Comprising five microhistories, this book proposes that the French Revolution’s religious politics in small towns weakened democratic society to such an extent that it precluded political democracy. It details two revolutionary dynamics that damaged the civic life of small towns: social polarisation and the loss of local institutions that had been a source of social capital as well as a common good. Detailed narratives about Pont-à-Mousson, Gournay-en-Bray, Vienne, Haguenau and Is-sur-Tille also reveal that contrary to the view upheld by many scholars, small-town religious politics extended far beyond the pivotal Ecclesiastical Oath of 1791. Other developments — the nationalisation of Church property, the dissolution of religious orders, and the elimination of bishoprics, chapters, parishes and collegial churches — also adversely affected the wellbeing of these small urban communities not only in the Revolution but also in the two centuries that followed.
Price: $120.00
Pages: 304
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Imprint: Manchester University Press
Series: Studies in Modern French and Francophone History
Publication Date:
02 August 2022
ISBN: 9781526159137
Format: Hardcover
BISACs:
HISTORY / Europe / France, Revolutions, uprisings, rebellions, HISTORY / Modern / 18th Century, HISTORY / Revolutionary, RELIGION / Religion, Politics & State, European history
'Two things stand out about this book and justify its inclusion in a series devoted to innovative monographs and edited collections on the history of France and its colonies. The author turns the spotlight on the supposedly ‘quiet year’ of the revolution, starting in November 1789, and takes as his angle of vision the collective life of small towns...The institutions underpinning small-town Catholic piety also captured and expressed a sense of local democracy. This “democratic ethos” would succumb irretrievably when legislators in the Constituent Assembly set about stripping away monasteries, bishoprics, chapters and, in some cases, even parishes (p. 13). It is in this sense that we should understand the book’s title. As Woell notes in an ominous conclusion, dismantling the common good has both a contemporary and a historical resonance.'
Peter M Jones, H-France Review
Edward J. Woell is Professor of History at Western Illinois University
Introduction
1 Hidden in plain sight
2 A new story
3 Two tribes
4 Out of many, one
5 Myth and realpolitik
6 A forgotten fight
Conclusion
Index
