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Two
Extraordinary Travellers
Wandering Willie’s Tale
In the early 17th century one of Scotland’s most original and romantic
travellers, William Lithgow (1585-1645), embarked on some extraordinary
travels following his involvement in a scandal with a Lanarkshire
lass. Thirty six thousand miles later he published his remarkable
story in The Totall Discourse of the Rare Adventures and Painefull
Peregrinations of Long Nineteene Years Travayles from Scotland,
to the most Famous Kingdomes in Europe, Asia, and Affrica
Many Scots regarded Lithgow’s tales with scepticism, which he refuted,
proclaiming his critics were ‘mere vomiters of venom’. Not everyone
dismissed his claims, the young James Graham, Marquis of Montrose
was captivated by his yarns of exotic kingdoms.
Willie started his great journey in Europe, where he claimed to
have walked the entire way from Paris to Rome, and on arrival in
the city was forced to flee to Naples to escape the clutches of
the Inquisition. He journeyed on through Italy to Venice via Loretto
and Ancona with further adventures en-route. He claimed that he
was shipwrecked, robbed by bandits, personally aided escaped prisoners
and rescued several distressed damsels along the way.
Onto Greece, where two kindly Venetians gave him funds to travel
to the Middle East and Jerusalem. On the road to Cairo his three
Dutch travelling companions died suddenly from wine-drinking, which
left him heir to all their possessions. He used his windfall to
return home in 1613 via Sicily, Italy, Paris and London. Back in
London he dazzled King James VI of Scotland & I of England with
his tales of exotic lands. Unfortunatley court life wasn’t for him
and in the year 1614 he set off on his travels again.
This time his first stop was Italy.From there he managed to fund
another trip onto North Africa by an opportunist theft of the rings
and purses from two duellists,who had just slain each other. He
continued to travel until he ran into trouble in Spain, where he
was arrested on suspicion of being King James's spy. After questioning
and torture, Lithgow was handed over to the Inquisition for further
physical punishment.He managed to survive the experience, but was
left very scarred and decided it was best to return home. On his
arrival back in England, he was sent to Bath for half a year to
recover from his ordeal, courtesy of the King.
After recouperating,
Lithgow returned to London whereupon he encountered the Spanish
ambassador. He used the oppotunity to try and secure compensation
for the injuries inflicted by the Inquistion, but the appeal did
not impress the ambassodor who refused any compensation. The decision
angered Lithgow who took his vengance on the ambassador by physically
beating him. Lithgow
landed a 9 week jail sentence for his act .
In 1627, following the accession of King Charles I, William left
London for Scotland, where he saw his days out as a humble poet,
recalling his days of travel to anyone who would listen.
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