Max Ritter A Desire against all Odds and Diffculties? The Presence of Christian Pilgrims in Early Muslim Jerusalem, Seventh to Tenth Century This contribution attempts to investigate Christian pilgrimage fnally, the προσκυνητής makes a great effort to venerate a activity to Jerusalem during the frst 400 years of Arab-Mus- place or object. All three terms do not necessarily point to lim rule over the city 1. The pilgrims’ progress to Jerusalem pilgrimage, but depending on the context, they can designate was neither stable nor invariable; indeed, it was affected by a pilgrim. In Latin, however, peregrinus was the dominant various temporal factors. Two factors are generally accepted relevant term as early as Late Antiquity, which makes it easier as key: to assemble the evidence of Latin pilgrimage 2. Most scholars 1) the political relations between the place of origin or point take for granted what a pilgrim is supposed to be, although of departure of the pilgrims and the Muslim authorities the category was foating in medieval languages, and even controlling Jerusalem. nowadays the exact defnition of a pilgrim remains unclear. 2) the Palestinian Melkite Christians’ relationship with the I will therefore use Jas Elsner’s theorem as a point of de- Muslim authorities, which changed frequently from cordial parture 3, though I would like to specify some points that are to hostile and vice-versa. important for the period under discussion. In my opinion, a In order to determine the relationship between the two fac- traveller in the Middle Ages had to fulfl four main prerequi- tors, we have to analyse in how far pilgrimages to Jerusalem sites to be coined as a pilgrim: frst, his main motivation to depended on these two factors, and which of the factors had travel had to lie in his belief or religion and the journey had a larger infuence on the pilgrims’ endeavours. to be a physical one. His destination had to be a sacred site To this purpose, I will study both Byzantine and Latin pil- outside of his everyday reach and at the same time accepted grimage activities, since the Muslim authorities in Jerusalem as a common religious site. Moreover, he had to make the generally perceived all pilgrims from the Christian states of journey on his own initiative and without a clear professional the Mediterranean basin as one group, whom they called obligation. Finally, he performed no rituals on the way, but ar-Rūm (»Romans«). It was only in the eleventh century – he did so at the destination. when the share of Western and Central European pilgrims Due to the biased source transmission on pilgrimage activ- substantially increased in comparison to those coming from ity, we have a strong preponderance of Latin reports in regard Byzantium – that the former were usually perceived as a to Jerusalem pilgrims in comparison to pilgrims speaking group of their own, al-Jfranǧ (»Franks«). other languages. Consequently, we are confronted with a huge distortion of medieval realities, because it is evident that Latin pilgrims were in fact a small minority in Palestine before Sources and Methodology the eleventh century. This fact can be highlighted by a look at the Commemo- Before we delve further into the subject, it is worthwhile to ratium de casis Dei vel monasteriis compiled in the year 808 defne the term pilgrim in detail. It is common knowledge on behalf of Charlemagne. According to this inventory list of that there was no defned image or nomenclature for pilgrims the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, only fve of the 35 hermits in in Antiquity and the Middle Ages. In Byzantium, pilgrims Jerusalem at the time used Latin as language of prayer (ca. could be grasped by three lemmata, each related to one of 14 % share) 4 . These hermits had certainly come as pilgrims to their main features. The frst is ξένος, the stranger; the second, the Holy Land and had stayed there, just like many pilgrims the ὁδοιπόρος is someone who travels long distances; and in the Middle Ages. 1 This study evolved from my Ph.D. thesis on the economy of Byzantine pilgrimage on p. 27), but because the most relevant developments in pilgrimage appeared at the Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, which was supervised by Johannes during this period. Pahlitzsch and Claudia Sode and funded by the Leibniz-Gemeinschaft at the 2 Dietz, Wandering Monks 27-35, ignores the Greek component when defning Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum Mainz, see Ritter, Zwischen Glaube und pilgrimage. Geld. – The paper covers the period up to al-Ḥākim’s demolition of the Holy 3 Elsner, Introduction, passim. Sepulchre, not so much because this is perceived as a major rupture in Jerusalem 4 Commemoratorium de casis Dei 19-21 (207 McCormick); McCormick, Charle- pilgrimage (the event is certainly exaggerated in retrospective: a matter discussed magne’s Survey 56-58. The Presence of Christian Pilgrims in Early Muslim Jerusalem | Max Ritter 87 During Easter 1047, Nāșer-e Khoshraw, a Persian