Pielgrzymi polscy w Ziemi Świętej 1350-1450

Polish Pilgrims to the Holy Land, 1350-1450

Summary: Alongside Rome and Santiago de Compostella, the Holy Land was the third most popular but probably most renowned destination of Polish pilgrims in the Middle Ages. Jesus' temporal country was not entirely unknown to them. They could acquire a fairly good idea of it from what was said and sung in church,(the gospel readings, sermons, and hymns), or from what was shown, such as the Christmas cribs and plays, and even from the liturgy of Holy Week, which would be celebrated with particular ceremony especially in the houses of the Canons Regular Custodians of the Holy Sepulchre. All of this evoked a certain image of the distant, exotic and mysterious land. Examination of the reasons and aims which made Poles journey to the Holy Land shows that even in those early times there were two fundamental aspects of travel to Palestine.The first, and definitely more important reason was religious. By its very nature a voyage, pilgrimage not only required the covering of large distances and the overcoming of great distances and difficulties, but it was also a spiritual challlenge. In the secular sense a pilgrimage meant confrontation with a different world, its inhabitants, culture, civilisation, and mentality, and it was accompanied by a quest for legend, myth and a great store of curiosities. Pilgrims from Poland tended to use one of two overland routes. One was thevia ordinaria. The other passed through Hungary and Venice, from where there was a sea passage to Jaffa with the rest of the journey to Jerusalem on foot. Well-known personalities who are known to have completed a pilgrimage to Jerusalem included princes such as Vladislaus the White, Barnim III, Henry V of Żagań and Głogów, and Louis II of Brzeg and Legnica, the chronicler Jan Długosz, and Mikołaj Ziębicki. But Polish pilgrims came from all the estates and classes of society.

Peregrinus Cracoviensis, 1996, z.4, s. 213-223.

Instytut Geografii i Gospodarki Przestrzennej UJ

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