Three Faiths, One Holy Land: An Interfaith Study on Holy Land Pilgrimages in the Early Modern Period

Abstract

The Holy Land, which includes the city of Jerusalem and surrounding holy sites, has long been a pilgrimage destination in the Christian, Jewish, and Islamic traditions. The Ottoman era of Jerusalem, beginning in 1517, saw a major influx of pilgrims from all three faiths, and this led to a convergence of varying perceptions of the same geographical space. At the same time, a shift was occurring from the predominantly religious purposes for individual travel in the medieval period to the more secular or touristic motives of travel beginning in the early modern period. This shift, combined with the geographical origins, professions, and attitudes of individual pilgrims, further added to the varying viewpoints of the Holy Land, even within the same faith. This study seeks to explore these intersecting viewpoints by examining the accounts of four pilgrims in the Holy Land during the early modern period: David Reubeni, a Jewish political activist and adventurer (1523), Henry Timberlake, a Protestant merchant (1601), Evliya Çelebi, an Ottoman Muslim travel writer (1648-1650; 1672), and Henry Maundrell, an Anglican chaplain (1697).