The subject of the thesis is the epistolary novel genre in the works of German and Dutch female writers Sophie von La Roche, Betje Wolff and Aagje Deken. This narrative genre continued the former novelistic tradition and is inseparably connected with epistolary culture, sentimentalism, cult of friendship and the name of the English novelist Samuel Richardson. It attracted readers' attention, especially of female audience in the period of social changes based on ideas of the Enlightenment and its philosophy. In the second half of the 18th century it became the most popular genre. Thanks to its characteristics it became the medium of female opinions' and feelings' presentation in times of the beginning women's emancipation as well as the genre which enabled more women to enter the field of literature. The issue of the thesis is the comparative analysis and interpretation of two most successful novels of the women writers in the bordering countries with cultural influences: the first German professional women writer La Roche and her novel Geschichte des Fräuleins von Sternheim and the Dutch author couple Wolff a Deken and their collective work Historie van mejuffrouw Sara Burgerhart.

This thesis aims to examine the representative of classic Enlightenment self-help text, Benjamin Franklin's Way to Wealth, and two representatives of the slave narrative genre, Frederick Douglass's and Olaudah Equiano's works, in terms of their possible affinity. The thesis compares and contrasts the individual texts and seeks to find analogies in structure and content which would indicate the influence of the self-help genre in American literature on the narratives and demonstrate the presence of the self-improvement element in the reading of slave narratives. The thesis consists of two key parts, the theoretical introduction onto the issues and practical part which analyses the texts themselves. KEY WORDS Frederick Douglass, Olaudah Equiano, Benjamin Franklin, slave narratives, self-help books, self-improvement, US history, uplift, autobiography, slavery, Enlightenment, 18th Century, 19th Century

L’histoire du texte a toujours accompagné la recherche sur le Manuscrit trouvé à Saragosse, roman-somme de l’aristocrate polonais Jean Potocki (1761-1815). Mais elle ne peut pourtant pas expliquer pourquoi l’auteur en a rédigé trois versions successives. Ce que l’on peut dégager du texte, c’est la manière dont Potocki a modifié les versions dites de 1794, 1804 et 1810. Ainsi, si l’on compare minutieusement le texte et la structure des versions, on constate que certaines tendances de réajustements apparaissent à tous les niveaux de l’écriture : celui des mots, celui des phrases et celui des chapitres ou « journées ». À titre d’exemple, on peut citer la tendance à la concision, puisque les histoires racontées sont plus concentrées dans les versions remaniées. On peut mentionner aussi les modifications euphoniques ou rythmiques, qui sont perceptibles si l’on compare entre eux les mots choisis par l’auteur et qui permettent d’établir plusieurs synthèses concernant les refontes de la structure globale du roman. / The history of text has never failed to accompany the researches about Manuscrit trouvé a Saragosse, monumental novel by the Polish aristocrat Jean Potocki (1761-1815). Still it does not explain why the author has written three successive versions. The only differences you can read out of the text is the way Potocki has modified each version of the novel (1794, 1804, 1810). A careful comparison of text and structure of each version show certain tendencies of reworking at all levels of writing: that of words, the sentences and the chapters or “journées”. One of these tendencies for example is the concision, as the stories in the modified versions are told more concentrated. Also euphonic and rhythmic changes may be mentioned here: they appear in comparison with the words chosen by the author and allow further syntheses with the revision of the entire novel structure.

