About educational voyages in the 17th and 18th centuries: the case of the Rzewuski family

The article presents the issue of early modern educational voyages of the 17th and 18th centuries on the example of two lines of the magnate family of Rzewuski (in Podhorce and Rozdole). The material was presented in three thematic sections. The first section includes preliminary remarks about the evolution of educational journeys from academic peregrinations to the Grand Tour. The second part describes thoroughly the details of educational voyages of the Rzewuski family in subsequent generations, starting from future Crown Grand Hetman Stanisław Mateusz at the end of the 17th century. Next, the tours of his sons Seweryn and Wacław carried out in the 1720s are described. A separate issue, very well documented in the sources, was the educational travel of Crown Court Marshall Franciszek Rzewuski in the years 1746-1748. Apart from this, the authors addressed questions concerning two educational tours of three sons of Wacław Rzewuski in the 1750s and 1760s. It was then that Stanisław Ferdynand, Józef and the youngest son – Seweryn Rzewuski (one of the future Targowica confederates) were educated abroad. An important element of this study is the documentation of everyday life found in the accounts of Seweryn, Wacław and Franciszek Rzewuski based on the analysis of their correspondence. Thanks to the research we are familiar with the itineraries, the budget and fi nancial matters, the organization of educational issues by the tutor Marcin Kawiecki, the picture of the world as perceived by a traveler (learning about religious life, architecture, art and nature)