Customer Reviews

Rome 1300: On the Path of the Pilgrim

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Ever wonder what it was like to go on pilgrimage in the Middle Ages? Check out Rome 1300 for an inkling.

In the year MM, Pope John Paul II declared a Jubilee. Herbert Kessler describes the first millennial Jubilee, the year M, declared by Pope Boniface VIII. Follow in the footsteps of the 200,000 pilgrims who inundated Rome. See the sites and sights they saw, many of which are still extant, and view the artifacts, relics, churches, chapels, and other holy places that were their guarantee to salvation. Fantastic illustrations accompany the fascinating text.

Excellent overview of Rome in the Middle Ages, told through the interseting literary construct of following a pilgrim on her route to the holy places during the first Jubilee. I am hardly an expert on Rome, let alone during this specific time period. However, Kessler's descriptions - especially of the architecture, but also of the life and times - were most informative. Too many sources treat the period between the collapse of the Empire and the beginning of the Renaissance as somehow an uninteresting period, best left glossed over. Kessler fills in the gaps.

My only complaint: the copious illustrations are all in black & white, which hardly do them justice.