The Rattle of Time and Travel: The Acoustics of Medieval Pilgrimage

Silence was the baseline for medieval life. In the Middle Ages, Christian pilgrims made their sacred treks mostly in an arduous hush, punctuated by entertaining recitations, rhythmic walking songs, and Latin hymns chanted from memory. At each stop pilgrims broke the silence with the comforting, predictable music of liturgy. Well-known communal music and song marked the day’s progress toward sonic sacredness in the echoey holiness of stone walled chapels and churches. Music and language were the crafted sounds of life that played against a backbeat of nature and purposeful human effort. The acoustic landscape of medieval life changed in the course of the journey. Every city and settlement was a coming ashore on an “acoustic island” where there were new forms of song and speech, different sonic signals for labor and even law, such as calls to shelter, commerce and curfew. Sacred silence could be imposed on an enemy: conquering Muslims carried off Christian church bells as war trophies to silence their infidel calls to worship, while ascendant Christians transformed minarets into bell towers. It wasn’t all muted piety: raucous pilgrim partying could even stop storms. This study categorizes some of the sounds, silences and significance of medieval travel as witnessed by art, architecture and documentary sources.