Pilgrimage to the Holy Land: The First Christian Account

In 333 C.E., a pilgrim from the city of Bordeaux, in Gaul (modern France), wrote a personal account of a journey to the Holy Land. Today, this text is the earliest extant pilgrimage account by a Christian. Unfortunately, the pilgrim failed to sign the account, so he (or she, as some scholars suggest) is remembered only as the Pilgrim of Bordeaux.

The journal lists 300 places where the pilgrim stopped on the way to and from Jerusalem. At first, the pilgrim records the journey simply, giving only the name of each site, its distance from the previous stop, and a brief note about whether it is a city or an inn or just a place to change horses.

The account begins:

The city of Bordigala [Bordeaux], where is the river Garonne, in which the ocean ebbs and flows for one hundred leagues, more or less.

Change at Stomatae [Castres]—

7 leagues.

Change at Senone [Sirio, Pont de Ciron]—9 leagues.

City of Vasates [Cossio, Bazas]—

8 leagues.

Change at Three Trees—5 leagues.

Change at Oscineium [Houeilles?]—

7 leagues.

Very occasionally the traveler adds a comment on the significance of a site. We learn about the river in Bordeaux, for example, and that Tarsus is the home of Paul.

When the pilgrim finally enters the Holy Land, the tone changes dramatically. Here the Bordeaux Pilgrim eagerly notes any biblical events connected with the sites and inserts colorful tidbits from local lore.

Traveling south along the Mediterranean coast, the pilgrim first arrives at Caesarea, writing: