The Digital Ark: Early Modern Collections of Curiosities in England and Scotland, 1580-1700

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Paul Hentzner (29 Jan 1558 - 1 Jan 1623)

German lawyer who published an account of his travels in England, Switzerland, France, and Italy during the reign of Queen Elizabeth as tutor to a young Silesian nobleman. He published a description of his travels as Itinerarium Germaniæ, Galliæ, Angliæ, Italiæ, cum Indice Locorum, Rerum atque Verborum (Nuremberg, 1612). In his Itinerarium, he describes, "at the house of Leonard Smith, a tailor, a most perfect looking-glass, ornamented with gold, pearl, silver, and velvet, so richly as to be estimated at five hundred ecus du soleil. We saw at the same place the hippocamp and eagle stone, both very curious and rare" (32). At Windsor Castle, in addition to rich furnishings belonging to Elizabeth and her family, he saw "among other things, the horn of a unicorn, of above eight spans and a half in length, valued at above £10,000; the bird of paradise, three spans long, three fingers broad, having a blue bill of the length of half an inch, the upper part of its head yellow, the nether part of a . . . colour; a little lower from either side of its throat stick out some reddish feathers, as well as from its back and the rest of its body; its wings, of a yellow colour, are twice as long as the bird itself; from its back grow out lengthways two fibres or nerves, bigger at their ends, but like a pretty strong thread, of a leaden colour, inclining to black, with which, as it has not feet, it is said to fasten itself to trees when it wants to rest; a cushion most curiously wrought by Queen Elizabeth’s own hands" (54-5). He also records household curiosities at Hampton Court (57). Other biography: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Hentzner Other Links: www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1992/pg1992.html - Project Gutenberg edition of Travels in England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth Authority - early modern
Traveller
 Relevant locations: Birth place in Crossen, Brandenburg
Birth place in Crossen, Poland
Visited Windsor Castle, Windsor
Visited Italy, Europe
Visited Switzerland, Europe
Visited Hampton Court Palace, Hampton
Visited England, Europe
 Relationships: Leonard Smith (fl. 1598-) was a visited by Paul Hentzner
Linked print sources: as Author (in assoc. with a ms or print source) - Itinerarium Germaniæ, Galliæ, Angliæ, Italiæ, cum Indice Locorum, Rerum atque Verborum.
as Author (in assoc. with a ms or print source) - Travels in England During the Reign of Queen Elizabeth.
 References in Documents:
Peter Mundy's description of the Tradescants' Ark in his travel diary (1634) [10] Mundy's estimate of the value of this horn (probably a narwhal's tusk) is greatly in excess of that given in "A true Inventorie and Appraisement of all the Plate now being in the Lower Jewell House in the Tower ... taken 13 August 1649," where is noted "The unicornes hornes weighing 40 lb. 8 oz. valued at 600l. 0s. 0d." See Archaeologia, xv. 274. Paul Hentzner, however, writing in 1598, saw at Windsor Castle "the horn of a unicorn, of above eight spans and a half in length, valued at above 10,000 l." Travels in England, ed. 1892, pp. 72-73. This may have been the horn described by Mundy, but I have failed to trace its transfer to the Tower.