French History - recent issues

'Paris est libre' Entries as Reconciliations: From Charles VII to Charles De Gaulle

De Waele, M. — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 03:58:20 PST

The numerous conflicts that have punctuated the history of France have repeatedly confronted political leaders with the challenge of bringing about national reconciliation. This article will dwell on four periods that have been the theatre of ‘Franco-French’ rivalry, in order to show how they may be seen as acts of reconciliation: the end of the Hundred Years War; the Wars of Religion; the Revolutionary and the Napoleonic period; and the Second World War. It will examine the entries made into Paris by Charles VII on 20 November 1437, by Henri IV on 22 March 1594, by Louis XVIII on 3 May 1814 and by Charles de Gaulle on 26 August 1944. The article will also explain the differences between a reconciliatory entry and a normal entry, while at the same time throwing light on the perennial character of the rituals of reconciliation.

The Parlement of Paris and the Ordinances of Blois (1579)

Daubresse, S. — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 03:58:20 PST

The Parlement of Paris invested considerable time and energy in detailed consideration of the substantial reforming legislation that had emerged from the first Estates General of Blois (1576–77) and which formed the eventual Ordinances of Blois (1579). Using the registers of the Parlement of Paris and hitherto unexamined copies of associated remonstrances, this article assesses why they did so, focusing on the issues of ecclesiastical and judicial reform. By placing their intervention in the context of the response from the Parisian magistrates to the holding of other Estates General in the sixteenth and early seventeenth century, it concludes that the sovereign court sought as much to uphold its exalted view of the ‘law of the realm’ and its own conception of reform, as to assert its independence from the Estates General or become a decisive intermediary in the dialogue between the crown and its subjects.

Theological Renewal and Enlightenment Confrontations at the Sorbonne (c.1730-1750)

Burson, J. D. — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 03:58:20 PST

This article examines the diversity of Enlightenment discourses that were crafted at the Theology Faculty of the University of Paris (the Sorbonne) during a key, and still under-studied, period of its history from approximately 1730 to 1750. In these years, theological discourses developed earlier in the eighteenth century by Jesuits were joined with experimental approaches to physiology, natural philosophy, physics and epistemology, while synthesizing Malebrache, Locke and Newton in apologetically useful ways. These enlightened discourses were adopted by theologians and students at the Sorbonne at time when Jesuit influence was especially strong in the University of Paris, as well as among seminary instructors, thanks to infighting in the Gallican Church over the papal bull Unigenitus. By combining scholarship on the radical Enlightenment, French higher education, the Catholic Enlightenment and the religious origins of the French Revolution with new research, this article shows the extent to which the student experience in Paris in general, and the history of the Sorbonne in particular, merits further examination as an integral part of the public sphere.

After the Affair: The Congres de la Jeunesse and Intellectual Reconciliation in 1900

Wright, J. — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 03:58:20 PST

The Congrès de la Jeunesse of December 1900 was an audacious project in intellectual reconciliation following the Dreyfus Affair. Drawing together Dreyfusards and anti-Dreyfusards, poets and political activists, it attempted a double reconciliation, between different political factions and between the worlds of literature and politics. This study of the congress suggests new lines of reflection for a rereading of the intellectual battles of the turn of the century in France. The heated nature of discussions meant that the project would not easily bear fruit. Nevertheless, it needs to be studied more closely, as it attempted to adjust the politics of confrontation, too often seen as the root of all French political argument in the early twentieth century. It did this by advancing practical programmes on which opponents could find agreement. Understanding how these specific programmes connected with the quest for reconciliation casts a new light on ideas that animated the central years of the Third Republic.

Three Faces of Richelieu: A Historiographical Essay

Bergin, J. — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 03:58:20 PST

This article explores the different views of Richelieu to be found in three different cultures, those of Spain, Germany and England (to which America is added). It begins with the perceptions of Richelieu among his contemporaries and how these evolved in subsequent centuries. The figure of Richelieu has fascinated biographers, novelists and playwrights, whose work influenced wider historical judgements of the Cardinal. In recent times, historians have sought to overcome the different stereotypes that abounded in previous centuries and, in German and Anglo-Saxon scholarship, fresh and as yet unreconciled facets of Richelieu and his historical significance continue to emerge, providing the basis for a rather different portrait of the man.

