Visibility of Events, Places and Things

This chapter investigates, within the overall project of the volume (A Cultural History of Fame in the Medieval Age), the fame of places and events, in addition to that of individuals: consider the destinations of penitential pilgrimages (the Holy Land, Santiago de Compostela, and Rome) and burial sites or locations where the relics of a martyr saint were displayed to the public. This chapter (Chapter 5) addresses the proclamation of the great Jubilee in Rome by Boniface VIII, responding to the general desire for forgiveness. The fame of the event ended up preceding the event itself (in 1300) and set in motion, well in advance, a fervent organizational system to welcome and accommodate hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from every part of Christendom. The fame of a place (the Eternal City), of an event (the Jubilee), and of a thing (the Veil of Veronica) combined, profoundly influencing late Medieval devotional practice and the residential structures of the city.