This thesis presents an analysis of the English-language work of three Welsh writers during the eighteenth century, spanning the period of the 1750s to 1794. During this period, the British state consolidated its power following the last of the significant internal uprisings in 1745, and attempted to create a British nation with internal unity. Such a unity entailed a renegotiation of older national identities as subjects attempted to partake of multiple identities simultaneously. In Wales, the manifestation of multiple identities was especially clear, as the language of the state did not accord with the mother tongue of the majority of Welshmen. Though Welsh literati had written in English since before the Act of Union (1536), choosing to write in English becomes more interesting for the critic during such a time of change. Previously, these works have been treated as aberrations, or literary curiosities less worthy of note than the Welsh-language productions of the same authors. This thesis argues that, instead, they should be analysed as offering an insight into these authors’ conception of Britain, and their place within the state and the new nation, both in the choice of language and the topics considered. As a theoretical basis for these analyses, I consider the concept of Prydeindod from the work of philosopher J.R. Jones, as distinct from the idea of Britishness, and as a way of complicating Anglocentric or binary discussions of Britishness. This in turn informs readings of the English-language productions of Welsh writers in the eighteenth century, and shows that their negotiations of new identities are not as forthright as has previously been assumed.

'The Fabric of Life: Linen and Life Cycle in England, 1678-1810' is structured around the human life cycle to draw out the social and cultural importance of linen for all ranks of society. Human and object life cycles are juxtaposed in the thesis to analyse co-dependent activities and processes rather than focusing on one facet of daily life. For thousands of years flax was a staple fibre, used for textile production in many parts of the globe. Cotton only overtook linen as the most popular textile in England at home and on the body during the nineteenth century. This thesis examines the preceding century to reveal why linen remained a daily necessity in England between 1678 and 1810, a period which encompassed a series of significant changes in the production, trade and use of linen. Linen was ubiquitous as underwear, sheets, table linens and for logistical purposes therefore it provides a unique insight into the early-modern world; a means of understanding the multifaceted experiences of daily life, of integrating understandings of the body, domestic, social, cultural and commercial activities. This thesis is social history through the lens of linen, reading a society through its interactions with a textile.

Au XVIIIe siècle, les Bohémiens sont déjà présents dans le royaume de France et ses différentes provinces depuis plus de trois cents ans. Dans les deux derniers siècles de l’Ancien Régime, leur mode de vie est progressivement criminalisé, ce qui aboutit à leur rejet dans les franges marginales des vagabonds, voleurs, etc. Par conséquent, dans l’historiographie de ces groupes en Europe occidentale à l’époque moderne, la législation pénale et les archives judiciaires occupent une place prépondérante. Toutefois, il convient de dépasser une lecture univoque de ces documents. L’étude de la réglementation visant les Bohémiens en Lorraine et les considérations de la doctrine fournissent un large cadre d’analyse, mais les nombreuses pièces des procès permettent d’accéder à une réalité anthropologique plus subtile dans la mesure où les magistrats doivent prouver la qualité de Bohémien, et, à cette fin, cherchent à caractériser les accusés. C’est au moyen de techniques d’enquêtes, d’interrogatoires, et d’informations judiciaires qu’ils s’efforcent de mener à bien cette entreprise. La collecte archivistique a principalement mobilisé les fonds de bailliages et de maréchaussées, et s’est notamment fondée sur le corpus largement inédit du bailliage d’Allemagne. La masse conséquente des archives judiciaires criminelles relative au vagabondage a nécessité un véritable travail d’enquête visant tout d’abord à repérer les Bohémiens. Les pièces de procédure se révèlent donc une source d’informations importante, et, au travers des interrogatoires individuels, une identité collective se dessine. Le « métier de Bohémien » apparaît comme notion centrale dans la caractérisation de ces groupes. Le caractère transnational de la circulation des Bohémiens lorrains, dont on trouve des traces sur tout le territoire du royaume de France, en Belgique, au Luxembourg, dans les provinces allemandes, en Suisse et en Italie, laisse néanmoins transparaître un enracinement dans la région du Palatinat et de la Lorraine allemande. Pour autant, les juges se cantonnent à l’attribution d’une identité virtuelle, qui oblitère une identité réelle marquée par l’insertion des Bohémiens dans le tissu social. La doctrine juridique et les sciences humaines en devenir, s’emparant de la question à la fin du XVIIIe siècle, jouent un rôle important dans ce processus. / In the eighteenth century, the "Bohémiens" are already in the kingdom of France and its provinces since over three hundred years. In the last two centuries of the Ancien Regime, their lifestyle is progressively criminalized, resulting in their rejection in marginal fringes of vagabonds, thieves, etc. Therefore, in the historiography of these groups in Western Europe in the modern era, criminal law and judicial archives dominate. However, it must be moved beyond an unambiguous reading of these documents. The study of the regulation of the "Bohémiens" in Lorraine (in fact Gypsies belonging to the Manouche or Sinti group) and considerations of doctrine provide a broad framework, but the many parts of the trial provide access to a more subtle anthropological reality as judges must prove the gypsy quality, and to this end, seek to characterize the accused. It is through investigative techniques, interrogations, and legal information they seek to carry out this business. The archival collection consisted primarily of garnering data from bailiwicks and maréchaussées, and is particularly based on the largely unpublished body of the bailiwick of Germany ("bailliage d’Allemagne"). The consequent mass of criminal court records relating to vagrancy required a real investigative work, first of all to identify the Gypsies. The pleadings therefore reveal an important source of information, and, through individual interviews, collective identity is emerging. The art of Gypsy ("métier de Bohémien") appears as a central concept in the characterization of these groups. Transnational nature of the movement of Lorraine’s "Bohémiens", whose traces are found throughout the territory of the kingdom of France, Belgium, Luxembourg, in the German provinces, Switzerland and Italy, lets nonetheless see strong roots in the Palatinate region and the German Lorraine. Still, judges are confined to the allocation of a virtual identity, which obliterates a real identity marked by the integration of Gypsies into the social fabric. The legal doctrine and human sciences in the making, seizing the question at the end of the eighteenth century, play an important role in this process.

