Palmer (pilgrim)

In the Middle Ages, a palmer (Latin: palmarius or palmerius) was a Christian pilgrim, normally from Western Europe, who had visited the holy places in Palestine and who, as a token of his visits to the Holy Land, brought back a palm leaf or a palm leaf folded into a cross. Palmers were often highly regarded as well-natured holy men because of their devotion to Christ along the pilgrimage. (The word is frequently used as synonymous with "pilgrim".[1])

One of the most prominent literary characters to have been a palmer was Wilfred of Ivanhoe, the title character of the book by Sir Walter Scott.[2] A palmer also plays a significant role representing Reason in Book II of Edmund Spenser's epic poem The Faerie Queene.[3]

Notes

  1. ↑ Chisholm 1911, p. 645.
  2. ↑ Cummings 2010.
  3. ↑ Woodhouse 1949.

References

  • Cummings, Michael J. (2010) [2004], Ivanhoe, Cummings Study Guide
  • Woodhouse, A. S. P. (1949), "Nature and Grace in the Faerie Queene", ELH, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 16 (3): 194–228, doi:10.2307/2871731, JSTOR 2871731
Attribution
  •  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Palmer". Encyclopædia Britannica. 20 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 645.
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