Beseeching the Lord. In 1350 a spectacular religious event took place in Rome. As many as one million pilgrims crowded into the city for the celebration of the Holy Year proclaimed by the Pope. The assembling of so many people, from every region west of Russia to distant Iceland, demonstrated the unity of western Christianity under the papacy. While there were a few dissenters and non-Christians, the vast majority of western Christendom accepted the unchallenged authority of the Catholic Church as divinely ordained. Although there was greater variation in Catholic ritual and belief from region to region than there would be in 1600, one could travel from Iceland to Sicily and from Portugal to Latvia and find the same religion. The presence of pilgrims in Rome from across Europe demonstrated Catholic unity, but the purpose behind their pilgrimages was far less positive. They...