Exceptional Papers for Exceptional Needs: Travel Patents, Identification, and Mobility in the Early Modern Mediterranean
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Abstract
This essay explores a collection of over two thousand “travel patents” issued during the sixteenth century by the chanceries of the Republic of Venice and the Order of St. John of Rhodes and Malta. Far from being the equivalent of modern passports, these papers were ad hoc concessions of exceptional travel rights. The article’s systematic comparative approach shows that magistrates in Venice and Malta used travel patents to promote the circulation of valuable people and goods in response to both exceptional and recurring mobility needs. However, these letters were not only an expression of princely desire to “control the legitimate means of movement,” but also tokens of a convergence of administrative and individual interests that worked together, from above and from below, to address contingent mobility challenges.
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| All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 557 | 84 | 12 |
| Full Text Views | 152 | 29 | 2 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 373 | 67 | 8 |
Exceptional Papers for Exceptional Needs: Travel Patents, Identification, and Mobility in the Early Modern Mediterranean
In: Journal of Early Modern HistorySearch for other papers by Ian F. Hathaway in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
This essay explores a collection of over two thousand “travel patents” issued during the sixteenth century by the chanceries of the Republic of Venice and the Order of St. John of Rhodes and Malta. Far from being the equivalent of modern passports, these papers were ad hoc concessions of exceptional travel rights. The article’s systematic comparative approach shows that magistrates in Venice and Malta used travel patents to promote the circulation of valuable people and goods in response to both exceptional and recurring mobility needs. However, these letters were not only an expression of princely desire to “control the legitimate means of movement,” but also tokens of a convergence of administrative and individual interests that worked together, from above and from below, to address contingent mobility challenges.
| All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 557 | 84 | 12 |
| Full Text Views | 152 | 29 | 2 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 373 | 67 | 8 |