SCHOOL OF DIVINITY, HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY ACADEMIC SESSION HI4015 Special Subject The French Revolution. 30 credits, 12 weeks

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1 SCHOOL OF DIVINITY, HISTORY PHILOSOPHY ACADEMIC SESSION HI4015 Special Subject The French Revolution 30 credits, 12 weeks PLEASE NOTE CAREFULLY: The full set of school regulations and procedures is contained in the Undergraduate Student Handbook which is available online at your MyAberdeen page. Students are expected to familiarise themselves not only with the contents of this leaflet but also with the contents of the Handbook. Therefore, ignorance of the contents of the Handbook will not excuse the breach of any school regulation or procedure. You must familiarise yourself with this important information at the earliest opportunity. COURSE CO-ORDINATOR/COURSE TEAM Dr Elizabeth C. Macknight Discipline Administration: Mrs Barbara McGillivray/Mrs Gillian Brown College Bounds Room CBLG /

2 TIMETABLE Seminars are held twice a week, specific details are on the Timetable. Attendance is mandatory (and will be monitored see the School s handbook on Class Certificates). Students can view the University Calendar at COURSE DESCRIPTION The French Revolution is among the most widely written about events in history. It has long provoked passionate responses, not only in France but also in many other parts of the world where people have lived through massive political and social upheaval. For anyone who has ever thought about what it means to transform society, the French Revolution stands out as a compelling example of how such a transformation may unfold in all its breathtaking complexity. This course follows a chronological route through the various stages of the French Revolution. In doing so, it explores central issues of contention in the France of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. It introduces students to key lines of debate and to the historical origins of particular ideologies. INTENDED AIMS LEARNING OUTCOMES The course aims to provide a thorough grounding in the study of the French Revolution and to promote independent research on this subject as well as collaborative academic work with peers. By the end of this course you will be able to: show familiarity with political, social, and cultural developments in the history of revolutionary France; appreciate different historiographical approaches; evaluate the strength of an argument; identify and analyse a range of and sources; articulate a convincing argument based on use of evidence. LECTURE/SEMINAR PROGRAMME Week 1 S1: The ancien régime: at court and in the countryside S2: Challenges to the ancien régime Week 2 S3: From Estates General to National Assembly S4: Religion and reform

3 Week 3: Election of class representatives S5: An end to monarchy S6: War and emigration Week 4 S7 Counter-revolution: the Vendée uprising S8 Producing Terror Week 5 S9: Maximilien Robespierre S10: Thermidorian Reaction Week 6: Class meeting S11: Civic culture S12: Rural life: change and continuities Week 7 S13: France s archives and the French Revolution S14: Practice exam Week 8 S15: The Directory and the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte S16: Fighting for freedom in the colonies Week 9: S17: Family strategies and the law S18: Memories and commemoration Week 10: Course evaluation form exercise S19: Historical debates focus on class S20: Historical debates focus on gender Week 11: S21: Revision and feedback on practice exam S22: Class debate Week 12: No classes SEMINAR READINGS Selected readings are available for download or web access on MyAberdeen For each seminar you will be expected to read the and core sources. The readings will be divided up prior to the seminar, and you will have responsibility for particular texts, but you certainly should not limit yourself to those. An extensive knowledge of

4 and sources is indispensable. Each topic will be introduced by two members of the class making a presentation as a team. The remainder of the session will comprise discussions arising from the presentation. Week 1 S1: The ancien régime: at court and in the countryside No readings set Week 1 S2: Challenges to the ancien regime Extract from A Treatise on Orders The Parlement of Paris Preface to the King s Accounts Extract from The Spirit of Laws Extract from The Nobleman Extract from The Social Contract The Noailles Affair Extract from Paris Scenes Collection (Boston, 1999), pp Baker, Keith M., Inventing the French Revolution (Cambridge, 1990) Bossenga, Gail, The Politics of Privilege: Old Regime and Revolution in Lille (Cambridge, 1991) Doyle, William, Old Regime France (Oxford, 2000) Hardman, John, Overture to Revolution: The 1787 Assembly of Notables and the Crisis of France s Old Regime (Oxford, 2010) Lefebvre, Georges, The Coming of the French Revolution trans. R. R. Palmer (Princeton, 1947) Van Kley, Dale, ed. The French Idea of Freedom: The Old Regime and the Declaration of Rights of 1789 (Stanford, 1994) Week 2 S3: From Estates General to National Assembly Letter from the King for the Convocation of the Estates General at Versailles Extract from What is the Third Estate? Cahiers de Doléances The Declaration of the National Assembly The Tennis Court Oath Louis XVI at the Royal Session Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen

