Books of travel and guide books of the Middle Ages. Most of them were concerned with the journeys to the Holy Land, and were written either by pilgrims from their own experiences, or by compilers who drew their matter from the accounts which the pilgrims brought back. In general, they are descriptions of the routes, the stopping places, the sights along the way, and the Holy Places. They are invaluable sources for the study of church history, Christian archeology, or the Bible. Among the oldest, now preserved, are the "Itinerarium Burdigalense," by an anonymous writer known as the Pilgrim of Bordeaux who visited the Holy Land in the years 333,334, and the "Peregrinatio Sanctre Silivre" by a Spanish nun, Egeria, written c385 Among the later medieval works, the most important is the "Descriptio Terrre Sanctre" by a Dominican, Burchard, who spent ten years in Palestine, 1274-1284. Itineraria were among the most popular readings of the Middle Ages.
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