Saturday 21 November 2009

Pilgrimage 2010


If you would like your Pilgrimage included here please mail the details to me at: tocanterbury@gmail.com

28th May to 31st May St Martin-in-the-Fields, London to Canterbury. http://www.smitf-pilgrimage.org.uk/

Saturday 3rd July 2010 The Bradwell Pilgrimage http://www.bradwellchapel.org/

23rd to 25th July 2010. Rochester to Canterbury ( Society of St Pius X) http://www.sspx.co.uk/


For day walks in the countryside around London, usually on Sundays, see the St Francis of Assisi Catholic Ramblers Club http://www.stfrancisramblers.org.uk/

Thomas Becket & Henry II



THIS POST IS NOT YET COMPLETE:

Henry is said to have raised his head from his sickbed and roared a lament of frustration. The King's exact words are in doubt, and several versions have been reported. The most commonly quoted, as handed down by "oral tradition", is "Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?". However, historian Simon Schama accepts the account of the contemporary biographer Edward Grim, writing in Latin, who gives us "What miserable drones and traitors have I nourished and brought up in my household, who let their lord be treated with such shameful contempt by a low-born cleric?" Many variations have found their way into popular culture.

Whatever the King said, it was interpreted as a royal command, and four knights, Reginald FitzUrse, Hugh de Moreville, William de Tracy, and Richard le Breton, set out to confront the Archbishop of Canterbury. On 29 December 1170 they arrived at Canterbury. According to accounts left by the monk Gervase of Canterbury and eyewitness Edward Grim, they placed their weapons under a sycamore tree outside the cathedral and hid their mail armour under cloaks before entering to challenge Becket. The knights informed Becket he was to go to Winchester to give an account of his actions, but Becket refused. It was not until Becket refused their demands to submit to the king's will that they retrieved their weapons and rushed back inside for the killing.

Henry II, called Curtmantle (5 March 1133 – 6 July 1189) ruled as King of England (1154–1189).


Pilgrimage to Canterbury





The Winchester Route to Canterbury






ROUGH DRAFT ONLY

Winchester, the ancient capital of England

To Winchester Cathedral, with it's famous shrine of St Swithun, who was the the companion and tutor of King Alfred the Great. It was the longest Cathedral in Europe. Also into Winchester came pilgrim s from the West Country. The route from Winchester would have passed through Alresford, and on to Farnham. Many pilgrims would have rested at Waverley Abbey, the oldest Cistercian abbey in England, having been founded in 1128,some three miles to the south east of Farnham. It's ruins remain among the meadows by the river. Pilgrims would then cross the River Wey. On their way to Farnham some pil....

At Farnham .... // North Downs Way begins

Farnham to Guildford (10 miles)

Guildford to Gomshall (8 miles)


Gomshall to Westhumble (7 miles)


Westhumble to Merstham (10 miles)

Buckland, just before Reigate. Merstham: north of Nutfield (and Redhill).

Merstham to Oxted (8 miles)

Bletchingly The White Hart (In existence by 1388).

Oxted to Otford (12 miles)

Oxted The Crown, The Old Bell, / Limpsfield and at last into Kent; Chevening, Otford.

Otford to Wrotham (8 miles)

Kemsing. Wrotham (pilgrims crosses cut in the stonework under the church tower.

Wrotham to Cuxton (9 miles)

After Wrotham: (1) some N as far as Cuxton; OR: (2) N but cross the Medway at Snodland, and SE to Boxley; OR (3) to St Mary's Abbey at West Malling, then fording or bridging the river at Aylesford, and on to the Carmelite priory there; OR (4) to stay at the Inns of Maidstone, three miles to the south east. Here in 1261 Archbishop Boniface built a hospital on the banks of the river for pilgrims to Canterbury.

Cuxton to Boxley (10 miles)


Boxley to Hollingbourne (7 miles)

Snodland to Boxley: Boxley Abbey Cistercian house The Holy Rood of Grace, it's name taken from it's crucifix. / Thurnam. / A small priory at Hollingbourne.

Hollingbourne to Charing (8 miles)

Charing to Wye (7 miles)
Charing to Canterbury: 16m Pilgrims turn NE towards the line of the river Stour. Chilham.

