{"id":127,"date":"2025-10-01T16:48:52","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T16:48:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-middle-ages-2025\/?p=127"},"modified":"2025-10-01T16:48:52","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T16:48:52","slug":"the-book-of-wanderings-of-felix-fabri-trent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-middle-ages-2025\/2025\/10\/01\/the-book-of-wanderings-of-felix-fabri-trent\/","title":{"rendered":"The Book of Wanderings of Felix Fabri: Trent"},"content":{"rendered":"

On April 21st, a week into Fabri\u2019s journey, he crossed the border from Germany into Italy. After exploring the mountainous region of what is now the Trentino Alto-Adige region of Northern Italy, Fabri stays in the town of Trent – or Trento to the Italians. While they stay in Trent for only one night, Fabri\u2019s depiction of the Italian town illuminates the tension between Germans and Italians. He focuses on the superiority of Germany and German people, and while the Wanderings is filled with religious biases and preferences, this is the first example of preference based on nationality. The distinctions Fabri draws between Italy and Germany illuminate his opinions as a traveller, which will be interesting to note as he moves farther and farther away from his home country.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The descent into Trent is easy and steady for Fabri and he briefly remarks on the environmental history of the region. It is believed that the region was once part of the sea bed – as evidenced by the \u201ciron rings where ships used to be fashioned\u201d (Fabri ch.1). While it is typical of Felix Fabri to comment on the terrain as he travels between places, he has yet to be concerned with the history of the environment. Not only does he connect the physical environment to its history, but he also connects the ancient city of Trent to its founding by the Trojans. Fabri adapts a new, historical perspective in his description of Trent and Northern Italy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The most prominent dynamic alluded to in Fabri\u2019s visit to Trent is the separation between German and Italian people. While the city itself is placed in a \u201cmost beautiful, airy, and healthy position\u201d it is separated into two cities by the \u201craces who inhabit it\u201d (Fabri ch.1). The \u201cupper city\u201d is inhabited by the Italian population while the \u201clower city\u201d is occupied by the Germans (Fabri ch.1). The area is controlled by the dynamic between the two populations\u2019 differences in customs, language, and disposition. While there is a clear separation between the Germans and Italians, Fabri\u2019s position is slightly muddled. The number of Germans in this area \u201cincreases daily\u201d and Fabri attributes this to two factors. Either the lands of Germany are too cold, harsh, and barren to host such a strong population, or the \u201cfierceness\u201d of the people of Germany \u201cwhose near aspect no other race can endure, but all make way for them, yielding to their rage, which no man can resist\u201d reigns above all else (Fabri ch.1). Fabri\u2019s focus on the distinctions between the two groups of people illuminates the geographic tension of the two opposing nations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It would not be a Wandering of Felix Fabri without some form of religious description or experience. While the monastery in Trent takes more of a back seat in his account, the city itself is an important pilgrimage sight. The sight attracts religious pilgrims because of the sacrifice of a holy child, and Fabri emphasizes the importance of this landmark.\u00a0 Before leaving Trent, he remarks on attending mass at the altar of the holy child – a detail he never leaves out in all of his travels. Fabri always mentions attending mass which recenters the narrative on his religious travels regardless of the other tangents or descriptions he explores. This reassertion towards the religious centers Felix Fabri\u2019s travels back to his religion and structure of belief – the mission that upholds his reason for travel. As Fabri encounters some of the first differences in his pilgrimage to Northern Italy, his perspective as a traveller and inherent biases are further illuminated.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On April 21st, a week into Fabri\u2019s journey, he crossed the border from Germany into Italy. After exploring the mountainous region of what is now the Trentino Alto-Adige region of Northern Italy, Fabri stays in the town of Trent – or Trento to the Italians. While they stay in Trent for only one night, Fabri\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5328,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-felix-fabri","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-middle-ages-2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-middle-ages-2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-middle-ages-2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-middle-ages-2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5328"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-middle-ages-2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-middle-ages-2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":128,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-middle-ages-2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127\/revisions\/128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-middle-ages-2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-middle-ages-2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/mapping-middle-ages-2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}