The pilgrimage, such as the one Chaucer presents in the Canterbury Tales, was a central institution of the medieval church, perhaps second only to the institution of the parish church in its importance to religion during the period. The official purpose of the pilgrimage was to bring the participants in close contact with important religious sites, including major cathedrals like Canterbury and the holy city of Jerusalem, and also to expose them to sacred objects such as the bones and relics of saints. In practice, a pilgrimage had much of the feel of a modern-day tour to some sacred location.
Some pilgrims made the journey for personal reasons, traveling to pray for ill relatives or to seek a miraculous cure for their own ailments. Other pilgrims undertook the pilgrimage to show devotion to their religion through the sacrifice of time and energy that the journey required. In addition to those who journeyed for personal reasons or to express their devotion to God, another segment of pilgrims took the journey simply for the sake of enjoyment and recreation. This agenda is evident in several of Chaucer's pilgrims, including the cook who becomes too drunk to mount his horse.
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