Travel in Early Modern Europe

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 book, Maczak sets out to fill this gap in our knowledge by reconstructing the lives and daily experiences of travellers in the 16th and 17th 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 analyzes travellers' lodges and food, the relationships they formed on their journeys, and their encounters with foreign bureaucracies, customs and border controls.