Wye to Canterbury (14 miles)

Harbledown: meets the London road

The London Route to Canterbury


Pilgrims for the Midlands, the North and East Anglia, and those from London, would cross London Bridge to Southwark. Chaucer's pilgrims began their journey at the Tabard Inn at Southwark. Pilgims followed the Roman Watling Street to Canterbury. The distance of some fifty four miles seemed to have taken three to four days. They followed the route that would have been taken by Becket from London to Canterbury on his last journey.

Chaucer mentions Deptford, Greenwich, Rochester and Sittingbourne. The first night would probably have been spent at Dartford. Pilgrims would then ford the River Darent, and continue until they crosed the wooden bridge spanning the Medway into Rochester. Most pilgrims would spend their second night in or near Rochester. Inns included the Crown (the oldest), and later the Bull and the King's Head. Pilgrims probably changed horses at Rochester. A well established system of horse hiring existed. Eight miles beyond Rochester is Newington where st Thomas confirmed some children shortly before his death.

Five miles beyond Sittingbourne, where Henry V refreshed himself at the Red Lion on the way home from Agincourt, and where Chaucer's pilgrims halted, is Ospringe, with it's celebrated Maison Dieu, which gave hospitality to wayfarers. Here Henry II stayed. In the adjacent town of Faversham pilgrims could see a piece of the True Cross at the Cluniac Abbey, which contained the bones of it's founder King Stephen and his wife Matilda.

At Boughton under Blee (now Boughton Street) the Canon's servant joined Chaucer's pilgrims. Then they ascended the hills of the forest of Blean. The road passes through Upper Harbledown, descends to a valley and climbs again to the village described by Chaucer as "Bob-up-and-down" or Harbledown. It was here that Henry II made his gift to the almshouses, and dismounted to walk into Canterbury. From the eastern brow of the hill the pilgrims could see Canterbury and the Cathedral. They would go down the road, crossing the Stour, and into the city through the West Gate, half a mile beyond St Dunstan's Church.

Friday 20 November 2009

Pilgrimage Routes to Canterbury


Pilgrims began to make pilgrimage to Canterbury within days of the murder of the Lord Archbishop Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral in December 1170. Accounts of miraculous cures began just two days after the murder.

Henry II (the King on whose behalf Becket was murdered) himself made pilgrimage to Canterbury. Returning from Normandy to Southampton, he rode the Pilgrim's road from Winchester, the ancient capital of England. At Harbledown, just outside of Canterbury, where the Winchester road joined the London road, he made a gift to the Harbledown Almshouses, which was still paid by the Crown even into the twentieth century. Once in sight of the Cathedral Henry dismounted, put on a hair shirt, and walked barefoot in the rain to the Cathedral.

There are two principal pilgrim routes to Canterbury. The first from London is along the Roman Watling Street, now the A2. The other is from Winchester, then Farnham, closely following an ancient trading route, what is now called the North Downs Way. This was the route taken by King Henry II.

The London route take the way of Thomas Becket's last journey. After a sermon to the Augustinian foundation at St Mary's Priory at Southwark (Now Southwark Cathedral) on 23 December 1170, he left for Canterbury along Watling Street. He was murdered in the Cathedral of Canterbury on 29 December 1170.

Philippa Roet


Philippa Roet (c 1346 - c 1387) - also known as Philippa Pan or Philippa Chaucer - was the sister of Katherine Swynford and the wife of Geoffrey Chaucer.

Philippa was the daughter of Sir Gilles de Roet, who was a knight of Hainault and accompanied Queen Philippa to England. There is no history of her mother, but it is thought that Philippa had two sisters and a brother: Katherine, Elizabeth, and Walter. Her father went to serve the queen’s sister, Marguerite, who was the empress of Germany and the four children were left in the care of Queen Philippa.

It was her father’s relationship with royalty that gave Philippa and her family high status and a reputation among the upper class, who took Philippa in as a ‘domicella,’ or lady-in-waiting. She began in the households of Elizabeth of Ulster and Queen Philippa, and ended with Costanza of Castile. These associations proved to be valuable, as Philippa began to receive annuities from Edward III, Richard II, and John of Gaunt, Costanza’s husband.

