Pub Date : 2023-01-01DOI: 10.31857/s013038640020221-1
M. Filimonova
. In 1779, Thomas Jefferson drafted “A Bill for Proportioning Crimes and Punishments in Cases Heretofore Capital” (also known as “Bill № 64”). This was part of a large-scale reform of the Virginia legislation, which also included the spread of education, the abolition of the entail, and the separation of church and state. But if Jefferson's mentioned initiatives were covered in detail by his biographies, then the reform of criminal law did not attract much attention from researchers. This article is intended to partially fill the gap in the American studies in Russia. The source base of the research includes the papers of Jefferson himself, both the text of the bill under study and the correspondence accompanying it, rough sketches, a summary in “Notes on the State of Virginia”. The works of contemporaries dealing with similar problems are also used. The main objectives of the article are: to analyze Jefferson's reform of Virginia law; to identify the sources of his penological theory; to compare the main provisions of his bill with the American and European legislation of Modern times. The author concludes that the sources of “Bill № 64” were primarily the works of Cesare Beccaria. Yet, Jeffersonian penological theories were no less influenced by the “Anglo–Saxon myth”, that is, the idealization of the Anglo-Saxon period of English history. Hence the extreme inconsistency of the reform under study. Along with humanistic provisions, such as reducing the use of the death penalty, it contained archaic elements (pillory and maiming, the talion principle). Nevertheless, Jefferson's bill had a certain impact on the humanization of criminal law both in Virginia and beyond.
{"title":"Thomas Jefferson and the Reform of the Virginia Criminal Law","authors":"M. Filimonova","doi":"10.31857/s013038640020221-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.31857/s013038640020221-1","url":null,"abstract":". In 1779, Thomas Jefferson drafted “A Bill for Proportioning Crimes and Punishments in Cases Heretofore Capital” (also known as “Bill № 64”). This was part of a large-scale reform of the Virginia legislation, which also included the spread of education, the abolition of the entail, and the separation of church and state. But if Jefferson's mentioned initiatives were covered in detail by his biographies, then the reform of criminal law did not attract much attention from researchers. This article is intended to partially fill the gap in the American studies in Russia. The source base of the research includes the papers of Jefferson himself, both the text of the bill under study and the correspondence accompanying it, rough sketches, a summary in “Notes on the State of Virginia”. The works of contemporaries dealing with similar problems are also used. The main objectives of the article are: to analyze Jefferson's reform of Virginia law; to identify the sources of his penological theory; to compare the main provisions of his bill with the American and European legislation of Modern times. The author concludes that the sources of “Bill № 64” were primarily the works of Cesare Beccaria. Yet, Jeffersonian penological theories were no less influenced by the “Anglo–Saxon myth”, that is, the idealization of the Anglo-Saxon period of English history. Hence the extreme inconsistency of the reform under study. Along with humanistic provisions, such as reducing the use of the death penalty, it contained archaic elements (pillory and maiming, the talion principle). Nevertheless, Jefferson's bill had a certain impact on the humanization of criminal law both in Virginia and beyond.","PeriodicalId":82203,"journal":{"name":"Novaia i noveishaia istoriia","volume":"16 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81414510","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-01DOI: 10.31857/s013038640023769-3
A. Lazareva
. In this article the author examines the development of the European diplomatic service during the Thirty Years' War, 1618–1648. There was no diplomatic post on the payroll of German princes in the seventeenth century, so it was left to court counsellors to represent the monarch on the foreign policy stage and gather relevant information from outside their dominions, which would influence the choice of international policies. A diplomatic career required a number of factors, among them ancestry, education, and breadth of vision. Practically all of the councillors who represented their patron on the international stage were noblemen, with a few exceptions where a burgher was entrusted with diplomatic functions. All of them were university educated, knew foreign languages and had spent several years abroad travelling. The core responsibilities of counsellors-diplomats included gathering information, which was constantly shifting during the war, and negotiating potential political alliances. Among the duties of diplomatic counsellors, foreign policy activities relating to dynastic marriages occupied a special place. One of the most important qualities of the councillors-diplomats, as repeatedly emphasised in their eulogies, was a pronounced patriotism. The councillors-diplomats themselves saw their diplomatic service as an integral part of their service to the Fatherland. Their patriotism played an important role in shaping German national ideas during the Thirty Years' War, and gradually became an integral part of service in the diplomatic corps.
