Medieval English Travel: A Critical Anthology

Methodology and Conclusions

In his book, Anthony Bale builds his research methodology with special attention to the diversity of voices and genres in medieval English travel literature. He carefully collects and analyzes pilgrimage diaries, chronicles, letters, and poetic works, allowing the reader to hear the true sound of the era. Bale does not limit himself to literary analysis alone: he immerses the texts in their historical and cultural context, revealing how travel shaped the worldview of the medieval person, their ideas about the Other, sanctity, and miracles. His approach combines philological precision with a subtle sense for the artistic fabric of the sources, uncovering hidden meanings and nuances of perception. In his conclusions, the author emphasizes that medieval English travel was not only a physical journey but also a spiritual quest, a reflection of inner transformation, and that the texts themselves are living testimony to how the boundaries between reality and imagination, between West and East, between fear and hope became blurred and permeable.