5 The National Assembly Decrees the Enfranchisement of Free Men of Colour Olympe de Gouges Declaration of the Rights of Woman Collection (Boston, 1999), pp Crook, Malcolm, Elections in the French Revolution: An Apprenticeship in Democracy, (Cambridge, 1996) Hampson, Norman, Danton (New York, 1978) Jones, Peter, Reform and Revolution in France: The Politics of Transition, (Cambridge, 1994) Tackett, Becoming a Revolutionary: The Deputies of the French National Assembly and the Emergence of a Revolutionary Culture (Princeton, 1996) Week 2 S4: Religion and reform Debate on Religious Freedom Petition by the Jews The Debate over the Civil Constitution of the Clergy Collection (Boston, 1999), pp , 105 8, The debate on Church reform, May 1790 Decree on the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, 12 July 1790 The clerical oath Papal bull Charitas, 13 April 1791 Napoleon: A Sourcebook (London, 2002), pp Desan, Suzanne, Reclaiming the Sacred: Lay Religion and Popular Politics in Revolutionary France (Ithaca, 1990) Gibson, Ralph, A Social History of French Catholicism, (London, 1989) Jaher, Frederic Cople, The Jews and the Nation: Revolution, Emancipation, State Formation, and the Liberal Paradigm in America and France (Princeton, 2002) McManners, John, The French Revolution and the Church (New York, 1970) McManners, John, French Ecclesiastical Society under the Ancien Régime (Manchester, 1960) Tackett, Timothy, Religion, Revolution, and Regional Culture in Eighteenth-Century France: The Ecclesiastical Oath of 1791 (Princeton, 1986)

6 Van Kley, Dale, The Religious Origins of the French Revolution: From Calvin to the Civil Constitution, (New Haven, 1996) Week 3 S5: An end to monarchy Declaration of the King Addressed to All the French About His Flight from Paris The Queen s Farewells to Her Darlings of Both Sexes The Brunswick Manifesto, 25 July 1792 Petition from the Paris Sections Decree of the National Assembly for Suspending the King, 10 August 1792 Morrison s Speech on the Trial of the King, 13 November 1792 Condorcet s Speech on the Trial of the King, 3 December 1792 Collection (Boston, 1999), pp , , Indictment of Louis XVI, 11 December 1792 Louis XVI s execution, 21 January 1793 A provincial response Napoleon: A Sourcebook (London, 2002), pp. 68 9, de Baecque, Antoine, The Body Politic: Corporeal Metaphor in Revolutionary France, , trans. Charlotte Mandell (Stanford, 1993) Hardman, John, Louis XVI: The Silent King (London, 2000) Hunt, Lynn, The Family Romance of the French Revolution (Berkeley, 1992) Hunt, Lynn, ed. Eroticism and the Body Politic (Baltimore, 1991) Jordan, David P., The King s Trial: The French Revolution vs. Louis XVI (Berkeley, 1979) Patrick, Alison, The Men of the First French Republic: Political Alignments in the National Convention of 1792 (Baltimore, 1972) Ragan, Bryant T., Jr., and Elizabeth A. Williams, ed., Recreating Authority in Revolutionary France (New Brunswick, 1992) Vovelle, Michel, The Fall of the French Monarchy, (Cambridge, 1984) Walzer, Michael, ed., Regicide and Revolution: Speeches at the Trial of Louis XVI (Cambridge, 1974) Week 3 S6 War and emigration Robespierre s Discourse on War delivered to the Jacobin Club

