Travel in Early Modern Europe

Travel in Early Modern Europe
Author :
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages : 357
Release :
ISBN-10 : 074560840X
ISBN-13 : 9780745608402
Rating : 4/5 (0X Downloads)

Book Synopsis Travel in Early Modern Europe by : Antoni Mączak

Download or read book Travel in Early Modern Europe written by Antoni Mączak and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 1995 with total page 357 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most of us today know little about the conditions under which people travelled in early modern Europe. Travellers' accounts from the period generally omit detailed descriptions of the state of roads, the discomfort of a carriage or a coach, or the harshness of a landscape, even though these formed the everyday reality of travel for most people. In this wide-ranging book, Maczak sets out to fill this gap in our knowledge by vividly reconstructing the lives and daily experiences of travellers in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. He analyzes the reasons why they travelled, what they hoped to gain from it, and how they were changed by the experience. He discusses the practical problems encountered by travellers: difficulties with transportation, the danger of accidents, and the problem of finding suitable conveyances and guides. He describes the dangers presented by inhospitable weather and terrain, wild animals, marauding soldiers, bandits and highwaymen. He analyses travellers' lodges and food, the relationships they formed on their journeys, and their encounters with foreign bureaucracies, customs and border controls. Maczak paints colourful portraits of a wide variety of travellers, from the splendid entourages of bishops and ambassadors, to the lone pilgrims, artists and scholars travelling for their own pleasure and enlightenment.


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