Thomas Coryate
Thomas Coryate was an English traveler and writer born around 1577 in Odcombe, Somerset. He received his education at Winchester and briefly attended Gloucester Hall, Oxford, but left without a degree. After becoming associated with the court of King James I, he served as an unofficial jester in the household of Prince Henry. In 1608, Coryate embarked on an extensive journey across Europe, which he later chronicled in his book, *Coryat's Crudities*. His travelogue gained notoriety for its flamboyant and self-deprecating style, featuring humorous anecdotes and notable stories, including early English versions of the tales of William Tell and Bishop Hatto.
Coryate was known for his boastful claims about his walking feats, although he often utilized various means of transportation. In 1612, he set off on another ambitious journey aiming for India, successfully traversing several regions but ultimately succumbing to dysentery in Surat in 1617. His adventurous spirit and unique storytelling approach made him a pioneer in travel journalism, influencing how travel experiences were documented in his time. His life and works continue to be of interest for those exploring the early forms of travel literature and the nuances of Jacobean society.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Thomas Coryate
Traveler
- Born: c. 1577
- Birthplace: Odcombe, Somerset, England
- Died: December 1, 1617
Biography
Thomas Coryate was born on or about 1577 Odcombe Rectory in Somerset, England, the son of the rector, George Coryate. He was educated at Winchester after 1591, and attended Gloucester Hall, Oxford, in 1596, leaving without a degree. After King James I’s accession, Coryate seems to have lived on his wits at court, joining the household of Prince Henry, in which he appears to have served in the capacity of unofficial court jester. For reasons unknown, he set out in 1608 on a long journey across the continent, and after his return he published a record of it as Coryat’s Crudities: Hastily Gobled up in Five Moneths Travells in France, Savoy, Italy, Rhetia, Helvetia, High Germanie, and the Netherlands.
The book made Coryate famous, after a fashion. In order to promote it he solicited praise from everyone he knew, including Prince Henry, but Henry would only permit Coryate to use his comments if Coryate published the entire set of panegyrics, including many that were farcical and frankly insulting. Coryate agreed, the effect of the jest being so considerable that the comments were pirated for separate publication as Coryat’s Cramb: Or, The Odcombian Banquet. Coryate, presumably recognizing that all publicity is good publicity, continued to play his part by describing himself self-mockingly as the greatest walker in England and insisting that he had covered nearly two thousand miles on foot (although he had, in fact, used any means of travel that were offered to him) as he visited Paris, Lyons, Turin, Venice, Zurich, and other cities. His descriptions of these cities and their inhabitants are rather flamboyant but by no means entirely comic; his book includes the first English versions of the story of William Tell, obtained partly from oral communication, and the legend of Bishop Hatto of Bingen, who burned poor people, likening them to a plague of mice, and was then pursued and devoured by an army of mice.
His future career now settled by his boasting, Coryate ceremoniously dedicated his worn-out shoes in Odcombe Church and set off on a new and more ambitious journey in 1612, intending to go to India by way of Constantinople, Greece, Smyrna, Alexandria, Palestine, Mesopotamia, Persia, and Afghanistan. He reached all these destinations successfully, allegedly learning Turkish, Persian, and Arabic en route, but died of dysentery at Surat, India, in 1617. He had, however, taken the precaution of sending regular dispatches back home, so the material for his second book would be waiting for him when he returned. For this reason, stories of his second journey, suitably embellished by such evident fancies as his visit to the ruins of Troy and his audience with Shah Jehan of Agra, India, were already in circulation on an anecdotal basis before Samuel Purchas reproduced them in Purchas His Pilgrimes (1625). Some of the stories also were reproduced in Thomas Coriate Traveller for the English Wits: Greeting in 1616. Coryate became a highly significant pioneer of travel journalism because of, rather than in spite of, the fact that his supposed friends could not take him seriously. If he was not the greatest walker in Jacobean England, he was certainly the greatest hitchhiker.