7 Brissot s Third Discourse on the Necessity of War delivered to the Jacobin Club The Marseillaise The September Massacres Collection (Boston, 1999), pp , 1. The renunciation of foreign conquests, 22 May 1790 The decree against émigrés, 9 November 1791 The declaration of war, 20 April 1792 Decree of La Patrie en danger, 11 July 1792 Decree conscripting 300,000 men Napoleon: A Sourcebook (London, 2002), pp. 60 3, Bertaud, Jean-Paul, The Army of the French Revolution: From Citizen- Soldiers to Instrument of Power, trans. R.R. Palmer (Princeton, 1988) Blanning, T.C.W., The Origins of the French Revolutionary Wars (London 1986) Blaufarb, Rafe, The French Army, : Careers, Talent, Merit (Manchester, 2002) Forrest, Alan, Conscripts and Deserters: The Army and French Society during the Revolution and Empire (Oxford, 1989) Forrest, Alan, The Soldiers of the French Revolution (Durham, 1990) Greer, Donald, M. The Incidence of Emigration during the French Revolution (Cambridge, 1951) Lynn, John, The Bayonets of the Republic: Motivation and Tactics in the Army of Revolutionary France, (Urbana, 1984) Week 4 S7 Counter-revolution Petition from the Residents of Roscoff (Finistère) Memoir of Madame de Sapinaud Memoir of General Turreau Collection (Boston, 1999), pp , The revolt breaks out, 5 March 1793 Guerilla tactics The Massacre of prisoners Turreau to the Minister of War, 19 January 1794 Napoleon: A Sourcebook (London, 2002), pp

8 Godechot, Jacques, The Counter-Revolution: Doctrine and Action, , trans. Salvator Attanasio (Princeton, 1971) Lewis, Gwynne, The Second Vendée: The Continuity of Counter- Revolution in the Department of the Gard, (Oxford, 1978) Popkin, Jeremy D., The Right-Wing Press in France, (Chapel Hill, 1980) Sutherland, Donald, The Chouans: The Social Origins of Popular Counter-Revolution in Upper Brittany, (Oxford, 1982) Sutherland, Donald, France : Revolution and Counter- Revolution (London, 1985) Tilly, Charles, The Vendée (Cambridge, 1964) Wylie, Lawrence, Chanzeaux: A Village in Anjou (Cambridge, 1966) Week 4 S8: Producing Terror Definitions of the Sans-Culotte, the Moderate, and the Aristocrat Petition from the Revolutionary Republican Women to the National Convention Constitution of Year I Instituting the Terror The Law on Suspects Concerning Arbitrary Measures and Arrests Barère s Report on the Maximum Law of 22 Prairial Year II Collection (Boston, 1999), pp , , Baczo, Bronislaw, Ending the Terror: The French Revolution After Robespierre (Cambridge, 1994) Scott, William, Terror and Repression in Revolutionary Marseille (London, 1973) Week 5 S9: Maximilien Robespierre On the Right to Vote On Capital Punishment On War and Peace On the Control of Food Supplies On Property On Revolutionary Government On the Cult of the Supreme Being Last Speech to the Convention

9 in Rudé, George, Robespierre (Englewood Cliffs, 1967), pp [See MyAberdeen] Hampson, Norman, The Life and Opinions of Maximilien Robespierre (London, 1944) Jordan, David P., The Revolutionary Career of Maximilien Robespierre (Chicago, 1989) Palmer, R. R., Twelve who Ruled: The Year of the Terror in the French Revolution (Princeton, 1989) Rudé, George, ed., Robespierre (Englewood Cliffs, 1967) Thompson, J.M., Robespierre (Oxford, 1935) Thompson, J.M., Leaders of the French Revolution (Oxford, 1948) Week 5 S10: Thermidorian Reaction Tallien on the Terror, 28 August 1794 The Alarm of the People The Prairial Uprising, May 1795 Collection (Boston, 1999), pp The Gilded Youth Attack the Jacobin Club, November 1794 The de-martyrisation of Marat, February 1795 The White Terror in the Provinces, 1795 Napoleon: A Sourcebook (London, 2002), pp Gendron, François, The Gilded Youth of Thermidor, trans. James Cookson (Montreal, 1993) Lefebvre, Georges, The Thermidorians and the Directory: Two Phases of the French Revolution (New York, 1964) Lucas, Colin and Gwynne Lewis, ed., Beyond the Terror: Essays in French Regional and Social History, (Cambridge, 1983) Woronoff, The Thermidorian Regime and the Directory (Cambridge, 1984) Week 6 S11: Civic culture Discussion of the Le Chapelier Law Collection (Boston, 1999), pp

