Sanctity and Pilgrimage in Medieval Southern Italy, 1000–1200

Southern Italy's strategic location at the crossroads of the Mediterranean gave it a unique position as a frontier for the major religious faiths of the medieval world, where Latin Christian, Greek Christian and Muslim communities coexisted. In this study, the first to offer a comprehensive analysis of sanctity and pilgrimage in Southern Italy between 1000 and 1200, Paul Oldfield presents a fascinating picture of a politically and culturally fragmented land which, as well as hosting its own important relics as important pilgrimage centres, was a transit point for pilgrims and commercial traffic. Drawing on a diverse range of sources from hagiographical material to calendars, martyrologies, charters and pilgrim travel guides, the book examines how sanctity functioned at this key cultural crossroads and, by integrating the analysis of sanctity with that of pilgrimage, offers important new insights into society, cross-cultural interaction and faith in the region and across the medieval world.

• Offers a holistic approach to saints, cults and pilgrimage in medieval southern Italy, allowing readers to compare and contrast evidence across a geographically and socio-religiously diverse region
• Proposes a new perspective on how southern Italy was viewed externally, revealing the deep historical roots of south Italian marginalization from Europe
• Explores the relationship of sanctity and pilgrimage with Greek Orthodox Christianity and Islam in southern Italy, shedding new light on medieval interfaith relations