and unprotected. So when a man had to travel he tried to arrange
to go in company with others.

In olden days the most usual reason for a journey, next to
business, was a pilgrimage. Sometimes this was simply an act of
religion or devotion. Clad in a simple gown, and perhaps with
bare feet, the pilgrim set out. Carrying a staff in his hand,
and begging for food and shelter by the road, he took his way to
the shrine of some saint. There he knelt and prayed and felt
himself blessed in the deed. Sometimes it was an act of penance
for some great sin done; sometimes of thanksgiving for some great
good received, some great danger passed.

But as time went on these pilgrimages lost their old meaning.
People no longer trudged along barefoot, wearing a pilgrim's
garb. They began to look upon a pilgrimage more as a summer
outing, and dressed in their best they rode comfortably on
horseback. And it is a company of pilgrims such as this that
Chaucer paints for us. He describes himself as being of the
company, and it is quite likely that Chaucer really did at one
time go upon this pilgrimage from London to Canterbury, for it
was a very favorite one. Not only was the shrine of St. Thomas
at Canterbury very beautiful in those days, but it was also
within easy distance of London. Neither costing much nor lasting
long, it was a journey which well-to-do merchantmen and others
like them could well afford.

Chaucer tells us that it was when the first sunshiny days of
April came that people began to think of such pilgrimages:--