The Wilmot Committee: Redefining Relief and National Interest in Britain during the French Revolution

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-30
Author(s):  
Hannah Weiss Muller

Abstract Although anti-Catholicism and anti-Jacobinism primed many Britons to fear what one observer called “the hordes of vagabond French” who reached their shores in the fall of 1792, others launched widespread relief efforts. Among the more remarkable was the Wilmot Committee. This subscription charity convened in September 1792, channeling donations from the public to destitute French priests at a time when the British government remained hesitant to directly aid refugees from revolutionary France. This article situates the committee's particular structures in both their eighteenth-century philanthropic contexts and Britain's history of aid to foreign refugees. It then traces interconnections between charitable giving and wartime exigencies, arguing that the Wilmot Committee, which managed relief efforts first to clergy and then also to laity throughout the subsequent war years in an evolving partnership with government, played a crucial role in shaping and shifting attitudes toward foreigners during an era of ideological revolution. Ultimately, the committee worked alongside legislation like the Aliens and Emigrant Corps Acts to underline that foreigners of different religious persuasions—provided their loyalties were confirmed, their principles appropriate, and their backgrounds appealing—might be mobilized to strengthen national interests. By the 1790s, shared opposition to revolutionary republican ideology came to supersede shared Protestantism in predicting foreigners’ utility to Britain.

Author(s):  
Chris Keith

This book offers a new material history of the Jesus tradition. It shows that the introduction of manuscripts to the transmission of the Jesus tradition played an underappreciated but crucial role in the reception history of the tradition that eventuated. It focuses particularly on the competitive textualization of the Jesus tradition, whereby Gospel authors drew attention to the written nature of their tradition, sometimes in attempts to assert superiority to predecessors, and the public reading of the Jesus tradition. Both these processes reveal efforts on the part of early followers of Jesus to place the gospel-as-manuscript on display, whether in the literary tradition or in the assembly. Building upon interdisciplinary work on ancient book cultures, this book traces an early history of the gospel as artifact from the textualization of Mark in the first century until the eventual usage of liturgical reading as a marker of authoritative status in the second and third centuries and beyond. Overall, it reveals a vibrant period of the development of the Jesus tradition, wherein the material status of the tradition frequently played as important a role as the ideas about Jesus that it contained.


Author(s):  
Sarah Maza

The concept of a group called “the bourgeoisie” is unusual in being both central to early modern and modern European history, and at the same time highly controversial. In old regime France, people frequently used the words “bourgeois” or “bourgeoisie” but what they meant by them was very different from the meaning historians later assigned to those terms. In the nineteenth century the idea of a “bourgeoisie” became closely associated with Marxian historical narratives of capitalist ascendancy. Does it still make sense to speak of a “bourgeoisie”? This article attempts to lay out and clarify the terms of the problem by posing a series of questions about this aspect of the social history of Ancien Régime France, with a brief look across the Channel for comparison. It considers first the problem of definition: what was and is meant by “the bourgeoisie” in the context of early modern French history? Second, what is the link between eighteenth-century economic change and the existence and nature of such a group, and can we still connect the origins of the French Revolution to the “rise” of a bourgeoisie? And finally, can the history of perceptions and representations of a bourgeoisie or middle class help us to understand why the concept has been so problematic in the longer run of French history?


2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 276-303 ◽  
Author(s):  
Orsolya Putz

The peace Treaty of Trianon, which was signed by the representatives of Hungary and the Allies in 1920, caused substantial economic, political and social changes in the life of the Hungarian nation. The paper explores how far these changes have been conceptualized by conceptual metaphors in Hungarian public discourse from 1920 to the present day. Specifically, it looks at whether there is a conventionalized metaphoric conceptual system concerning the treaty, which began (or was current) in 1920 and has been developing for almost a hundred years. The paper applies a qualitative approach to a small corpus of written texts. The corpus contains twenty texts, which are taken from four different categories of public discourse (political, academic, informative and media) and four time periods (1920–1945, 1945–1990, 1990–2010, and 2010–2015). The paper concludes that, within the public discourse on the consequences of the Trianon peace treaty, the same metaphors have fundamentally survived over nine decades. This conceptual history of metaphors suggests heavy conventionalization, which can play a crucial role in the survival of a certain mental image of the nation and in maintaining negative emotions about the treaty. It also suggests that the Trianon frame is still an essential part of Hungarian national identity.


