In 1470–71, Burgundian merchant and diplomat Anselm Adornes (1424–83) traveled to Jerusalem on behalf of King James III of Scotland, dedicating a detailed account of the journey to his royal patron on his return. While the text's depictions of architecture, art, landscapes, and societies are valued by modern scholars, the very infrastructures that made Adornes' journey possible and his experience abroad culturally inspiring, have received little attention. This paper uses Adornes' discerning accounts of infrastructures related to his travels via land and water and to hospitality, to demonstrate their crucial role as interconnecting networks in the early modern period. Similarly, Adornes' records of foreign military and proto-industrial infrastructures, as well as civic ones dealing with waste, security, storage, and distribution, run in parallel with his commentary on societal advancement—or lack thereof—demonstrating awareness of infrastructures' role in securing stability and growth, and travellers' intellectual curiosity in studying unfamiliar technologies.

• https://www.rsa.org/page/RSASanJuan2023