{"title":"Diplomatic Activities of Councillors to the German Princes During the Thirty Years' War, 1618–1648","authors":"A. Lazareva","doi":"10.31857/s013038640023769-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.31857/s013038640023769-3","url":null,"abstract":". In this article the author examines the development of the European diplomatic service during the Thirty Years' War, 1618–1648. There was no diplomatic post on the payroll of German princes in the seventeenth century, so it was left to court counsellors to represent the monarch on the foreign policy stage and gather relevant information from outside their dominions, which would influence the choice of international policies. A diplomatic career required a number of factors, among them ancestry, education, and breadth of vision. Practically all of the councillors who represented their patron on the international stage were noblemen, with a few exceptions where a burgher was entrusted with diplomatic functions. All of them were university educated, knew foreign languages and had spent several years abroad travelling. The core responsibilities of counsellors-diplomats included gathering information, which was constantly shifting during the war, and negotiating potential political alliances. Among the duties of diplomatic counsellors, foreign policy activities relating to dynastic marriages occupied a special place. One of the most important qualities of the councillors-diplomats, as repeatedly emphasised in their eulogies, was a pronounced patriotism. The councillors-diplomats themselves saw their diplomatic service as an integral part of their service to the Fatherland. Their patriotism played an important role in shaping German national ideas during the Thirty Years' War, and gradually became an integral part of service in the diplomatic corps.","PeriodicalId":82203,"journal":{"name":"Novaia i noveishaia istoriia","volume":"15 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82377853","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-01DOI: 10.31857/s013038640024240-2
A. Shubin
The author examines the policies of the Comintern in the context of the Soviet foreign policy in 1921–1922. He demonstrates that the dynamics of the former was not directly tied to the course of the latter and the turn to the NEP in March 1921. The Comintern had its own internal logic of development. With its help the communist leadership could manoeuvre between a more radical probing of the readiness of the capitalist world for a new wave of revolutionary destabilisation or a moderate policy of prolonged “siege” of capitalism, which involved rapprochement with social democracy under the banner of a “united workers' front”. By early 1922, following sharp discussions on the eve and during the Third Congress of the Comintern, its policies were gradually synchronised with the foreign policy course of Soviet Russia, which allowed rapprochement with West European Social Democracy to be exploited in Soviet foreign interests. However, there was little diplomatic gain from this, and after the failure of the Genoa Conference the Comintern continued to pursue a “united front” policy, no longer directly linked to the objectives of the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs, but as the basis of the Communist strategy for the struggle to ascend to power in Western Europe. At the same time, both in negotiations with the Social Democrats and in planning at the Fourth Congress of the Comintern, the Communists prioritised their monopoly on power, regarding the policy of alliances and concessions as tactical and temporary, rejecting the “political NEP” and the pluralist model of multiparty democratic socialism.
