In this gallery of 10 maps on European history, we explore the dynamic borders and the fragile quest for peace on the continent. Witness the shifting borders and the persistent efforts of nations to achieve stability amidst the ever-changing geopolitical landscape.
From the year 1000 until the end of the First World War (1918), a multitude of transformative events shaped the continent's political, social, and cultural fabric. The devastating impact of the Black Death, the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire, the Protestant Reformation, and the French Revolution were just a few of those monumental events. Efforts for peace, such as the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 and the Congress of Vienna in 1815, aimed to restore stability. However, the revolutions of 1848 highlighted deep-seated tensions, and the outbreak of World War I in 1914 underscored the failure to achieve sustained harmony on the continent.
Map of Christian Pilgrimage in the Middle Ages, c. 1000
This map illustrates the changing patterns of Christian pilgrimage during the Middle Ages: for most Europeans the long, perilous, and costly journey to the Holy Land was too far, dangerous, and forbiddingly expensive, so devotion redirected toward nearer shrines. Routes now funneled the faithful to regional sanctuaries where relics of saints and martyrs promised spiritual merit closer to home.
Major alternatives emerged: Rome, seat of the Papacy, Santiago de Compostela in Christian Spain, Canterbury in Norman–Plantagenet England and countless local sites from Cologne to Kraków. Monasteries curated relics, towns prospered from pilgrims’ spending, and rulers such as Henry II of England (reigned 1154–1189) or Louis IX of France (reigned 1226–1270) endorsed new shrines to bolster piety and prestige. Thus medieval pilgrimage became a dense network of regional journeys, weaving spiritual practice into Europe’s economic and cultural landscape.
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