HY323
Travel, Pleasure and Politics: The European Grand Tour, 1670-1825
This information is for the 2024/25 session.
Teacher responsible
Dr Paul Stock SAR 2.15
Availability
This course is available on the BA in History, BA in Social Anthropology, BSc in History and Politics, BSc in International Relations and History, BSc in Politics and History and BSc in Social Anthropology. This course is available as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit and to General Course students.
Course content
Throughout the eighteenth century thousands of young British men and women embarked on extensive journeys to continental Europe – an activity known as the Grand Tour. 'Travel, Pleasure and Politics: The European Grand Tour 1670-1825' explores who these people were, where they went, and the reasons for their expeditions. For some, the Tour was the final stage of formal education; to others an opportunity for sexual adventures and pleasure-seeking. The course discusses the practical challenges of eighteenth-century travel, the political, religious, and cultural contexts of the Tour, as well as the key places to visit and the reasons for their popularity. It also considers what the Tourists brought back with them: from physical artefacts for public and private collections, to new ways of seeing and understanding the world. 'Travel, Pleasure and Politics' introduces students to the actual writings of the Tourists, showing how they experienced international travel and shaped the modern tourist industry.
Teaching
20 hours of seminars in the AT. 20 hours of seminars in the WT. 2 hours of seminars in the ST.
There will be a reading week in week 6 of the Autumn and the Winter Terms.
Formative coursework
Students will be expected to produce 1 piece of coursework in the WT and 2 essays in the AT and WT.
Specifically, the course's formative coursework will consist of two essays (AT and WT), one document analysis (WT). Students will also have an opportunity to sit a mock exam.
Indicative reading
Jeremy Black, The British Abroad: the Grand Tour in the Eighteenth Century (New York: St Martin’s Press, 1992) D915 B62
John Brewer, The Pleasures of the Imagination: English Culture in the Eighteenth Century (New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1997) DA485 B84
James Buzard, ‘The Grand Tour and after (1660-1840)’, in Peter Hulme and Tim Youngs, eds., The Cambridge Companion to Travel Writing (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002) PR756.T72 C17
Edward Chaney, The Evolution of the Grand Tour: Anglo-Italian Relations since the Renaissance (London: Frank Cass, 1998) DA47.9 .I8 C45
Tony Claydon, Tony, Europe and the Making of England, 1660-1760 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007) BR757 C62
Stephen Conway, Britain, Ireland, and Continental Europe in the Eighteenth Century: Similarities, Connections, Identities (Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2011) ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ ebooks library
Brian Dolan, Ladies of the Grand Tour (London: HarperCollins, 2001) Women’s Library@ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ 914.0425 DOL
Clare Hornsby, ed., The Impact of Italy: the Grand Tour and Beyond (London: The British School at Rome, 2000) DA47.9.I8 I31
Rosemary Sweet, Cities and the Grand Tour: the British in Italy, 1690-1820 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012)
John Towner, ‘Venturing Abroad: The European Grand Tour’, in An Historical Geography of Recreation and Tourism in the Western World 1540-1940 (Chichester: John Wiley, 1996) G155 T74
Assessment
Exam (100%, duration: 3 hours) in the spring exam period.
Key facts
Department: International History
Total students 2023/24: Unavailable
Average class size 2023/24: Unavailable
Capped 2023/24: No
Value: One Unit
Course selection videos
Some departments have produced short videos to introduce their courses. Please refer to the course selection videos index page for further information.
Personal development skills
- Leadership
- Self-management
- Team working
- Problem solving
- Application of information skills
- Communication
- Specialist skills