PILGRIM TRAVELLERS
Meanwhile a new inspiration had been given to the world, which affected
travelling to no small extent.
In far-off Roman province of Syria, the Christ had lived, the Christ
had died. And His words were ringing through the land: "Go ye and make
disciples of all the nations, preach the gospel to every creature."
Here at once was a new incentive to travel, a definite reason for men
to venture forth into the unknown, to brave dangers, to endure hardship.
They must carry their Master's words "unto the ends of the world."
The Roman Empire had brought men under one rule; they must now be
brought to serve one God. So men passed out of Syria; they landed on
the islands in the Mediterranean, they made their way to Asia Minor
and across to Greece, until in the year 60 A.D. we get the graphic
account of Paul the traveller, one of the first and most famous of
the missionaries of the first century.
Jerusalem now became, indeed, the world centre. A very stream of
pilgrim travellers tramped to the Holy City from far-away lands to
see for themselves the land where the Christ had lived and died.
The pilgrim age begins with the journey of a woman--the beautiful and
learned daughter of the King of Britain, Helena, mother of the Emperor
Constantine. She was a student of divinity and a devoted Christian.
In the year 326 she undertook the difficult journey to Jerusalem, where
she is reported to have discovered the "true cross," which had been
buried, with Pilate's inscription in "Hebrew and Greek and Latin."
When the news of her discovery was noised abroad a very rush of pilgrims
took place from every part of the world. Indeed, one pilgrim--his name
is unknown--thought it worth while to write a guide-book for the
benefit of his fellow-travellers. His _Itinerary from Bordeaux to
Jerusalem_ is very interesting, being the first Christian guide-book
and one of the earliest travel-documents ever written for the use of
travellers. This ancient "Bradshaw" has been translated into English
and throws light on fourth-century travelling. Enthusiastic indeed
must these early pilgrims have been to undertake the long and toilsome
journey.
[Illustration: THE FIRST STAGES OF A MEDIAEVAL PILGRIMAGE: LONDON TO
DOVER. From Matthew of Paris's _Itinerary_, thirteenth century.]
The guide-book takes them, save for crossing the Bosphorus, entirely
by land. It leads them from the "city of Bordeaux, where is the river
Garonne in which the ocean ebbs and flows for one hundred leagues more
or less," to Arles, with thirty changes and eleven halts in three
hundred and seventy-two miles. There were milestones along the Roman
roads to guide them, and houses at regular intervals where horses were
kept for posting. From Arles the pilgrim goes north to Avignon, crosses
the Alps, and halts at the Italian frontier. Skirting the north of
Italy by Turin, Milan, and Padua, he reaches the Danube at Belgrade,
passes through Servia and Bulgaria and so reaches Constantinople--the
great new city of Constantine. "Grand total from Bordeaux to
Constantinople, two thousand two hundred and twenty-one miles, with
two hundred and thirty changes and one hundred and twelve halts."
"From Constantinople," continues the guide-book, "you cross the
strait and walk on through Asia Minor, passing the spot where lies
King Hannibal, once King of the Africans." Thus onward through the
long dreary miles to Tarsus, where "was born the Apostle Paul," till
Syria is reached at last.
Then the "Bradshaw" becomes a "Baedeker." Long and detailed accounts
are given of the country through which the pilgrim has to pass. From
Caesarea he is led to Jezreel by the spot "where David slew Goliath,"
by "Job's country house" to Sichem, "where Joseph is laid," and thence
to Jerusalem. Full accounts follow of the Holy City and Mount Sion,
"the little hill of Golgotha where the Lord was crucified," the Mount
of Olives, Jericho, Jordan, Bethlehem, and Hebron. "Here is a monument
of square form built of stone of wondrous beauty," in which lie Abraham,
Isaac, Jacob, Sara, Rebecca, and Leah.
"From Constantinople to Jerusalem is one thousand one hundred and
fifty-nine miles, with sixty-nine changes and fifty-eight halts."
Here the guide-book ends abruptly with a brief summary of distances.
Thither then flocked the pilgrims, some by land and some by sea, men
and women from all parts of the world.
"Even the Briton, separated from our world, leaves the setting sun
and seeks a place known to him only by fame and the narrative of the
Scriptures."
One of the earliest was Paula of Rome--a weak, fragile woman accustomed
to a life of luxury and ease, but, fired with the enthusiasm of her
religion, she resolved to brave the dangers and hardships of a journey
to the East. Her travels were written by St. Jerome.
"When the winter was spent and the sea was open," he writes, "she longed
and prayed to sail.... She went down to the harbour, accompanied by
her brother, her relatives, her connections and, more than these, by
her children, who strove to surpass the affection of the kindest of
mothers. Soon the sails were swelling in the breeze, and the ship,
guided by the oars, gained the open sea. Little Lexotinus piteously
stretched forth his hands from the shore. Rufina, a grown-up girl,
by her tears silently besought her mother to stay until she was married.
Yet she herself, without a tear, turned her eyes heavenward,
overcoming her love for her children by her love for God.... Meanwhile
the ship was ploughing the sea--the winds were sluggish and all speed
slow." But the ship passed between Scylla and Charybdis and reached
Antioch in safety. From this spot she followed the guide-book
directions until she arrived at Jerusalem. How Paula and one of her
young daughters walked over the rough ground, endured the hardships
of desert-life, and finally lived twenty years at Bethlehem, would
take too long to tell. And she was but one of many.
[Illustration: JERUSALEM AND THE EAST. From Matthew of Paris's
_Itinerary_, thirteenth century.]
Sylvia of Aquitaine, travelling at the same time, wrote a strangely
interesting account of her travels. The early part of her manuscript
is lost, and we find her first in Arabia. All was new and strange.
"Meanwhile as we walked we arrived at a certain place, where the
mountains between which we were passing opened themselves out and
formed a great valley, very flat and extremely beautiful; and beyond
the valley appeared Sinai, the holy mount of God.... This is the same
great and flat valley in which the children of Israel waited during
the days when holy Moses went up into the Mount of God.... It was late
on the Sabbath when we came to the mountain, and, arriving at a certain
monastery, the kindly monks who lived there entertained us, showing
us all kindliness." Sylvia had to ascend the mountain on foot "because
the ascent could not be made in a chair," but the view over "Egypt
and Palestine and the Red Sea and the Mediterranean which leads to
Alexandria, also the boundless territory of the Saracens, we saw below
us, hard though it is to believe, all of which things these holy men
pointed out to us."
But we must not follow her to Jerusalem, or to Mesopotamia, where she
saw "the great river Euphrates, rushing down in a torrent like the
Rhine, but greater." She reached Constantinople by the guide-book
route, having spent four years in travel, and walked two thousand miles
to the very "limit of the Roman Empire." Her boundless energy is not
exhausted yet. "Ladies, my beloved ones," she writes, "whilst I
prepare this account for your pious zeal, it is already my purpose
to go to Asia."
But we must turn away for a moment from the stream of pilgrim travellers
wending their weary way from Britain, France, Spain, and the east to
Jerusalem, to follow the travels of St. Patrick through the wilds of
Ireland.