“An innated desire to gaine experience by trauelling into forraigne parts“

English travelers on foot in the 16th and 17th centuries

Fogwalking

Could this be Fynes Moryson? Could he have looked - - like this?-?

lllustration © Melanie Lauchenauer

The English - gripped by their wanderlust 

In the mid-16^th century, a steadily growing desire to travel became noticeable in England. The reasons for this are multifaceted. In 1533/1534 King Henry VIII had broken with Rome. Europe was still predominantly catholic, although Martin Luther’s Protestant teachings had already spread across much of the continent. This threatened to turn England into a religious and political island, and isolation loomed large. Therefore, the state intensified its international relations and trade far beyond the borders of the European continent; the East India Company later even extended its influence to Asia.

Accordingly, on an individual basis, British subjects took advantage of the opportunity to travel to distant lands more than ever before. The culture of the Italian renaissance, in particular, prompted many travelers to explore the treasures of that country for themselves. And a considerable number of them, mostly from the educated classes, went even farther than Italy. In fact, during this period, travelers covered distances on foot that are virtually unparalleled in the entire history of mankind.

Fynes Moryson - 1591-1597

Unlike most of his contemporary fellow travelers who confined themselves to Italy and its major university cities, Fynes Moryson broadened his horizons, extending his journeys to twelve European countries, including France, Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany, Bohemia, Prussia, Poland, Switzerland (as the title of his Itinerary reveals). He eventually even reached Jerusalem and Constantinople. However, since Moryson was English, he was denied entry to Spain due to the war with England at the time:

"Therefore hauing now wandred through the greatest part of Europe, and seene the chiefe Kingdomes thereof, I sighed to my selfe in silence, that the Kingdom of Spaine was shut vp from my sight, by the long warre betweene England and Spaine, except I would rashly cast my selfe into danger (…)." (Itinerary, pp. 197-198).

(The spelling in the original texts has been retained throughout.)

As he writes, his parents had given him permission for this long journey. Eventually, he had to postpone it because his father raised objections: “some oppositions vpon new deliberation made by my father and friends against my journey, detained me longer in those parts then I purposed“ (p. 2). Moryson's wanderlust apparently met with resistance, and furthermore, he had to obtain the necessary government travel permit before embarking on his journey, as he explains in his Itinerary:

“(…) vpon the priuiledge of our Statutes permitting two of the Society to trauell, I obtained licence to that purpose of the said Master and Fellowes, in the yeere 1589, being then full 23 yeeres old.“ (p. 1).

Two journeys to distant lands 

On 1^st May 1591 he set sail from the Thames in London to travel to the German Hanseatic city of Stade on the Elbe near Hamburg. From there, he continued his journey, mostly on foot, by sea, or on horseback across Europe, traversing various countries, visiting “twelve dominions“, as he writes, and subsequently spending considerable time in Italy. He finally returned to England on 13^th May 1595, traveling through Swiss and French territory to reach his homeland, thus concluding a four-year journey.

Yet his stay at home was short-lived. By the end of November of that same year he yielded to his “innated desire“ to travel again, as he tells us in his Itinerary, his travel account. Accompanied by his younger brother Henry, he sailed from Gravesend to the continent. They followed the route to Venice, and then along the Adriatic coast to Jerusalem from where they continued their journey as far as Constantinople, today's Istanbul. Near Antioch, present day Antakya in Turkey, his brother fell ill and died a tragic death. According to his own account, this was a shock that Moryson never seemed to fully overcome. On 30^th April 1597 he returned to Venice, from where he rode back to Stade and finally set foot on British soil again on 10^th July 1597 near Gravesend. The journey covered a total distance of approximately 6,400 kilometers.

Moryson’s Itinerary

During his travels, Moryson recorded his experiences in writing, "first in the Latine Tongue, and then translated by him into English," as he states on the first page of his Itinerary. The very fact that initially he wrote his travelogue in Latin testifies to his extraordinary erudition, which is truly unprecedented.

