The Grand Tour In The Elizabethan Era

The Elizabethan Era is a period of transition in Britain. The medieval feudal societybegan its transformation to the modern capitalist one. Facing the social and economicchanges, especially the challenges of the newly emerging bourgeoisie, whose social statuswas experiencing a great improvement, the old feudal nobles had to adopt an educationalreform in order to constantly maintain its predominance in culture and adapt to the needs ofthe new government officers literacy. It was in this context of the times that the Grand Tourwas considered as a necessary stage of the aristocratic youths’ education.At the beginning of the Grand Tour, most travelers were young men from the Britisharistocratic families, and the main purpose of their traveling focused on education. Theyoung nobles accompanied by their instructors and servants, planned the appropriate routebased on previous Travel Guide and their own interest. After several years’ travel, theseyoung nobles learned foreign languages, and broadened their knowledge concerninggovernment organizations, arts and culture, diplomatic means as well as a series of thatcould greatly benefit their future career. During their travel, entertaining activities wereobviously necessary.Facts have proved that the grand tour lived up to the time and money invested by thenoble families. These young travelers were supposed as the first generation of the typicalBritish gentility, in that their actions resulted in the literacy progress of the whole Britishsociety. Moreover, with the expanding scale of the grand tour, the Modern European touristservice industry experienced its blossom. The close connections benefited by the grand tourbetween the UK and the Continent accelerated the process of its development in modernsociety.