Travel to the Holy Land 1799-1831 : a case study; the journey of Moses & Judith montefiore

Following Napoleon's invasion of Palestine in 1799, up to Mehemet Ali's conquest in 1831, an increasing number of Western Europeans went to explore this long-neglected Holy Land. Many published their travels, but none described the planning needed for such an expedition, nor the outward or homeward journeys.;Moses and Judith Montefiore seem to have been the first and only prominent Anglo-Jews to travel to Jerusalem in this period. Using material [much of it unpublished] relating to their journey of 1827/28 together with the accounts of the other travellers, this thesis describes the complexities and practicalities of such an adventurous journey at that time in a period before improvements in transport and changes in political climate made such tours increasingly easy.;It looks at the information available for planning such a journey, the route, letters of introduction etc. and its actual costs. It examines the dangers faced due to disease and war, and mundane aspects like finding accommodation and food and their religious observance whilst travelling.;The motives for their journey were a mixture of the touristic and religious, yet the Montefiores spent only three full days in Jerusalem on a journey lasting ten months. However, this first visit had profound effects on the Montefiores: it led to a more Orthodox Jewish life-style, to six subsequent visits to Jerusalem and it led him to identify closely with Jewish causes in England and worldwide. It also resulted in Moses becoming the main conduit for world-wide charity for the Holy Land, and his being seen as a leading figure in the regeneration of the land and its people in the pre-Zionist era.