Masculinity and Danger on the Eighteenth-Century Grand Tour

The Grand Tour was a journey to continental Europe undertaken by British nobility and wealthy landed gentry during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. As a rite of passage, the Tour also played an important role in the formation of contemporary notions of elite masculinity. Examining letters,...

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Main Author: Goldsmith, Sarah
Format: Online
Language:English
Published: University of London Press 2021
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Online Access:https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/46142
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author Goldsmith, Sarah
author_browse Goldsmith, Sarah
author_facet Goldsmith, Sarah
author_sort Goldsmith, Sarah
collection Directory of Open Access Books
description The Grand Tour was a journey to continental Europe undertaken by British nobility and wealthy landed gentry during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. As a rite of passage, the Tour also played an important role in the formation of contemporary notions of elite masculinity. Examining letters, diaries and other records left by Grand Tourists, tutors and their families, this book demonstrates how the Tour was used to educate elite young men in a wide variety of skills, virtues and masculine behaviours that extended well beyond polite society. Sarah Goldsmith argues that dangerous experiences, in particular, were far more central to the Tour as a means of constructing Britain’s next generation of leaders than has previously been acknowledged. Influenced by aristocratic concepts of honour and cultures of military leadership, elites viewed experiences of danger and hardship as powerfully transformative and therefore as central to the process of constructing masculinity. Far from viewing danger as a disruptive force, Grand Tourists willingly tackled a variety of social, geographical and physical perils, gambling their way through treacherous landscapes scaling mountains, volcanoes and glaciers and encountering war and disease. Through this innovative study of danger, Goldsmith offers a revision of eighteenth-century elite masculine culture and the critical role the Grand Tour played within this.
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spelling doab-20.500.12854ir-279062025-07-30T09:51:36Z Masculinity and Danger on the Eighteenth-Century Grand Tour Goldsmith, Sarah masculinity danger Grand Tour travel adulthood Europe thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHB General and world history thema EDItEUR::T Technology, Engineering, Agriculture, Industrial processes::TV Agriculture and farming The Grand Tour was a journey to continental Europe undertaken by British nobility and wealthy landed gentry during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. As a rite of passage, the Tour also played an important role in the formation of contemporary notions of elite masculinity. Examining letters, diaries and other records left by Grand Tourists, tutors and their families, this book demonstrates how the Tour was used to educate elite young men in a wide variety of skills, virtues and masculine behaviours that extended well beyond polite society. Sarah Goldsmith argues that dangerous experiences, in particular, were far more central to the Tour as a means of constructing Britain’s next generation of leaders than has previously been acknowledged. Influenced by aristocratic concepts of honour and cultures of military leadership, elites viewed experiences of danger and hardship as powerfully transformative and therefore as central to the process of constructing masculinity. Far from viewing danger as a disruptive force, Grand Tourists willingly tackled a variety of social, geographical and physical perils, gambling their way through treacherous landscapes scaling mountains, volcanoes and glaciers and encountering war and disease. Through this innovative study of danger, Goldsmith offers a revision of eighteenth-century elite masculine culture and the critical role the Grand Tour played within this. 2021-02-10T13:18:59Z 2021-02-10T13:18:59Z 2021-01-14T04:32:20Z 2020 book https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/46142 9781912702213 9781912702220 9781912702237 9781914477539 9781912702220 9781912702237 9781912702251 9781914477539 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/27906 eng New Historical Perspectives open access image/jpeg image/jpeg image/jpeg image/jpeg image/jpeg image/jpeg image/jpeg n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/46142/1/external_content.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/46142/1/external_content.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/46142/1/external_content.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/46142/1/external_content.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/46142/1/external_content.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/46142/1/external_content.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/46142/1/external_content.pdf University of London Press University of London Press 10.14296/1120.9781912702251 10.14296/1120.9781912702251 3fae60e1-9f6a-42ab-a7ee-73df8c57b4f2 9781912702213 9781912702220 9781912702237 9781914477539 9781912702220 9781912702237 9781912702251 9781914477539 Knowledge Unlatched (KU) KU Select 2020: HSS Frontlist Books University of London Press 288 open access
spellingShingle masculinity
danger
Grand Tour
travel
adulthood
Europe
thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHB General and world history
thema EDItEUR::T Technology, Engineering, Agriculture, Industrial processes::TV Agriculture and farming
Goldsmith, Sarah
Masculinity and Danger on the Eighteenth-Century Grand Tour
title Masculinity and Danger on the Eighteenth-Century Grand Tour
title_full Masculinity and Danger on the Eighteenth-Century Grand Tour
title_fullStr Masculinity and Danger on the Eighteenth-Century Grand Tour
title_full_unstemmed Masculinity and Danger on the Eighteenth-Century Grand Tour
title_short Masculinity and Danger on the Eighteenth-Century Grand Tour
title_sort masculinity and danger on the eighteenth century grand tour
topic masculinity
danger
Grand Tour
travel
adulthood
Europe
thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHB General and world history
thema EDItEUR::T Technology, Engineering, Agriculture, Industrial processes::TV Agriculture and farming
topic_facet masculinity
danger
Grand Tour
travel
adulthood
Europe
thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHB General and world history
thema EDItEUR::T Technology, Engineering, Agriculture, Industrial processes::TV Agriculture and farming
url https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/46142
work_keys_str_mv AT goldsmithsarah masculinityanddangerontheeighteenthcenturygrandtour