In 1617, his translation of three parts of his travel experiences into English was published, a large-format book with 886 pages in small print. Fortunately , it was made available again 354 years later, in 1971, as a facsimile edition:

Fynes Moryson, An Itinerary written by Fynes Moryson gent. First in the Latine tongue and then translated by him into English: Containing His Ten Yeeres Travell Throvgh the Twelve Dominions of Germany, Bohmerland, Sweitzerland, Netherland, Denmarke, Poland, Italy, Turky, France, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London 1617). (Reprint: An Itinerary. Amsterdam and New York 1971).

The fourth part, which was originally written in English but remained unpublished during Moryson’s lifetime, finally saw the light of day in 1903:

Fynes Moryson’s Itinerary. Being a survey of the condition of Europe at the end of the 16th century. Ed. Charles Hughes (London 1903).

In the first part Moryson describes the places that he visited on his journey from mainland Europe to Constantinople and back to England. The second part covers his service in Ireland, which he performed for the English state after his return from his second trip.

In the third and fourth part of his Itinerary, Moryson sets out his main concern right at the beginning: He wants to demonstrate the advantages of travel: “That the visiting of forraigne Countries is good and profitable, but to whom, and how farre.” He gives advice to all those eager to travel (Chapter 2: “Of Precepts for Trauellers, which may instruct the unexperienced”) and discusses the question of whether one should travel on foot or on horseback (“Of the fit meanes to trauell, and to hier Coaches or Horses in generall”).

In the following chapters, Moryson analyzes the customs, habits, traditions, legal systems, and numerous other aspects of the countries through which he traveled. He proves himself to be a geographer, historian, ethnologist, and much more besides. With his profound knowledge of the countries that he traversed, he offers a unique insight into the social, political, religious, and geopolitical conditions of Europe at the end of the 16t^h and the beginning of the 17^th centuries.

Moryson is a passionate wanderer who knows no reservations. He ignores the drawbacks of travel. Time and again, he makes alarming observations and survives life-threatening dangers wherever he goes: roads are impassable, highwaymen lurk everywhere, travelers are armed, or in the South he encounters much violence and fraud, so that he must always be on his guard. But none of this speaks against traveling; and nothing can deter him from his wanderings. He praises travel to the highest degree.

Moryson, the analyst

Moryson was less interested in the history of the places that he visited than in the everyday life of the people, which he observed carefully and documented in detail. He thoroughly examined the prevailing social orders and legal systems, and he put forward political considerations that appear remarkably modern. On the other hand, his perspective is not always open, unbiased, or unreserved. This is particularly evident in his observations and commentaries on Catholic regions. As a staunch, loyal, and convinced Anglican, he generally viewed Catholicism, whether in Italy or later in Ireland, with skepticism and often with open contempt.

Not surprisingly, his stay in caput mundi lasted only a few days: “(…) I began boldly, (yet with as much hast as I possibly could make) to view the Antiquities of Rome“ (Itinerary, p. 122). After that, he visited Naples, a route that few travelers dared to take in the Elizabethan era. The south had no paved roads and was widely considered dangerous and rife with crime. 

His observations of the entire Italian peninsula and its various independent states, recorded in a separate chapter entitled “Of the Italians Nature and Manners“, are particularly insightful, and therefore worthy of note. The itinerant Englishman was a well-educated gentleman. His interest in the arts - literature, architecture, music, painting - was considerable, but as a traveler, his primary focus was on the everyday reality he encountered. Part IV of his Itinerary offers a detailed examination of the customs and conventions which he observed during his journey through Italy and other European countries in the last decade of the 16^th century. In addition to describing the sciences and prestigious universities, he devotes particular attention to the local mentalities, customs, and diverse legal systems which he encountered in the Italian republics that he visited. His meticulous observations cover a wide range of aspects, including the language of the people, their greeting rituals, ceremonies such as baptisms, weddings, funerals, married life, as well as leisure activities, falconry, hunting, bird-watching, or fishing. 

Thus he paints a vivid picture of everyday life in Europe at the end of the 16^th century.

