medieval-atlas/the-church/377

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Shrines, hermitages and pilgrimages The shrines marked on the first map are the places where the relics or tombs of saints, mainly the national saints of Scotland, were located according to the beliefs of the fifteenth century. By then some relics, particularly pastoral staffs of the 'Celtic' saints, had passed into secular hands (usually those ofa hereditary 'dewar') and such relics, which were often itinerant, are not denoted on the map. Going on pilgrimage was a popular pastime in medieval Scotland. Abroad the most popular destinations were Rome, Compostella, Amiens and, for the adventurous few, the Holy Land. In Scotland major centres ofpilgrimage were Tain, St Andrews, Dunfermline, Glasgow and Whithom, but short local pilgrimages were even more popular. Indulgences were widely available and by the mid-fifteenth century could be obtained at most monasteries, cathedrals, collegiate, burgh and even parish churches. Bridge building was often begun or encouraged by the clergy, and chapels for the use of pilgrims and travellers were frequently sited near these bridges, for example, on the Tay at Perth, the Forth o at Stirling and on the Tweed near Peebles. Where there was no bridge the pilgrims went by ferry, the most famous being the Queensferry for pilgrims crossing the Forth to Dunfermline and St Andrews. The most important local centres are shown on the second map but the map cannot conveniently show every ecclesiastical centre (along with a multitude of holy wells and crosses) that drew its quota of pilgrims. There is very little evidence on Scottish hermitages. Those represented on the first map appear in a variety of source material ranging in date from the twelfth to the Tain (Duthac)CJi2/ seventeenth centuries, which rarely gives any indication of Fearn :1 'Holyman Head' the precise location ofthe hermitages mentioned. However, _ ,~Nlman~ 0 Duffus ~berdour(Droslan) 'd h . d) t;;~ ~ Findhorn ~ -..• ')h enoug eVI ence as survive )~ Aosemarkie (Boniface,MOlrAberchirder (Marnan) ag) to suggest that hermIts earned) • Applecross (~aelrubha\ ~~D '-/ 1\ _ ) outmuchthesamerolesinScot-) lA ~ Ardclach ---'I land as they did elsewhere. !0 ./ LOC?!/MOY I IJQpy Besides providing shelter for ~ r' pilgrims and other travellers j . Finlray (Modan) they tended shrines (as at Dalmalk (Mazola Aberdeen (Fergus, Andrew, elc) Musselburgh), manned ferries \..-Kinc~Banchory (Devenick) (as at Ardclach on the (Merchard) Banch~ry (Ternan) Findhorn), and apparently ~. ~ordoun (Palladius) found another more unusual 0 Kilgarie function in Scotland as coast watchers (as at Seacliff and pre_) ./JJ ~Glamis JFergus) sumably other coastal sites). 7 tY(, Dunkeld (Columbia) Popular belief in the, • SI Fillan's Shrine ( ~~onJ;0rgan (Modwena) efficacy of the shnnes did not ~P1lrth:'Scone immediately die with the Ref-Q (Eloi) (Fergus) StAndrews (Andrew, Regulus, Fergus) ormation. In 1581 parliament I~USS ......... ~(MorocL _ ~Monance (Monan) had still to legislate againsttj n .(Kessog) Logie KincafdineYoia'i1'j41 • Isle of May (Adrian elc.) RosneSl.lh • Dunfermline F'd 'the dregges of Idolatrie, that (Modanr Bannockbum • M . t) I ra . :::::? • \ argare ~eaclIff remanis in divers pairtes of the Kilmun ampsie • Culros!L I . _In~colm OWnilekirk . . . Muiid (Machan) (Serf) Res a ng realme, be USing of pllgnmage \} nChinnan~ , (Tnduana) L Ch I 11' 11' (C 11) Edinburgh' oretto ape to sum chappe IS, we IS, onva G asgQ.w (Giles, EIo;', etc.) . emm. "d ,'e ,oh" ~ p'.Ch""Ik," "'" '"'",". ',.L;;.. . . , '" ,,(Mlrren) . 9, Burncastie monumenus of Idolatne . i~e Peebles (Holy Cross) CUfTlbrae (Beya) Lesmahagow . ~~/ ,:' ~ac_h,:!~us) _ , . K1lbr~\ -K'""-l L(/:r o Over Kelw~' • Shrines (with name of saint commemOZJrted) c~~~~ - Conjectured sites underlined ?t----..~... 0~....--7,5..".--__.100 2,5....-~..,;,..,... ... o 10 20 30 40 50 60 miles JDG,IB Shrines and hermitages from about 1100 to 1560 377

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