Reviewed by:

• The Charisma of Distant Places: Travel and Religion in the Early Middle Ages by Courtney Luckhardt
• Maya Maskarinec

Mediterranean travelers, past and present, worried about the wind. A good wind could mean a quick and painless trip. An unpredictable wind could spell disaster. But for the early medieval traveler this was no mere meteorological phenomenon: the power of the wind could not be dissociated from the power of [End Page 169] God, and travelers would have been attentive both to the winds themselves and the divine support they needed for their journeys.

In this example, we see Luckhardt at her finest—cogently interweaving the mechanics and mental universes of medieval travelers in support of an eminently plausible assumption: early medieval travel cannot be understood without taking seriously the religious contours in which it was embedded. Indeed, so the The Charisma of Distant Places proposes, when we seek to understand why and how travel changed in the early Middle Ages (as compared to the Roman world), religion is the elephant in the room.

Luckhardt’s study is divided into three parts. Chapter 1 discusses the practicalities of early medieval travel. Chapters 2–3 consider the two arguably most holy places for western medieval travelers, Jerusalem and Rome. Chapters 4–5 take a different tack, examining the travel of itinerant monks and captives.

As the title suggests, the scope of this study is ambitious. Luckhardt does not explicitly discuss the geographical and temporal parameters of her Early Middle Ages, but as she explains she relies primarily on sources from Gaul/Francia (12). Accordingly, the travel she charts is largely that of travelers from (and in) this orbit. The Mediterranean world features less, with the exception of Rome and Jerusalem, and then as “goals” rather than as nodes in a larger network. Chronologically, the study largely moves between the late sixth century (especially drawing on Gregory of Tours) and the early ninth century. Religion here stands for Christianity, largely in the forms reflected by Merovingian and Carolingian sources. At the forefront of Luckhardt’s study are hagiographical narratives, but also adduced is a wider range of texts and material evidence. Luckhardt carefully describes many of these sources, helpfully situating them in their time, place and social mi-lieu, and providing the reader with handy overviews of some relevant bibliography. That said, problems of perspective remain. Luckhardt introduces us to many and varied travelers over time. How do we extrapolate from these specific examples to general conclusions about the mental universes of medieval travelers? That Christian attitudes shaped early medieval travel is undeniable. But to what extent did shared assumptions change over time and from place to place and from text to text? Whose Early Middle Ages emerges from these texts?

Luckhardt’s central thesis is indicated by her title. She posits that places, people and things in the Early Middle Ages, whether near or far geographically speaking, could be infused with “the charisma of distant places.” This charisma imparted to travel its distinctive early medieval flavor. Charisma derived, so Luckhardt posits (following Peter Brown), from perceived vertical links to heaven. In turn, this charisma helps to explain “the connectedness of people and regions” (2).

Luckhardt’s starting point is the claim that much of the mechanics and practicalities of travel in the Early Middle Ages had not changed significantly from the heyday of the Roman empire—but now spiritual vulnerability was added to the already long list of dangers for the traveler. There were not significant technological innovations in sailing vessels; Roman roads and tracks may have been more run down but many of these routes remained useable. The problem, as Luckhardt acknowledges, is that we do not have as much evidence as we would [End Page 170] like, especially to account for regional variation.

The charisma of place comes to the fore in Chapters 2–3. Jerusalem, and to a lesser degree, Rome, Luckhardt argues, belonged as much to the medieval imaginary as to reality. Their elusiveness, as goals to reach, both...

审核人：

• 遥远地方的魅力：中世纪早期的旅行和宗教，考特尼·勒克哈特（Courtney Luckhardt）
• 玛雅·玛卡瑞琳（Maya Maskarinec）

过去和现在的地中海旅行者担心风。刮风可能意味着快速而无痛苦的旅行。不可预测的风可能会带来灾难。但是对于早期的中世纪旅行者来说，这不仅仅是气象现象：风的力量无法与上帝的力量分离开来。[末页169]上帝，旅行者本来会注意风本身以及他们所需要的神圣支持为他们的旅程。

在这个例子中，我们看到了勒克哈特（Luckhardt）最好的一面-紧密地交织了中世纪旅行者的力学和心理世界，以支持一个似乎合理的假设：如果不认真考虑其嵌入的宗教轮廓，就无法理解早期的中世纪旅行。确实，因此，《远方魅力》提出了一个建议，当我们试图了解中世纪早期（与罗马世界相比）旅行为什么以及如何发生变化时，宗教就是房间里的大象。