Moryson's travel routes through Switzerland

On his journey from north to south:

Schaffhausen

Moryson arrives from Costnetz (Constance). “A great fall of waters (…) passing with huge noyse and ending all in fome (…) pleasant hils planted with Vines.“

Zurich

Arriving from Eglisaw (Eglisau), Zurich “seemed fairer to me at the end of my tedious walke (…) the Lake called Zurechsea (…) two parts, the greater and the lesse City (…) Zwinglius a famous Preacher and reformer of Religion.“

Baden

With its many baths, “famous for medicin (…) it is a rule here to shun all sadnes, neither is any jealousie admitted for a naked touch.“ Moryson praises the quality of the baths in Baden.

Bazell (Basel)

Via Bruck (Brugg), Kingsfeld (Königsfelden). Consisting of Little and Great Bazell. The city was shaken twice by terrible earthquakes. Major aspects of Basel: the Cathedral Church, a town full of students, the grave of “Erasmus Roterodamus.“

Moryson then leaves Basel in the direction of Strasbourg (pp. 23-29).

Upon his return from the south back to England:

The Grisons

Where “for three parts of the yeere, the houses are couered with snow“.

Lanzi (Ilanz)

Where Moryson “did heare more then a hundred Woolues howling“.

Solothurn

“an ancient Citie, and one of the Sweitzers Cantons, called in Latin Solidurum“, with “towers of great antiquitie.“

Along the river Aare, Moryson followed the route to Arberg, Morton (Murten), the Lake of Mortenza (Lake of Murten), Avenza or Aventicum (Avenches) - “which Julius Ceasar utterly raced“ [founded].

Losanna

“subject to Berna (…) but the Citizens speake French.“ 

Geneua

“most pleasant Hilles planted with Vines.“ Detailed observations of the geography, Lake Geneva, the religion and the types of houses in this area, the people in Geneva.

Berne

“the most faire Citie (…) is built in forme of a sacke (…) by Berthold Duke of Zeringen.“

Territory of Lucerna

“Which I never viewed (…) who are earnest Papists“. Moryson, the Anglican, felt unsafe in Lucerne, which remains an epicenter of Catholicism to this day, and therefore he avoided the city.

He leaves Switzerland in “Augusta Rauracorum“ (Kaiseraugst) and Basel (pp. 179-183).

Because of his rich social and cultural experiences and all the insights that he gained on his travels as far as Constantinople, and true to his dictum that All our life is a pilgrimage, Fynes Moryson appears to us as an anthropologist avant la lettre, a pioneer of this kind of science.

In short, we owe Moryson an immeasurable wealth of knowledge, yet we do not even know what he looked like, as apparently no portrait of him has survived.

He may remain an enigma to us to this day, but his Itinerary is an unparalleled source of insight and wisdom. 

Thomas Coryat - 1608-1612

Thomas Coryat's passion for travel, both in theory and practice, knew no bounds. Like Fynes Moryson, he covered thousands of kilometers on foot and occasionally on horseback. And like Moryson, he describes his life full of colourful adventures in a comprehensive travel account that provides us with a good picture of him as a person and of his biography.

Coryat grew up in the village of Odcombe in Somerset. He unmistakably fit the profile of a member of the English landed gentry, the educated and privileged class. In Winchester, about 100 kilometers away, he attended the prestigious college that prepared students for admission to Oxford University; he subsequently completed his university studies there as planned. His social privilege was also evident after he had obtained his master's degree. He entered the service of Prince Henry of Wales, the eldest son of King James I. Among the other court officials was Ben Jonson, who, as we shall see, reappears shortly thereafter in Coryat's biography (as described in his Crudities).

The sweet delight of traveling on foot

Coryat, however, did not remain long at the court of James I. In 1608, he was seized by a strong wanderlust and longed to travel far and wide. On 14^th May 1608 he sailed from Dover to Calais and then traversed France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, and the Netherlands. In October he returned to England, and three years later (1611) his travelogue

Coryat's Crudities: Hastily gobled Up in Five Moneths Travells in France, Savoy, Italy, Rhetia Commonly Called the Grisons Country, Helvetia Alias Switzerland, Some Parts of High Germany and the Netherlands; Newly Digested in the Hungry Aire of Odcombe (Reprint Glasgow 1905)

was published. As a detailed travel account, made possible by the privileged support of Prince Henry (as mentioned in the Crudities), it stood out from similar books published at that time.

