ABSTRACT
Sir William Kerr’s, hitherto unpublished, Itinerario1 records his trip, started in Paris 6 November 1624, through France to Italy, to see the papal Jubilee of 1625, and then back through Italy and France by a different route. It carries the present study of theatricality into territory beyond Scotland, and is included here because of the unrivalled evidence it gives for the spectatorial experience of a young Scot abroad. On examination, the Itinerario proves to be less the travel journal which its title promises than an account of a protracted exposure to theatricality in a very wide variety of forms, only some of which were dependent on the active involvement of people. It is also evidence both for the ideological deployment of this theatricality and the corresponding responsibilities placed on a particular kind of spectator: the young aristocrat with political hopes. What Kerr looked at is interesting enough in its own right; how, and why, it was displayed illuminates the culture of Early Modern Europe. But the main value of this text is what it tells us about the developing cultural sensibility of its young author.