Philippa is believed to have picked up the nickname “Philippa Pan” while working at Elizabeth of Ulster’s household. There are records from 1357-1359 from the house of Elizabeth of Ulster which mention “a lady designated as Philippa Pan”.[7] “Pan” may have been abbreviated for the word “Panetaria,” meaning mistress of the pantry, which is most likely where Philippa worked in the Ulster household. The name might also come from her father, who sometimes went by ‘Paon’ or Payne.

Geoffrey Chaucer was commissioned to work as a page in Elizabeth’s household in 1357, where Philippa was already working as a domicella. This is where they are believed to have met After Elizabeth’s death, both were sent to work for the queen, caring for her infant daughter, Philippa of Eltham. Philippa was around 10 years old at the time and Chaucer was said to be around 12. Their marriage might have been arranged by Queen Philippa herself in September 1366. It was apparently tradition for domicellas and esquires who worked in the same household to marry.

Once married, although granddaughter Philippa of Eltham was grown, it was decided they would continue working for her and the king.[14] As a result of this marriage, Queen Philippa and King Edward III granted lifetime of annuity to the couple in 1366. This payment allowed the Chaucers to set up a household within the royal one. Chaucer was then taken into the King’s household in 1367. These salaries gave the Chaucers great financial security and a good lifestyle. After the death of the queen, Philippa went to the service of Costanza of Castile and John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster. Following Costanza’s death in 1394, John wed his mistress, Katherine, who was also Philippa’s sister. His connection with two prestigious families significantly increased the Chaucers’ status in society. Due to the varying nature of their jobs, Chaucer and Philippa were often forced to spend much of their time apart. Great consideration has been given to the possibility that the difficulties in the Chaucer’s marriage were mirrored in Chaucer’s Franklin’s Tale, which shows how a strategic marriage might be experienced. This possibly reveals how his marriage to Philippa helped Chaucer improve his social status since.

Children
It is probable that Chaucer and Philippa had “two sons and two daughters,” whose birthdates are unknown. It is speculated that “one or two” of these children were actually fathered by John of Gaunt. This is likely, as Philippa and Chaucer both spent a great deal of time in the Gaunt household.

Elizabeth is thought to be the oldest of their children, but her parentage is still open to debate. Her birth prompted King Edward to give the Chaucers another annuity. She may have been a nun in Barking Abbey; there are records of an “Elizabeth Chausier” and her nickname being “Chaucy” which leads historians to believe that she was their daughter. It is also thought that she was named after Elizabeth of Ulster.

Thomas, the eldest son and most well known, might have been born around 1367 judging from the dates he entered the military; it is suggested that he was the son of John of Gaunt, whom he served under and received favors from. A strong relationship with Philippa is also suggested due to the fact that Thomas chose to bear her coat of arms over Chaucer’s. However, this could be due to the prestigious title of her family; it is recorded that in 1409, Thomas then chose to bear Chaucer’s coat of arms.He died in 1434.

Very little is known of Lewis and Agnes, the second son and youngest daughter. However, it is recorded that Lewis was born in 1381 and sent to the school at Oxford at age 10; Agnes, who is believed to be his second daughter, was a lady-in-waiting at Henry IV's coronation in 1399.

Although there is no true evidence, Philippa is thought to have died in 1387, due to her last recorded pension being on 18 June 1387. This is evidenced by Chaucer’s last recorded overseas journey, which was in the same year. It is also suggested that he may have fallen out of favor with the court following her presumed death.

Chaucer Time Line



ROUGH DRAFT ONLY

An Age of English Mystics and Writers.

13 November 1312 Birth of Edward III to Edward II & Isabella of France

1314 Birth of Philippa of Hainault. Philippa was born in Valenciennes (then in Flanders, now France) and was the daughter of William I, Count of Hainaut and Jeanne of Valois, the granddaughter of Philip III of France.

