one of the most famous was the pilgrimage to santiago in spain. e church was believed to house a sacred relic of christendom-- the bones of saint james, santiago in spanish, one of christ's 12 apostles. from atop the tower at vezelay, you can still make out the old way of saint james, winding its way to spain. it's astonishing to think that hundreds of thousands of men and women made that pilgrimage during the medieval period. they undertook such arduous journeys for a multitude of reasons-- to plead for divine help, to ask for the cure of illness, to give thanks, to ask for penance. but above all they went for the salvation of their souls. to achieve the state of grace conferred by his relics, they traveled great distances on foot... by boat... on horseback... wearinge pical pilgrim'- the hat, the staff, the cockleshell symbol of saint james. but pilgrimage was not only a spiritual force, it was a dynamic, transforming element in society, enabling the exchange of ideas, goods, and especially money. there was a great deal of money to be made from p