Rare Adventures & Painful Peregrinations

by William Lithgow

An exciting and unusual book first published in 1632, Rare Adventures and Painful Peregrinations has been a much-ignored masterpiece of global literature, though it is one of the world's great travel tales. Beginning his travels in the Orkney and Shetland Islands of Scotland, Lithgow soon went off to explore the Netherlands, Germany, Bohemia, France, and Italy. He then traveled throughout Greece, Egypt, and Malta before having a spin through Western Europe again and finally returning to Great Britain. Most notably, Lithgow survived torture by the Inquisition in Spain and later traveled throughout his native Scotland. AUTHOR BIO: One of the earliest world explorers and great men of literature, William Lithgow (1582-1645) completed his major work, The Total Discourse of the Rare Adventures and Painful Peregrinations of Long Nineteen Years Travayles in 1632. It was reprinted in 1906.

Genres: Travel, History, Biography, Nonfiction

296 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1632

About the author

William Lithgow (c.1582 - 1645) was a widely-travelled Scot. He was born in Lanarkshire and educated at Lanark Grammar School.

Prior to 1610 he had visited Shetland, Switzerland, and Bohemia. In that year he set out from Paris for Rome on the 7 March, where he remained for four weeks before moving on to other parts of Italy: Naples, Ancona, before moving on to Athens, Constantinople, and others. After a three-month stay in Constantinople, he sailed to other Grecian localities and then on to Palestine, arriving in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday 1612, and later on to Egypt.

His next journey, 1614–16, was in Tunis and Fez; but his last, 1619–21, to Spain, ended unfortunately in his apprehension at Malaga and torture as a spy.

His most famous work, The Totall Discourse of the Rare Adventures & Painefull Peregrinations of Long Nineteene Yeares Travayles from Scotland to the most Famous Kingdomes in Europe, Asia and Africa (1632), is an exhilarating account of his experiences.

Reviews

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I stumbled across this remarkable book whilst browsing on Amazon, having never previously heard of either it or the author. What a discovery! William Lithgow is thought to have been born in Lanark, Scotland in the 1580s, and seems to have been one of those people born with an inherent restlessness, and an absolute compulsion always to find out what is over the horizon. This book recounts just some of his lifetime's travels, mainly through Southern Europe, the Balkans, Syria and the Holy Land, and North Africa. At this time in history travelling alone in strange lands was ridiculously dangerous. The regions Lithgow travelled through were infested with bandits; state power was often exercised in a completely arbitrary fashion; and the whole Mediterranean was terrorised by the Barbary Corsairs, slave raiders who operated from North Africa with the sanction of the Ottoman authorities. Most of the ships Lithgow travelled on were attacked or pursued by corsairs at some point; and on land he is regularly assaulted and robbed, sometimes by bandits and sometimes by bullying officials or local petty tyrants. His travels are eventually brought to an end when he is arrested in Spain as a suspected spy and horrifically tortured by the Spanish authorities and the Inquisition. In between these adventures though, his book provides a fascinating first hand portrait of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East during the 17th century.

Mr Lithgow undoubtedly had his faults. He can be boastful and at times xenophobic. I think it best also to warn modern readers that he was a man of his time - a Scots Presbyterian at a time when religion dominated people's lives. He is contemptuous of other religions, and most of all of Catholicism (although it should be admitted that his brutal treatment by the Inquisition is unlikely to have left him with fond memories of the Catholic Church). Much of the text is taken up with anti-Catholic invective. At the same time we can see glimmers of the Enlightenment in William Lithgow, even though he wrote more than a century before it. When told of anything unusual, he generally refuses to believe it until he either sees it or tries it out for himself, and he often describes local legends using terms like "ridiculous" or "fantastical".

The introduction to the edition I have describes Lithgow's book as "a neglected masterpiece". I am inclined to agree.

[Selma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Erster Reisebericht Europas aus dem 17.Jhd und das erste Mal ins Deutsche übersetzt!
Ich hatte das Buch zufällig in der Buchhandlung entdeckt und einfach mal mitgenommen. Es ist super spannend, wie die Welt damals im 17 Jhd. war, welche Weltmächte zutage waren, mit welchen Waren sie handelten, und wie man gereist ist, wenn überhaupt. William Lithgow, der Protagonist, ist dann nochmal ein Sonderling für sich, der oft verallgemeinert und dadurch ziemlich rassistische Äußerungen macht, über die man aber schmunzeln kann. Auserdem hat er nicht viel übrig an Religionen, die nicht seiner protestantischen angehören. Er hält sich zudem für sehr wichtig und entkommt sehr oft dem Tod. Insgesamt historisch sehr interessant und witzig seine Kommentare. Ein Punkt Stern-Abzug gibts wegen der etwas veralteten Sprache, die mir manchmal Mühe bereitet hat. Aber eigentlich ist das übertrieben, die Sprache wurde schon so übersetzt, dass es ins Heutige passt! Lesempfehlung!

[Derek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Etwas sperrige Sprache, ist halt auch schon 400 Jahre her, aber dafür sehr interessante Schilderungen von jemandem der, für diese Zeit sicher ungewöhnlich, auf seine eigenen Erfahrungen vertraut und die damalige Welt aus einer heute nicht immer politisch korrekten Perspektive einschätzt.

[Gwendolinepeepingtom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sehr interessante Lektüre