DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11448#0391
CHAP. IX.]
THE PILGRIM.
83
Holy Sepulchre, the more meritorious it became. If it was advan-
tageous to do so under Constantine, it was most excellent in the
time of the Saracens, and beyond all value under the Carismians.
Kings, queens, and nobles ; old men and matrons, virgins, and
even little children, hastened to secure the safety of their souls
by their body's peril.
It was the wrongs done to the pilgrims that provoked the first
Crusade ; it was the intelligence gleaned by the Palmers that cir-
culated Eastern knowledge and intelligence through the cloisters
and the courts of Europe.
After the Christian empire in Palestine was utterly overthrown
by the taking of Acre in 1291, pilgrimages to Jerusalem appear
t» have ceased altogether for some centuries. Compostella and
Loretto were substituted ; and 500,000 pilgrims are said to have
visited the latter in the course of a single year.* After the middle
of the seventeenth century, the tide of pious wayfaring returned
to its ancient channel, and the lay and clerical coffers at Jeru-
salem have been ever since refreshed by two great inundations
annually ; once by the Latins, and again by the Greeks, who
keep their Easter, and perform their pilgrimages in consequence,
at a different period. It is supposed, that not less than 20,000
Christian pilgrims visit Jerusalam every spring ; and many ship-
loads of Moslems, transported in steamers at the Sultan's expense ,
also arrive annually at Jaffa, on their route to Mecca. The lat-
ter far exceed in number the Christian pilgrims : Burckhardt
says 70,000 assembled at Mecca, and Pitt and the elder Niebuhr
mention the same number : they approach their holy city with
uncovered heads, bare feet, and only a sheet flung over their
shoulders. Haroun Alraschid walked all the way from Bagdad
to Mecca in such weeds, accompanied by his wife, Zobeide, sim-
ilarly arrayed : the imperial pilgrims, however, are also reported
to have had rich carpets spread the whole distance for them to
walk upon; and had also probably awnings to protect their royal
shaven scalps from the desert's burning sun.
* This year upwards of a million went to TreVes. It is with diffidence I
venture to give any Oriental statistic : I have heard the number of pilgrims
variously estimated at from 5 to 25,000 : Mr. Wild gives the population of Je-
rusalem at 35,000: I do not believe it amounts to above 12,000.
THE PILGRIM.
83
Holy Sepulchre, the more meritorious it became. If it was advan-
tageous to do so under Constantine, it was most excellent in the
time of the Saracens, and beyond all value under the Carismians.
Kings, queens, and nobles ; old men and matrons, virgins, and
even little children, hastened to secure the safety of their souls
by their body's peril.
It was the wrongs done to the pilgrims that provoked the first
Crusade ; it was the intelligence gleaned by the Palmers that cir-
culated Eastern knowledge and intelligence through the cloisters
and the courts of Europe.
After the Christian empire in Palestine was utterly overthrown
by the taking of Acre in 1291, pilgrimages to Jerusalem appear
t» have ceased altogether for some centuries. Compostella and
Loretto were substituted ; and 500,000 pilgrims are said to have
visited the latter in the course of a single year.* After the middle
of the seventeenth century, the tide of pious wayfaring returned
to its ancient channel, and the lay and clerical coffers at Jeru-
salem have been ever since refreshed by two great inundations
annually ; once by the Latins, and again by the Greeks, who
keep their Easter, and perform their pilgrimages in consequence,
at a different period. It is supposed, that not less than 20,000
Christian pilgrims visit Jerusalam every spring ; and many ship-
loads of Moslems, transported in steamers at the Sultan's expense ,
also arrive annually at Jaffa, on their route to Mecca. The lat-
ter far exceed in number the Christian pilgrims : Burckhardt
says 70,000 assembled at Mecca, and Pitt and the elder Niebuhr
mention the same number : they approach their holy city with
uncovered heads, bare feet, and only a sheet flung over their
shoulders. Haroun Alraschid walked all the way from Bagdad
to Mecca in such weeds, accompanied by his wife, Zobeide, sim-
ilarly arrayed : the imperial pilgrims, however, are also reported
to have had rich carpets spread the whole distance for them to
walk upon; and had also probably awnings to protect their royal
shaven scalps from the desert's burning sun.
* This year upwards of a million went to TreVes. It is with diffidence I
venture to give any Oriental statistic : I have heard the number of pilgrims
variously estimated at from 5 to 25,000 : Mr. Wild gives the population of Je-
rusalem at 35,000: I do not believe it amounts to above 12,000.