Ego fui per omnia loca sancta: The Pilgrimage of Maru？a, a Ragusan Woman, to the Holy Land in 1394

Sa？etak On the ground of the last will of a Ragusan woman called Maru？a, made aboard a ship sailing back from the Holy Land in 1394 and today filed in the State Archives of Dubrovnik, several aspects of this particular pilgrimage are examined, as well as some more general issues of female piety and pilgrimages in the Late Middle Ages. Maru？a was an unwed member of a middle-class commoner family. On the basis of last wills and other archive documents, Maru？a’s social network is reconstructed, paying special attention to the women upon whose prompting she travelled to the Holy Land and who co-financed her journey. Besides documenting Maru？a’s pilgrimage overseas, her last will reveals a rarely recorded practice of penitential pilgrimages to the churches in the very vicinity of Dubrovnik. Together with a group of Ragusans, Maru？a embarked on a Venetian pilgrim galley probably in the early summer of 1394. A couple of months later, on her voyage back she fell ill and soon died. On her death bed, Maru？a made her last will and inventory of her belongings, providing the historian with a useful insight into the travel equipment of the time. Various details from Maru？a’s will confirm that she followed the standard itinerary, as known from many accounts of the pilgrims to the Holy Land in the late fourteenth and fifteenth century. Most interesting are the data on the “holy souvenirs” (brandea), acquired or shaped during her visit to the Loca Sancta: roses of Jericho, recipients with the water of the River Jordan, ribbons by which she measured the tomb of Jesus, belts laid down to the Holy Places, and other eulogiae. The transcript of Maru？a’s last will is given in the appendix