pelgrimsoorden

The pelgrimsoorden were medieval religious orders that organized and supervised pilgrimages to holy sites, primarily within Christian Europe. Their origins can be traced to the 12th and 13th centuries, when the growth of pilgrimage to destinations such as Jerusalem, Rome, Santiago de Compostela and the shrines of Saint James and Saint Anthony spurred a need for structured guidance and protection. Members of the order were typically clergy or laypeople bound by vows of piety, hospitality and sometimes military service, who travelled with pilgrims, provided lodging, and safeguarded them against disease and banditry.

Among the most influential pelgrimsoorden was the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, originally a military order in the Crusader states that later evolved into a custodial order charged with maintaining the holy sites in Jerusalem. The Knights Hospitaller (or Order of St. John) also functioned as a pelgrimsoorden during the Crusades, offering medical care to pilgrims and later becoming a sovereign entity on Rhodes and Malta. In Italy the Order of St. James and the Franciscan “Hospitaller” orders focused on charitable care for pilgrims visiting the shrine of Saint James in Compostela.

The pelgrimsoorden played a significant role in the spread of pilgrimage culture by standardising routes, promoting Christian doctrines, and fostering economic exchange between pilgrim towns and larger trade networks. During the Reformation many orders were suppressed or repurposed, and by the 17th century their influence waned as secular travel agencies and state institutions began to regulate pilgrimage. Today the name pelgrimsoorden is mostly encountered in historical and scholarly contexts, with surviving institutions such as the modern charitable foundations that operate pilgrim hospices in historic pilgrimage routes.