10 Le Chapelier Law, 14 June 1791 The celebration of revolutionary heroes Uniform weights and measures Dechristianisation in the provinces Bouquier law on education, 19 December 1793 Napoleon: A Sourcebook (London, 2002), pp. 32, Darnton, Robert and Daniel Roche, ed., Revolution in Print: The Press in France (Berkeley, 1989) Hunt, Lynn, Politics, Culture, and Class in the French Revolution (Berkeley, 1984) Margadant, Ted. Urban Rivalries in the French Revolution (Princeton, 1992) Mason, Laura, Singing the French Revolution: Popular Songs and Revolutionary Politics in Paris (Ithaca, 1996) Ozouf, Mona, Festivals and the French Revolution, trans. Alan Sheridan (Cambridge, 1988) Woloch, Isser, The New Regime: Transformations of the French Civic Order, s (New York, 1994) Week 6 S12: Rural life: change and continuities Petition from the Inhabitants of the Somme to the National Assembly Letter from the Community of Marnay to the National Assembly Remarks on the Dialect and Mores of the People of the Countryside in the department of Lot-et-Garonne Collection (Boston, 1999), pp , The August 1789 Decrees on Feudalism The Rural Code, September 1791 The abolition of feudalism, 25 August 1792 Land clearances in southern France, 1793 Napoleon: A Sourcebook (London, 2002), pp. 24 5, Jones, Peter, The Peasantry in the French Revolution (Cambridge, 1988) Lefebvre, Georges, The Great Fear of 1789: Rural Panic in Revolutionary France, trans. Joan White (Princeton, 1973) Lefebvre, Georges, The Place of the Revolution in the Agrarian History of France in Robert Forster and Orest Ranum, ed., Rural Society

11 in France: Selections from the Annales (Baltimore, 1977), pp Markoff, John, The Abolition of Feudalism: Peasants, Lords, and Legislators in the French Revolution (University Park, 1996) Plack, Noelle, Common Land, Wine and the French Revolution: Rural Society and Economy in Southern France, c (Burlington, 2009) Ramsay, Clay, The Ideology of the Great Fear: The Soissonnais in 1789 (Baltimore, 1992) Rosenthal, Jean-Laurent, The Fruits of Revolution: Property Rights, Litigation, and French Agriculture, (Cambridge, 1992) Week 7 S13: France s archives and the French Revolution Readings to be advised and made available in class Week 7 S14: Practice exam Week 8 S15: The Directory and the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte, The Italian letters addressed to Josephine, Citizeness Beauharnais (1796) in Frances Mossiker, Napoleon and Josephine: The Biography of a Marriage (London, 1965), pp [See MyAberdeen] Bonaparte s Proclamation to the French Nation, 10 November 1799 Collection (Boston, 1999), pp The Concordat, 10 September 1801 The Consulate for Life, 1802 Founding the Empire, 1804 Imposing the Code Napoléon on the Empire Napoleon: A Sourcebook (London, 2002), pp , H-France Napoleon Forum: Click on the links to read essays by Malcolm Crook, Isser Woloch, and Howard G. Brown (those with some knowledge of French are encouraged to read the essay by Annie Jourdan as well). Crook, Malcolm, Napoleon Comes to Power: Democracy and Dictatorship in Revolutionary France, (Cardiff, 1998) Lyons, Martyn, France under the Directory (Cambridge, 1975)

12 Woloch, Isser, Jacobin Legacy: The Democratic Movement under the Directory (Princeton, 1970) Week 8 S16: Fighting for freedom in the colonies Proclamation to the Slaves of Saint Domingue Proclamation of 29 August 1793 Letter to General Laveaux Freedom of the Negroes Creole of Saint Domingue, My Odyssey Proclamation to the Citizens of Saint Domingue To Citizen Talleyrand, Minister of Foreign Affairs To Consul Cambacérès Collection (Boston, 1999), pp , Civil rights for free Blacks An attack on the slave trade Napoleon: A Sourcebook (London, 2002), pp Fick, Carolyn, The Making of Haiti: The Saint-Domingue Revolution from Below (Knoxville, 1990) Gaspar, David, and David P. Geggus, ed., A Turbulent Time: The French Revolution and the Greater Caribbean (Bloomington, 1997) Geggus, David P., Slavery, War, and Revolution: The British Occupation of Saint-Domingue, (Oxford, 1982) James, C.L.R. The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution (London, 1980) Week 9 S17: Family strategies and the law Reflections of a Good Citizen in Favour of Divorce Decree Regulating Divorce The French Civil Code Collection (Boston, 1999), pp , Law on Inheritance, March 1790 Napoleon: A Sourcebook (London, 2002), pp