David Sturdy (1940-2009)

Bergin, J. — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 03:58:20 PST

The decline of religious holidays in old regime France (1642-1789)

Shusterman, N. — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 08:33:10 PDT

Under the ancien régime individual bishops decided which official religious holidays, or fêtes chômées, were observed in their dioceses. In the early seventeenth century there were on average 33 weekdays per year devoted to these holidays, but their number and choice varied widely across the country. From the mid-seventeenth century onwards French bishops began to eliminate many of these holidays, which were associated with drinking and idleness rather than with pious behaviour. These reforms initially encountered opposition from powerful interests in society, which limited their impact, but subsequently, and particularly after the mid-eighteenth century, the bishops’ efforts were much more successful. By the end of the Old Regime the number of weekdays devoted to fêtes chômées had declined to fewer than 20 in most of France. The process of reform also standardized religious practice as the same days were observed throughout the kingdom. Despite the royal government's lack of interest in the matter, a more uniform set of liturgical holidays replaced the regional diversity that had previously existed. The reformed ecclesiastical calendars were more closely geared to the seasonal pattern of agricultural labour and also reflected the Christocentrism of Tridentine Catholicism.

Fleurs-de-lis in the forest: 'absolute' monarchy and attempts at resource management in eighteenth-century France

Graham, H. — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 08:33:10 PDT

The notion of ‘resource management’ has inspired some historians to rethink the nature of the state authority in early modern Europe. Like recent work on parts of Italy and Germany, this article investigates the development and implementation of legislation that sought to regulate the management and exploitation of forests. This was self-interested policymaking: as ancien régime France strove to match Britain's naval, colonial and maritime strength, the monarchy's priority was ship timbers. Yet the most sought-after pieces of wood were large, heavy and difficult to transport. According to standard accounts, such resources became rare during the eighteenth century, and the French navy turned increasingly to timber supplies from abroad. This article offers a wider view, by finding ways to analyse bureaucratic records created by the royal forestry officials (Eaux et Forêts), which have been largely neglected by historians. A regional case study suggests that, besides extending the authority of royal agents to acquire timbers for the naval dockyards, the application of Louis XIV's Ordinance on Waterways and Forests (1669) generated huge amounts of information about the extent, nature and location of mature timber reserves across France.

The politics of escalation in French Revolutionary protest: political demonstrations, non-violence and violence in the grandes journees of 1789

Alpaugh, M. — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 08:33:10 PDT

The Réveillon riots, the storming of the Bastille and the October days of 1789 are known largely for their violent excesses, and they have been used by historians such as François Furet, Simon Schama and Arno Mayer to help place violence at the centre of the French Revolutionary experience. However, detailed studies of the early stages of these journées show that each of the protests began as essentially non-violent political demonstrations, which only turned physically violent in the face of attempted repression. Based upon a wide reading of Parisian newspapers, pamphlets, correspondence and other contemporary sources, this article highlights conciliatory aspects of Revolutionary protest and posits the existence of more peaceful alternatives to physical violence. Set in a wider context, where the overwhelming majority of Parisian street protests during the Revolution did not resort to physical violence, full-scale insurrection appears to have been only a secondary strategy, often adopted reluctantly.

Wine, friends and royalist popular politics: legitimist associations in mid-nineteenth-century France

Rulof, B. — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 08:33:10 PDT

Legitimism in nineteenth-century France did not simply take the form of a movement that sought to advance the cause of the Bourbons through associations and social activity. In the middle years of the century, it engaged with the new force of universal suffrage and attempted to harness elections for the creation of new political activities. Democracy could be experimented with for reactionary aims. In this case-study of royalist associations in Montpellier, the activities of legitimist politicians are shown to have evolved, from an important but little-known phase of engagement with democratic politics, to a retreat, later in the Third Republic, into social activism.

