Last updated 10th July 2024: Online ordering is currently unavailable due to technical issues. We apologise for any delays responding to customers while we resolve this. For further updates please visit our website https://www.cambridge.org/news-and-insights/technical-incident
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 March 2016
In the month of September (1170), King Henry fell sick almost to the point of death, at La Mote de Gerin (near Domfront). But by the divine mercy, and the supplication of the servants of God, to Whom he humbly commended himself... he recovered his health ... Then (he) travelled to Rocamadour to pray, This place, in the district of Quercy, is encircled by mountains and horrible wilderness.... King Henry, travelling hither in order to pray, as we said, gathered a great company of armed men, both cavalry and footsoldiers, since he was approaching the lands of his enemies, (and) came to pray equipped as though for battle, doing harm to no-one, (but) providing generously for all, and especially for the poor, with alms.
This account of Henry II’s pilgrimage to Rocamadour comes from Robert de Torigny, a well-informed contemporary, hence the significance of the details which he included. From Domfront, on the frontiers of Normandy, the king travelled hundreds of kilometres to the south.
I am grateful to Brenda M. Bolton for her advice and encouragement in the preparation of this paper, and to Jennifer Bray and Stuart Adam for various references to works on Quercy.
2 [‘The] Chronicle of Robert de Torigny’, [ed Howlett, R., Chronicles of the reigns of Stephen, Henry II and Richard I] IV, RS (London 1889) pp 247-8.Google Scholar
3 Gransden, [Antonia], Historical Writing [in England c550 to c1307] (London 1974) p 262.Google Scholar
4 Warren, [W. L.], Henry II (London 1973) p 30.Google Scholar
5 Schulenburg, Jane Tibbets, ‘Sexism and the celestial gynaeceum - from 500 to 1200’ JMedH 4 (1978) p l26.Google Scholar
6 Sumption, [J.], Pilgrimage: [an image of medieval religion] (London 1975) p 50.Google Scholar
7 Warner, Marina, Alone of all her sex: the myth and cult of the Virgin Mary (London 1976) pp 274-5.Google Scholar
8 Ibid p 274 citing Song of Sol 1:5.
9 Sumption, Pilgrimage p 50. See also Albe, [E.], [ed and transi.] Les miracles de [Notre-Dame de] Rocamadour (Paris 1907);Google Scholar and Delaruelle, E., ‘La spiritualité du pèlerinage à Rocamadour au moyen age’, Bulletin de la société des études [liléraires, scientifiques et artistiques] du Lot 87 (Lot 1966) pp 69–85.Google Scholar
10 The statue is dated variously from the ninth to the twelfth centuries: Michelin [Green Cuide]: Dordogne, [Perigord, Limousin] (Poitiers, 1976, transl 1978) p 159; Barber, [R.], [The Companion Guide to South-West France:] Bordeaux and the Dordogne (London 1977) p 190 Google Scholar.
11 Lacoste, [G.], Histoire [Générale de la province] de Quercy, edd Combarieu, L. et Cangardel, F., 4 vols. (Cahors 1883; 2nd ed Paris 1968) II p 20.Google Scholar
12 ‘Chronicle of Robert de Torigny’ p 248.
13 Gransden, Historical Writing p 261.
14 Albe, Les miracles de Rocamadour pp 35-7; Rostaing, C., Les noms des lieux (Paris 1958) p 95.Google Scholar
15 ‘Chronicle of Robert de Torigny’ p 248.
16 Lacoste, Histoire de Quercy II p 75.
17 Luke 19: 1-10; The jerusalem Bible: popular edition, ed Jones, A. (London 1974) New Testament p 4.Google Scholar
18 Cohen, [Esther], [‘ln haec signa:] pilgrim badge trade [in southern France’] JMedH 2 (1976) p 196.Google Scholar
19 Michelin: Dordogne p 159.
20 Evans, Joan, Life in Medieval France (London 1925; 3rd edn 1969) p 78.Google Scholar
21 Gillingham, [J.], Richard the Lionhearl (London 1978) p 49.Google Scholar
22 Douglas, D. C., ‘The Song of Roland’ and the Norman Conquest of England’ French Studies 14 (1960) p 100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
23 Bolgar, R. R., ‘Hero or Anti-Hero? The Genesis and Development of the Miles Christianus’ Concepts of the Hero in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, edd Burns, N.T. and Reagan, C. J. (Albany 1975) pp 120-25.Google Scholar
24 Morris, C., ‘Equestris Ordo: Chivalry as a vocation in the twelfth century’ SCH 15: Religious motivation: biographical and sociological problems for the historian ed Baker, D. (Oxford 1978) pp 87–96.Google Scholar
25 Sumption, Pilgrimage p 78.
26 ibid p.80.
