Fynes Moryson facts for kids

Fynes Moryson (born 1566, died 1630) was an English traveler and writer. He spent many years exploring Europe and the Middle East in the 1590s. He wrote a famous book called An Itinerary about his adventures. This book is very important for historians today. It helps them understand what life was like in different countries long ago.

About Fynes Moryson's Life

Early Life and Education

Fynes Moryson was born in 1566 in Lincolnshire, England. His father, Thomas Moryson, was a gentleman who served as a Member of Parliament for Grimsby. This meant his father helped make laws for the country.

Fynes went to Peterhouse, Cambridge, a famous university. After he finished his first degree, he received a special scholarship called a "fellowship." This allowed him to stay at the university and continue his studies.

His Great Travels

From May 1591 to May 1595, Fynes Moryson traveled all over Europe. He visited many countries, including Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and France. His main goal was to learn about the local customs, how governments worked, and the economy. He took detailed notes about everything he saw and experienced.

After his European trip, he went on another big journey. From early 1596 to mid-1597, he traveled to the eastern Mediterranean. He visited places like Jerusalem, Tripoli, Antioch, Aleppo, Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul), and Crete. He continued to observe and write down his findings about these lands.

Working in Ireland

In 1600, Moryson took on an important job. He became the personal secretary to Lord Mountjoy. Lord Mountjoy was in charge of the government and the army in Ireland at that time. There was a big conflict happening called Tyrone's Rebellion. This was a fight between the English crown and Irish leaders.

One of Fynes's brothers, Sir Richard Moryson, also had a high-level job in the Irish government. When the rebellion ended in 1603, Fynes Moryson and Lord Mountjoy both went back to England. Moryson stayed Mountjoy's secretary until Mountjoy died in 1606. Later, Fynes Moryson wrote a book about the military and government events in Ireland during his time there.

Publishing An Itinerary

In 1617, Fynes Moryson published the first three volumes of his major work. It was titled An Itinerary: Containing His Ten Years Travel Through the Twelve Dominions of Germany, Bohemia, Switzerland, Netherland, Denmark, Poland, Italy, Turkey, France, England, Scotland and Ireland. He had planned for the book to be even longer, with four or five volumes.

However, only three volumes were published while he was alive. A fourth volume, which he wrote in English, was approved for printing in 1626. But it seems it was never actually printed. This important manuscript is now kept in a library at Corpus Christi College, Oxford.

Later, parts of his Itinerary were republished. In 1735, a section about Ireland was released. In 1903, a large part of the fourth volume was finally published. This edition was called "Shakespeare's Europe: Unpublished Chapters of Fynes Moryson's Itinerary." It gave a look at Europe at the end of the 1500s.

The first, third, and fourth volumes of Moryson's Itinerary mostly cover Europe and the Ottoman lands. Volume one tells the stories of his travels from 1591 to 1598. Volumes three and four are more like a "Discourse of Travelling." They discuss topics like geography, customs, fashion, religion, and political systems. These volumes also have a lot of information about Ireland, England, and Scotland. Volume two, however, focuses on the rebellion in Ireland from 1599 to 1603.

Moryson's Views

It is important to know that Moryson's writings sometimes show his own strong opinions. He could be unfair in his descriptions of certain groups of people. For example, his biographer, Charles Hughes, noted that Moryson was prejudiced against "Turks and Irish priests." This means his information about them might not always be completely fair or accurate. He even wrote a poem making fun of Irish priests.

Online Texts

The first three volumes of Moryson's Itinerary were reprinted in 1907. These are available to read online at the Internet Archive:

• Itinerary, Volumes I, II and III: 1, 2, 3 and 4

The fourth volume of Moryson's Itinerary, published by Charles Hughes in 1903, is also available from Archive.org. This volume includes a 45-page biography of Fynes Moryson written by Charles Hughes.

• Itinerary Volume IV: [1]

A newer edition of the original manuscript, including parts that Hughes had left out, was part of a university paper in 1995.

• Kew, Graham David (ed.), Shakespeare's Europe Revisited. The Unpublished Diary of Fynes Moryson (1566–1630), thesis Birmingham 1995, 4 vols.: 1 (with an extensive introduction), 2, 3, and 4.