Travelogues of Palestine explained

Travelogues of Palestine are the written descriptions of the region of Palestine by travellers, particularly prior to the 20th century. The works are important sources in the study of the history of Palestine and of Israel. Surveys of the geographical literature on Palestine were published by Edward Robinson in 1841,[1] Titus Tobler in 1867[2] and subsequently by Reinhold Röhricht in 1890.[3] Röhricht catalogued 177 works between 333 – 1300 CE, 19 works in the 14th century, 279 works in the 15th century, 333 works in the 16th century, 390 works in the 17th century, 318 works in the 18th century and 1,915 works in the 19th century.[4]

In total, there are more than 3,000 books and other materials detailing accounts of the journeys of primarily European and North American travelers to Ottoman Palestine. The number of published travelogues proliferated during the 19th century, and these travelers' impressions of 19th-century Palestine have been often quoted in the history and historiography of the region, although their accuracy and impartiality has been called into question in modern times.[5] [6]

List of travelogues

Chronological list by years of travel, also indicating first publication, and/or edition available online.

Until the 18th century

Date Author Title (with link) Language Editions
333 Anonymous Itinerarium Burdigalense Latin
380s Itinerarium Latin
414–449 Letter to Faustus Latin
c. 500 Anonymous Breviary of Jerusalem Latin
518–530 Theodosius De Situ Terrae Sanctae Latin
c. 530 Synecdemus Greek
570s Latin
698 Arculf (with Adomnán) De locis sanctis Latin
778 Willibald (with Hygeburg) Hodoeporicon Latin Vita Willibaldi episcopi Eichstetensis, Hannover, 1887[7]
800s Itinerarium Latin
985 Description of Syria Arabic
1003–1077Nasir KhusrawSafarnamaPersianNāṣer-e Khosraw's book of travels (Safarnāma), 1986.
1108 Puteshestive igumena Daniila Russian
1138 Descriptio de locis sanctis Latin
1147 Ekphrasis Greek
1157 Níkulás Bergsson Leiðarvísir og borgarskipan Icelandic
1160s Description of the Holy Land Latin
1172 Theoderich Libellus de locis sanctis Latin
1173 Travels or Itinerary Hebrew
1187? Chronicle of Ernoul and Bernard the Treasurer Book: Ernoul. Bernard le Trésorier . Ernoul . Mas Latrie. Louis. Louis de Mas Latrie. Chronique d'Ernoul et de Bernard le Trésorier / publiée, pour la première ... . 1871 . Mme Ve J. Renouard . fr. none. Book: Conder . 1896 . Library of the Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society . . 6 .
1192 Historia de profectione Danorum in Hierosolymam Latin
1170s–1180s Travels of Rabbi Petachia of Ratisbon Hebrew
1210 Hebrew
1211–1212 Itinerarium terrae sanctae Latin Book: Pringle, Denys. Denys Pringle . Pilgrimage to Jerusalem and the Holy Land, 1187-1291. 2011. Ashgate Pub. 978-1-4094-3607-2. 785151012 . English. none.

Book: Laurent, J.C.M. . Wilbrands von Oldenburg Reise nach Palaestina und Kleinasien: lateinisch und deutsch mit erklärenden Anmerkungen und einer Biographie des Verfassers . T.G. Meissner . Harvard College Library preservation microfilm program . 1859 . de. none.

1217–18 Iter ad sanctam terram Latin Book: Laurent, J.C.M. . Mag. Thietmari Peregrinatio . Nolte & Köhler . Jahresbericht Johanneum Hamburg . 1857 . none.

Book: Tobler, T. . Iter ad sanctam terram anno 1217 . Huber . 1851 . none.

1249 account lost
1274–1284 Descriptio Terrae Sanctae Latin Book: Laurent, J. C. M. . Peregrinatores Medii Aevi Quatuor. 1864. J.C. Hinrichs. Leipzig. Latin . none.

Book: Laurent, J. C. M. . Peregrinatores Medii Aevi Quatuor. 1873. 2. Leipzig. Latin . none.

The library of the Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society. 12. Translated by Aubrey Stewart. Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society. 1896.

Extended text:

Book: Pringle, Denys . Pilgrimage to Jerusalem and the Holy Land, 1187-1291. 2011. Ashgate Pub. 978-1-4094-3607-2. 785151012 . English. none.