1327 Edward III crowned King

1328 Marriage of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault in York Minster.
Married on 24 January 1328, / Among their children were: Edward, Prince of Wales, The Black Prince, and John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster

1343 Richard Rolle, hermit and mystical writer, writes "The Fire of Love". ("I cannot tell you how surprised I was the first time I felt my heart begin to warm.") Anonymous author of "The Cloud of Unknowing" is a contemporary.
- Geoffrey Chaucer born

c 1346 Philippa Roet born.

1348 The Black Death: one of the deadliest pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. It is widely thought to have been an outbreak of bubonic plague.

3 April 1366/7 Henry IV (Bolingbroke) born at Bolingbroke Castle,son of John of Gaunt and Blanche of Lancaster

6 January 1367 Birth of Richard II (son of Edward, the Black Prince, and Joan "The Fair Maid of Kent".

1369 Death of Philippa of Hainault

1372 Dame Julian of Norwich has a series of mystical experiences; writes of them in "Revelations of Divine Love". ("And all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.")

1375 "Gawain" poet at work.

It is only with the Peasants' Revolt that Richard starts to emerge clearly in the annals.

20 January 1382 Richard marries Anne of Bohemia, daughter of Charles IV, King of Bohemia, Holy Roman Emperor and Elisabeth of Pomerania. victories.[21] The marriage was childless, and Anne died in 1394.

1386 Geoffrey Chaucer begins the "Canterbury Tales".

c1387 Philippa Roet dies

27 July 1380 Henry IV marries Mary de Bohun at Arundel Castle. They will have seven children.

1390 William Langland, an evangelical, completes "Piers Plowman".

4 November 1396 Richard II marries Isabella of Valois No children. Isabella, daughter of Charles VI of France. There were some misgivings about the marriage, however; since the princess was only six years old she was unlikely to produce an heir for many years.

1396 Walter Hilton, Augustinian mystic and author of "The Ladder of Perfection", dies.

1381 Peasnats Revolt. A Dream of John Ball

1381 John Wyclif, an Oxford theologian, publishes his "Confession", denying that the "substance" of bread and wine are miraculously annihilated during the Eucharist. (Wyclif is appealing to the Bible over the heads of the clergy. He is forced to retire by his colleagues, mostly because they are worried by this year's peasant revolt.)

c.1386–1393 John Gower Confessio Amantis

30 September 1399 Henry IV King BUT Richard??

1400 14th February: King Richard II deposed.
- 25th October: Geoffrey Chaucer dies.

1401 Persecution of Lollards (Dutch word for "babblers"). They are mostly working men, revolting against clergy. Their leaders read Wyclif's translation of the Bible.

7 February 1403 Henry IV marries (2) Joanna of Navarre inWinchester Cathedral. No children

20 March 1413 Henry IV dies Westminster Abbey aged 45 or 46

1438 The Book of Margery Kempe completed.

Chaucer's Works



Chaucer's first major work, The Book of the Duchess, was an elegy for Blanche of Lancaster (who died in 1369). It is possible that this work was commissioned by her husband John of Gaunt, It would appear to have been written between the years 1369 and 1374. Two other early works by Chaucer were Anelida and Arcite and The House of Fame. Chaucer wrote many of his major works in a prolific period when he held the job of customs comptroller for London (1374 to 1386). His Parlement of Foules, The Legend of Good Women and Troilus and Criseyde all date from this time. Also it is believed that he started work on The Canterbury Tales in the early 1380s. These tales would help to shape English literature.

The Canterbury Tales contrasts with other literature of the period in the naturalism of its narrative, the variety of stories the pilgrims tell and the varied characters who are engaged in the pilgrimage. The many jobs that Chaucer held in medieval society—page, soldier, messenger, valet, bureaucrat, foreman and administrator—probably exposed him to many of the types of people he depicted in the Tales. He was able to shape their speech and satirize their manners in what was to become popular literature among people of the same types.

Chaucer's works are sometimes grouped into, first a French period, then an Italian period and finally an English period, with Chaucer being influenced by those countries' literatures in turn. Certainly Troilus and Criseyde is a middle period work with its reliance on the forms of Italian poetry, little known in England at the time, but to which Chaucer was probably exposed during his frequent trips abroad on court business. In addition, its use of a classical subject and its elaborate, courtly language sets it apart as one of his most complete and well-formed works. In Troilus and Criseyde Chaucer draws heavily on his source, Boccaccio, and on the late Latin philosopher Boethius.

