Perceptions of the Greek clergy and rite in late medieval pilgrimage accounts to the Holy Land

Abstract

This chapter examines the attitudes exhibited by late medieval Latin pilgrims towards the Greeks and their rite in the Holy Land. It argues that from the mid-fifteenth century onwards the Greeks are envisioned primarily as religious deviants and enemies of the Latins, which is also manifested in increased instances of tension at the shrines shared between Latins and Greeks. This, in turn, affects the pilgrims’ perception of the sanctity of the sites and the miracles encountered there. It is further suggested that the increased hostility is the result of a breakdown in relations between the Greeks of the Holy Land and the Franciscans of Mount Sion and it is suggested that this breakdown may have been caused by the Greek patriarch’s actions after the Ottoman capture of Constantinople.