Coryat's closing remarks, addressed to his patron Prince Henry, are revealing. He explains that his experiences should serve as an encouragement to ...

“(…) many noble and generose yong Gallants (…) to travell into forraine countries, and inrich themselves partly with the observations, and partly with the languages of outlandish regions. (…) [it] may infuse (I hope) a desire to them to travel into transmarine nations, and to garnish their understanding with the experience of other countries“ (pp. 1-2). Particularly “(…) because none of these Cities have beene described in our language that I could ever heare of“ (p. 3). 

He considers his travel book as a “(…) praise of the excellency of travell into forraine countries (…) that favors learning“ (p. 4). He enlarges upon this in his “Epistle to the Reader“. Traveling is “the sweetest and most delightfull“ (p. 8) experience, and nothing is more rewarding than seeing all those foreign cities with their magnificent buildings. And, as he adds, learning five European languages ​​adorns and enriches a young gentleman like nothing else in the world (p. 9). In the short time he spent abroad, he experienced more than many an Englishman who stayed his entire life at home. (p. 11). Like Moryson, Coryat mentions the disadvantages of travel only in passing, and one gets the impression he does so reluctantly. He concedes, however, at one point that it may occasionally pose dangers. As he writes, shortly before his arrival in Strasbourg, “a most tragic example” occurred (p. 12). He does not elaborate on this, however; and we do not learn exactly what happened there, what it was about. 

Traveling as part of education

In the introduction, Thomas Coryat emphasizes the importance of travel for education, as it “favors learning“. In doing so, he expresses a widespread desire and a goal of his time. Before Coryat begins his travelogue, he quotes two contemporaries who join him in his praise of travel. One of them is none other than Ben Jonson. In his words: Coryat is a travel enthusiast, he is “irrecoverably addicted“ (p. 17), as he refers to the author of this experience report.

The following “An Oration, Made by Hermannus Kirchnerus” is a further intensification, a paean to traveling in the highest sense. The author is Hermann Kirchner, poet, professor of history in Marburg, and a lot more, as he introduces himself in his salutation: 

“That young Men ought to Travell into forraine Countryes, and all those that desire the praise of Learning, and atchieving worthy actions, both at home and abroad.“ (p. 122). 

In a long and somewhat monotonous treatise, Kirchner lists the advantages of travel. He, too, sees no significant drawbacks that would argue against it. Lies and dishonesty ("corruption") exist at home just as they do abroad. But one must confront conflicts, here and there, and come to terms with the vices of others. He believes that this is more honourable than hiding at home, as he notes with a touch of contempt: "and dost sparingly live at thine owne house with thy slender pittance, lurking like a noone-daies Grashopper" (p. 145).

Given this effusive praise, it was foreseeable that Thomas Coryat, much like Fynes Moryson, would not remain in England for long after his return, and that his wanderlust would grip him once more. In 1612, he set off again. He traveled along the Adriatic coast to Greece, into Turkey, spent considerable time in Constantinople, and continued his journey to Persia and as far as India. The communication and correspondence system of the late Middle Ages and the early modern period appears remarkably efficient to us. Coryat's travelogue demonstrates that he regularly sent messages home from distant lands, which arrived without any problems.

As it turned out, Coryat paid little attention to the dangers of travel. It is a tragic irony that these dangers ultimately cost him his life. Like many other travelers to distant lands, he contracted dysentery, caused by spoiled food and the intense heat to which the English were unaccustomed. He never saw his homeland again. He died in Surat, in the east Indian state of Gujarat.

The straight-line distance of Thomas Coryat's second journey, from London to Surat, is approximately 7,000 kilometers, which he covered largely on foot. His detailed and captivating account testifies to the profound value of travel for a person's education.

Some of Thomas Coryat's significant discoveries

Four stops from the first part of his Crudities have been selected to illustrate some of the spectacular discoveries Thomas Coryat made on his travels and to demonstrate the rich legacy he left behind.