Chaucer also translated such important works as Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy and The Romance of the Rose by Guillaume de Lorris.

Chaucer wrote in continental accentual-syllabic metre, a style which had developed since around the twelfth century as an alternative to the alliterative Anglo-Saxon metre. Chaucer is known for metrical innovation, inventing the rhyme royal, and he was one of the first English poets to use the five-stress line, a decasyllabic cousin to the iambic pentameter, in his work, with only a few anonymous short works using it before him. The arrangement of these five-stress lines into rhyming couplets, first seen in his Legend of Good Women, was used in much of his later work and became one of the standard poetic forms in English. His early influence as a satirist is also important, with the common humorous device, the funny accent of a regional dialect, apparently making its first appearance in The Reeve's Tale.

Chaucer's English
Chaucer is sometimes considered the source of the English vernacular tradition and the "father" of modern English literature. His achievement for the language can be seen as part of a general historical trend towards the creation of a vernacular literature after the example of Dante in many parts of Europe.

The poet Thomas Hoccleve, who may have met Chaucer and considered him his role model, hailed Chaucer as "the firste fyndere of our fair langage." John Lydgate referred to Chaucer as the 'lodesterre...off our language'. Around two centuries later, Sir Philip Sidney greatly praised Troilus and Criseyde.

Modern English is somewhat distanced from the language of Chaucer's poems owing to the effect of the Great Vowel Shift some time after his death. This change in the pronunciation of English, still not fully understood, makes the reading of Chaucer difficult for the modern audience, though it is thought by some[who?] that the modern Scottish accent is closely related to the sound of Middle English. The status of the final -e in Chaucer's verse is uncertain: it seems likely that during the period of Chaucer's writing the final -e was dropping out of colloquial English and that its use was somewhat irregular. Chaucer's versification suggests that the final -e is sometimes to be vocalised, and sometimes to be silent; however, this remains a point on which there is disagreement. When it is vocalised, most scholars pronounce it as a schwa. Apart from the irregular spelling, much of the vocabulary is recognisable to the modern reader. Chaucer is also recorded in the Oxford English Dictionary as the first author to use many common English words in his writings. These words were probably frequently used in the language at the time but Chaucer, with his ear for common speech, is the earliest manuscript source. Acceptable, alkali, altercation, amble, angrily, annex, annoyance, approaching, arbitration, armless, army, arrogant, arsenic, arc, artillery and aspect are just some of those from the first letter of the alphabet.

Seventeenth and eighteenth century writers, such as John Dryden, admired Chaucer for his stories, but not for his rhythm and rhyme, as few critics could then read Middle English and the text had been butchered by printers, leaving a somewhat unadmirable mess. It was not until the late 19th century that the official Chaucerian canon, accepted today, was decided upon, largely as a result of Walter William Skeat's work.

One hundred and fifty years after his death, The Canterbury Tales was selected by William Caxton to be one of the first books to be printed in England.

Geoffrey Chaucer



Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343 – 25 October 1400) was an author, poet, bureaucrat, courtier and diplomat. He wrote many works, and is best remembered for the unfinished The Canterbury Tales. Sometimes called the father of English literature, Chaucer is credited by some scholars as the first author to demonstrate the artistic legitimacy of the vernacular English language, rather than French or Latin.

Chaucer was born in London, though the exact date and location of his birth are not known. His father and grandfather were both London vintners and before that, for several generations, the family members were merchants in Ipswich. His name is derived from the French chausseur, meaning shoemaker. In 1324 John Chaucer, Geoffrey's father, was kidnapped by an aunt in the hope of marrying the twelve-year-old boy to her daughter in an attempt to keep property in Ipswich. The aunt was imprisoned and the £250 fine levied suggests that the family was financially secure, upper middle-class, if not in the elite. John married Agnes Copton, who, in 1349, inherited properties including 24 shops in London from her uncle, Hamo de Copton, who is described as the "moneyer" at the Tower of London.

The first time he is mentioned is in 1357, in the household accounts of Elizabeth de Burgh, the Countess of Ulster, when he became the noblewoman's page through his father's connections.