The Paul Doumer assassination and the Russian diaspora in interwar France

Foshko, K. — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 08:33:10 PDT

The assassination of French President Paul Doumer by the deranged Russian émigré Pavel Gorgulov in May 1932 has been largely dismissed by scholars as a colourful episode of limited historical import. On the basis of extensive new archival evidence, this article re-examines the aftermath of the crime through the lens of France's relations with Russian émigrés, the country's ‘model’ immigrant group of the interwar years. The émigrés were as economically deprived as many other immigrant groups during this period. Their special status manifested itself in their relatively privileged legal situation, their reputation for political reliability and, most visibly, their prominence in French popular culture. This article argues that, given the anti-immigrant attitudes that prevailed in the early 1930s, this special status in part explains the surprising moderation of the French reaction to the assassination. Simultaneously, the article delves into the panicked reaction to the event on the part of the émigrés themselves, a group who increasingly felt the vagaries of the deteriorating economic environment and for whom the assassination was both a marker of their gradual loss of status and an important impetus to assimilation. The Gorgulov affair thus sheds light on both the French capacity for selectively assimilating some of its immigrant groups—a topic as timely today as in the years of the French ‘second wave’ immigration—and on the Russian émigrés’ own, often conflicting, sense of how far they had come on the road to acceptance by the early 1930s.

Une concorde urbaine. Senlis au temps des reformes (vers 1520-vers 1580) * Une guerre civile. Affrontements religieux et militaires dans le Midi toulousain (1562-1596)

Roberts, P. — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 08:33:10 PDT

Confesser sa Foi : conflits confessionnels et identites religieuses dans l'Europe moderne

Racaut, L. — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 08:33:10 PDT

Les chevaliers de Saint-Michel 1665-1790: Le premier ordre de merite civil

Scott, H. — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 08:33:10 PDT

The Bee and the Eagle; Napoleonic France and the End of the Holy Roman Empire, 1806 * Soldiers, Citizens and Civilians; Experiences and Perceptions of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, 1790-1820

Andress, D. — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 08:33:10 PDT

France. Inventing the Nation

Lawrence, P. — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 08:33:10 PDT

Breadwinners and Citizens. Gender in the Making of the French Social Model

Cross, M. — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 08:33:10 PDT

In Pursuit of the People. Political Culture in France, 1934-1939

Carrol, A. — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 08:33:10 PDT

Masculine Singular: French New Wave Cinema

Austin, G. — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 08:33:10 PDT

SSFH Society News

Plack, N. — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 08:33:10 PDT

Duchesses and devils: the Breton succession crisis (1148-1189)

Pollock, M. — Mon, 25 May 2009 20:59:27 PDT

The duchy of Brittany is unusual in its development compared to contemporary polities of the twelfth century. The choice of Conan III to support his daughter Bertha's succession over that of his son, Hoël, just before his death in 1148, tore the traditional concepts of power apart and allowed for a series of counter claims through the female line to dominate ducal politics into the next century. The construct of female authority became a means to an end for male contenders, like Eudo de Porhöet, Conan IV, King Henry II and Henry's son, Geoffrey; however, the very recognition of the rights to succession through Bertha and her granddaughter, Constance, also elevated the role of the duchesses in a series of cross-Channel alliances, thereby placing the duchy itself at the centre of royal intrigue in France and England.

Le povre peuple estoit moult opprime: elite discourses on 'the people' in the Burgundian Netherlands (fourteenth to fifteenth centuries)

Dumolyn, J. — Mon, 25 May 2009 20:59:27 PDT

This article looks at discourses on ‘the people’, ‘the common man’ and other classifications of the subaltern social groups, produced by Jean Froissart and the Burgundian chroniclers who followed in his footsteps. In contrast to the significant political and economic dynamism attributed to the Flemish burghers in the development of the Burgundian state, these urban groups occupy only a very modest place in this chronicle tradition, while peasants are even less evident. If the lower classes are mentioned at all, it is in the most stereotyped manner. To the political elites of the Burgundian state, the common man was an unknown quantity, despised and feared, powerless to act on his own behalf. The people were considered good Christians when they suffered passively, but portrayed as evil or bestial creatures if they rebelled against authority.

Conflicts of memory: republicanism and the commemoration of the past in modern France

Hazareesingh, S. — Mon, 25 May 2009 20:59:27 PDT

The question of how State institutions should commemorate the past has generated considerable public controversy. Recent polemics point to the dilemma which political elites have grappled with since the Revolution: what content to give to the nation's ‘civil religion’ and which specific set of historical and ideological values should be collectively celebrated. Since its emergence after 1870, the Republic has sought to create a consensus in France through the sheer power of its commemorative force. Focusing on the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, this article will delve deeper into the complexities of modern republican collective memory. It will be argued that this memory needs to be understood in the context of its dialectical relationship with the memory of the democratic struggles of the French Left after 1871. The article touches on four interrelated themes: first, the ongoing debates about the heuristic value of the memory ‘label’; second, the strengths and dissonances of republican collective memory in the century that followed the French Revolution; third, the tension between republicanism and democracy in France, and how this was played out in the arena of the nation's civil religion in the early decades of the Third Republic; and finally, the continuing reflection of these divisions in contemporary French political culture.

