Reports of Eighteenth-Century European Travelers on the Forests and Population of Transylvania

Abstract

The travelers discussed in this article are the English clergyman Edmund Chishull (1670–1733): Travels in Turkey and back to England; the English envoy to Constantinople, William Lord Pagett of Beaudesert (1637–1713); the French traveler Aubry de la Montraye (1674-1743): Voyages en Anglois et en Francois d'Aubry de la Motraye en diverses provinces et places de la Prusse Ducale et Royale, de la Russie, de la Pologne & c; an anonymous Latin report by a Franciscan monk from Glatz (Silesia): Diarium itineris ex Provinciae Bohemiae Conventu Glacensi ad Transylvaniam, No. 1738; the abbot François-Xavier de Feller (1735–1802): Itinéraire ou voyage de Mr. L'ábbé de Feller en diverses parties de l'Europe: en Hongrie, en Transylvanie; Christoph Ludwig Seipp, an actor from Bratislava: Reisen von Preßburg durch Mähren, beyde Schlesien und Ungarn nach Siebenbürgen und von da zurück nach Preßburg (1793); Robert Townson: Travels in Hungary with a short Acount of Vienna in the Year 1793.
The article presents both the direct and indirect perception of forests. As for the first one, the forest formed the backdrop of the descriptions. Certain descriptions contained little information on forests in particular, limiting themselves to general remarks on the visited areas and their landscapes.
The connections between the population and forests. Eighteenth-century travelers reported on the direct and indirect connections between society, on the one hand, and the environment and forests, on the other.
The fear of forests. For a long time, forests were perceived as places of the unknown, with dangers lurking and as generators of fear, mainly because they were difficult to investigate and were considered populated by strange creatures and demons.
The pleasant forest. The social function was another role that travelers attributed to forests.
The forest was a place of refuge. In times of imminent danger, the population often took refuge in forests. They provided shelter for persons whose lives were threatened by wars and epidemics. It also protected outcasts whose way of life was incompatible with the social requirements of the time.
In the indirect perception, the forest was an energy source for the economy. Travelers mention the existence of mines, salt mines, and glass works, which were reliant on wood from forests. They also write about agriculture and communications, which were dependent on forest resources as well.