Renaissance Society of America conference, Venice
Renaissance Society of America conference, 8-10 April 2010
Venice
11:00-12:30
Università Ca' Foscari - San Basilio - Aula 2D
EARLY MODERN ADVICE ON THE ART OF TRAVEL
Sponsor: RENAISSANCE STUDIES CERTIFICATE PROGRAM, CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK, THE GRADUATE CENTER
Organizer: CLARE CARROLL, CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK, THE GRADUATE CENTER, AND QUEENS COLLEGE
Chair: TBA
Respondent: DR. FRÉDÉRIC TINGUELY, UNIVERSITÉ DE GENÈVE
DANIEL CAREY, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND, GALWAY
Inquiries, Directions, and Early Modern Travel
The enormous expansion of travel in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, not only within Europe but beyond it for purposes of trade and colonialism, was accompanied by the production of an important body of advice on what travelers should observe during their journeys. Designed in the form of instructions, directions, and inquiries, these documents came from an array of sources in the period, including humanist figures concerned with the regulating the moral practice of travel (the ars apodemica), Spanish colonial officials in the Consejo de Indias keen to learn more about the indigenous peoples and resources under their administrative control in the New World, and later, the Royal Society instructing travelers on how to advance the cause of natural history. These efforts testify both to the value of travel and the curiosity it inspired, but also to the elusive goal of disciplining it, making it a useful and coherent activity capable of advancing the cause of knowledge and the exploitation of nature. This paper explores the relationship between the diverse contributions to this discussion, tracing their traditions and influence.
TANIA MANCA, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND, GALWAY AND GABOR GELLERI, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND, GALWAY
Towards a Geography of the ars apodemica The Renaissance genre of travel advice known as the ars apodemica (art of travel) has become more widely recognized in recent scholarship as an important resource for understanding the development of European travel and the norms imposed on it in the period from 1500 to 1700 (especially in the work of Joan-Pau Rubiés and Justin Stagl). This paper describes the production of an online database of such materials under development at the National University of Ireland, Galway. One of the objectives of the database is to provide an intellectual map of Europe by tracking the movement of travelers and scholars across the Continent, including sites visited, and places of composition and publication of their travel accounts. At the same time the essays and treatises produced as part of the ars apodemica described an ideal practice, offering exemplary descriptions of famous cities in some instances, such as Naples, Padua, or Basel. The paper will also discuss the differences between these ideal journeys and the actual practices and destinations of European travelers in the period.
PAOLA MOLINO, EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE, FLORENCE
Travelling inside the Walls of a Library: Hugo Blotius as Traveler and Librarian at the End of the Sixteenth Century This paper describes the relationship between the theory of travel and organization of knowledge at the end of the sixteenth century, focusing on the work of the Imperial librarian in Vienna, Hugo Blotius. Blotius developed the project of creating a sort of documentation center, a universal museum for travelers and scholars which would store the whole of human knowledge, organize it, and transmit it to future generations. When he entered the service of the Emperors Maximilian II and Rudolf II, he tried to refashion the imperial library around this vision, in part based on his own extensive travels. Blotius's efforts required him to engage with disparate authorities (the emperor, the churches, the other members of the so-called Republic of Letters) in a characteristic interaction between intellectual, political, religious, and social forces endemic in the founding of late sixteenth-century cultural institutions.
