Gender and musical performance in mid-nineteenth-century France: the case of Juliette Godillon and the femme d’esprit
Musical performance occupied a central place in nineteenth-century French society. Music acted as a poetic and political medium. The mid-nineteenth-century piano virtuoso Juliette Godillon conducted a sophisticated political argument about the role of technology, the problems of urbanization and the nature of religion through her live performances, unveiling a carefully constructed ‘spectacle’ of sound and [...]
Deconstructing the chronicles: rumours and extreme violence during the siege of Meaux (1421-1422)
What does a careful re-examination of the terrifying crimes of an Armagnac captain during the siege of Meaux in 1421–22, as reported in the Journal d’un bourgeois de Paris, tell us about the reality of the crisis of the late Middle Ages? It is evident that these crimes should be understood in the context of [...]
The man of virtue: the role of antiquity in the political trajectory of L. A. Saint-Just
This article is concerned with how Saint-Just fashioned his political identity, focusing on the ways in which he deployed ideas, gestures and rhetoric derived from antiquity. Saint-Just can best be understood not only as a political theorist but also as a revolutionary politician who needed to find ways in which to give himself authority and [...]
A La Recherche D’Une Guerre Gagnee: The Ligue Des Droits De L’Homme and the War Guilt Question (1918-1922)
Initially conceived as an organization dedicated to the defence of human rights on an individual scale, during the Great War the Ligue des droits de l’homme took the avowedly political position of supporting the Union sacrée. The bona fides of France’s crusade against Germany was vigorously contested by a minority within the Ligue, however, which [...]
Tradition and Adaptation: The Social Universe of the French Foreign Ministry in the Era of the First World War
Attempts to ‘republicanize’ and ‘democratize’ the Quai d’Orsay before 1900 had limited impact on the practices and predispositions of the foreign ministry personnel. More important was the ministry’s response to changes in the international sphere in the late nineteenth century and again after the First World War. The explosion of international trade and introduction of [...]