This thesis deals with the Afro-European trade on the Western Slave Coast from about 1600 to the 1880s, mainly the slave trade but also the trade in ivory and agricultural produce. The Western Slave Coast comprises the coastal areas of modem Togo and parts of the coastal areas of Ghana and Benin. For much of the period under discussion, this region was dominated by two kingdoms, the kingdom of the Hula (or Pla), known to European traders as Great or Grand Popo, after its coastal port (in modern Benin), and the kingdom of the Ge (Gen/Guin/Genyi), known to European traders as Little Popo, after its main coastal port (in modern Togo). In the nineteenth century, two more ports of trade appeared in the region, Agoud (in modem Benin) and Porto Seguro (in modern Togo). In terms of the Afro-European trade, this was an intermediate area between regions of greater importance to slave traders, the Gold Coast to the west and the eastern Slave Coast (mainly the kingdom of Dahomey) to the east. This thesis gives a detailed reconstruction of the political and commercial developments in the region, especially for the period from the 1780s and the 1860s. The discussion is based mainly on archival material from British, French and African archives, but also makes use of a wide range of published accounts, mainly in English, French and German, and information from oral traditions. Beyond its immediate local interest, the thesis contributes to our understanding of the operation of the Afro-European trade and its impact on African middleman societies. The intermittent commercial success of 'the Popos' illustrates the dynamics of the trade especially clearly. The Western Slave Coast is placed into the wider transatlantic trade network and its role in the trade re-evaluated. The link between the local and overseas economy is illustrated by the centrality of the lagoon, which is discussed in detail. Other important issues that are addressed include the role of the canoemen in the trade, the transition from the slave trade to the palm oil trade and the Afro-Brazilian settlement at Agoue.

L'obligation de célibat imposée aux ecclésiastiques catholiques fait l'objet de discussions depuis le début de l'église chrétienne, mais au cours du XVIIIe siècle, elle est de plus en plus considéré d'un point de vue politique plutôt que théologique. Le but de cette thèse est de reconstruire la naissance, le développement et la diffusion en Europe de la nouvelle perspective - laïque et séculière - d'envisager l'interdiction au clergé de se marier, née de la «crise de la conscience européenne" et sous l'impulsion des Lumières radicales. Grâce à l'analyse et l'étude de la littérature philosophique et politique européenne, cette thèse reconstruit le débat sur le célibat ecclésiastique dès la fin du XVIIe siècle et jusqu'à la Révolution française, lorsque la laïcisation du mariage permit aux ecclésiastiques, hommes et femmes, de se marier. Cette approche a permis de rendre compte de la complexité d'une question qui sous-tend le problème des rapports entre l'état et l'église, et de l'articulation des différentes positions critiques et orientations idéologiques : de la critique des Lumières radicales à la critique modérée, de l'approche d'observateurs ecclésiastiques intérieurs - clercs et experts en droit canon - qui proposent des prudentes réformes du célibat, à la fermeture complète des conservateurs. Les accusations portées par les révolutionnaires à la chasteté et au célibat, la question de «mariage des prêtres» et la plupart des critiques qui recouvrent encore le célibat ecclésiastique ont leurs racines dans le débat du XVIIIe siècle et dans l'émancipation du regard critique avec lequel les Lumières radicales ont prirent à considérer l'église et ses règles. / Mandatory clerical celibacy for all clergy within catholic countries has been discussed since the beginning of the Christian church. During the eighteenth century, it was increasingly taken into consideration from a political rather than strictly theological point of view. The purpose of this thesis is to reconstruct the creation, development and dissemination in Europe of a new way - secular and lay – of considering the obligation of the clergy to be unmarried that arose from the "crisis of the European conscience" and developed thanks to radical Enlightenment.Through the analysis and study of philosophical and political literature, this thesis reconstructs the debate on clerical celibacy which arose within the European Republic of Letters from the late seventeenth century up until the French Revolution, when the secularization of marriage allowed secular and regular clergy, women and men to get married. This approach has made it possible to account for the complexity of a debate that underlies the problem of the relationship between church and state and the articulation of the different ideological positions: from radical to moderate criticism; from the approach of observers inside the church – clerics or experts in canon law - who proposed cautious reforms to the complete refusal of the conservatives.The accusations levelled against chastity and celibacy by revolutionaries, the issue concerning "married priests" and many criticisms that still invest ecclesiastical celibacy have their roots in the eighteenth-century debate and the secular emancipation of the critical perspective from which radical Enlightenment started to consider the church and its rules.