1285–1289 Book: Pringle, Denys . Pilgrimage to Jerusalem and the Holy Land, 1187-1291. 2011. Ashgate Pub. 978-1-4094-3607-2. 785151012 . English. none.
1289 Liber Peregrinationis Latin Book: Laurent, J.C.M.. Peregrinatores medii aevi quatuor: Burchardus de Monte Sion, Ricoldus de Monte Crucis, Odoricus .... 1864. J.C. Hinrichs. Latin . 102ff . none.

Book: Pringle, Denys . Pilgrimage to Jerusalem and the Holy Land, 1187-1291. 2011. Ashgate Pub. 978-1-4094-3607-2. 785151012 . English. none.

1300 Cosmographia Arabic
1320s Itinerarium Symonis Semeonis ab Hybernia ad Terram Sanctam Latin
1370s Khozhdenie arkhimandrita Agrefen'ia obiteli preosviatye Bogoroditsy Russian
1384–85 Viaggio di Lionardo di Niccolo Frescobaldi in Egitto e in Terra Santa Italian published in 1821 by Guglielmo Manzi
1420 Voyaige d'oultremer en Jhérusalem French first published 1858
1400 A history of Mamluk sultans of Egypt Arabic Book: none. Al-Maqrizi . Al-Maqrizi . Histoire des sultans mamlouks, de l'Égypte, écrite en arabe . 1, part 1 . . 1840 . Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland . Paris . fr, la.
1433 Travels of Bertrandon de La Brocq́uière French Bertrandon de La Brocquière, Thomas Johnes, Legrand, Translated by Thomas Johnes, (1807): The Travels of Bertrandon de La Brocq́uière, to Palestine: And His Return from Jerusalem Overland to France, During the Years 1432 & 1433. Extracted and Put Into Modern French from a Manuscript in the National Library at Paris, 336 pages
1458 Accounts of the 1458 pilgrimage: Giovanni Matteo Bottigella, Latin; Gabriele Capodilista, Italian Anton Pelchinger, German; Roberto Sanseverino d'Aragona, Italian; William Wey, Latin; an anonymous Dutch account various R. J. Mitchell, The Spring Voyage: The Jerusalem Pilgrimage in 1458 (London: Readers Union, 1965).
1480 Italian
1483 Latin Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society, 1893–1896.[8]
1483 Peregrinatio in terram sanctam (1486) Latin
1483 Paul Walter von Guglingen[9] Latin Sollweck, M. Fratris Pauli Waltheri Guglingensis Itinerarium in Terram Sanctam et ad Sanctam Catharinam, 1892.
1486 Georges LengherandFrench
1486 Description of a pilgrimage from Konstanz to Jerusalem
    • Conrad Grünenberg, Pilgrimage to the Holy Land (1486), ed. J. Goldfriedrich, W. Fränzel (1912, new facsimile edition 2009); ed. K. Aercke (2005); ed. A. Denke (2010)
1486 Girolamo da CastiglioneDescription of a pilgrimage to the Holy Land Italian
1486 Description of a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and Mount Sinai French
1480s Tvoyage van Mher Joos van Ghistele (1577) Dutch
1586 Giovanni Zuallardo Description of a pilgrimage to Jerusalem Latin Giovanni Zuallardo, Dominique Danesi, Jac Demius, Philippe de Mérode (1595): Il devotissimo viaggio di Gierusalemme: fatto, e descritto in sei libri Published by Appresso Domenico Basa, 351 pages
1598 Itinerarium Hierosolymitanum et Syriacum Latin, 1617; Dutch, 1619.
1608 Journey from Bohemia to the Holy Land, by way of Venice and the Sea Czech
1615George SandysA Relation of a Journey Begun an Dom. 1610English
1630s Historica, theologica et moralis terræ sanctæ elucidatio..., 1639. Latin Italian: "Itinerario di Caldea del Rev. P. Francesco Quaresmio e di Fr. Tomaso da Milano suo compagno... l'anno 1629", ed. Marcellino da Civezza, (1895), 597-608.

Cf: .

1634Henry BlountA Voyage Into the LevantEnglish
1652 Jean Doubdan Le voyage de la Terre-Sainte...[1657] French 1657; 1661; 1666...
1670s Seyahatnâme ("book of travels") Ottoman Turkish
1665 Relation d’un voyage fait au Levant French
c. 1653–1697 Voyage dans la Palestine French French, 1717 etc; English, 1718 etc; English, 1962 (Lewis).
1703 A Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem At Easter A. D. 1697 English
1700s Ichnographiæ locorum et monumentorum vete-rum Terræ Sanctæ, accurate delineatæ et descriptæ Latin

Ottoman period, 18th century

. George Anson, 1st Baron Anson. 1853. A voyage round the world, in the years 1740, 41, 42, 43, 44 (compiled by R. Walter).

