Renaissance Mad Voyages: Experiments in Early Modern English Travel by Anthony Parr (review)

Anthony Parr's fascinating book investigates an early modern trend for outrageous journeys. In Chapter 1, Parr argues that the sudden appearance of the 'travel stunt' in late sixteenth-century England was a response to 'increased mobility, opportunity and enterprise' in the New World (p. 6). With no European equivalent, such travel stunts enable Parr to define the notion of English eccentricity.

Chapter 2 explains how mad voyages shaped the early modern imagination. Parr first analyses the Christmas revels of 1594–95 that transformed Gray's Inn into the Prince of Purpoole's fantastical kingdom, and featured the Prince and his followers sailing down the Thames. Parr describes this escapade as a 'nautical fantasy' recalling the 'ship of fools' imagery (p.37). He argues that the revellers were playfully re-enacting the auspicious return of an Elizabethan explorer. The chapter then explores Richard Ferris's dangerous exploit of rowing a small boat to Bristol. Parr notes insightfully that Ferris's travel stunt occurred just two years after the destruction of the Spanish Armada. Ferris was parading the celebratory notion that only English seamen could navigate the dangerous British coasts.

Chapter 3 closely examines William Bush's 1607 ship voyage on land and Will Kemp's 1600 Morris dance from London to Norwich. Through lack of evidence, Parr speculates that Bush's travel stunt was intended to raise money for a voyage to Guiana. He also argues that Bush's miniature warship was 'a perverse deviation from serious scientific enquiry' (p. 79), an outrageous response to the anxieties of European competition. Parr notes that Kemp's Morris dance has been viewed by modern critics as a solitary moment of eccentricity. He examines the published Kemps Nine Daies Wonder (1600) to argue that the famous Morris dance is integral to the English mad voyage. His analysis of the traditional Morris dance reveals a bawdy madcap spectacle that Kemp tried to use to boost his ailing popularity. Parr argues that Kemp's long-distance Morris dance was not the epitome of the travel stunt. The mad voyage was already popular; Kemp was simply attempting to promote his jig-making skills.

Chapter 4 examines wager-journeys where Parr finds a surprising connection to Christian pilgrimage. Pilgrims often funded their journeys on agreements involving whether they returned safely or not. English tourism in hostile countries involved merchant disguises increasing the risk of already perilous voyages. Betting on dangerous journeys became interchangeable with other types of bet, like who would be elected pope. Parr investigates gambling further in Chapter 5 with the structured bet. He discusses how the emergence of the English lottery in 1568 led to commercial travel opportunities. In the early seventeenth century, for example, the Virginia Company organised London lotteries where participants could win a 'bill of adventure' to Jamestown.

Chapter 5 then examines a dispute over just such a bill of adventure. In 1608, Thomas Coryat made a pedestrian journey to and from Venice. Through a bill of adventure with Joseph Starre, Coryat was to receive four times the amount of his original wager, but on Coryat's return, Starre refused to make payment. Parr unpacks Coryat's 1609 Common Law suit against Starre. The most interesting point is Starre's claim that Coryat's voyage to Western Europe was no longer a spectacular feat deserving of payment. Coryat's retorted that in walking two thousand miles on land alone, he had risked life and limb. Parr highlights Coryat's showmanship as the 'Odcombian Leg-Stretcher'; he is an exemplary model for the lone eccentric Englishman with a taste for outlandish exploits.

In Chapter 6, Parr provides a fascinating analysis of Ben Jonson's controversial poem, 'On the Famous Voyage'. The poem depicts an unpleasant boat trip up the Fleet River that had become a congested sewer. Parr focuses on the conceit of the underground voyage as being...