

 all cheap but showy ware of the kind. " A tawdry," 

 however, seems to have been connected with some- 

 thing moie durable if not more valuable, to 

 wit, a necklace of white bnads, for Dray'on in his 

 Polyolbion {song two),speikinsj of certain English 

 brooklets, tells how 



not the smallest beck. 

 But with white pebbles makes her fa wdries for her neck ; 

 the whiteness of the beads and pebbles doubtless 

 indicating the purity of the Virgin saint, who 



