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PILGRIMAGES OF THE INHABITANTS OF SOUTH BALTIC MEDIAEVAL TOWNS IN THE LIGHT OF PILGRIM EMBLEM FINDS. RESEARCH IN PROGRESS

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Rebkowski M.

Kwartalnik Historii Kultury Materialnej

2004

vol. 52

issue 2

153-188

One of very interesting categories of finds resulting from excavations in northern European towns are artefacts connected with pilgrimages.They greatly extend our knowledge, mostly drawn from written sources, concerning the geography of pilgrimages, the spread of cults, pilgrimage customs, forms of worship, and the hagiography and iconography of saints.The article analyses the finds of pilgrim badges from the towns of southern Baltic coast, from Lübeck in the west to Livonian towns in the east.The finds from before the end of 2002, identified in Lübeck, Wismar, Stralsund, Rostock, Greiswald, Szczecin, Kolobrzeg, Gniew, Gdansk, Elblag, Tallin and Pärnu, comprise 67 items, almost half of them coming from Gdansk. There is also a considerable collection from Lübeck (12) and smaller numbers from other towns (Elblag – at least 4, Kolobrzeg – 3, Greiswald – 3; single items in other towns). The collection of finds analysed is supplemented with casts of pilgrim emblems found on church bells in Lübeck and Trzebiatów. For thirty of the finds it is possible to identify without any doubt the pilgrimage centres where they were produced. Apart from the shell discovered in the 19th c. in a church in Alt Lübeck, the oldest pilgrim emblems from Baltic towns can be dated to the second half of the 13th c. This oldest group comprises only four items, coming from the sanctuaries in Compostela, Rocamadour, Maastricht and Riga). Several further finds have been dated to the turn of the 14th c. The overwhelming majority of the items come form the 14th and 15th c.; only a few can be dated to the end of the 15th or the beginning of the 16th c. Most of the artefacts in question have been found in damp environment: in rivers, lakes, muddy shores, ports, sewage pipes and latrines and the author advances a hypothesis that there might have been a custom of preventing the further circulation of such artefacts. Such a custom would have been particularly well motivated in case of penitential pilgrimages.The analysis has identified 15 places from which pilgrim emblems were brought to Baltic towns.The majority of the items concerned are connected with the Marian cult (53%). The second largest group (27%) represents centres of the cult of saints. Another clear category (11.4%) are emblems connected with the cult of the Eucharist and the Precious Blood, mostly dated to the mid 14th c. It seems that pilgrims from Baltic towns particularly favoured sanctuaries located in Rhineland. Additionally, a considerable number of items come from other German sanctuaries. Pilgrimage centres located elsewhere (e.g. in France – 1 or 2, or in Switzerland – 1) are represented by single items. Interestingly, there are no finds that could be ascribed to important pilgrimage centres in Italy and England.

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1 Kwartalnik Historii Kultury Materialnej

1 Rebkowski M.

1 2004

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PILGRIMAGES OF THE INHABITANTS OF SOUTH BALTIC MEDIAEVAL TOWNS IN THE LIGHT OF PILGRIM EMBLEM FINDS. RESEARCH IN PROGRESS