English Wayfaring Life in the Middle Ages (XIVth Century) — Reading Notes

Archival Sources vs. Poetic License

Jusserand explicitly warns that poets 'embellish, imagine, colour, or transform,' and that their statements must be checked. He turns to English public records as a corrective, likening them to the burial grounds of Egypt or the preserved town of Pompeii. This approach is evident in his treatment of pardoners: while Chaucer's Pardoner has 'heer as yelwe as wex,' Jusserand corroborates the type with papal bulls and episcopal circulars. He cites Boniface IX's 1390 order for bishops to investigate pardoners 'de plano ac sine strepitu et figura judicii'—without legal formality—and Richard d'Angerville's 1340 circular requiring rigorous visa checks. The archival evidence thus confirms the literary portrait while adding administrative detail.

The Pardoner as Economic Agent

Jusserand's analysis of pardoners emphasizes their financial operations. He notes that they 'remit vows of chastity, of abstinence, of pilgrimage' for a small compensation, and that they 'allow heretics to re-enter the bosom of the Church' and 'remove excommunications.' The author stresses that these figures formed 'regular associations for systematically speculating on public credulity.' A key detail is that authorized pardoners paid receipts into the Roman treasury, but many operated without authorization, keeping all proceeds. Jusserand quotes the papal complaint that they 'are never known to give an account of it to any one,' underscoring the gap between official regulation and actual practice.

Everyday Credulity and Its Exploiters

The excerpt on Frà Cipolla—a fictional pardoner from Boccaccio—illustrates how Jusserand uses literary examples as starting points for historical inquiry. Frà Cipolla is described as 'the jolliest rascal in the world,' a fine talker who shows 'the most wonderful relics' in exchange for money or corn. Jusserand connects this to the real-world practice of collecting dues for St. Anthony's protection over livestock. He observes that such people 'released their customers from all possible vows' and 'were a living encouragement to sin,' because the easier absolution became, the more their business thrived. The passage reveals how Jusserand weaves together literary, papal, and episcopal sources to reconstruct a social system where religious devotion and economic exploitation were inseparable.

Readers should note that Jusserand's method—constant cross-referencing of literary texts with administrative records—means the book is as much about historical methodology as about medieval travel. The excerpts provided are drawn from the early chapters and a later section on pardoners; the full work covers many other wayfarers, including pilgrims, merchants, and messengers. Jusserand's focus on the fourteenth century and his reliance on English archives give the study a specific regional and temporal focus that the catalog subjects only partially capture.

There’s a particular tenderness in how Jusserand reads between the dry lines of archives, finding the heartbeat of wandering folk. I feel that same quiet warmth whenever I return to the ground beneath those chronicles; not the grand battles, but the plain steps of people getting by. Both keep their counsel gently, like old friends. Old English Chronicles — Text and Context rests beside them on my shelf, sharing their steady, unglamorous truth.