small; in other towns, like Vézelay, conflict arose between the inhabitants and the abbey
over pilgrims’ accommodations.
Pilgrims brought gifts and tokens with them to shrines. In keeping with the practice at
pre-Christian healing centers in Gaul, pilgrims seeking a cure for an illness might bring to
the saint’s shrine a representation of the afflicted part of the body, frequently crudely
made of wood, wax, or metal. If Christian pilgrims were making their pilgrimage to thank
the holy patron for a cure, they might also bring such a token as well as gifts (frequently
money, gold, gems, or oil). Pilgrims to Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat who were freed from
prison after praying to St. Léonard brought their chains to hang near the saint’s tomb.
In addition to leaving offerings at shrines, pilgrims brought away objects in some way
sanctified by relics. In some instances, these relics-by-association were thought to
possess the power of the saint. While on pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Julian of Brioude,
Gregory of Tours broke off a piece of the tomb and brought it back to Tours, where it
was reported to have worked miracles. Pilgrims also brought away badges to indicate
they had been to shrines. These had images symbolic of the shrine visited, as the head of
John the Baptist for Amiens, the Virgin for Rocamadour, Le Puy, and other Marian
sanctuaries. Trade in pilgrims’ badges was so extensive and open to abuse that it was
regulated by legal and episcopal decrees by the 13th century.
The earliest Christian pilgrimages were those to the Holy Land to retrace the footsteps
of Christ (2nd c.) and to Rome to visit the tombs of Peter, Paul, and the martyrs.
Pilgrimage within France was enhanced by these distant journeys, because pilgrims from
the British Isles, Spain, and the Low Countries traveled through France on the way to
Rome, and Marseille and Saint-Gilles-du-Gard were major ports of embarkation for ships
to Rome and the Holy Land. One of the earliest extant itineraries of a Jerusalem
pilgrimage was left by a Gallo-Roman from Bordeaux traveling ca. 333. He gives the
route taken from Bordeaux to the Holy Land, indicating the stopping places along the
way.
Pilgrimage to shrines within France was well established in the Gallo-Roman and
Merovingian periods. Most early sanctuaries seem to be centered in established Gallo-
Roman towns with Christian communities, or those where early missionary-martyrs
preached. The best-documented early shrine is that of St. Martin (d. 397/400) at Tours.
Known for miracles worked during his lifetime, his vita was written while he was still
alive by his friend Sulpicius Severus (ca. 360–420/25) but was not published until after
Martin’s death. So many pilgrims came to his tomb that the small chapel built after his
death was replaced by a larger church within a century. An account of his miracles was
written by Gregory of Tours (ca. 539–594), and by the end of the 6th century Martin’s
tomb contained the inscription “Here lies Martin the Bishop, of holy memory, whose soul
is in the hand of God; but he is fully here, present and made plain in miracles of every
kind.” The town, and especially the saint’s shrine, remained a major pilgrimage center
throughout the Middle Ages.
Another Gallo-Roman city with important shrines was Lyon, which had an active
Christian community from the end of the 2nd century. The city had early bishops’ shrines
(St. Irenaeus, St. Justus) as well as sanctuaries of martyrs (Epipodius, Alexander). Nearby
at Fourvières was a shrine dedicated to the Virgin, where previously a statue of Mercury
had been venerated. Limoges had a sanctuary dedicated to St. Martial (known from the
4th c.), and other shrines were located in the cities of Arles, Auxerre, Marseille, Dijon,
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