27 Ibid p 76.
28 Mayr-Harting, H., ‘Functions of a twelfth century recluse’ History 60(1975)p 342.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
29 Ibid.
30 Eyton, [R. W.], [Court, Household and] Itinerary of King Henry II(London 1878) p 135.Google Scholar
31 Sumption, Pilgrimage p 74.
32 Michelin: Dordogne p 158; Barber, Bordeaux and the Dordogne p 190.
33 Barber, Bordeaux and the Dordogne p 191.
34 Evans, Joan, Art in Medieval France 981-1498 (London 1948) p 245;Google Scholar Lacoste, Histoire de Quercy II p 58.
35 Turner, [V.] and Turner, [E.], Image and Pilgrimage [in Christian Culture] (Oxford 1978) pp 7–8.Google Scholar
36 Holt, [J. C. ], ‘The end of the Anglo-Norman realm’ [PBA, 61] (1975), p 230.Google Scholar
37 Ibid pp 229-33.
38 Gillingham, Richard the Lionheart pp 26-7.
39 Ibid; Warren, Henry II p 91.
40 Eyton, Itinerary of King Henry II pp 135-8.
41 Ibid pp 138-41 ; Warren, Henry II p 506.
42 The Letters of John of Salisbury II: [The Later Letters (1163-1180), edd Millor, W. J. and Brooke, C. N. L.] (Oxford 1979) ep 298, pp 696–7.Google Scholar
43 Warren, Henry II p 111.
44 Duggan, Anne, Thomas Beckel: a textual history of his letters (Oxford 1980) pp 237-8,242-3, 246, 251;Google Scholar Warren, Henry II pp 104, 109-10, 497-8.
45 Gesta Regis Henrici [Secundi Benedicti Abbatis] ed Stubbs, W., 2 vols. RS (London 1867) I p 6 Google Scholar. On the ominous undertones of this phrase when used by contemporary chroniclers, see Warren, Henry II p 91.
46 Cesta Regis Henrici I p 7. See also Hallam, [Elizabeth M.], ‘Henry II, [Richard I] and the order of Grandmont’ [JMedH 1] (1975) p 185 n5Google Scholar.
47 Mason, Emma, ‘Pro statu et incolumitate regni mei. [The place of Westminster abbey in royal monastic patronage: 1066-1154’, SCH 18: Religion and national identity, ed Mews, S. (Oxford 1982) pp 107–11.Google Scholar
48 Hallam, ‘Henry II and the order of Grandmont’ p 167.
49 Mason, ‘Pro statu et incolumitate regni mei’, pp 99-117.
50 Hallam, ‘Henry II and the order of Grandmont’ pp l68-9.
51 Morris, [C], The Discovery of the Individual [1050-1200] (London 1972) p 12.Google Scholar
52 Ibid p 120.
53 Gesta Regis Henrici I pp 6-7.
54 Ibid p 6.
55 Eyton, Itinerary of King Henry II p 145.
56 Benton, J. F., ‘The revenue of Louis VII’ Speculum 42 (1967) p 91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar See however, Holt, ‘The end of the Anglo-Norman realm’ pp 237-9.
57 Holt, ‘The end of the Anglo-Norman realm’ pp 254-9.
58 Spiegel, Gabrielle M., ‘The cult of Saint Denis and Capetian kingship’ JMedH 1 (1975) pp 43–69.Google Scholar
59 Holt, ‘The end of the Anglo-Norman realm’ p 252.
60 Hallam, Elizabeth M., Capetian France 987-1328 (London 1980) pp 173, 327.Google Scholar
61 Gillingham, Richard the Lionheart p 58; Hallam, ‘Henry II and the order of Grandmont’ p 167.
62 Murray, [A.], Reason and Society [in the Middle Ages] (Oxford 1978) pp 59–60, 80.Google Scholar
63 Ibid p 329.
64 Duby, [G.], The three orders: [feudal sociely imagined transi. A. Goldhammer] (Chicago 1980) p 322.Google Scholar
65 Moller, H., ‘The [social causation of the] courtly love complex’ Comparative studies in society and history I (The Hague 1958-9) p 153.Google Scholar
66 Ibid p 160.
67 Ibid P 156.
68 Ibid p 159.
69 Ibid p 162. See also Koehler, E., ‘Observations historiques et sociologiques sur la poesie des troubadours’, Cahiers de Civilization Médiévale, 7 (Poitiers 1964) pp 28–39.Google Scholar
