THE FIRST JUBILEE

In 1300AD Boniface VIII started a tradition of forgiveness and (possibly) hell-raising that continues this year

On Maundy Thursday - April 7th - 1300, Pope Boniface VIII stood on the balcony of his papal basilica in Rome. Around him, the city flocked with pilgrims, many of whom had come to see the Pope that day and receive his blessing.

Boniface had given them a compelling reason to be there. Around six weeks earlier, he had issued a papal bull announcing a Jubilee. Under the terms of the bull, any Christian - well, nearly - who visited Rome that year and heard fifteen masses at certain churches would receive forgiveness for all their sins.

This was, to be sure, an attractive offer. There were a number of ways to obtain a blank slate, sins-wise, in the medieval Church, but they tended to involve going and fighting in crusades, which were by 1300 very much Not Going Well.

Travelling to Rome from was not necessarily a light undertaking, particularly for pilgrims from faraway locations such as England. But it sure beat chancing your arm against the Mamluks.

Boniface VIII announcing his Jubilee, in a fresco by Giotto