2015 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 797-821 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Harvey

AbstractThis essay explores changes in eighteenth-century male clothing in the context of the history of sexual difference, gender roles, and masculinity. The essay contributes to a history of dress by reconstructing a range of meanings and social practices through which men's clothing was understood by its consumers. Furthermore, critically engaging with work on the “great male renunciation,” the essay argues that the public authority that accrued to men through their clothing was based not on a new image of a rational disembodied man but instead on an emphasis on the male anatomy and masculinity as intrinsically embodied. Drawing on findings from the material objects of eighteenth-century clothing, visual representations, and evidence from the archival records of male consumers, the essay adopts an interdisciplinary approach that allows historians to study sex and gender as embodied, rather than simply performed. In so doing, the essay not only treats “embodiment” as an historical category but also responds to recent shifts in the historical discipline and the wider academy towards a more corporealist approach to the body.


Roteiro ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
pp. 77
Author(s):  
Lilian Giacomini Cruz ◽  
Marcela De Moraes Agudo

Resumo: A educação pública não é uma invenção dos tempos modernos, mas a escola tal como a concebemos hoje – universal, laica, gratuita e obrigatória – é uma instituição recente, tendo seus princípios discutidos e/ou redefinidos inicialmente durante o período da Revolução Francesa, consolidando-se posteriormente, no final do século XIX e início do século XX, quando alguns países reorganizaram e implantaram seus sistemas nacionais de educação. A partir da noção histórica do desenvolvimento e da constituição da escola pública que temos atualmente, refletimos sobre a concepção de escola pública que compreendemos, ou seja, entendendo o significado do “público” que caracteriza a escola como tal e de que modo se desenvolveu historicamente. A escola, tal qual a conhecemos, é resultado de um acerto de contas: com o poder absolutista do Estado; com a ideologia dominante centrada na visão metafísica do mundo; e, finalmente, com a concepção da desigualdade humana como algo determinado pela natureza. Mesmo que, em diversos momentos, movimentos de resistência tenham reivindicado e reivindiquem o desenvolvimento de uma escola pública popular de fato, este enfrentamento ainda se faz necessário para a constituição de uma escola pública, laica, gratuita, de qualidade socialmente referenciada e desinteressada. Destacamos, a partir de Gramsci, a importância de um movimento intelectual e popular que difunda novas concepções de mundo capazes de desenvolver a consciência civil da população e de produzir novos comportamentos para que ela não se submeta à direção do Estado capitalista.Palavras-chave: Escola pública. Origem. Histórico. Função social.The history of the modern public school, its contemporary configuration and social functionAbstract: Public education is not an invention of modern times, but the school as we conceive it today – universal, secular, unpaid and obligatory – is a recent institution, with its principles discussed and/or redefined initially during the period of the French Revolution, consolidating later in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries when some countries reorganized and implemented their national education systems. From the historical notion of the development and constitution of the public school that we currently have, we think about the conception of public school that we understand. That is, understanding the meaning of the "public" that characterizes the school as such and how it has developed historically. The school, as we know it, is the result of a settling of accounts: with the absolute power of the State; with the dominant ideology centered on the metaphysical view of the world; and finally, with the conception of human inequality as something determined by nature. Even though, at various moments, resistance movements have claimed and claim the development of a popular public school in fact, this confrontation is still necessary to create a public, secular, free, obligatory, high quality and disinterested school. From Gramsci we emphasize the importance of an intellectual movement that diffuses new world conceptions capable of raising the civil conscience of the population and producing new behaviors that not submit to the direction of the capitalist State.Keywords: Public school. Origin. Historic. Social function.El histórico de escuela pública moderna, su configuración contemporánea y función social Resumen: La educación pública no es una invención de los tiempos modernos, pero la escuela tal como la concebimos hoy – universal, laica, gratuita y obligatoria – es una institución reciente, teniendo sus principios discutidos y/o redefinidos inicialmente durante el período de la Revolución Francesa, consolidando posteriormente, a finales del siglo XIX y principios del siglo XX cuando algunos países reorganizaron y implantaron sus sistemas nacionales de educación. A partir de la noción histórica del desarrollo y de la constitución de la escuela pública que tenemos actualmente, pensamos sobre la concepción de la escuela pública que comprendemos. Es decir, entendiendo el significado del "público" que caracteriza a la escuela como tal y de qué modo se desarrolló históricamente. La escuela, tal como la conocemos, es resultado de un acierto de cuentas: con el poder absolutista del Estado; con la ideología dominante centrada en la visión metafísica del mundo; y finalmente, con la concepción de la desigualdad humana como algo determinado por la naturaleza. Aunque en diversos momentos, movimientos de resistencia reivindicaron y reivindican el desarrollo de una escuela pública popular de hecho, este enfrentamiento aún se hace necesario para la constitución de una escuela pública, laica, gratuita, obligatoria, de alta calidad y desinteresada. Destacamos, a partir de Gramsci, la importancia de un movimiento intelectual que difunda nuevas concepciones de mundo capaces de elevar la conciencia civil de la población y de producir nuevos comportamientos para que ella no se someta a la dirección del Estado capitalista.Palabras clave: Escuela pública. Origen. Histórico. Función social.