In 1359, in the early stages of the Hundred Years' War, Edward III invaded France and Chaucer travelled with Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence, Elizabeth's husband, as part of the English army.

After this, he seems to have traveled in France, Spain, and Flanders, possibly as a messenger and perhaps even going on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. Around 1366, Chaucer married Philippa (de) Roet. She was a lady-in-waiting to Edward III's queen, Philippa of Hainault, and a sister of Katherine Swynford, who later (ca. 1396) became the third wife of Chaucer's friend and patron, John of Gaunt. It is uncertain how many children Chaucer and Philippa had, but three or four are most commonly cited. His son, Thomas Chaucer, had an illustrious career, as chief butler to four kings, envoy to France, and Speaker of the House of Commons. Thomas' daughter, Alice, married the Duke of Suffolk. Thomas' great-grandson (Geoffrey's great-great-grandson), John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln, was the heir to the throne designated by Richard III before he was deposed. Geoffrey's other children probably included Elizabeth Chaucy, a nun at Barking Abbey.[5][6] Agnes, an attendant at Henry IV's coronation; and another son, Lewis Chaucer.

Chaucer may have studied law in the Inner Temple (an Inn of Court) at about this time, although definite proof is lacking. He became a member of the royal court of Edward III as a varlet de chambre, yeoman, or esquire on 20 June 1367, a position which could entail any number of jobs. His wife also received a pension for court employment. In 1368, he may have attended the wedding of Lionel of Antwerp to Violante, daughter of Galeazzo II Visconti, in Milan. Two other literary stars of the era were in attendance: Jean Froissart and Petrarch. Around this time, Chaucer is believed to have written The Book of the Duchess in honour of Blanche of Lancaster, the late wife of John of Gaunt, who died in 1369.

Chaucer traveled to Picardy the next year as part of a military expedition, and visited Genoa and Florence in 1373. It is speculated that, on this Italian trip, he came into contact with medieval Italian poetry, the forms and stories of which he would use later. One other trip he took in 1377 seems shrouded in mystery, with records of the time conflicting in details. Later documents suggest it was a mission, along with Jean Froissart, to arrange a marriage between the future King Richard II and a French princess, thereby ending the Hundred Years War. If this was the purpose of their trip, they seem to have been unsuccessful, as no wedding occurred.

Chaucer obtained the very substantial job of Comptroller of the Customs for the port of London, which he began on 8 June, 1374. He must have been suited for the role as he continued in it for twelve years, a long time in such a post at that time. His life goes undocumented for much of the next ten years, but it is believed that he wrote (or began) most of his famous works during this period.

It is not known if Chaucer was in the city of London at the time of the Peasants' Revolt, but if he was, he would have seen its leaders pass almost directly under his apartment window at Aldgate.

While still working as comptroller, Chaucer appears to have moved to Kent, being appointed as one of the commissioners of peace for Kent, at a time when French invasion was a possibility. He is thought to have started work on The Canterbury Tales in the early 1380s. He also became a Member of Parliament for Kent in 1386. There is no further reference after this date to Philippa, Chaucer's wife, and she is presumed to have died in 1387.

On 12 July, 1389, Chaucer was appointed the clerk of the king's works, organizing most of the king's building projects. No major works were begun during his tenure, but he did conduct repairs on Westminster Palace, St. George's Chapel, Windsor, continue building the wharf at the Tower of London. On 17 June, 1391, that he stopped working in this capacity. Almost immediately, on 22 June, he began as deputy forester in the royal forest of North Petherton, Somerset. It is believed that Chaucer stopped work on the Canterbury Tales sometime towards the end of this decade.

Not long after the overthrow of his patron, Richard II, in 1399, Chaucer's name fades from the historical record. The last few records of his life show his pension renewed by the new king, and his taking of a lease on a residence within the close of Westminster Abbey on December 24, 1399.

He is believed to have died of unknown causes on 25 October, 1400, but there is no firm evidence for this date, as it comes from the engraving on his tomb, erected more than one hundred years after his death. Chaucer was buried in Westminster Abbey in London, as was his right owing to his status as a tenant of the Abbey's close. In 1556, his remains were transferred to a more ornate tomb, making Chaucer the first writer interred in the area now known as Poets' Corner.