Philanthropies croisees: a joint venture in public health at Lyon (1917-1940)

Saunier, P.-Y., Tournes, L. — Mon, 25 May 2009 20:59:27 PDT

Since the end of the First World War the Rockefeller Foundation has spearheaded a large-scale programme in the field of education for the health professions (doctors and nurses). In several countries throughout the world, but with its efforts concentrated on Europe, it has financed schools, constructed information networks, granted research scholarships and awarded training bursaries. In so doing it has not, however, been in the business of propagating an irresistible ‘American model’, nor has it pursued a huge undertaking in disinterested aid. Through an attempt to contextualize these programmes, to bring to light the existence of common reference points, to retrace the work with local participants and to appraise cleavages within the philanthropic apparatus, this article proposes a fine-grained reading of the role of the Rockefeller Foundation at the Faculté de Médecine (Faculty of Medicine) and the Ecole d’Infirmières et d’assistantes sociales (Training School for Nurses and Social Workers) in Lyon between 1917- and 1940. It analyses these institutions in terms of the transactions, negotiations and appropriations that highlight their joint-venture character and it identifies their varied impact.

The Marseille police and the German forced labour draft (1943-1944)

Kitson, S. — Mon, 25 May 2009 20:59:27 PDT

The German forced labour draft of 1943 has long been seen as a major catalyst for the French Resistance. It also clearly helped undermine the Vichy government. But what effect did it have on the police who were expected to implement it? This article demonstrates that it helped damage their relationship with Vichy, police officers engaged in widespread acts of defiance on this issue and it changed the social composition of the police by encouraging many to join the force simply to avoid being drafted. One of the preferred weapons of the police for sabotaging the scheme was theatrical zeal, which was open to misinterpretation.

Who was the author of L'Histoire des desastres de Saint-Domingue, published in Paris in the year III?

Benzaken, J.-C. — Mon, 25 May 2009 20:59:27 PDT

France and the American Tropics to 1700 * In Search of Empire: The French in the Americas, 1670-1730

McLay, K. — Mon, 25 May 2009 20:59:27 PDT

Les Huguenots dans les iles britanniques de la Renaissance aux Lumieres, Ecrits religieux et representations * Dictionnaire des pasteurs dans la France du XVIIIe siecle

Chaze, E. — Mon, 25 May 2009 20:59:27 PDT

Memoirs, Hortense Mancini and Marie Mancini

Chaze, E. — Mon, 25 May 2009 20:59:27 PDT

The Great Nation in Decline: Sex, Modernity and Health Crisis in Revolutionary France c. 1750-1850

Macdonald, J. M. — Mon, 25 May 2009 20:59:27 PDT

Hospital Politics in Seventeenth-Century France: The Crown, Urban Elites and the Poor

Macdonald, J. M. — Mon, 25 May 2009 20:59:27 PDT

Sociabilite et politique en milieu rural

Plack, N. — Mon, 25 May 2009 20:59:27 PDT

Reading Tocqueville: From Oracle to Actor

Armenteros, C. — Mon, 25 May 2009 20:59:27 PDT

Paris and the Commune 1871-78: The Politics of Forgetting

Rockett, S. — Mon, 25 May 2009 20:59:27 PDT

France from 1851 to the Present: Universalism in Crisis

Baycroft, T. — Mon, 25 May 2009 20:59:27 PDT

The Boundaries of the Republic: Migrant Rights and the Limits of Universalism in France, 1918-1940

Dodds, D. — Mon, 25 May 2009 20:59:27 PDT

The Lasting War; Society and Identity in Britain, France, and Germany after 1945

Barros, A. — Mon, 25 May 2009 20:59:27 PDT

Shantytown Kid [Le Gone du Chaaba] * Ethnicity and Equality: France in the Balance

Von Bulow, M. — Mon, 25 May 2009 20:59:27 PDT

SSFH Society News

Mon, 25 May 2009 20:59:27 PDT