State Improvement and Transnational Enlightenment in the Scottish Journey of Count Karl von Zinzendorf in 1768

Abstract

The journey to Scotland in August 1768 by Count Karl von Zinzendorf reveals the significance of Scottish socio-economic practices for the Austrian Habsburg lands in the mid-eighteenth century. Zinzendorf’s travel came as the result of the Austrian-Habsburg desire to emulate foreign financial structures after defeat in the Seven Years’ War (1756–63). His one-month stay in Scotland, supported by the Habsburg monarch Maria Theresa as part of several tours across Europe, was in effect an act of industrial espionage. It is also an illuminating example of eighteenth-century hospitality and sociability. Based on Zinzendorf’s unpublished diary entries as well as his economic report on the British Isles compiled for superiors in Vienna, this article introduces Zinzendorf and his ‘commercial tour’ of Scotland to Scottish historians for the first time. It builds upon recent efforts to explore early modern Scottish connections with continental Europe and demonstrates how these connections projected beyond Zinzendorf’s visit during his tenure as governor of Trieste and his later career within the Habsburg monarchy.