Itinerario inglés de Purchas his Pilgrimes

[Caminando]

No I'd never heard of it - you may have! And no capital on the i of inglés.

I was looking thru a Spanish history journal "La Aventura de la Historia", picked up in SDC in Nov. My Spanish is minimal, but in the article on the Camino, I came across a mention of this route.

It starts in Plymouth, England, lands in Brest, then thru Nantes, La Rochelle, Bordeaux, Bayonne, Santander, Gijon, Ribadero, Vilalba, Melide to SDC. The editor of the published guide (1625) to this route is Samuel Purchas. It seems to follow a mainstream way from the Atlantic ports, but the name is new.

Another camino!

 

[Anna-Marie]

I was curious and looked this up.

It seems Samuel Purchas wrote a five-volume series (or four volumes plus one, depending how you look at it) called "Purchas his Pilgrimes" or "Hakluytus Postumus." They're mostly about European voyages of exploration, but he writes on religious themes, and the fifth book is about world religions. So presumably your route is described in them--somewhere.

You can go through the first four volumes here and the fifth volume here. It would be a lot of work, though, since they're scanned pages and some are hard to read. I did look through the tables of contents, but didn't see anything helpful.

There are digitized versions of the first few volumes available, too, but they don't seem to mention the pilgrimage. And then, of course, you can buy the original set of books ... for $200,000.

I'm curious now too ... but not, I have to admit, enough to look through thousands of pages.

Anna-Marie

 

[Caminando]

Hi AM

The issue number of the history mag is Ano 12, No 141.

The mention is very brief, but does show the route on a map of Europe wide medieval pilgrimage.

 

[Anna-Marie]

Thanks!

It would be neat to see what Purchas says about it in the book, though. It's one of those fun really old books full of opinions and weird spellings and f's instead of s's.

 

[Caminando]

Thanks!

It would be neat to see what Purchas says about it in the book, though. It's one of those fun really old books full of opinions and weird spellings and f's instead of s's.

Yes old Sam seems like one of those tour operators I'm so much against! An early travel agent interfering with experience.

Mind you, in his century, it must have been a much more alien experience than in our day. We have so much in our favour nowadays. It's easy in comparison.

PS I wonder by what route his books ended up across the Atlantic!! Sam would have been amazed.
PPS What an appropriate surname for someone selling something...

Buen camino!
e ultreia

 

[Anna-Marie]

Yes old Sam seems like one of those tour operators I'm so much against! An early travel agent interfering with experience.

Mind you, in his century, it must have been a much more alien experience than in our day. We have so much in our favour nowadays. It's easy in comparison.

Yeah, I don't know what it was like in the 17th century, but in the 12th century I'd be all for that first Camino guidebook that's found in the Codex Calixtenus, mainly because I'd prefer to avoid experiences like drinking from poisonous rivers.

 

[Caminando]

Yes old Sam seems like one of those tour operators I'm so much against! An early travel agent interfering with experience.

Mind you, in his century, it must have been a much more alien experience than in our day. We have so much in our favour nowadays. It's easy in comparison.

Yeah, I don't know what it was like in the 17th century, but in the 12th century I'd be all for that first Camino guidebook that's found in the Codex Calixtenus, mainly because I'd prefer to avoid experiences like drinking from poisonous rivers.

The poisoned rivers, your horses dropping dead from drinking it and immediately being skinned on the spot always struck me as wild tales. Likewise his judgements of the different peoples he met - wacky stuff, but good fun to read!

If you enjoy history and don't already know this book, I suggest Jonathan Sumption's "Pilgrimage".

 

[Anna-Marie]

If you enjoy history and don't already know this book, I suggest Jonathan Sumption's "Pilgrimage".

Thanks! I'll have to check that one out.

I really am a total history geek. Even studied it at university.

 

[Caminando]

Snap!