Paul Hentzner

Paul Hentzner (29 January 1558 – 1 January 1623) was a German lawyer who published an account of his travels in England during the late Elizabethan era.

Quotes

Itinerarium Germaniae, Galliae, Angliae, Italiae, ... cum Indice Locorum, Rerum atque Verborum (1612)

Travels in England, 1598

• Sunt Angli graves ut Germani, magnifici domi forisque magna assectantium famulorum agnimi secum trahunt, quibus in sinistro brachio scuta ex argento facta appendunt, et non immerito vexantur illos caudas a tergo habere. In saltationibus et arte musica excellunt. Sunt enim agiles et alacres, licet crassiores corporibus quam Galli. Mediam capitis partem capillos detondent, utroque latere illaeso. Sunt boni nautae et insignes pyratae, astuti, fallaces, et furaces. Londini singulis annis ultra, sicuti vulgo fertur, suspenduntur. Decapitatio minoris apud ipsos est infamiae quam strangulatio. Ire prope murum honoratior est locus. Frequens falconum et accipitrum apud nobiles in venationibus usus. In edendo civiliores Gallis, parcius utuntur pane, carnibus vero largius, quas optime assant. In potum copiose immittunt saccarum. Tegumenta lectorum sunt tapetia, etiam apud rusticos. Laborant frequenter lepra, alba vulgo dicta, quam primis Normannorum temporibus in Angliam irrepsisse fama est. In aedibus duas plaerunque contignationes habent, excepto Londino, ubi tres, raro quatuor, reperiuntur. Aedificant ex ligno vel, qui lautioris sunt fortunae, ex coctis lateribus. Tecta habent depressioria, quae ditiores plumbo tegunt.
  • The English are serious, like the Germans; lovers of show, liking to be followed wherever they go by whole troops of servants, who wear their masters' arms in silver, fastened to their left arms, a ridicule they deservedly lie under. They excel in dancing and music, for they are active and lively, though of a thicker make than the French; they cut their hair close on the middle of the head, letting it grow on either side; they are good sailors, and better pirates, cunning, treacherous and thievish; above three hundred are said to be hanged annually at London; beheading with them is less infamous than hanging; they give the wall as the place of honour; hawking is the general sport of the gentry; they are more polite in eating than the French, devouring less bread, but more meat, which they roast in perfection; they put a great deal of sugar in their drink; their beds are covered with tapestry, even those of farmers; they are often molested with the scurvy, said to have first crept into England with the Norman Conquest; their houses are commonly of two storeys, except in London, where they are of three and four, though but seldom of four; they are built of wood, those of the richer sort with bricks; their roofs are low, and, where the owner has money, covered with lead.
  • "The Manners of the English" (ed. Dana F. Sutton, 2004; tr. Richard Bentley, 1797)

They [the English] are powerful in the field, successful against their enemies, impatient of anything like slavery; vastly fond of great noises that fill the ear, such as the firing of cannon, drums, and the ringing of bells.

• Sunt potentes in praeliis, undiquaque debellant adversarios, nullumque penitus patiuntur iugum servitutis. Delectantur quoque valde sonitibus, qui ipsis aures implent, uti explosionibus tormentorum, tympanis et campanarum boatu, ita ut Londini multi qui se inebriaverint turrem unam vel alteram exercitii causa ascendant et per horas aliquot campandis signum dent. Si quem exterum egregia forma et statura ornatum vident dolore dicunt quod non sit homo Anglicus, vulgo 'Englishmen'.
  • They are powerful in the field, successful against their enemies, impatient of anything like slavery; vastly fond of great noises that fill the ear, such as the firing of cannon, drums, and the ringing of bells, so that it is common for a number of them, that have got a glass in their heads, to go up into the belfry, and ring the bells for hours together for the sake of exercise. If they see a foreigner very well made, or particularly handsome, they will say, "It is a pity he is not an Englishman!"
  • "The Manners of the English" (ed. Dana F. Sutton, 2004; tr. Richard Bentley, 1797)

External links

• Encyclopedic article on Paul Hentzner on Wikipedia
• Richard Bentley, with annotations by Horace Walpole, Paul Hentzner's 'Travels in England'...with 'Fragmenta Regalia', by Sir Robert Naunton (London: Edward Jeffery, 1797)
• William Brenchley Rye, England as Seen by Foreigners in the Days of Elizabeth and James the First (London: John Russell Smith, 1865) p. 111
• Dana F. Sutton (The University of California, Irvine), "Paulus Hentzner, 'Itinerarium Angliae' (1612)", The Philological Museum, The University of Birmingham (21 June 2004)