No description available.

Ce mémoire propose d’analyser la portée des dynamiques de pouvoir intersectionnelles – inter et intra sexe, ethnie et catégorie sociale, comprises comme étant des catégories identitaires articulés – au sein de l’appareil judiciaire montréalais du XVIIIe siècle. Pour ce faire, les archives de procès pour meurtre servent de matériau de base, le crime constituant de façon inhérente la prise ultime de pouvoir d’un individu sur un autre, soit celle de lui enlever la vie. L’analyse se concentre d’une part sur les dynamiques de pouvoir entre les individus, en accordant une importance particulière à l’agentivité des principaux acteurs concernés, et d’autre part, sur les dynamiques de pouvoir entre les individus et l’État, soit entre les sujets et leur roi, dispensateur de toute justice. Le meurtre est ici compris comme un acte de pouvoir violent, mais aussi comme une perturbation de l’ordre social que doit rétablir la justice en punissant le coupable. Se posent alors plusieurs questions : est-ce que l’entrecroisement des catégories identitaires du genre, de la race et de la catégorie sociale influence le cours de la justice? Si oui, comment? À l’inverse, la justice est-elle appliquée différemment selon l’intersectionnalité du sexe, de l’ethnie et de la catégorie sociale des prévenus et victimes? C’est ce que nous déterminons en analysant les dynamiques de pouvoir dans les procès judiciaires pour meurtre de la juridiction de Montréal au XVIIIe siècle, d’abord, sous l’angle du genre dans le premier chapitre, puis sous celui des ethnies dans le second chapitre et enfin, sous celui des catégories sociales dans le troisième chapitre. / This thesis analyses the influence of intersectional power dynamics – inter and intra sex, ethnicity and social category, seen as articulated identity categories – within the eighteenth-century Montreal judiciary system. Murder trial archives serve as the basis for this analysis, the crime of murder in and of itself implying the exercise of total power by one person over another, by taking away his or her life. On one hand, the proposed analysis will focus on power dynamics between individuals, according a special attention to the agency of the principal actors. On the other hand, it will focus on power dynamics between the individuals and the State, in other words between subjects and their king, dispenser of justice. The crime of murder of course suggests an act of power, but also implies a disruption of social order, which justice must restore by punishing the guilty party. We then ask: do the identity categories of gender, race and social category influence the course of justice, and if so, how? Inversely, is justice applied differently according to the intersectionality of the suspect or the victim’s sex, ethnicity and social category? We will answer those questions by analyzing power dynamics in the murder trials of the jurisdiction of Montreal in the eighteenth century; first, from the angle of gender in chapter 1, from that of ethnic groups in the second chapter and finally, from that of social categories in the third chapter.

This study takes a structuralist approach to the development of the novel, arguing that eighteenth-century writers build progressive narrative by rendering abstract, then conflating, literary theories of gendered time that originate in the Renaissance with seventeenth-century scientific theories of motion. I argue that writers from the Renaissance through the eighteenth century generate and regulate progress-as-product in their narratives through gendered constructions of time that corresponded to the generation and regulation of economic, political, and social progress brought about by developing capitalism.

This study treats the topic of smallpox prevention in Sweden during the nascent phase of vaccination between 1798–1805. The aim is to examine how Swedish physicians sought to establish trustworthiness for a new medical treatment as well as to analyse the relation between professional physicians and the unlicensed actors involved in the practice, i.e. the clergy and their assistants. The source material consists of pamphlets, articles in daily papers and annual reports written by Swedish physicians. By drawing upon theories on boundary-work and epistemic authority, this study has found that several boundaries were drawn within the medical space by the physicians who strived to retain the elements of the practice that were considered the most crucial, while delegating others. More importantly, the study has found that the physicians attempted to engage the clergy in the dissemination of knowledge due to their influence over the public. According to the physicians, the clergy were able to establish a credibility for the vaccine which could induce the population to undergo the treatment without coercion or laws made by the government.

No description available.

No description available.

Several theorists, including the Marxist theorists Trevor Ross, Walter Benjamin, and M.H. Abrams, have proposed theories to explain the eighteenth-century shift from functional to aesthetic conceptions of literature. Their explanations attribute the change to an increasingly consumer-based society (and the resulting commoditization of books), the development of the press, the rise of the middle class, and increased access to books. When we apply the cause-effect relationships which these theorists propose to the contexts of nineteenth-century America, Communist East Germany, WWII America, and 9/11 America, however, the causes don't correlate with the effects they theoretically predict. This disjunction suggests a re-examination of these three theories and possibly the Marxist basis which they share. I suggest that by triangulating rhetorical theory with Marxist theory we will gain a more comprehensive understanding of society's valuation of literature.