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English Travellers to Venice 1450 -1600 contains 35 separate accounts of the experiences of a wide range of English travellers to Venice.
These accounts, drawn from contemporary manuscript and printed sources, provide vivid impressions of the challenges and hardships endured by visitors to the city and of the complexities of Anglo-Venetian relations during the pre- and post-Reformation periods. They also communicate these travellers' sense of wonder at the city's grandeur and artistic treasures and their enduring fascination with Venice's republican government, political structures and Mediterranean possessions. These travellers include pilgrims, scholars, religious exiles, ambassadors, English courtiers and noblemen, eccentric and renegade characters, seafarers and an undercover intelligence gatherer during the late 1580s for Sir Francis Walsingham, Queen Elizabeth's 'spymaster'.
This volume's introduction assesses elements of Anglo-Venetian contacts between 1450 and 1600 and examines some specific topics, such as: the leading role of Venetian naval experts in attempts in 1545 to salvage Henry VIII's flagship the Mary Rose; a first-hand account by an English visitor's servant of the disastrous and lethal 1575-7 outbreak of the plague at Venice; and, during the build-up to the Spanish Armada, the impressive international reach of the Venetian intelligence service which enabled the doge and Council to remain well informed about both Spanish and English plans. In addition to the colour plates, illustrating the brilliant artistic achievements of Venetian art by Bellini, Carpaccio, Titian, Veronese and Tintoretto, the volume includes a selection of engravings of Venetian life from the renowned collections of Giacomo Franco. A wide range of illustrations is also included from important early maps of Venice, by Erhard Reuwich for Bernard von Breydenbach's Peregrinatio in Terram Sanctam (1486), Hartmann Schedel's Liber chronicarum (1493), Jacopo de' Barbari's aerial view of Venice (1500) and the stunning map of Venice in Civitates orbis terrarum (1572-1617) by Georg Braun and Frans Hogenberg. Perhaps most remarkable is that many of the locations, buildings, religious objects and artistic treasures described in this volume may still be seen today by visitors to this unique Italian city, renowned for centuries as 'La Serenissima'.
These accounts, drawn from contemporary manuscript and printed sources, provide vivid impressions of the challenges and hardships endured by visitors to the city and of the complexities of Anglo-Venetian relations during the pre- and post-Reformation periods. They also communicate these travellers' sense of wonder at the city's grandeur and artistic treasures and their enduring fascination with Venice's republican government, political structures and Mediterranean possessions. These travellers include pilgrims, scholars, religious exiles, ambassadors, English courtiers and noblemen, eccentric and renegade characters, seafarers and an undercover intelligence gatherer during the late 1580s for Sir Francis Walsingham, Queen Elizabeth's 'spymaster'.
This volume's introduction assesses elements of Anglo-Venetian contacts between 1450 and 1600 and examines some specific topics, such as: the leading role of Venetian naval experts in attempts in 1545 to salvage Henry VIII's flagship the Mary Rose; a first-hand account by an English visitor's servant of the disastrous and lethal 1575-7 outbreak of the plague at Venice; and, during the build-up to the Spanish Armada, the impressive international reach of the Venetian intelligence service which enabled the doge and Council to remain well informed about both Spanish and English plans. In addition to the colour plates, illustrating the brilliant artistic achievements of Venetian art by Bellini, Carpaccio, Titian, Veronese and Tintoretto, the volume includes a selection of engravings of Venetian life from the renowned collections of Giacomo Franco. A wide range of illustrations is also included from important early maps of Venice, by Erhard Reuwich for Bernard von Breydenbach's Peregrinatio in Terram Sanctam (1486), Hartmann Schedel's Liber chronicarum (1493), Jacopo de' Barbari's aerial view of Venice (1500) and the stunning map of Venice in Civitates orbis terrarum (1572-1617) by Georg Braun and Frans Hogenberg. Perhaps most remarkable is that many of the locations, buildings, religious objects and artistic treasures described in this volume may still be seen today by visitors to this unique Italian city, renowned for centuries as 'La Serenissima'.
Price: $70.00
Pages: 514
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Inc.