En 1729, la Corse débute quarante ans de révolte militairement organisée, justifiée par des arguments historiques, juridiques et théologiques contre la République de Gênes. L’instabilité d’une île de la Méditerranée occidentale occupant une position stratégique de première importance pour le commerce et la guerre maritimes, devient un enjeu dans les rivalités des monarchies occidentales. Sous l’impulsion de Luigi Giafferi, capitaine à Venise lors de la première guerre de Morée, porte-parole des Nobles XII, le mouvement s’appuie sur un réseau de notables de la côte orientale de la Corse et d’officiers corses résidant dans les États de Venise : le lieutenant colonel Giafferi, frère de Luigi, les colonels Giappiconi et Zicavo, au service de la République, et le brigadier général Boeri, ancien colonel vénitien passé au service de la Cour de Parme puis de l’Espagne. A partir de sources originales d’archives, cette thèse rétablit le rôle central des prédécesseurs de Pascal Paoli, illustre quelques aspects mal connus de la complexité des rivalités internationales autour de la Corse, et met en lumière le rôle des entrepreneurs de guerre corses dans l’orientation et le financement de l’insurrection. / In 1729, Corsica entered a forty year period of militarily organised revolt against the Republic of Genoa, justified by historical, legal and theological arguments. The instability of this western Mediterranean island, situated as it was at a strategic position of prime importance for commerce and naval warfare, made it an important factor in the rivalries between Western monarchies. Under the leadership of Luigi Giafferi, a captain in the Venetian army during the first Morean War and the representative of the “Noble Twelve”, the movement was supported by a group of clan leaders from the East coast of Corsica and Corsican officers based in the Venetian States: Lieutenant Colonel Giafferi, the brother of Luigi, Colonels Giappiconi and Zicavo, in the service of the Venetian republic, and the Brigadier General Boeri, a former colonel in the Venetian army who had gone on to serve at the courts of Parma and of Spain. Based on original archival sources, this thesis reconstructs the central role played by the predecessors of Pascal Paoli, sheds light on some lesser known aspects of the complex international rivalries over Corsica and underlines the role of Corsican “entrepreneurs de guerre” in financing and influencing the direction of the insurrection.

Créée en 1741, la Compagnie royale d’Afrique succède à des compagnies à privilèges qui n’ont connu à Marseille, deux siècles durant, que des déboires dans leurs relations avec les Régences de Barbarie. Or, pendant plus d’un demi-siècle cette nouvelle structure commerciale connaît un réel succès. Avec des représentants installés de manière pérenne essentiellement dans la Régence d’Alger – comptoirs à La Calle, Bône et Collo – elle organise et contrôle dans les eaux barbaresques, comme le fit la première Compagnie du corail au XVIe siècle, la pêche de ce produit apprécié sur la rive nord de la Méditerranée. Cependant, elle a pour tâche première d’assurer la traite des blés afin de participer au bon ravitaillement du royaume, tout en intervenant également sur d’autres marchés. À l’heure où la Méditerranée devient un espace périphérique du commerce mondial, où la pensée économique remet en cause les monopoles commerciaux et où les relations avec les Régences barbaresques tendent à se normaliser, cette Compagnie constitue un bon observatoire pour suivre les pratiques commerciales du second XVIIIe siècle et décrypter les stratégies des hommes qui en ont la direction. Par ailleurs, s’établir et travailler chez l’Autre, avec ses avantages et ses contraintes, invite également à saisir les relations à l’altérité. Aussi, au-delà de l’étude des flux, des routes maritimes, de l’outillage nautique, des produits, des marchés et des hommes – dirigeants ou simples exécutants –, cette recherche, qui mêle les approches quantitative et qualitative, se présente également comme une lecture des pratiques interculturelles entre les différents acteurs des deux rives de la Méditerranée. / Founded in 1741, the French Royal African Company succeeds to exclusive trading companies, which only suffered setbacks in Marseille for two centuries in their relations with the Regencies of Barbary. Yet, for more than half a century, this new commercial structure experienced a real success. With officials durably settled primarily in the Alger Regency – trading stations in El Kala, Annaba and Collo –, the Royal African Company organizes and controls the fishery of coral in the Barbarian maritime territories, just like the first Coral Company did in the 16th century; the coral being a cherished product on the north shore of the Mediterranean Sea. However, the primary task of the Royal African Company is to ensure the trading of wheat in order to contribute to supplying the Kingdom of France and intervene as well on other markets. At the time when the Mediterranean becomes a peripheral area of world trade, when the economic thought calls into question the trading monopolies and when the Barbarian Regencies tend to normalize, this Company represents a good observatory to follow the commercial practices of the second half of the 18th century and analyze the strategies of the leading men. Besides, being established and working in the Other’s home, with its advantages and constraints, invites to understanding the relation to otherness. Thus, beyond the study of flows, sea lanes, nautical equipment, products, markets, and men – be it leaders or simple performers –, this research, blending quantitative and qualitative approaches, can also be presented as a reading of the intercultural practices between the various players on both sides of the Mediterranean.

