De Moravie en Italie. Voyage universitaire et “Grand Tour” européen (1596-1602)

This book is the commented French translation of the daily diary kept in Latin between January 1597 and June 1602 by a young nobleman from Moravia visiting nine European countries to perfect his education, learn the languages and understand the etiquette of the European aristocracy of the day, and to make acquaintances.

The way young Lutheran Zdenek of Waldstein travelled had something of both the university and the Grand Tour which was then beginning to develop and was later to become what we know of as tourism. His diary not only lists the various courses he signed up for, but also the teachers and fellow students that he met, the countries he journeyed through including their monuments and curiosities. His social status enabled him to access prestigious functions among the Germanic nations at the universities of Orléans and Siena. It also enabled him to become acquainted with important historical figures such as Henri IV in France, the United Provinces’ stadtholder Maurice of Nassau, Queen Elizabeth I, cardinals Baronius and Bellarmin in Rome, and a multitude of scholars.

The story of the manuscript itself is quite unusual since this document written by a heretic passed through many hands before it reached the shelves of the Vatican Library.

This original investigation takes us back to a time when Europe was torn apart by religious wars, yet united in a common admiration for Antiquity and the belief in progress.