• The discovery of the fork

In his “Observation on Lombardy“ Coryat travelled from Turin and then reached Vercelli. There he saw people eating, and he commented with utter astonishment:

“I observed a custome in all those Italian Cities and Townes through the which I passed, that is not used in any other country that I saw in my travels , (…).“

He was speechless, because it was the first time he had ever seen people eat with a fork:

“The Italian (…) doe alwaies at their meales use a little forke when they cut their meat.“

And he adds that eating with one's hands, as he is used to doing, is considered uncivilized and vulgar in Italy:

“(…) he be that sitting in the company of any others at meale, should unadvisable touch the dish of meate with his fingers (…) he will give occasion of offence unto the company, as having transgressed the lawes of good manners, in so much that for his error shall be at least brow-beaten, if not reprehended in wordes.“

His view is: “This forme of feeding I understand is generally used in all places of Italy, their forkes being for the most part made of yron or steele, and some of silver (…).“ 

And he explains why Italians use forks instead of their hands when eating:

“The reason of this their curiosity is, because the Italian cannot by any means indure to have his dish touched with fingers, seeing all mens fingers are not alike cleane.“

Coryat was fascinated by this newly discovered custom and henceforth used a fork himself, not only during his stay in Italy, but also on his journey home through Germany and later in England. There he caused quite a stir. As he adds, “a certain learned Gentlemen, a familiar friend of mine, one M. Laurence Whitaker“, gave him the nickname “furcifer“ (pp. 236-237).

Coryat discovered the fork as an eating utensil in Italy and subsequently exported it to Europe.

• “fannes and umbrellaes“

During his stay in Cremona, he made another discovery, explaining: “it will be a meere novelty, I will not let it passe unmentioned.“ He observed people cooling themselves with a fan, something he had not seen before:

“These fannnes both men and women of the country doe carry to coole themselves withall in the time of heate, by the often fanning of their faces.“

The fans look elegant, consisting “of a painted peece of paper and a little wooden handle“. The paper fastened into the top “is on both sides most curiously adorned with excellent pictures (…) amorous things tending to dalliance (…) witty Italian verses“.

And then he also notices that people on the streets are using “umbrellaes“: “(…) things that minister shadow unto them for shelter against the scorching heate of the Sunne.“ They are made of leather, resembling “a little cannopy, & hooped in the inside with divers little wooden hoopes that extend the umbrella in a pretty large compasse.“ Interestingly, they are often used by riders.

Thus Coryat also imported fans and umbrellas to England. Paradoxically, the umbrella was originally intended not for protection against rain, but against heat, granting cool shade (in Italian: ombra), as the etymology of the term makes clear.

• Terraces in Venice

And when in Venice, he was delighted by “very pleasant little tarrasses (…) very seldom seen in England (…) very little used in any other country that I could perceive in my travels“ (p. 307).  

• Pistachios and covered walkways for pedestrians

In Padova he enjoyed eating pistachios for the first time in his life, “farre more excellent than Apricocks (…) a fruit much used in their dainty banquets“. 

And there he strolled under covered walkways, which again he was seeing for the first time. They serve two functions:

“(…) in the Summer time they may walke there very coolely even at noone, in the very hottest of all the canicular dayes, as under a pleasant and safe shelter, from the scorching heate of the sunne: the other that in the winter they defend them both from the injury of the raine (for in these they may walk abroad farre from their houses dry in the middest of a violent storme) and not a little from the byting colde, the force whereof they will more feele in the open streetes.“

And last but not least: These covered pedestrian walkways are “a great ornament to the Citie“ (p. 299).

Coryat’s travel routes through Switzerland

Coryat describes his experiences on his return journey to England in the second volume of his Crudities. It begins with Vicenza, Verona, and Brescia, and then takes him through parts of Switzerland, Germany, and the Netherlands. He reaches Switzerland in the Grisons. He praises the local wines and people’s uprighteousness but disdains the Italian dialect spoken in some areas, which sounds coarse to him. However, what he heard, and which so strangely bewildered him, could actually have been Rhaeto-Romanic, without his knowledge - the language of a small minority, which those who are unfamiliar with it tend to perceive as a strange linguistic mixture of French, Italian, Spanish, and Latin. He mentions nomadic shepherds with their sheep from Bergamo (still a common sight today), that the area is teeming with frogs, and that the roads are in very poor condition for wanderers - something he surely experienced firsthand when he climbed Mount Splügen (1,457 meters). He also explains Switzerland's geographical location within Europe and then describes in more detail the cities of Chur, Zurich, Baden, and Basel, as well as some smaller towns.

