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What is empathy? Empathy
is probably the most important historical skill. Empathy involves
imagining yourself as somebody else in the past; putting yourself
into their shoes and seeing the world through their eyes. But
historical empathy also has very strict rules. Empathy must be
based upon real historical evidence. You must not make-up events
which have no historical foundation in fact. Similarly, you must
be very careful to avoid historical anachronisms and other
unhistorical errors.
Five steps to being a medieval pilgrim
You are at an inn, sitting by the fire, with a cup of mead in
your hand. You have your feet up, resting the blisters which cover
your feet. You are nearly home and this will be the last night of
your pilgrimage experience. The landlord has noticed that you are
a stranger, approaches and asks you for your story. You have a
drink of mead and begin.
Step One Who are you? This is an important first
question to answer. The landlord will have noticed your pilgrim's uniform, perhaps you might begin describing what you are wearing,
explaining the religious significance of each of the items. Step
Two When and where did you begin your pilgrimage? What was
it about you and your life that made you want to go on a
pilgrimage? Remind yourself of the different motives of medieval
pilgrims: Did you travel to see and touch holy objects? Had you
committed sins for which you wanted forgiveness? Did you just want
to see the world? Perhaps it was a mixture of all three? Step
Three How did you decide where to
go? Was it the association
of a saint with a particular trade or illness, perhaps you decided
to let God decide or heard about the miracles of a newly popular
saint? What things did you have to do before leaving on your
pilgrimage? Step Four What happened on your journey? This should be your longest section. You will need to
describe your route and some of the difficulties you encountered
along the way: the food, accomodation, companions, local people
and languages etc Step Five What did you see when
you arrived? Remember that at some of the bigger religious sites,
the atmosphere was like a carnival. There was a lot to see and
experience. But there was also the importance of reaching your
religious goal. Did you see relics? Did you bring back
brandea?
Did anything miraculous happen? Did you collect any souvenirs?
Did you make an offering? See
the best examples from 2003: Adrian,
Jacob, Maddie,
Melissa and Ronan.
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