70 See Morris, The Discovery of the Individual pp 114, 119.
71 Anthology of Troubadour lyric poetry ed Press, A. R. (Edinburgh 1971) pp 41-2.Google Scholar
72 Ibid p 86.
73 Hadju, R., ‘Castles, castellans and the structure of politics in Poitou, 1152-1271’ JMedH 4(1978) p 32.Google Scholar
74 Gillingham, Richard the Lionheart pp 39-40; Warren Henry II p 614.
75 Gillingham, Richard the Lionheart p 40.
76 Lacoste, , Histoire de Quercy II p 68 Google Scholar, citing Foulhiac, Chronique Latine de Quercy.
77 Warren, Henry II p 91 and n5.
78 Diceto, Ralph de, Opera Historka ed Stubbs, W., 2 vols RS (London 1876) II p 58.Google Scholar
79 Gillingham, Richard the Lionheart pp 40, 47.
80 Gillingham, J., ‘The Unromantic death of Richard I’ Speculum 54 (1979) p 41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
81 Holt, ‘The end of the Anglo-Norman realm‘ pp 252-3.
82 Lacoste, , Histoire de Quercy II p 69.Google Scholar
83 The Letters of John of Salisbury II ep 275 pp 280-81.
84 Sumption, Pilgrimage pp 99-102.
85 Lacoste, , Histoire de Quercy II p 103.Google Scholar
86 Morris, The Discovery of the Individual p 120.
87 Duby, The Three Orders p 290.
88 Murray, Reason and Society p 402.
89 Eyton, , Itinerary of Henry II pp 145-6;Google Scholar The Letters of John of Salisbury II p xliii.
90 Cesta Regis Henrici I p 6.
91 Sumption, Pilgrimage p 74; Finucanc, R. C., ‘The use and abuse of medieval miracles’ History 60 (1975) pp 9–10.Google Scholar
92 Holt, ‘The end of the Anglo-Norman realm’ p 230.
93 Cohen, ‘Pilgrim badge trade’ p 193.
94 Sumption, Pilgrimage p 144.
95 Ibid p 212.
96 Michelin: Dordogne p 159.
97 Turner and Turner, Image and Pilgrimage p 189.
98 Mullins, E., The Pilgrimage to Santiago (London 1974) p 138.Google Scholar
99 Michelin: Dordogne p 157. Several kings of Castile made gifts to Rocamadour itself between the later twelfth century and the earlier fourteenth: Lacoste, Histoire de Quercy II pp 107, 138-9,420.
100 Talbot Rice, D., A concise history of painting from prehistory to the thirteenth century (London 1967) p 196.Google Scholar See also Rupin, E., Roc-Amadonr, , étude historique et archaeologiqtte (Paris 1904).Google Scholar
101 Sumption, Pilgrimage p 164. The regional capital, Cahors, was the base of celebrated moneylenders: Renouard, Y., ‘Les Cahorsins: hommes d’affaires francais du douzième siècle’ TRHS 5th ser. 11 (1961) pp 43–67.Google Scholar
102 Cohen, ‘Pilgrim badge trade’ p 197. The Benedictine abbey of Marcillac maintained a long contest with Tulle for control over Rocamadour: Lacoste, , Histoire de QnercY II pp 20, 28, 119.Google Scholar
103 Cohen, ‘Pilgrim badge trade’ p 195. Pilgrim badges originated in the Holy Land and Galicia in the late eleventh century, and their use spread rapidly in the twelfth century: ibid p 194.
104 Cohen, ‘Pilgrim badge trade’ p 196.
105 Ibid p 195.
106 Ibid.
107 Sumption, Pilgrimage p 85.
108 Cesta Regis Henrici, I p 299; Chronicon [Magistri Rogeri] de Hovedene ed Stubbs, W., 4 vols RS, (London 1868-71) II pp 277-8Google Scholar; Lacoste, , Histoire de Quercy II p 102 Google Scholar and ni; Norgatc, Kate, England under the Angevin Kings 2 vols (London 1887), II pp 226-7.Google Scholar The two secondary works take their more colourful details from the Chronicle of Geoffrey de Vigeois, in Novae Bibliolhecae Manuscriptorum Libromm ed Labbe, P., 2 (Paris 1657) pp 279–342.Google Scholar
109 Lacoste, , Histoire de Quercy II p 103 Google Scholar. A more prosaic account relates that the Young King’s illness was brought on by rancour and indignation that his rebellion was not greatly endangering his father’s authority: Chronicon de Hovedene II p 278. There are close parallels between this episode and the circumstances surrounding the death of King Stephen’s son, Eustace, in 1153: Davis, R. H. C., King Stephen 1135-1154 (London 1967) p 121 and n21.Google Scholar
110 Chronicon de Hovedene II p 279.
111 Magister Thomas Agnelli, Sermo de morte et sepultura Henrici regis junioris, printed with the Chronicon Anglicanum of Ralph de Coggeshall ed Stevenson, J. RS (London 1875) pp xx and 267-73Google Scholar. On the contrasting accounts of the Young King’s death, see also Chronicon de Hovedene pp [xvii-]xviii.
112 Turner and Turner, Image and Pilgrimage pp 232-3; Evans, Life in Medieval France p 76; Roy Laduric, E. Le, Montaillou (Paris 1978 Google Scholar; transi Barbara Bray, London 1978) p 287; Valon, L. de, ‘Les pèlerinages expiatoires et judiciaires de la Belgique à Roc-Amadour au moyen age’ Bulletin de la Société des Ètudes du Lot 87 (1966) pp 139-47.Google Scholar
113 Lacoste, Histoire de Quercy II pp 264-5, 435; Barber, Bordeaux and the Dordogne p 189.