Chur

The city's history and administration pique his interest. As an important transport hub leading from south to north across the Alps, it is a commercial trading center.

Zurich

boasts a beautiful lakeside promenade, and the Church of St. Felix and Regula is described in detail. During a visit to the Zurich Armory, Coryat recounts the story of William Tell and the alliance of Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden. He meets several of the city's scholars and compares Zurich to his beloved Mantua. There could be no greater compliment.

Baden

He notices that many doors have boar heads attached to them. The fact that men and women bathe naked in the baths of Baden astonishes him greatly - interestingly, his impressions coincide with those of Fynes Moryson (see above).

Basel

lies in the Sundgau region, and the air in the city is good. He highlights as a special feature that the city stretches along both sides of the Rhine. And he already distinguishes between today's Greater Basel and Lesser Basel. He is impressed by Erasmus's tomb in the cathedral as well as by the city's university, and he recalls the earthquakes that shook Basel in 1346 and 1356.

While on his third worldly pilgrimage, which took him as far as India, Coryat died of dysentery. He did not comment on this journey in his writings. Nevertheless, some of his letters from that period have survived and were included in the 1756 reprint of his Crudities.

Much like Moryson, Coryat describes the landscape, the customs of the people, their houses, their religion, their clothing, and their eating and drinking habits wherever he goes. He also indicates which places embraced the Reformation and which remained Catholic. 

Fynes Moryson and Thomas Coryat - what distinguishes them  

Moryson is a thoroughly intellectual analyst. Coryat, on the other hand, sometimes comes across as almost voyeuristic, for example in his long chapter on Venice. Wavering between admiration and revulsion, he describes the courtesans, who, for their own protection, were dressed in black and veiled, yet enjoyed high social standing.

Coryat and Moryson may have differing views, but their rich experiences and impressions complement each other.

Both the Itinerary and the Crudities have lost none of their relevance and fascination. As far as Switzerland is concerned, only a few reports and descriptions of the country have survived from the 16^th and 17^th centuries. This makes these travelogues all the more interesting for historians, anthropologists, and essentially anyone interested in any aspect of Switzerland in past centuries.

And finally:

Moryson survived his wanderlust, his “innated desire to gaine experience by trauelling into forraigne parts,” while Coryat became a victim of his passion. Both live on in their rich, inspiring travelogues.

John Ray - 1663-1666

John Ray (1627–1705) was a true polymath. He was an itinerant scholar with diverse talents in various fields of knowledge, including natural sciences, classical studies, and theology. He eventually became a priest. As a naturalist, he specialized in botany. To this end, he initially conducted research in Great Britain and then traveled the continent from 1663 to 1666. Wherever he went, he sought out plants, which he described and categorized, mostly in Latin. His extensive travels took him to countries including Holland, Germany, France, Italy and Malta. The results of his profound research were later published in London in 1673, entitled:

Observations topographical, moral, & physiological made in a journey through part of the low-countries, Germany, Italy, and France with a catalogue of plants not native of England, found spontaneously growing in those parts, and their virtues.

Further volumes in Latin followed between 1686 and 1704: Historia plantarum species.

In his travelogue, John Ray repeatedly recommends walking, which suited him particularly well as a collector of rare roadside plants. On 18^th April 1663 he crossed the English Channel from Dover to Calais, continued his journey across the Low Countries, Germany, Austria, and then reached Friuli, Italy. He visited numerous important cities in northern Italy, such as Padova, Genova, Venice, Milan, and Bologna, and described them in detail. Unusually for the time, he extended his travels south of Rome to Naples and Sicily, even crossing to Malta, and after an extensive journey through France finally returned to England. As a scholar, he was also very interested in renowned universities such as those in Bologna, Rome, and Padova. He explained their organization and curricula in detailed descriptions, all written in Latin.

