A tours-i zarándoklatok a 7–10. században
Pilgrimages to Tours in the Seventh to Tenth Centuries

Summary/Abstract: The sanctity of Martin must have attracted many enthusiastic pilgrims to Tours already during his lifetime. One of them was Sulpicius Severust, who wrote a hagiography of the miracle-working bishop before Martin’s death. The first wave of pilgrims at Tours thus appeared in the late fourth century, on both sides of the bishop’s death. In the second half of the sixth century the cult of Saint Martin and pilgrimage to Tours reached a new peak, attested by the writings of Saint Gregory of Tours and Venantius Fortunatus. The presence of Alcuin at Tours was an outstanding element in the pilgrimages at the turn of the eighth and ninth centuries. During the Viking invasions, on the other hand, pilgrimages came to a temporary halt. The history of pilgrimages cannot be separated from that of the cult of Saint Martin. In the Carolingian period, the cult of Martin and pilgrimage to his tomb received considerable spiritual backing through the spread of the works of Saint Gregory the Great. From the seventh to the tenth century the travels of kings and the wanderings of the masses were framed by conversion and the disquietude of the soul.

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