{"title":"The Formation of the “United Front” Policy of the Comintern and Soviet Foreign Policy of 1921–1922","authors":"A. Shubin","doi":"10.31857/s013038640024240-2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.31857/s013038640024240-2","url":null,"abstract":"The author examines the policies of the Comintern in the context of the Soviet foreign policy in 1921–1922. He demonstrates that the dynamics of the former was not directly tied to the course of the latter and the turn to the NEP in March 1921. The Comintern had its own internal logic of development. With its help the communist leadership could manoeuvre between a more radical probing of the readiness of the capitalist world for a new wave of revolutionary destabilisation or a moderate policy of prolonged “siege” of capitalism, which involved rapprochement with social democracy under the banner of a “united workers' front”. By early 1922, following sharp discussions on the eve and during the Third Congress of the Comintern, its policies were gradually synchronised with the foreign policy course of Soviet Russia, which allowed rapprochement with West European Social Democracy to be exploited in Soviet foreign interests. However, there was little diplomatic gain from this, and after the failure of the Genoa Conference the Comintern continued to pursue a “united front” policy, no longer directly linked to the objectives of the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs, but as the basis of the Communist strategy for the struggle to ascend to power in Western Europe. At the same time, both in negotiations with the Social Democrats and in planning at the Fourth Congress of the Comintern, the Communists prioritised their monopoly on power, regarding the policy of alliances and concessions as tactical and temporary, rejecting the “political NEP” and the pluralist model of multiparty democratic socialism.","PeriodicalId":82203,"journal":{"name":"Novaia i noveishaia istoriia","volume":"43 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90597982","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-01DOI: 10.31857/s013038640021372-7
E. Melkumyan
The article is devoted to the analysis of the development of civil society in Kuwait, one of the oil–producing monarchies of the Gulf region, which was distinguished by a high degree of civic activity. The purpose of the article is to trace the stages of the development of civil society in the context of domestic and international situation dynamics. The role of several key political events from the history of the country in the direction of civil activism of its inhabitants is shown The first stage refers to the period when the country gained political independence. At that time, the formation of civil society was influenced by the Kuwaiti crisis, when Iraq put forward claims to Kuwait as part of its state, which led to the growth of civil consciousness.The next stage was the period following the Iraqi aggression against the country in August 1990, creating another factor of civil society mobilization aimed at resisting the occupiers and protecting its national identity. Its further transformation takes place during the mass protests of 2011, to the present state. At that time, civil activity in Kuwait reached a peak level, especially among youth groups, but soon began to decline under the influence of turbulence that became reality of the region and related threats to society as a whole. Mass protests demonstrated that civil activity in Kuwait reached a peak level, especially among youth groups, but soon began to decline under the influence of turbulence that engulfed the region and related threats to society as a whole. The non-governmental organizations that emerged at that time were fragmentary. Most of them were created on the basis of the interests of small groups that solved tasks that had no significance for the broad strata of Kuwaiti society.
{"title":"Evolution of Civil Society in Kuwait (1961–2020)","authors":"E. Melkumyan","doi":"10.31857/s013038640021372-7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.31857/s013038640021372-7","url":null,"abstract":"The article is devoted to the analysis of the development of civil society in Kuwait, one of the oil–producing monarchies of the Gulf region, which was distinguished by a high degree of civic activity. The purpose of the article is to trace the stages of the development of civil society in the context of domestic and international situation dynamics. The role of several key political events from the history of the country in the direction of civil activism of its inhabitants is shown The first stage refers to the period when the country gained political independence. At that time, the formation of civil society was influenced by the Kuwaiti crisis, when Iraq put forward claims to Kuwait as part of its state, which led to the growth of civil consciousness.The next stage was the period following the Iraqi aggression against the country in August 1990, creating another factor of civil society mobilization aimed at resisting the occupiers and protecting its national identity. Its further transformation takes place during the mass protests of 2011, to the present state. At that time, civil activity in Kuwait reached a peak level, especially among youth groups, but soon began to decline under the influence of turbulence that became reality of the region and related threats to society as a whole. Mass protests demonstrated that civil activity in Kuwait reached a peak level, especially among youth groups, but soon began to decline under the influence of turbulence that engulfed the region and related threats to society as a whole. The non-governmental organizations that emerged at that time were fragmentary. Most of them were created on the basis of the interests of small groups that solved tasks that had no significance for the broad strata of Kuwaiti society.","PeriodicalId":82203,"journal":{"name":"Novaia i noveishaia istoriia","volume":"36 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85411979","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-01DOI: 10.31857/s013038640027510-9
Alexander Kalinin
{"title":"Political Leadership in the Age of Social Networks: A New Collective Monograph of Russian Scholars in International Relations","authors":"Alexander Kalinin","doi":"10.31857/s013038640027510-9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.31857/s013038640027510-9","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":82203,"journal":{"name":"Novaia i noveishaia istoriia","volume":"49 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75288858","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-01DOI: 10.31857/s013038640021537-8
Anastasia Vidnichuk
Historians argue that the Modern Era was a turning point for the female population of European countries. The Renaissance, the Reformation, the Scientific Revolution and other major events and processes changed gender roles and social customs. To trace the qualitative characteristics of these changes, scholars examine different areas and aspects of women's lives in the past: family, sexuality, work, religion, and crime. The history of female criminality in Europe is now a well-developed and highly relevant field of research. In this article the author analyses Western historiography on the subject, identifies peculiarities of the historical context, sources and methods of processing them, and outlines possible approaches to the study of female criminality in modern Russia. The study of female criminality in eighteenth-century Russia is not only possible but also very promising. Nevertheless, scholars need to take into account the difference between the Russian and European historical contexts, as well as the nature of the sources. If properly approached, the study of female criminal behaviour in Russia and its comparison with European experience offers the historian an opportunity to look at Russian society and government in the period in question through new perspectives.