Ray's work is extensive, and a considerable portion of it is written in Latin, making it difficult for modern readers to access. It belongs to a bygone era, and there appear to be no new editions of his books. Some of his major works are listed on Wikipedia, and some may be readable online, such as Observations topographical, moral, & physiological …, his travelogue describing his journey across Europe, largely undertaken on foot in search of rare plants.

Incidentally, some of his books can even be found in university libraries outside Great Britain, for example, The Wisdom of God Manifested in the Works of Creation in editions from the late 18^th and 19^th centuries in the University Library of Berne, where it can be viewed in the reading room. This underlines the importance of this inquisitive researcher and, at the same time, of the University Library of Berne.

Those interested in John Ray's work, his remarkable scientific achievements, and his lasting legacy can find further information in this biography:

Charles Raven, John Ray, naturalist: his life and his works (First published 1942. Reprint Cambridge Science Classics 1986).

Charles Raven also discusses the strong influence of Ray’s classification of plants on Carl Linnaeus’s (Carl von Linné’s) systematic taxonomy.  

Moryson, Coryat, Ray - what they have in common

Based on their travelogues, these three wanderers had little to no knowledge of the four European languages, German, French, Italian, and Spanish. Like other English travelers of their time - see below for further details - they were excellent observers. They watched, as it were, from the outside. Their reports rarely mention close relationships with locals, let alone marriages. And almost without exception, they returned to their homeland after satisfying their thirst for knowledge.

This type of wandering is an English phenomenon that has hardly any parallel in other European cultures. The exception that proves the rule is John Gottfried Seume's Spaziergang nach Syrakus im Jahre 1802 (walk to Syracuse in 1802) lasting nine months.

Some other English wanderers, late 16th and early 17th century

The titles of their travel accounts are self-explanatory.

• Robert Dallington, A suruey of the great dukes state of Tuscany: In the yeare of our Lord 1596 (London 1605).

• Robert Dallington, A Method for Travell. Shewed by taking the view of France. As it stoode in the yeare of our Lord 1598 (London 1606).

• Thomas Hoby, The Travels and Life of Sir Thomas Hoby, Kt. of Bisham Abbey, Written by Himself, 1547-1564.

  
  

• Richard Lassels, The voyage of Italy (Paris 1670).

• Samuel Lewkenor, A discourse not altogether vnprofitable, nor vnpleasant for such as are desirous know the situation and customes of forraine cities without trauelling to see (London 1607).

• Francis Mortoft, His Book, Being His Travels Through France and Italy (1658-1659).

• Thomas Palmer, Essay of the Meanes and how to make our trauailes more profitable (London 1606).

• John Ray, A Collection Of Curious Travels & Voyages in Two Tomes.The First containing Dr. Leonhart Rauwolff's Itinerary into the Eastern Countries, as Syria, Palestine, or the HolyLand, Armenia, Mesopotamia, Assyria, Chaldea, &c. (London 1693).

• George Sandys, Relation of a Journey begun An:Dom: 1610. Foure Bookes. Containing a Description of the Turkish Empire, of Aegypt, of the Holy Land (London 1615).

• Jerome Turler, The traueiler (London 1575).

• Edmund Warcupp, Italy in its original glory, ruine, and revival being an exact survey of the whole geography and his tory of that famous country, with the adjacent islands of Sicily, Malta, &c. and whatever is remarkable in Rome (the mistress of the world) and all those towns and territories mentioned in antient and modern authors (London 1600).

Justin Stagl’s comprehensive Apodemiken offers further information:

Justin Stagl: Apodemiken. Eine räsonnierte Bibliographie der reisetheoretischen Literatur des 16., 17. und 18. Jahrhunderts (Paderborn 1983).

Fynes Moryson and John Ray based on chapters in the forthcoming book Mirrored in Literature 1591-2018, Lucca and Beyond, published by EDITION SIGNAThUR.

The Italian translation was published in 2025.