ABSTRACT
In this chapter, Saint George's role will be examined by charting the visual experience of pilgrimage through the locations of shrine, road and home. This chapter takes England and the German speaking regions as a comparative case study and uses the pilgrim experience as a way to frame the evidence, exploring the visual material that points to Saint George's popularity. First, the reasons for the saint's popularity and the ensuing proliferation of his image are investigated by looking at the dissemination of his relics and the subsequent creation of shrines to which the populace travelled. Second, two key shrines in England are considered – Saint George's Chapel at Windsor and Henry VII's Lady Chapel at Westminster Abbey – bringing in comparative German examples from Saint Sebald Church and Steinfeld Abbey. A rural church – St Neots in Cornwall – is also discussed demonstrating the existence of veneration without the presence of relics. The third section leaves the shrine and takes to the road charting the pilgrim experience in both regions through the pilgrim badges and santini which were carried. Finally, with the pilgrimage journey concluded, the repurposing of pilgrim signs in the context of home is explored.
