The Art of Travelling in Good Health: Assessing and Addressing the Risks of Mobility in Early Modern Europe

Through English and French examples from the early modern period, and with
parallels to the ongoing Covid crisis, this article highlights the important intersections of medical history and travel studies regarding the importance of health in discussions on travel. Considerations on the risks related to travel were an integral part of early modern ideas on mobility. Travel advice literature, art of travel dissertations and private documents confirm that travel was deemed to be a dangerous undertaking for both body and soul: the road itself, foreign climes, and foreign mores were deemed to be possible sources of unease, discomfort and even severe danger. Careful preparation and “risk assessment” allowed, however, not only to mitigate such dangers, but also to benefit from exposure to them, for the development of the traveller and of their country.