Imprint: Hakluyt Society
Series: Hakluyt Society Third Series
Publication Date:
29 September 2026
Trim Size: 9.61 X 6.77 in
ISBN: 9781916931350
Format: Paperback
BISACs:
HISTORY / Europe / Italy, European history, TRAVEL / Europe / General, Navigation and seamanship
List of Maps and Illustrations xi
Abbreviations and Conventions xviii
Acknowledgements xx
Chronology 1450-1600 xxvi
INTRODUCTION
1. Early Modern Anglo-Venetian Contacts 1
2. English Travellers to Venice 1450-1548 4
3. English Travellers to Venice 1548-1600 10
4. Giacomo Franco's Engravings of Venice 20
5. Maps of Venice 22
PART I: ENGLISH TRAVELLERS TO VENICE 1450-1548
1. c.1454 - 'The Physician's Handbook' of Richard 'Esty' or Richard 'of Lincoln' 33
2. 1458/62 - The 'Itineraries' of William Wey 38
3. 1458 and 1460 - John Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester 57
4. c. mid-1460s-c. early 1470s - Sir Edmund Wighton 62
5. c.1492/3-97 - Thomas Linacre 64
6. c.1498/1500 - Informacon for pylgrymes unto the holy londe 66
7. 1506 - Sir Richard Guildford's Chaplain, Thomas Larke 74
8. c.1511-14 - The Pylgrymage of Master Robert Langton 83
9. 1513 - Sir Thomas Newport and Sir Thomas Sheffield 88
10. 1517 - Sir Richard Torkington 92
11. c.1521-c.1526 and 1532-6 - Reginald Pole 103
12. c.1520s-1550 - Edmund (Sigismund) Harvell 109
13. 1527 - Thomas Wyatt and Sir John Russell 115
14. c.1538-42 - Andrew Bo(o)rde 121
15. 1545 - The Sinking of the Mary Rose and Venetian Salvage Attempts 124
PART II: ENGLISH TRAVELLERS TO VENICE 1548-1600
16. 1545/8 - The Historie of Italie by William Thomas 129
17. 1548/50 and 1554/5 - Sir Thomas Hoby and the Protestant English Community at Venice and Padua 153
18. 1550-56 - Peter Vannes (Pietro Vanni of Lucca), English Ambassador to Venice 166
19. 1552 - Roger Ascham 171
20. 1564 - Richard Smith's Account of Sir Edward Unton's Visit to Venice 177
21. 1570 and 1589 - Henry Cavendish 181
22. 1573-4 - Philip Sidney, with Griffin Madox, Harry Whyte, John Fisher, Thomas Coningsby, Lodowick Bryskett and Edward, Lord Windsor 186
23. 1575-6 - Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford 213
24. 1575/7 - Sir John North and His Servant Hugh Lochard 223
25. c.1575 - Sir Henry Unton 231
26. 1580 - James Crichton 234
27. 1581 - Arthur Throckmorton 237
28. 1581 - Laurence Aldersey 250
29. 1587/8 - Stephen Powle 254
30. Venetian Intelligence about the Spanish Armada in 1588 273
31. 1588 - Edward Webbe 280
32. 1591 - Sir Henry Wotton 285
33. 1593-5, 1596 and 1597 - Fynes Moryson 291
34. 1595 - Henry Piers 363
35. English Attitudes to Venice by 1600 370
APPENDIX: Venetian Locations, Institutions and Ceremonies 380
BIBLIOGRAPHY 403
INDEX 416
Abbreviations and Conventions xviii
Acknowledgements xx
Chronology 1450-1600 xxvi
INTRODUCTION
1. Early Modern Anglo-Venetian Contacts 1
2. English Travellers to Venice 1450-1548 4
3. English Travellers to Venice 1548-1600 10
4. Giacomo Franco's Engravings of Venice 20
5. Maps of Venice 22
PART I: ENGLISH TRAVELLERS TO VENICE 1450-1548
1. c.1454 - 'The Physician's Handbook' of Richard 'Esty' or Richard 'of Lincoln' 33
2. 1458/62 - The 'Itineraries' of William Wey 38
3. 1458 and 1460 - John Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester 57
4. c. mid-1460s-c. early 1470s - Sir Edmund Wighton 62
5. c.1492/3-97 - Thomas Linacre 64
6. c.1498/1500 - Informacon for pylgrymes unto the holy londe 66
7. 1506 - Sir Richard Guildford's Chaplain, Thomas Larke 74
8. c.1511-14 - The Pylgrymage of Master Robert Langton 83
9. 1513 - Sir Thomas Newport and Sir Thomas Sheffield 88
10. 1517 - Sir Richard Torkington 92
11. c.1521-c.1526 and 1532-6 - Reginald Pole 103
12. c.1520s-1550 - Edmund (Sigismund) Harvell 109
13. 1527 - Thomas Wyatt and Sir John Russell 115
14. c.1538-42 - Andrew Bo(o)rde 121
15. 1545 - The Sinking of the Mary Rose and Venetian Salvage Attempts 124
PART II: ENGLISH TRAVELLERS TO VENICE 1548-1600
16. 1545/8 - The Historie of Italie by William Thomas 129
17. 1548/50 and 1554/5 - Sir Thomas Hoby and the Protestant English Community at Venice and Padua 153
18. 1550-56 - Peter Vannes (Pietro Vanni of Lucca), English Ambassador to Venice 166
19. 1552 - Roger Ascham 171
20. 1564 - Richard Smith's Account of Sir Edward Unton's Visit to Venice 177
21. 1570 and 1589 - Henry Cavendish 181
22. 1573-4 - Philip Sidney, with Griffin Madox, Harry Whyte, John Fisher, Thomas Coningsby, Lodowick Bryskett and Edward, Lord Windsor 186
23. 1575-6 - Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford 213
24. 1575/7 - Sir John North and His Servant Hugh Lochard 223
25. c.1575 - Sir Henry Unton 231
26. 1580 - James Crichton 234
27. 1581 - Arthur Throckmorton 237
28. 1581 - Laurence Aldersey 250
29. 1587/8 - Stephen Powle 254
30. Venetian Intelligence about the Spanish Armada in 1588 273
31. 1588 - Edward Webbe 280
32. 1591 - Sir Henry Wotton 285
33. 1593-5, 1596 and 1597 - Fynes Moryson 291
34. 1595 - Henry Piers 363
35. English Attitudes to Venice by 1600 370
APPENDIX: Venetian Locations, Institutions and Ceremonies 380
BIBLIOGRAPHY 403
INDEX 416