Author(s):  
Lauren Allen Wendling

This article discusses faculty engaged teaching and research as an imperative function of the academic institution in the 21st century.  Reflecting on Ernest Boyer’s Scholarship Reconsidered, this article traces the history of the public nature of higher education and its role within institutions today and discusses the crucial role of promotion and tenure in advancing the engaged work of faculty.


Author(s):  
Brian Cowan

The two most influential works for the study of eighteenth-century literary culture in the last half-century must surely be Ian Watt’s The Rise of the Novel (1957) and Jürgen Habermas’s The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere (1962). This essay discusses the influence of both Watt and Habermas on studies of the novel and the public sphere, and it explores the reasons for the endurance of their arguments despite decades of substantial criticism devoted to their interpretative shortcomings. It also explains the emergence of a post-Habermasian approach to the history of public-making in response to these criticisms. It concludes by discussing how recent post-Habermasian studies of news culture and political partisanship may illuminate the history of the origins of the English novel.


Author(s):  
Victor Gomes Lima Ferraz ◽  
Fernanda Luiza De Faria ◽  
Flávia Ribas De Brito ◽  
Ingrid Nunes Derossi ◽  
Maria Helena Zambelli ◽  
...  

ResumoEste artigo aborda a utilização de um jogo virtual como recurso didático e as possibilidades de aplicação para o professor. Desse modo, apresentamos a narrativa central do jogo e alguns aspectos que permitem a discussão sobre a visão da ciência e do cientista, o papel da mulher na ciência, dentre outros. No jogo, o jogador é inserido no século XVIII, durante a Revolução Francesa, e é apresentado a Antoine Laurent Lavoisier e sua esposa. Ao longo da história o jogador é convidado a enfrentar alguns desafios que trabalham conceitos sobre a Lei da Conservação da Massa. A partir dessa discussão apresentamos alguns resultados da aplicação do jogo, onde observamos que os alunos conseguiram executar as atividades propostas sem dificuldades. Futuramente pretendemos disponibilizar o jogo para professores utilizarem esse recurso com seus alunos. Palavras-chave: História da Ciência; Ensino de Ciência.AbstractThis paper discusses the use of a virtual game as didactic resource and the possibilities of application for the teacher. In this way we present the central narrative of the game and some aspects that allow the discussion about the vision of science and the scientist, the role of women in science, among others. In the game, the player is inserted in the eighteenth century during the French Revolution, and is introduced to Antoine Laurent Lavoisier and his wife. Throughout history the player is invited to face some challenges that discusses some concepts on the law of conservation of mass. From this discussion we present some results of the application of the game, where we observed that the students were able to execute the proposed activities without difficulties. In the future we intend to make the game available for teachers to use this resource with their students.Keywords: History of Science; Teaching Science.


Author(s):  
Cedric J. Robinson

In this chapter, Robinson takes on what he sees as Marx’s fallacious assumption that socialism requires the existence of full-blown capitalism. Instead, Robinson explores the history of materialism and political economy in Europe in relation to late medieval Christianity and the Roman Church as a way to uncover other lineages of Western socialism. He traces the genealogy of materialism upon which Marx himself relied—drawing from German idealists and eighteenth century bourgeois ideas—and contrasts this with an alternative genealogy of modern materialist discourse (Aristotelianism, Dualism, Classical materialism, historical materialism). He shows how bourgeois resistance against the Church’s political order in the thirteenth century took the form of socialist communities. This socialist-oriented resistance was then repressed and co-opted by Church leaders before reappearing in the popular impulses of the French Revolution, eventually leading to Marx’s secular expression of socialism. Robinson argues that Marxism ignores this history of non-industrial socialism, accepting many assumptions of bourgeois historiography and leading him to assume that full industrial, bourgeois society is necessary to the establishment of socialism. This effaces the thirteenth century precedents to nineteenth century Western socialism.


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