De 1736 à 1738, Crébillon fils compose Les égarements du coeur et de l’esprit. En 1740, Gervaise de Latouche publie Le portier des chartreux. Aujourd’hui, nous les considérons tous les deux comme des romans libertins, non sans un certain embarras délicat. Certes, les études consacrées depuis des décennies au roman libertin ont permis aux chercheurs contemporains d’étendre et de préciser la définition du genre, de sorte qu’y retrouver les deux romans ne pose plus problème ; pourtant, leur divergence au niveau du fond et au niveau de la forme nous semble incontestablement énorme. En effet, le roman libertin évolue perpétuellement au 18e siècle. Deux courants qui représentent, chacun de son côté, le libertinage mondain et le libertinage licencieux, se forment et coexistent. On se demande alors pourquoi cette division a lieu au sein du roman libertin ? Chronologiquement les années 1740 constituent une période d’évolution très marquée du roman libertin. Et la création romanesque de Villaret se développe précisément dans cette période. En tant que témoin de ce moment de transition, Villaret efface un peu, dans ses quatre romans, la démarcation entre ces deux courants. Sous la plume de Villaret, c’est, d’un côté, le statut social du protagoniste qui est quelquefois ambigu en balançant entre l’élite et la roture, au point qu’un langage décent et voilé est employé ici et là pour décrire et caractériser un protagoniste roturier, et de l’autre, sa description du désir va et vient également entre l’allusion suggestive et l’usage des termes propres. C’est ainsi qu’à travers l’étude des romans de Villaret, on comprendra mieux ce moment capital dans l’évolution du roman libertin, les raisons, les formes et l’enjeu de cette évolution. De là, on verra aussi que de multiples liens se tissent entre les deux courants apparemment divergents, de sorte que Les égarements du coeur et de l’esprit n’est sans doute pas aussi éloigné du Portier des chartreux qu’on le croit. / : Between 1736 and 1738, Crébillon fils composed Les égarements du coeur et de l’esprit. In 1740, Gervaise de Latouche published Le portier des chartreux. Today, we consider them both as libertine novels, not without a certain delicate embarrassment. There is no doubt that studies devoted to the libertine novel during two recent decades have allowed contemporary researchers to extend and clarify the definition of the genre, so that classifying the two novels in the same genre no longer makes problems; however, their difference in the content and in the form seems enormous to us. Actually, the libertine novel evolved perpetually in the 18th century. Two currents, each representing on its own mondain libertinism and licentious libertinism, formed and coexisted. Thus, we can’t help asking the following question: why did this division take place within the libertine novel? Chronologically, the 1740s constituted an important period of the libertine novel’s evolution. And Villaret wrote his novels precisely in this period. As a witness of this transition moment, Villaret erases, with his four novels, the demarcation between these two currents. In his novels, on the one hand, the protagonist’s social status is sometimes ambiguous, balancing between elite and common people, and a decent and veiled language is used here and there to describe a commoner protagonist; on the other hand, his description of desire also balances between suggestive allusions and bare terms. By studying Villaret’s novels, we will better understand this crucial moment in the libertine novel’s evolution, the reasons, the forms and the process of this evolution. In this way, we can also discover the multiple ties formed between the two divergent currents, so that Les égarements du coeur et de l’esprit is not as far from Le portier des chartreux as we believe.