The Master Game

“Seek, above all for a game worth playing. Such is the advice of the oracle to modern Man. Having found the game, play it with intensity – play as if your life and sanity depended on it. (They do depend on it.)…Though nothing means anything and all roads are marked “no exit”, yet move as if your movements had some purpose. If life does not seem to offer a game worth playing, then invent one. For it must be clear, even to the most clouded intelligence, that any game is better than no game.

But although it is safe to play the Master Game, this has not served to make it popular. It still remains the most demanding and difficult of games and in our society, there are few who play. Contemporary man, hypnotized by the glitter of his own gadgets, has little contact with his inner world, concerns himself with outer, not inner space.

But the Master Game is played entirely in the inner world, a vast and complex territory about which men know very little. The aim of the game is true awakening, full development of the powers latent in man. The game can be played only by people whose observations of themselves and others have led them to a certain conclusion. Namely, that man’s ordinary state of consciousness, his so called waking state is not the highest level of consciousness of which he is capable. In fact, this state is so far from real awakening that it could appropriately be called a from of somnambulism, a condition of “waking sleep.”

Once a person has reached this conclusion, he is no longer able to sleep comfortably. A new appetite develops within him, the hunger for real awakening, for full consciousness. He realized that he sees, hears, and knows only a tiny fraction of what he could see, hear and know. That he lives in the poorest, shabbiest of the rooms in his inner dwelling, and that he could enter other rooms, beautiful and filled with treasures, the windows of which look out on eternity and infinity.

The solitary player lives today in a culture that is more or less totally opposed to the aims he has set for himself, that does not recognized the existence of the Master Game, and regards players of this game as queer or slightly mad. The player thus confronts great opposition from the culture in which he lives and must strive with forces which tend to bring his game to a halt before it has even started. Only by finding a teacher and becoming a part of the group… can the player find encouragement and support. Otherwise, he simply forgets his aim, or wonders off down some side road and loses himself.

Here it is sufficient to say that the Master Game can NEVER be made easy to play. It demands all that a man has, all his feelings, all his thoughts, his entire resources, physical and spiritual. If he tries to play it in a halfhearted way or tries to get results by unlawful means, he runs the risk of destroying his own potential. For this reason it is better not to embark on the game at all than to play it half halfheartedly.”

Robert S. DeRopp

Thursday 19 November 2009

The Bradwell Pilgrimage


The annual Bradwell Pilgrimage to the Chapel of St Peter-on-the-Wall, Bradwell-on-Sea, Essex, takes place on the first Saturday of July every year. The official website is at http://www.bradwellchapel.org/

From St Columba's monastery at Iona, Aidan was sent at the invitation of King Oswald of Northumbria to set up a monastery at Lindisfarne on the north-east coast of England. It was also to be a school where Anglo-Saxon boys could be trained to become priests and missionaries. It was in this school that St Cedd learnt to read and write in Latin, and learnt to teach the Christian faith.

When King Sigbert of the East Saxons (Essex) asked for a mission, it was Cedd who was sent.

So in AD653 Cedd sailed down the east coast from Lindisfarne and landed at Bradwell. Here he found the ruins of an old deserted Roman fort. He probably first built a small wooden church but as there was so much stone from the fort he began to build the chapel we see today! It was built where the gatehouse of the fort had been - so it was built on the wall of the fort - hence the name - Saint Peter-on-the-Wall. Cedd modelled his church on the style of churches in Egypt and Syria. The Celtic Christians were greatly influenced by the churches in that part of the world and we know that St Antony of Egypt had built his church from the ruins of a fort on the banks of a river, just as Cedd did on the banks of the River Blackwater in Essex.

Wednesday 18 November 2009

The Knyght



A Knyght ther was, and that a worthy man
That fro the tyme that he first bigan
To riden out, he loved chivalrie,
Trouthe and honour, fredom and curteisie
Ful worthy was he in his lordes werre
And therto hadde he riden, no man ferre

Just home from service, he had joined our ranks
To do his pilgrimage, and render thanks.

