notes for my last class

Thou can'st go wither thou wilt: I have dressed thee so well that thou will be understood by those endowed with intelligence: of others thou need'st not be concerned. Therefore, let no one blame me for selecting a cloudy style of writing, or at least, let them reserve their censure until they are capable of sifting the wheat that lies therein from chaff. ~Gabriel Gawaudin

There were many attractions of pilgrimage. It built up your mind and soul. Pilgrims were seen as brave and courageous men and women, however, Christianity was defined as creating solid, set, and rooted communities. We are tied to our callings. When those pilgrims were called away to the Holy Land, they were out of place due to their rootedness. Regardless of this, you must always follow your calling even if it isn't the path you would have chosen. They were tied securely to covenant community in a web of relationships and responsibility to and for one another. With their markets and fairs, they arranged, sold, and set up all their wares in distinct Christian fashions. There was great attention to detail. The friars carried on the rootedness through the communities as they traveled. They believed in penance and holiness; penance is basically repentance. True repentance can be best shown through actions. It's a turning 180 degrees around and cleaning up your mess. You resolve to walk in the grace of God and never go back. We are to spread healing and wholeness to the society that surrounds us. The world is constantly defiled and full of conflict and so it is up to us, the sane Christians, to bring about peace and Christ when the rest of the world goes crazy. Inspiration and Aspiration is the stirring of the Spirit to help us look forward at what God would have us do. We are known as a progressive people; moving towards God's future plan. Also, we are to line progress up with the eschaton of the mind of God. The future is linear and the gospel is the only way forwards. Just as the people did back then, we are called to plan, build, and invest for hundreds of years in the future as we are to be a generationally-minded people. Because of the penance, holiness, healing, wholeness, inspiration, and aspiration that I spoke of, those should instill in us a sense of adventure, curiosity, yearning, dreaming, and a purpose in life. With the troubadours came travelling singers, musicians, dance, art and theater; however, they were seen as the bottom of the rung type people because they had no rootedness or real home.

The troubadours had many different kinds of songs, different genres. There were courtly ballades, mock-popular songs, discordant verse form, lover's apologias, challenges, amorous encounters, laments, satirical poems, songs of debate, and songs of war and heroism. However, the troubadours had a huge impact. They travelers and as such could bring news, along with cultural habits and values. They brought the eagerness and wanderlust for new lands. Different nations began to share the same truths and words. A couple more interesting facts about the troubadours are that they gathered at the castles as entertainment for the people in the community, and they also had musical notation. They didn't rely simply on the oral traditions like had been done for years, but on their actual music.

There were some hazards to being a pilgrim though. Not only were the roads filled with brigands and highwaymen, but there were taxes and little food. It was dangerous to go by yourself on a treacherous road with thieves and robbers.

Traveling and studying give you a real sense of home and rootedness. It makes you appreciate what you have and your groundedness. You should travel as a young person so that you get to see the world for what it is, but also that when you go home you can see how much you really missed your home.

"If you always go to where you've always been and you always do what you've always done you'll always be who you always were."

The troubadours traveled from place to place and sang songs of adventure, love, satire, heroes, and chivalry. This incredibly descriptive and powerful means of communication provided the means by which the people of Christendom could see the wonders of the world though they never left their own village. As they began to imagine the wonders of their civilization, as they began to ponder what it must be like to actually be there and see what the troubadours had seen, it gave them a longing to travel, to set out on pilgrimage. The cathedrals were an obvious destination for pilgrimage in the early days of Christendom. Some of the great cathedrals of the Medieval age are marvels to behold to this day.