Templer Bob had an excellent question under the topic of "how Religious we should be in our portrayals?", and I really didn't want it to get buried. He asked about 12th c. Prie Dieu's, and books of hours, what they looked like/contained, and so on.

I though I should expand the question more broadly (but please answer Bob if you know!) into what sorts of religious objects travelers would carry? And of course, what objects we should have with us!

Prie Dieus of course were designed specificaly to travel with their owners, and were designed to serve as a focus of their devotion - something to pray towards and put ones mind on heavenly things. From what I know, they took the form of a small folding cupboard that would have a representation of a Saint one especially felt affection for, and when opened up would contain a crucifix, or perhaps even a relic or consecrated host as well.

This sort of thing of course was only for wealthier travelers - in Bob's era I would imagine they would be limited to the nobility, but by the 15th c., one finds such objects belonging to the wealthier elements of the third estate. I could see someone portraying a Knight like Hauptman does having one, but a pikeman is not going to be lugging such an object around themselves.

So what about the common man? There were of course pilgrims badges for the devout who traveled on pilgimage, which would be worn as a talisman as much as anything else, but this isn't exactly the same sort of thing.

Relics were a popular item amongst the devout - as most of you know, there was quite an industry based around making false relics. Again, such items cost money. What many pilgrims did was to purchase a small mirror in a lead case with religious motifes on the case. The belief (accepted by the Church) was that if an item like this was brought to a shrine with a genuine relic, and the pilgrim 'captured' the reflection of the relic in the mirror for an instant, then the mirror itself now cointained to a much lesser degree some of the power and sanctity of the relic itself. Ampuila (small lead containers)filled with holy water from shrines and permanently sealed were likewise thought to contain some of the sanctity of the shrine housing the relic itself - and therefore a bit of spiritual power.

Such objects could be sold and traded, as even Papal indulgences could (I won't go into that here), and could act as a focus for the devotions of the owner (note - you weren't praying to the object, rather you were using the object to focus your prayer, and add it's spiritual benifit to the hearing of your prayer). A fairly common object in the later middle ages was the paternoster, which was, of course a focus of devotion (and still is to millions of devout Catholics).

Well, I hope that gets some discussion on the subject started. Please, if any readers are Catholic and I have mangled any of my explanations, feel free to clarify - this topic starter was written by a 16th generation Protestant (of a very spiritual bent) and I may well have gotten some of the details a little fuzzy. Likewise, scholars of Medieval Christianity, feel free to correct me !