拉克哈特的研究分为三个部分。第1章讨论了中世纪早期旅行的实用性。第2章至第3章讨论了西方中世纪旅行者可以说是最神圣的两个地方，耶路撒冷和罗马。第4-5章采用了不同的方法，研究了巡回僧侣和俘虏的旅行。

顾名思义，这项研究的范围是宏大的。勒克哈特（Luckhardt）没有明确讨论她早期中世纪的地理和时间参数，但是如她所解释的那样，她主要依靠高卢/弗朗西亚（Gaul / Francia）的资料（12）。因此，她绘制的行程主要是来自（和进入）该轨道的旅客。除罗马和耶路撒冷外，地中海世界的特征较少，然后成为“目标”，而不是较大网络中的节点。按时间顺序，这项研究主要在六世纪末期（尤其是图尔·格雷戈里（Gregory of Tours））和九世纪初之间进行。这里的宗教代表基督教，主要是梅洛芬吉人和加洛林人的资料所反映的形式。勒克哈特（Luckhardt）研究的最前沿是叙事学叙事，但同时也引出了更多的文字和物质证据。勒克哈特（Luckhardt）仔细地描述了许多这样的资料来源，有助于将它们放在其时间，地点和社会环境中，并为读者提供一些相关参考书目的方便概述。话虽如此，透视问题仍然存在。随着时间的推移，勒克哈特（Luckhardt）向我们介绍了许多各种各样的旅行者。我们如何从这些特定的例子中推断出关于中世纪旅行者心理世界的一般结论？基督教的态度塑造了中世纪早期的旅行，这一点是不可否认的。但是，随着时间的流逝，共享假设在多大程度上发生了变化？这些文本中出现了谁的中世纪早期？并为读者提供一些相关参考书目的便捷概述。话虽如此，透视问题仍然存在。随着时间的推移，勒克哈特（Luckhardt）向我们介绍了许多各种各样的旅行者。我们如何从这些特定的例子中推断出关于中世纪旅行者心理世界的一般结论？基督教的态度塑造了中世纪早期的旅行，这一点是不可否认的。但是，随着时间的流逝，共享假设在多大程度上发生了变化？这些文本中出现了谁的中世纪早期？并为读者提供一些相关参考书目的便捷概述。话虽如此，透视问题仍然存在。随着时间的推移，勒克哈特（Luckhardt）向我们介绍了许多各种各样的旅行者。我们如何从这些特定的例子中推断出关于中世纪旅行者心理世界的一般性结论？基督教的态度影响了中世纪早期的旅行，这一点是不可否认的。但是，随着时间的流逝，共享假设在多大程度上发生了变化？这些文本中出现了谁的中世纪早期？我们如何从这些特定的例子中推断出关于中世纪旅行者心理世界的一般结论？基督教的态度影响了中世纪早期的旅行，这一点是不可否认的。但是，随着时间的流逝，共享假设在多大程度上发生了变化，从一个地方到另一个地方，从一个文本到另一个文本？这些文本中出现了谁的中世纪早期？我们如何从这些特定的例子中推断出关于中世纪旅行者心理世界的一般结论？基督教的态度影响了中世纪早期的旅行，这一点是不可否认的。但是，随着时间的流逝，共享假设在多大程度上发生了变化？这些文本中出现了谁的中世纪早期？

勒克哈特（Luckhardt）的中心论点是她的头衔。她认为，中世纪早期的地方，人和事物，无论在地理上相近还是相近，都可以注入“遥远地方的魅力”。这种魅力赋予旅行其独特的中世纪早期风味。魅力，因此勒克哈特（在彼得·布朗之后）假设，是从与天堂的垂直联系中得出的。反过来，这种魅力有助于解释“人与地区的联系”（2）。

勒克哈特（Luckhardt）的出发点是，自中世纪帝国的鼎盛时期以来，中世纪早期的许多旅行机制和实用性并未发生显着变化，但如今精神上的脆弱性已被添加到旅行者本来就很长的危险中。帆船没有重大的技术创新。罗马的道路和铁轨可能已经破烂不堪，但其中许多路线仍然可以使用。正如拉克哈特（Luckhardt）所承认的那样，问题在于我们没有[End Page 170]所需要的足够的证据，特别是考虑到了地区差异。

地方的魅力在第2章至第3章中脱颖而出。勒克哈特认为，耶路撒冷在某种程度上属于中世纪的想象，而实际上属于罗马。他们难以捉摸的目标既要达成...