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Germany was a transit area in the networks of the three great medieval pilgrimages to Palestine, Rome, and Santiago de Compostela. From the High Middle Ages, pilgrims to Rome or the Holy Land from Scandinavia and the Baltic moved from north to south following routes through German territory that converged in the Upper Rhein in the direction of Basel (with alpine crossings at Groß St Bernard and, from the thirteenth century, St Gotthard) and, in the East, from Nuremberg or Würzburg to the Brenner…

The location where the Benedictine abbey of Einsiedeln appeared was occupied initially by the monk Meinrad, who came from Reichenau island around the year 835 in order to withdraw from the world at a place referred to as the "Silva Nigra" (Dark Forest). As a destination for hermits, the location survived his murder by two thieves in 861, and even after his death eremites chose the place as one of retret, which they called the "Cella Meinradi" (Meinrad's Cell) until the Strasbourg cathedral provo…

In the twentieth century, Middle Franconian Rothenburg ob der Tauber epitomized the historic German city with its well-preserved, antique city profile; especially outside of Germany it enjoys this image. In contrast to its reputation today, it was not an important pilgrimage destination in the late middle ages. As a free imperial city it governed a relative large territory and enjoyed a certain economic significance, but it was never one of the leaders. The development of its urban cults and regional pilgrimages make it appear the typical case of a south German imperial city. In the net…