{"title":"Female Criminality in Eighteenth-Century Russia: Formulating a Research Problem","authors":"Anastasia Vidnichuk","doi":"10.31857/s013038640021537-8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.31857/s013038640021537-8","url":null,"abstract":"Historians argue that the Modern Era was a turning point for the female population of European countries. The Renaissance, the Reformation, the Scientific Revolution and other major events and processes changed gender roles and social customs. To trace the qualitative characteristics of these changes, scholars examine different areas and aspects of women's lives in the past: family, sexuality, work, religion, and crime. The history of female criminality in Europe is now a well-developed and highly relevant field of research. In this article the author analyses Western historiography on the subject, identifies peculiarities of the historical context, sources and methods of processing them, and outlines possible approaches to the study of female criminality in modern Russia. The study of female criminality in eighteenth-century Russia is not only possible but also very promising. Nevertheless, scholars need to take into account the difference between the Russian and European historical contexts, as well as the nature of the sources. If properly approached, the study of female criminal behaviour in Russia and its comparison with European experience offers the historian an opportunity to look at Russian society and government in the period in question through new perspectives.","PeriodicalId":82203,"journal":{"name":"Novaia i noveishaia istoriia","volume":"73 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73328342","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-01DOI: 10.31857/s013038640018084-0
O. Chernov
Nikolay Charykov and Friedrich Martens played a significant role in shaping the international security system. However, their activities at the Second Hague Conference went beyond cooperation and solidarity. The purpose of the article is to identify the reasons for the disagreement between the two diplomats. The author believes that the reasons for the discord between Charykov and Martens went beyond the proceedings of the Second Hague Peace Conference.One should pay attention to the formation periods for the diplomats, the elements of their views and value systems. The author demonstrates that the life paths of both Charykov and Martens were in many ways similar, yet had significant differences as well. The author points out that there were no significant differences between Charykov and Martens on the fundamental issues of the formation of the international security system. Both believed that international relations should be shaped through the development of international security institutions and the creation of international law.The reasons for the enmity between the two diplomats were subjective. Martens disliked Charykov because, due to his background, the latter was higher in the hierarchy, which guaranteed him, according to tradition established in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the Russian Empire, an advantage in obtaining appointments.