visitor to of the period should be accounted for, since they resembled Jerusalem, noted the huge mass of religious travellers (ziyāra) Byzantine pilgrimage patterns as soon as they reached the in Jerusalem who came from ar-Rūm (i. e., the Byzantine Byzantine orbit during their travel. There are two main delib- empire). He even claims that the emperor himself had ac- erations for pursuing such a venture. complished a Jerusalem pilgrimage in disguise 5 . There can be Firstly, almost all the Latin pilgrims up to the eleventh no doubt that apart from pilgrims from within the Caliphate, century had to cross Byzantine territory and waters. As a con- more than half of the foreign pilgrims in Jerusalem came from sequence, they received information about travel conditions Byzantium. Some reached the Holy Land from the South Cau- and the prevalent political situation in Palestine from Byzan- casus and only a tangible minority from Latin Europe. Moshe tine subjects who were much more familiar with the region. Gil and David Jacoby have calculated the latter at about 10 % The Jerusalem pilgrimage from Western Europe therefore de- of all pilgrims in the eleventh century 6 . Yet, the Latin pilgrims veloped using Byzantine perceptions. Experiences gathered by boasted of their accomplished pilgrimages that took much either Byzantine pilgrims or by the Byzantine populace in the more effort than their eastern counterparts. Furthermore, border area affected both the travel time and the routes the the ways of transmission and the preservation of many mo- Latin pilgrims took. Jerusalem pilgrimages could be deterred nastic archives in the West lead to the distorted impression because Byzantines considered travels or border crossings too that Jerusalem pilgrimage was a rather Western and Central dangerous; this is also refected in some pilgrimage reports. European phenomenon. We need to keep in mind, though, For instance, the Burggrave Meginfred of Waldeck (in 1040) 11 that the information on many Jerusalem pilgrims covers only and the Abbot Thierry of Saint-Évroult (in 1058) 12 changed their name, approximate date and place of origin. Elaborate their routes and travel plans on Byzantine territory because reports about the route or the political conditions in Palestine Byzantines advised them not to cross overland to Palestine are scarce. Nonetheless, the mere enumeration of pilgrims due to the conditions at the frontier. reveals at what times pilgrimage activities became less or There is another good reason to consider Latin and Byzan- more intense. This information can then be correlated with tine pilgrims jointly for the issue raised here. Western Euro- political events in the Levant. pean pilgrims entering Palestine came under the supervision One way to balance the picture is to draw more attention of the Patriarch of Jerusalem who had the responsibility from to the known Byzantine pilgrims. Alice-Mary Talbot has pre- the Muslim authorities to administrate and adjudicate all sented 30 religious travellers to Jerusalem, of which only 14 Chalcedonian Christians 13. The Latins possessed some mon- lived in the seventh to tenth centuries 7. Élisabeth Malamut asteries (especially the one on the Mount of Olives), yet they partly studied the same individuals in more depth, but she did not have a Church organisation of their own in Palestine did not focus on the topic of Jerusalem pilgrimage in her up to the First Crusade (1099). study of saints’ itineraries 8. Taking a closer look at the Byz- At the same time, the Jerusalemite clergy were received at antine evidence, Andreas Külzer worked on one of the texts, the Byzantine court not as envoys, but as subjects 1 4 . Steven the itinerary of Epiphanius Hagiopolites 9 . For certain periods, Runciman put it this way: »The Patriarchs of Alexandria, An- there are no recorded Byzantine pilgrims at all, a fact which tioch and Jerusalem might head the Orthodox community in led Joseph Patrich to assume an entire disruption of pilgrim- practical dealings with the Caliph; but above them was the age activity from Byzantium 1 0 . However, it is not possible to Emperor, whose representatives they were in partibus infde- redraw the outlines of Byzantine pilgrimage to Jerusalem lium«15. This relationship should not be confated with polit- on the basis of the very few testimonies we actually have of ical ideology but was borne out of late antique tradition 1 6 . genuine Byzantine pilgrims. In fact, the Jerusalemite patriarchs were usually very loyal to To overcome this defcit, different paths may be pursued. the Patriarchate of Constantinople in matters of Christian One might include indirect evidence of Jerusalem pilgrimage doctrine 17. This is relevant considering that Jerusalem stuck activity like the circulation of manuscripts, relic collections with Constantinople in the Filioque controversy that arose in assembled in Palestine, or church architecture modelled after Bethlehem in 807 18, and in the controversy about the azymes the Holy Sepulchre.