We have now seen the efforts made by William Wey to enfold his audience into the pilgrimage experience through his writing and rewriting of his own visits to the holy places, as well as Bernhard von Breydenbach's exhortations to Christian unity at the expense of those on the outside, whom he regards as other. As we saw when examining Arnold von Harff's approach to other religions, though, he brings something else to the composition process: an expectation that his readers’ interest is not simply in the pilgrimage itself, but that travel provides the opportunity to learn about the contemporary world as well as about salvation history. In his work, secular interest sits squarely alongside the pilgrimage experience, as it does not in our other texts.

Having provided the customary praise of his patrons, Harff begins his account by outlining the highlights of his pilgrimage. These were to be Rome, Sinai, Egypt, Arabia, Syria, Armenia, Kollam on the coast of Kerala in India, the source of the Nile, Cairo, Jerusalem, Cappadocia, Antioch, Constantinople, Santiago de Compostela, Mont St-Michel, St Patrick's Purgatory in Ireland, and the shrine of the Holy Blood at Wilsnack. For pilgrims to boast of the scope of their pilgrimage was neither new, nor universally well received: