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For a hundred and fifty years after the Reformation the practice of travel with a Christian purpose went into steep decline among both Protestants and many Roman Catholics. It is tempting to attribute this decline to Protestant preaching. But, to do so would be to overlook the fact that the decline in major pilgrimages, not local shrines, occurred all over Western Europe. A simpler explanation for the general loss of enthusiasm for Christian travel is to be found in the unsettled social conditions following the Reformation.
A series of peasant revolts in German speaking lands were followed by wars of religion which embraced the whole of Western Europe. Some areas, for example, lost up to two thirds of their population to war and the plagues which followed in the wake of marauding armies. Although the sack of Magdeburg, where only 5,000 out of a population in excess of 30,000 survived, was the most publicized example of barbarism the stench of war left few areas untouched. After the Peace of Westfalia in 1648 few areas experienced real order. Bands of unemployed soldiers wandered the countryside robbing and pillaging at will. Travel of any sort, except in large well armed convoys, was highly dangerous.
By the beginning of the eighteenth century a semblance or order began to return. But, until the 1770’s unnecessary travel remained the preserve of the brave few. An exception to this observation is the growth of the "Grand Tour" which became an obsession with English aristocrats and minor genry. By the mid-century no one who aspired to public office or high social standing could afford to ignore the Grand Tour as a means to improving their social status and education.
At first such travelers went in disguise through France and Germany to their ultimate destination Italy where they had to avoid capture by the Inquisition. But, by mid-century English travelers were accepted even in Italy where the Inquisition turned a blind eye to their presence perhaps in the realization that some would convert to Roman Catholicism as a result of their enchantment with Italian art and culture.
Later in the century and throughout the nineteenth century other nationalities joined the English in their wanderings around Europe. French writers like Voltaire, Rousseau and Diderot, Germans like Goethe, Herder, and Heine, all extolled the virtues of travel as a means of education and enlightenment.
Early in the nineteenth century travel took on a new significance. Following the publication of James Macpherson’s The Odes of Ossian, 1760-1763, a wave of historical nostalgia that glorified war and the sacrifice of warriors swept Europe that reached hysterical proportions early in the nineteenth century. Thus ruins and ancient monuments became the pivotal focus for growing nationalist movements which developed in the wake of Napoleon’s invasions and numerous art works depicted people in Greek or Roman garb greeting soliders or going off to war.
Now instead of remembering their Christian heritage, Europeans and many North Americans looked to an artificially recreated pagan past for inspiration. Ancient mythologies, rites and beliefs now became a popular substitute for Biblical history and faith. [Cf. Howard Gaskill, ed., The Poems of Ossian: and related works, Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 1996; and Anthony D. Smith The Ethnic Origins of Nations, Oxford, Blackwell, 1986].
The Victor
by Karl Schenkel
Berlin, Germany
The Arc de Triumph
Paris, France
The Returning Warrior
by Robert Drake,
Rudesheim, Germany