. William George Browne. 1799. Travels in Africa, Egypt and Syria From the year 1792 to 1798. T. Cadell junior and W. Davies, Strand; and T. N. Longman and O. Rees, Paternoster-Row. .

. Fredric Hasselquist. Hasselquist . Fredrik . Carl . von Linné. 1766 . Voyages and Travels in the Levant in the Years 1749, 50, 51, 52: Containing Observations in Natural History, Physick, Agriculture, and Commerce, Particularly on the Holy Land, and the Natural History of the Scriptures. Printed for L. Davis and C. Reymers . Printed for L. Davis and C. Reymers, 456 pages

. François Baron de Tott. 1786. Memoirs of Baron de Tott: Containing the state of the Turkish empire & the Crimea, during the late war with Russia. With numerous anecdotes, facts, & observations, on the manners & customs of the Turks & Tartars. 2 . G.G.J. & J. Robinson., Item notes: v. 2

to which are annexed, observations on the plague, and on the diseases prevalent in Turkey, and a meteorological journal Printed and sold by James Humphreys, 595 pages

Ottoman period, 19th century

20th century

Ottoman period

British period

See also

Sources

Notes and References

  1. [Biblical Researches in Palestine]
  2. https://archive.org/details/BibliographiaGeographicaPalestinae/page/n5 Bibliographia Geographica Palaestinae. Zunächst Kristiche Übersicht Gedruckter und Ungedruckter Beschreibungen der Reisen ins Heilige Land
  3. Reinhold Röhricht Bibliotheca Geographica Palaestinae: Chronologisches Verzeichniss der auf die Geographie des Heiligen Landes bezüglichen Literatur ("Geographical Bibliography of Palestine: Chronological Index of Literature relating to the Geography of the Holy Land"), Berlin: Reuther und Reichard, 1890
  4. Book: Zur Shalev. Sacred Words and Worlds: Geography, Religion, and Scholarship, 1550–1700. 14 October 2011. BRILL. 978-90-04-20938-1. 79.
  5. Book: Johann Büssow. Hamidian Palestine: Politics and Society in the District of Jerusalem 1872–1908. 11 August 2011. BRILL. 978-90-04-20569-7. 30–.
  6. Book: Ilan Pappe. A History of Modern Palestine: One Land, Two Peoples. 31 July 2006. Cambridge University Press. 978-0-521-68315-9. 34–35. The foreign visitors were prolific writers. More than three thousand books and travelogues on Palestine were written by Europeans throughout the nineteenth century, all painting a picture of a primitive Palestine waiting to be redeemed by Europeans... We cannot quantify misery or joy, but Palestinian biographies from a short time later, and subsequent anthropological research, tell us that this picture represents the distorted view of European colonists..
  7. Book: Ritter, Carl . The comparative geographie of Palestine and the Sinaitic Peninsula . T. & T. Clark . 1866 . https://books.google.com/books?id=X70PrAtAuGUC&pg=PA391 . 391–409 . Appendix III. Tobler's Resumé of Works on Palestine.
  8. Book: Fabri, Felix . none . Felix Fabri . 1896 . Felix Fabri (circa 1480–1483 A.D.) vol I, part I .
    Book: Fabri, Felix . none . Felix Fabri . 1896 . Felix Fabri (circa 1480–1483 A.D.) vol I, part II .
    Book: Fabri, Felix . none . Felix Fabri . 1893 . Felix Fabri (circa 1480–1483 A.D.) vol II, part I .
    Book: Fabri, Felix . none. Felix Fabri . 1893 . Felix Fabri (circa 1480–1483 A.D.) vol II, part II ., with p. 677: Index
  9. Ritsema van Eck . Marianne P. . 2017-07-03 . Encounters with the Levant: the late medieval illustrated Jerusalem Travelogue by Paul Walter von Guglingen . Mediterranean Historical Review . 32 . 2 . 153–188 . 10.1080/09518967.2017.1396769 . 220378469 . 0951-8967. free . 1887/69486 . free .