13 Darrow, Margaret, Revolution in the House: Family, Class and Inheritance in Southern France, (Princton, 1989) Desan, Suzanne, The Family on Trial in Revolutionary France (Los Angeles, 2004) Heuer, Jennifer, The Family and the Nation: Gender and Citizenship in Revolutionary France (Ithaca, 2005) Phillips, Roderick, Family Breakdown in Late Eighteenth-Century France: Divorces in Rouen (Oxford, 1980) Week 9 S18: Memories and commemoration A Chouan in Caen, 4 September 1797 A Jacobin in Lyon On the True Cause of the Revolution, 1797 Collection (Boston, 1999), pp Baron Trouvé on southern peasants The Marquise de La Tour du Pin on her family Marie-Victoire Monnard on making ends meet Napoleon: A Sourcebook (London, 2002), pp Cobb, Richard, Reactions to the French Revolution (London, 1972) Hobsbawm, Eric. Echoes of the Marseillaise: Two Centuries Look Back on the French Revolution (New Brunswick, 1990) Kaplan, Steven L., Farewell Revolution: Disputed Legacies, France 1789/1989 (Ithaca, 1995) Tocqueville, Alexis de. The Old Regime and the Revolution, trans. Alan S. Kahan (Chicago, 1998) Yalom, Marilyn, Blood Sisters: The French Revolution in Women s Memory (New York, 1995) Week 10 S19: Historical debates class Baker, Keith, M., On the Problem of the Ideological Origins of the French Revolution in D. La Capra and S.L. Kaplan, ed., Modern European Intellectual History: Reappraisals and New Perspectives (Ithaca, 1982) Blanning, T. C.W., The French Revolution: Aristocrats vs. Bourgeois? (Basingstoke, 1987) Cobban, Alfred. The Social Interpretation of the French Revolution 2 ed., with an introduction by Gwynne Lewis (Cambridge, 1999) Furet, François, Revolutionary France (Oxford, 1988)

14 Furet, François, Interpreting the French Revolution, trans. Elborg Forster (Cambridge, 1981) Maza, Sarah, The Myth of the French Bourgeoisie: An Essay on the Social Imaginary, (Cambridge, 2003) Soboul, Albert, The Parisian Sans-Culottes and the French Revolution, , trans. Gwynne Lewis (Oxford, 1964) Soboul, Albert, The French Revolution, : From the Storming of the Bastille to Napoleon, trans. Alan Forrest and Colin Jones (London, 1989) Week 10 S20: Historical debates gender Desan, Suzanne, The Family on Trial in Revolutionary France (Los Angeles, 2004) Fauré, Christine, Democracy without Women: Feminism and the Rise of Liberal Individualism in France, trans. Claudia Gorbman and John Berks (Bloomington, 1991) Fraisse, Geneviève, Reason s Muse: Sexual Difference and the Birth of Democracy, trans. Jane Marie Todd (Chicago, 1994) Godineau, Dominique, The Women of Paris and Their French Revolution, trans. Katherine Streip (Berkeley, 1998) Gutwirth, Madeleyn, The Twilight of the Godesses: Women and Representation in the French Revolutionary Era (New Brunswick, 1992) Hesse, Carla, The Other Enlightenment: How French Women Became Modern (Princeton, 2001) Hufton, Olwyn. Women and the Limits of Citizenship in the French Revolution (Toronto, 1992) Scott, Joan Wallach, Only Paradoxes to Offer: French Feminists and the Rights of Man (Cambridge, 1996) Week 11 Revision session GUIDE TO FURTHER READING The selected works listed in this course guide provide a foundation from which to explore the vast historical literature on the French Revolution. In compiling this guide, the aim has been to provide some direction and stimulus; however, the greatest rewards in study often come from discoveries that you make yourself. There are no shortcuts to rigorous research: motivation, discipline, and a regular investment of your time are essential. Primary and sources (in French and in English) may be accessed in MyAberdeen, the University Library, the National Library of Scotland, and via online databases. There are classic interpretations of the French Revolution which you will need to read carefully and reflect upon at length. You should take every opportunity to browse in leading international journals where cutting-edge research is published.

