Slow Travel: Walking From Somerset to India

Parents like to remind their children to eat slowly. And slow cooking has progressed from being a fad to being a way of life. Time to think about slow traveling. And quite frankly, you can't see anything when doing Europe in three days. My advice, take a page out of Thomas Coryat's book and start walking.

Thomas Coryat didn’t really walk all the way from Somerset to India. He traveled first in Europe and did 2,000 miles mostly on foot. He then went on to explore the Orient. He did over 4,000 miles also mainly on foot. If you think this is extraordinary, imagine further that he did this at the beginning of the 17th century.
 
Thomas Coryat was born in Odcombe, Somerset, in 1577 or maybe in 1579. His father served as rector to the village church. The spelling of family names was not fixed until the 19th century. Before that, they were written as heard. You will therefore find alternative spellings of Coryate and Coriat for the family. Thomas Coryat went first to Winchester College and then attended Gloucester Hall. Gloucester Hall was a college established in 1560 in what had been Gloucester College until its dissolution in 1540 by Henry VIII. Gloucester Hall was intended for Greek Orthodox students. This might explain Thomas Coryat's particular interest in the Orient. Gloucester Hall became Worcester College in 1714.
 
Thomas Coryat became a member of Prince Henry’s court in 1603. He seems to have been regarded and treated as something of a country bumpkin and jester. This must finally have got on his nerves. He left the Royal court in 1607 to return to Odcombe. A year later, he left there to explore Europe. It was an extraordinary decision for a time that didn’t know tourists. Most people hadn’t traveled farther than the next village. Even peers usually knew their own estates and the Royal court in London and not much else.

His trip took him through France and Italy to Venice and then back through Switzerland, Germany, and the Netherlands. About half of this journey he did on foot. A lot of the rest he did in rowing boats. When he returned to Odcombe, he hang up his shoes (yes, he had used only one pair of shoes) in the village church. They remained there until 1702, when they mysteriously disappeared (a replica may be viewed in the church of Odcombe). He wrote down his travel adventures and published them in 1611 in two volumes. Again, he was ridiculed by his contemporaries.

His book might be the first traveling blog. It is of special interest to musical history as it contains a detailed description of the Venetian School of Music. The composers at that school were the avant-garde of contemporary music and would substantially influence European musical composition until the advent of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Well Tempered Piano.

Thomas Coryat seemed to have liked traveling. He set out by ship for Constantinople in 1612. From there, he walked to Jerusalem. Not content with the feat, he crossed back through Syria into Persia. Eventually, he found his way through Afghanistan and Pakistan to the court of the Great Mogul at Agra. He continued his travel to Surat where he fell sick and died in 1617. He had covered most of that 4,000 miles trek on foot.

From various points during his travel, he sent letters home. They would be published in 1625. During his travel he had soaked up languages like a sponge and was proficient in several European as well as Oriental languages by the time he reached India. He has been credited with introducing the fork to England and was definitely responsible for the word umbrella entering the English language (from the Italian ombrellone meaning ‘little shadow’).

Further reading
Saint Helena, Empress of Rome
The Star Puzzle of Bethlehem
Johann Sebastian Bach Plagiarized