Último inquisidor-mor, bispo de Olinda e deputado eleito pelo Rio de Janeiro nas Cortes de Lisboa. A vida e a trajetória de José Joaquim da Cunha Azeredo Coutinho (1742-1821) são conhecidas da historiografia brasileira. Intransigente defensor da ordem estabelecida, Azeredo Coutinho distinguiu-se, inicialmente, com a publicação de memórias econômicas, abordando temas variados que vão desde o preço do açúcar até a defesa da justiça do comércio de escravos africanos; por sua participação no governo da Capitania de Pernambuco e a frente da diocese da cidade alentejana de Elvas. Esta pesquisa pretende analisar o pensamento econômico e as concepções políticas de Azeredo Coutinho. Num primeiro momento, faremos uma leitura crítica de seus escritos à luz de sua atuação pública, reconstituindo seus referenciais teóricos e contextualizando-os a partir das questões que ele procurava responder. Neste percurso, teremos sempre em vista sua colaboração com os ministros ilustrados na produção de uma idéia de Império, de inspiração luso-brasileira, em direção a uma solução mais ampla, de caráter imperial. Destacaremos também o caráter reformista de suas idéias e ações. Como inúmeros de seus contemporâneos, Azeredo combateu a secularização buscando manter o passado atual, mas sem propor um retorno a ele. Reformista, acreditava que a destruição das estruturas históricas elaboradas por formas sociais mais antigas levaria a destruição da sociedade no seu caráter moderno. Foi nesse contexto intelectual que Azeredo Coutinho produziu sua defesa das prerrogativas do Trono, da legitimidade da autoridade da Igreja e da atualidade do Sistema Colonial. / This is a study about the life and times of D. José Joaquim da Cunha de Azeredo Coutinho (1742-1821). A catholic bishop and a statesman, Azeredo Coutinho is one of the best examples of an enlightened author defender of the Ancient Regime in the Portuguese Empire. In this work, aspects of his essays on economics and political issues, his actions as the head of the Capitania de Pernambuco government (1798- 1802), and as bishop of the Alentejo city of Elvas will be contextualized with the program of reforms sponsored by the Portuguese Crown in the late 18th Century. Furthermore, is your objective to understand the principal ideas and influences behind Azeredos essays. To accomplish this goal, the ideas in context methodology will be your analytical tool.

Cette thèse étudie la condition féminine indienne et les prémices des différentes mutations opérées par la présence française en Inde, à la lumière du journal d’Ananda Ranga Pillai, Dubâsh pour le compte de la Compagnie française des Indes Orientales entre 1736 et 1761. Grâce à ses chroniques quotidiennes en cette époque décisive de la colonisation, observateur et acteur à la fois, le diariste témoigne d’un intérêt constant pour la gent féminine, loin des considérations romanesques. Il rend possible l’étude de la place et du rôle des femmes indiennes en politique sous le prisme de la guerre, la mise en évidence de leur implication dans la sphère socio-économique et les répercussions dans leur vie privée, apportant un éclairage interne plus global sur la société coloniale dans cette première moitié du XVIIIe siècle. / This thesis reviews the status of Indian women and the start of various changes under French rule in India, in light of the diary of Ananda Ranga Pillai, Dubâsh for the French East India Company, between 1736 and 1761. Through his daily chronicles in this decisive period of colonization, being both an observer and an actor, the diarist displays his constant concern for women, far from the romantic considerations. The study of the place and the role of the Indian women is made possible in the fields of politics through the lens of war, highlighting their involvement in the socio-economic sphere and its impact in their private life, by shedding a more internal light on global colonial society during this first half of the 18th century.