IMC 2010: Sessions

Paper -a:
Among the many pilgrims travelling to Rome in the jubilee year of 1450 was the Dutch mystic Hendrik Herp, author of the Spieghel der volcomenheit (c. 1455/60). Half a century later, large parts of his extensive mystical handbook would be compiled into an allegorical pilgrimage, in which the mystical ascent is portrayed as a journey of a pilgrim along a number of inns. Each inn is run by an innkeeper who educates the pilgrim on the relevant stage in his spiritual life. This paper will examine this unique and previously unknown mystical treatise by concentrating on the role of Herp's Spieghel within the text and the unusual use of the allegory.

Paper -b:
While medieval travellers to Jerusalem required 'three sacks: a sack of patience, a sack of silver, and a sack of faith', modern travellers are often advised to pack 'a good sense of humour'. That this was also a useful item for 15th-century pilgrims can be seen in the pilgrimage accounts of Friar Felix Fabri. This paper will look at the ways in which humour is used in the different versions of Fabri's account, and will examine this humour as a mechanism for coping with a clash of cultures, as well as questions of differing audiences, expectations, and modes of reception.