Elisabeth Richenhagen delivers an important book devoted to a more profound investigation of Holy Land pilgrimage and ideas of Jerusalem in the eleventh century than has been offered by previous scholarship. It has long been known that phenomena around the year 1000 represent significant origins for subsequent developments, notably the crusade movement. And yet, previous research has, overall, limited itself to narrow samples of sources, especially such of a historiographical nature. Similarly, one could get the impression that the debate had reached a tie between two camps, that is, the apocalyptic scholars and their opponents. Richenhagen now offers an original stimulus for this debate by assembling a new empirical basis of 260 sources, among them 85 charters (including wills set up before departure) and 61 hagiographical texts: these sources testify to 190 pilgrimages in the eleventh century. She subjects many features surrounding ideas of Jerusalem to a profound examination, for example, Imitatio Christi or the meaning of the holy places, specifically via considering their theological underpinnings. And she claims that the variety of sources provides insights into the ideas of the pilgrims themselves. The book thus supersedes what has been done by scholars such as Carl Erdmann or Richard Landes, and it embeds its results efficiently into an international debate – as visible in an impressively large bibliography. Yet, there are still a few relevant titles missing here, for example, Michael Frassetto’s crucial work on sermons around the year 1000, or Matthew Gabriele’s seminal article on Isaiah 11.10 (Journal of Medieval History 42/3 (2016)) – especially since Richenhagen devotes two sections to this biblical reference.

Chapter (I) offers a German-style introduction, which could have been presented in a more condensed form; it is throwing around a lot with diverse theoretical concepts. Many of these, however, are not really applied to the analysis of the sources. Chapter (II) examines alternative manifestations of Jerusalem in the West, considering the four senses of Scripture and monastic concepts, including the divergent opinions about monks on pilgrimage. Chapter (III) is concerned with the experiences on the journey, exploring ideas of liminality and exile, but also a practical aspect, namely that the conversion of the Hungarians opened up a new land route. Chapter (IV) is devoted to the presence of the holy city, straddling both the experiences when visiting it and the devices of making it present in the West, such as via relics or the Easter liturgy. Chapter (V) discusses eschatological ideas surrounding the Jerusalem pilgrimage, reviewing episodes such as the German pilgrimage of 1064–65, and thereby addressing an important scholarly debate. I highlight here four results that these chapters produced: (1) In contrast to the succeeding period, Jerusalem is not understood as the center of the world, but often even as a form of exile. Richenhagen also sees a clear distinction between earthly and heavenly city, once again a sharp contrast to the twelfth century (see, for example, the work of Sylvia Schein). (2) The author claims to have found no references to armed pilgrims, thus drawing a clear line to the crusades. (3) She stresses that the destruction of the Holy Sepulcher was not widely known in the West, therefore contesting the scholarly idea that this was a crucial cause for the growing number of pilgrimages. (4) She distinguishes between an individual apocalypse (the personal death), which plays a preeminent role for the pilgrims, and the collective apocalypse (the Last Judgment), concluding that this dimension has been overestimated in the past on the basis of a few historiographical accounts.

Two dimensions require review. First, even though the author offers a new empirical basis, many sources remain unconsidered: 85 charters are not much for covering the entire Latin West. Other sources have not been considered at all, most importantly, sermon collections. One observes a trend in the eleventh century that such texts were increasingly designed for popular audiences: these would thus have been apt sources for addressing the book’s objective. Generally, it remains unclear how the author selected sources; it seems as if this was primarily determined by the fact of which sources are published. The bibliography lists only two unpublished pieces. This raises the question of how representative the results are, or if other sources would offer a different picture. Especially sermons, for instance, those of Fulbert of Chartres, Petrus Damiani, or numerous anonymous pieces, could potentially contest some of the book’s arguments – so I anticipate based on my own experience. This brings me to my second point: Richenhagen downplays the role of apocalyptic expectations. Even though she cites the most relevant scholarship, she does not really engage with the arguments proposed there. For example, Richard Landes argued that eschatological beliefs were repeatedly disappointed because the Apocalypse never came. Therefore, these beliefs are only present in remnants in texts written after the fact; and it explains why many pilgrims returned home. Simultaneously, it is no surprise that charters do not offer much on that: this is simply the wrong place to look. Important sources testifying to apocalyptic beliefs are, for some obscure reason, neglected in the book, notably the treatise on the Antichrist of Adso of Montier-en-Der, but also earlier texts that were richly received in the period, such as the Pseudo-Methodius. Sermons also unveil strong apocalyptic beliefs: Michael Frassetto and Daniel F. Callahan have shown this for those of Ademar of Chabannes – while Richenhagen only considers his chronicle. Similarly, she does not develop a proper methodology for detecting apocalyptic references, a complex matter because such references are often disguised under rich biblical imagery. The conclusions of the last chapter remain thus debatable, even more so in light of the apocalyptic First Crusade. As scholars such as Jean Flori and Jay Rubenstein have shown, this expedition fulfilled the expectations build up in the decades before. But these points of criticism aside, Richenhagen’s book is certainly a worthwhile read. It offers numerous new and sound observations on ideas of Jerusalem and the Holy Land pilgrimage in the eleventh century, and thus represents a milestone in the corresponding scholarly debates.