15 Recommended for purchase The following two books contain sources in English translation and we will be using them regularly in seminars: Philip G. Dwyer and Peter McPhee, ed. The French Revolution and Napoleon: A Sourcebook (London, 2002) [Available from Blackwells] Laura Mason and Tracey Rizzo, The French Revolution: A Document Collection (Boston, 1999) [Available from Blackwells] Some general works and compilations not listed below in the seminar readings Daileader, Philip and Philip Whalen, French Historians : New Historical Writing in Twentieth-Century France (Chichester, 2010) [Biographical essays, some of which are about specialists of the French Revolution] Doyle, William, The Oxford History of the French Revolution (Oxford, 1989) Kates, Gary, ed., The French Revolution: Recent Debates and New Controversies (London, 1998) McPhee, Peter, The French Revolution (Oxford, 2002) Vovelle, Michel, La Révolution française: images et récits (Paris, 1986) [A marvellous resource if you are looking for pictorial evidence] Some key journals American Historical Review Economic History Review Eighteenth-century Studies English Historical Review French History French Historical Studies French Politics, Culture and Society Historical Reflections/Réflexions Historiques The Historical Journal Journal of Social History Past & Present On-line databases Modern History Sourcebook QML History E-Journals Meta-Lib E-Resources J-Stor Some useful websites: H-France contains links to the H-France archive of book reviews and forum discussions

16 Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection Test your geographical knowledge of France! Liberty, Equality Fraternity: Exploring the French Revolution Electronic Enlightenment The Marandet Plays The Encyclopedia of Diderot and d Alembert Collaborative Translation Project Révolution Française ASSESSMENT Assessment is based on: one written examination at 100% of the final assessment. Click to view the discipline specific Common Assessment Scale (CAS) descriptors. ESSAY Your 3,000-word essay is due Monday Week 8 not later than 12 noon. You must write on a topic agreed in advance with the course coordinator. It is expected that the essay will be submitted in wordprocessed format and must be accompanied by a bibliography and footor endnotes conforming to established academic conventions (see below). Essays will be returned with a mark taken from the Common Assessment Scale with written comments. All essays will be returned individually, providing you with the opportunity to discuss your essay, techniques of essay writing, and other aspects of the course with your tutor. It is assumed that you will use the select bibliography in this guide to assist in constructing your own reading list. CLASS PRESENTATION In most seminars, students working in pairs will introduce the topic through a brief presentation. Students are expected and encouraged to discuss their presentation, in advance, with the course co-ordinator. Everyone will read the assigned material for the presentation. Students may make use of PowerPoint in their presentations, which should provide the following: An overview of the topic under discussion Discussion of the main historiographical arguments concerning that topic Consideration of the topic in the context of the course as a whole You ought not only to summarize but also to present an argument within your presentation. Presentations should last no more than 20 minutes

17 (which approximately equates to 2,000 words typed). Presentations, along with essays, are essential preparation for the exam. ASSESSMENT DEADLINE Your 3,000-word essay is due Monday Week 8 not later than 12 noon. Please find the discipline specific Common Assessment Scale (CAS) descriptors in MyAberdeen. SUBMISSION ARRANGEMENTS The Department requires ONE hard and ONE electronic copy of all assignments, as follows: COPY 1: COPY 2: One hard copy together with an Assessment cover sheet, typed and double spaced this copy should only have your ID number CLEARLY written on the cover sheet, with NO name and NO signature and should be delivered to the History Department [Drop-off boxes located in CB008, College Bounds]. One copy submitted through Turnitin via MyAberdeen. EXAMINATION The duration of the exam is three hours. Past exam papers can be viewed at