Crime and the Road: A Survey of Sixteenth-Century Travel Journals

This article is a journey through the lesser known travel diaries of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Its intent is to underline the occurence of violent images along the European roads, particularly in Italy, Spain, France, and England. Criminality, danger, and violence are all common phenomenons in the Renaissance. Travelling allows one to discover the foreign but not without hardship: avoiding bandit and corsair traps, travellers are then welcomed at the entrance of the cities by gallows adorned with corpses and are entertained, if they so desire, with executions and autodafes. Travel literature depicts a violent and bloody Renaissance.