The Victorian 'Grand Tour' - Professor Richard J Evans, Gresham College history lecture

TL;DR

The Grand Tour shaped Victorian views of Europe by presenting continental decay, ruins, and customs as contrasts to Britain’s industrial progress. Travel by young nobles ended abruptly during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, then gave way to middle-class commercial tourism using steamboats and, from the 1830s, railways. Professor Richard J. Evans connects these journeys to Edward Gibbon, Romantic ideals, and British feelings of superiority. Read on to see how tourism turned Europe into an imagined past.

Transcript

now in the 18th century The Grand Tour had brought the younger generation of the nobility into contact with the ruins of ancient civilization in Italy but this had the effect among other things of causing them to think how far the state of the country had declined mind since the days of the Roman Empire inspiring among other things to Young Edward ... Read More

Key Insights

• 🌍 The Grand Tour exposed the younger nobility to the decline of ancient civilizations, influencing their perception of Europe.
• 🇬🇫 The French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars interrupted the Grand Tour, shifting focus to commercial tourism.
• 🇬🇧 British travelers romanticized decay and medieval ruins, seeking wild landscapes and a connection to the Middle Ages.
• 🇪🇺 The perception of Europe as lagging behind Britain reinforced Victorian feelings of superiority and industrial progress.
• 🖕 The emergence of commercial tourism catered to the middle classes and utilized technological advancements like steamboats and railways.
• 🫵 British travelers viewed European inhabitants as dirty and unhygienic, further reinforcing their sense of superiority.
• 🌍 Ruins and customs in Europe were perceived as remnants of the Middle Ages, reconstructed for the benefit of British tourists.

Questions & Answers

Q: How did the Grand Tour shape Victorian British views of Europe?

The Grand Tour and the commercial tourism that followed encouraged British travelers to see continental Europe as marked by decay, ancient ruins, and surviving medieval customs. As Britain industrialized and expanded its towns, trade, railways, roads, and canals, these contrasts reinforced a Victorian sense of superiority.

Q: What effect did the Grand Tour have on the younger British nobility?

It brought young nobles into contact with the ruins of ancient civilization in Italy and made them consider how far those countries had declined since the Roman Empire. The tour therefore offered an education not only in the Classics, but also in the contemporary condition of the places visited.

Q: How did the Grand Tour influence Edward Gibbon?

Seeing fragments where the Roman Forum had once stood prompted the young Edward Gibbon to ask how such a powerful empire had undergone a dramatic decline. This experience helped inspire his work, “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.”

Q: Why did the traditional Grand Tour come to an end?

The French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars, lasting from the early 1790s to 1815, brought the Grand Tour to an abrupt end. When peace returned, it was soon replaced by commercial tourism aimed at newly rich middle-class travelers.

Q: How did technology change European tourism after the Napoleonic Wars?

Commercial tourism made use of technological innovations that enabled more middle-class travelers to visit Europe. The transcript specifically identifies the steamboat and, from the 1830s onward, the railway.

Q: What landscapes and ruins did British tourists seek in Europe?

Influenced by Romantic ideas of the sublime and picturesque, travelers searched for wild natural scenery such as the Rhine Gorge and medieval castles along its heights. Some castles were reconstructed while still presented as ruins for British tourists.

Q: Why did British travelers feel they were stepping back in time on the continent?

They believed medieval life survived in Europe’s picturesque ruins, ancient customs, cathedrals, and inhabitants. An 1846 story in Blackwood’s Magazine describes an English visitor to Brussels Cathedral feeling that the Middle Ages had returned.

Q: How did British travelers describe continental Europeans?

British travelers often portrayed continental inhabitants and their habits as dirty, smelly, and unhygienic. After landing at Calais in 1835, Francis Trollope recorded an experienced traveler calling an unpleasant odor “the smell of the continent,” illustrating the prejudices that supported British feelings of superiority.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• The Grand Tour introduced the younger nobility to the ruins of Italy and sparked thoughts on the decline of civilization since the Roman Empire.

• The French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars halted the Grand Tour, giving way to commercial tourism for the middle classes.

• British travelers romanticized decay and medieval ruins in their search for wild landscapes and ancient cultures in Europe.