Project Details
Projekt
Artes apodemicae. An Analysis of Early Modern Manuals of Travelling
Subject Area
German Medieval Studies (Medieval German Literature)
Term
from 2019 to 2023
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 421508975
Travelling was in the early modern period regarded a highly valuable source for the production of knowledge and an important part of the education of academics, humanists, noblemen and politicians, which led to the phenomenon of the Grand Tour. This phenomenon brought forth a new genre of writings, Artes apodemicae (manuals for travelling). The demand for such texts was substantial (ca. 300 printed works). Early modern travelling met considerable interest in modern resarch; especially the practicalities of travelling (including the Grand Tour) are well researched from the perspective of cultural and social history. The Artes apodemicae, however, have not been further researched from the perspective of the literary criticism. Especially the Latin Artes are underresearched in this respect, but mutatis mutandis, the same counts for the vernacular texts. Of some Artes we do not even know the precise contents. Our project aims at closely analysing these texts for the first time by the methods of literary criticism, in connection with the perspectives of the history of science and university history.Because the Artes apodemicae do not consist of a homogeneous group of texts we intend to analyse their various forms, structures, and selection of contents, to tease out the relationship between these elements and the Artes’ strategies of transmission of knowledge. The sources of antiquity, and of more recent date will be determined, and their use, interpretation and function be researched. Furthermore, the intertextual relationship between the various, Latin and vernuacular Artes apodemicae will be analysed. With these new data, we will test anew the thesis that the Artes were largely based on empirical observation instead of on bookish knowledge, and discuss the position of the Artes in the current system of academic and non-academic disciplines. In this way we aim at drawing a new and dynamic picture of the genre, from ca. 1570 to 1760.
DFG Programme
Research Grants