Twitter Pilgrims


DRAMATIS PERSONAE

The dramatis personae of our Twitter pilgrymage: all on the @toCanturbury lists except underinvitation 1 and 2. Four and forty merie pilgrimes bolde.

The lists underinvitaion 1 and 2 are our onlookers. I will post a list of our pilgrims to the blog very soon.

In the dayes of olde we wer wel nyne and twenty sondry folk, and one or two others joined alonge the waye.

This Blog


This blog treats of several related themes. Pilgrimage: our journeys through our lives. Physical pilgrimages: to Canterbury, El Camino to Santiago and others. The Canterbury Tales of Chaucer's pilgrims. And the life and literature of Geoffrey Chaucer himself.

Postings over the next few months will include: the historical background to pilgrimages to Canterbury; the Pilgrimage routes to Canterbury (from London, and from Winchester); profiles of the pilgrims of the Canterbury Tales; and the life and writings of Chaucer himself.

Over time other pilgrimages may be mentioned: the Bradwell Pilgrimage; Walsingham and others. Details of actual pilgrimages will be included.

Tuesday 17 November 2009

Oure Hooste: Instructions for the Journey



Oure Hooste

Instructions for the Journey (based on the words of Oure Hooste at the Tabard Inn, Southwark)


Now Lordynges, trewely, herkneth, if yow leste.

Ye been to me right welcome, hertely. For by my trouthe, if that I shal nat lye, I saugh [saw] nat so myrie a compaignye.

Ye goon to Caunterbury, God yow speede. The blisful martir, Thomas, quite yow youre meede!

For trewely, confort ne myrthe is noon, to ride by the weye doumb as a stoon.
[There's little pleasure for our bones, riding along and all as dumb as stones]

Lordynges, now herketh for the beste.

This is the poynt, to speken short and pleyn, that ech of yow, to short with oure weye, in this pilgrymage shal telle tales.
[Each one of you shall help to make things slip, by telling stories]

Tweet, lordynges, short and pleyn; boold of yow speche, and wys. Give full measure of good morality; and general pleasure, without sighs.

And which of yow that bereth hym best of alle, shal have a soper at oure aller cost, Whan that we come agayn from Caunterbury.

Whoso be rebel to my juggement, however much the journey costs, shal paye for al that we spenden by the weye.

In our pilgrymage of olde, tales were told sequentially; but now we mayst all tweet at once, being that we have technology.

Tweet, gentle pilgrims, bigynneth. Tweet full merrily, so we may heere. Tweet to @toCanterbury and he will RT.

We will tweet about oure pilgrime tales of olde: the Pardoner, the Miller, the Knight, and the Reeve; The Merchant, the Nun’s Priest, and the Franklin too.

The Summoner,the Friar and the Lady Prioresse.

But what be the moste of all, my pilgrimes bolde; are yow tales that ye tellen, young and old.

Tweet and tell what, do I hear you ask? Tales of your life, of your journey in life.

Seyde oure hooste: talk merrily and flippantly, for general pleasure.

So seyde he too: talke yow wis,[wise]and worthy; give yow full measure of good morality.

So with ful glad herte now we ryden forth oure waye, with ful devout corage, what nedeth wordes mo?

Withouten any lenger, taryynge; we canne tell, oure tales my friends.

We canne tell oure tales with right a myrie cheere, the merriest bande in all Twitterdom.

*

Alexander Pope (more or less): She sees a Mob of Pilgrims advance, Pleas'd with the Madness of the mazy dance. (The Dunciad Variorum)

Alexander Pope: But Sense surviv'd, when merry Jests were past; for rising Merit will buoy up at last. (An Essay on Criticism)

Will Shakespeare: The more pity, that fools may not speak wisely what wise men do foolishly.

*

The Longest Journey is the Journey Inward. We carry within us all the wonders that we seek without us. Enjoy the journey. Be merie!

Our pilgrymage, where serious things are done with a sense of fun.

What is this thing called Life? What is this thing called Love? What is at the heart of your life? What is the true Love of your Life?

I have searched for the love of my heart, I searched but I could not find it
Then I found the love of my heart, I've embraced him and I will not let him go