{"title":"Nikolay Charykov and Friedrich Martens: The Careers of Two Diplomats","authors":"O. Chernov","doi":"10.31857/s013038640018084-0","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.31857/s013038640018084-0","url":null,"abstract":"Nikolay Charykov and Friedrich Martens played a significant role in shaping the international security system. However, their activities at the Second Hague Conference went beyond cooperation and solidarity. The purpose of the article is to identify the reasons for the disagreement between the two diplomats. The author believes that the reasons for the discord between Charykov and Martens went beyond the proceedings of the Second Hague Peace Conference.One should pay attention to the formation periods for the diplomats, the elements of their views and value systems. The author demonstrates that the life paths of both Charykov and Martens were in many ways similar, yet had significant differences as well. The author points out that there were no significant differences between Charykov and Martens on the fundamental issues of the formation of the international security system. Both believed that international relations should be shaped through the development of international security institutions and the creation of international law.The reasons for the enmity between the two diplomats were subjective. Martens disliked Charykov because, due to his background, the latter was higher in the hierarchy, which guaranteed him, according to tradition established in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the Russian Empire, an advantage in obtaining appointments.","PeriodicalId":82203,"journal":{"name":"Novaia i noveishaia istoriia","volume":"58 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81284565","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-01DOI: 10.31857/s013038640025417-6
Pavel Datsenko
{"title":"Was the German Confederation an Obstacle to National Unity? (M. Kreutzmann. Föderative Ordnung und nationale Integration im Deutschen Bund 1816–1848. Göttingen, 2022)","authors":"Pavel Datsenko","doi":"10.31857/s013038640025417-6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.31857/s013038640025417-6","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":82203,"journal":{"name":"Novaia i noveishaia istoriia","volume":"101 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135262996","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-01DOI: 10.31857/s013038640027033-4
Andrey Gladyshev
{"title":"The Luxury of Idleness and Everyday Work of Tutors (A.V. Chudinov. French Tutors in Russia. The History of a Family. Moscow, 2022)","authors":"Andrey Gladyshev","doi":"10.31857/s013038640027033-4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.31857/s013038640027033-4","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":82203,"journal":{"name":"Novaia i noveishaia istoriia","volume":"59 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75963241","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-01DOI: 10.31857/s013038640025169-3
Dmitrij Samotovinskij
The author examines the influence of the discovery of the New World on the historical consciousness of the French humanists of the sixteenth century. A study of the Latin treatises of Jean Fernel (1548), Jean Bodin (1566), the French works of Louis Le Roy (1567, 1575) and Michel de Montaigne (1580, 1588), allows one to challenge the idea established in historiography, according to which the discovery of the New World, the appreciation of new achievements, such as the compass, artillery, and printing, led humanists not only to recognise the superiority of their time over the antiquity, but also to the “idea of progress”. Indeed, French humanists, referring to modern geographical discoveries and unprecedented inventions, proclaimed the superiority of their era over antiquity in knowledge of the world, declared that their contemporaries had transcended antique experience, learned the whole of the globe and transformed the world into a single space of exchange and trade for the first time. Critical position of De Montaigne, who disputed the exhaustive nature of modern geographical discoveries and the innovative nature of a number of inventions, did not spread, because it did not meet the needs of humanists in high historical self-esteem. It was this need that often led intellectuals of the epoch to compare “our age” and antiquity and to be convinced of the superiority of modernity. However, the idea of the superiority of the modern era never developed into the “idea of progress” in the culture of French humanism. For humanists, this complex conception, according to which humanity moved successively towards a desirable image of the future, was both superfluous (in terms of satisfying the need for a high historical self-esteem) and inconsistent with their world view. The conditions for the birth of the idea of progress emerged only in the eighteenth century, within the culture of the Enlightenment. The humanists' understanding of history was based on the idea of cycles, the idea that human civilization, once established, would periodically reach its peak and then inevitably decline. This was borne out by all the historical experience available to humanists.
{"title":"“Our World Has Just Discovered Another Worldˮ: How the Discovery of the New World Influenced the Historical Consciousness of the Sixteenth-Century French Humanists","authors":"Dmitrij Samotovinskij","doi":"10.31857/s013038640025169-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.31857/s013038640025169-3","url":null,"abstract":"The author examines the influence of the discovery of the New World on the historical consciousness of the French humanists of the sixteenth century. A study of the Latin treatises of Jean Fernel (1548), Jean Bodin (1566), the French works of Louis Le Roy (1567, 1575) and Michel de Montaigne (1580, 1588), allows one to challenge the idea established in historiography, according to which the discovery of the New World, the appreciation of new achievements, such as the compass, artillery, and printing, led humanists not only to recognise the superiority of their time over the antiquity, but also to the “idea of progress”. Indeed, French humanists, referring to modern geographical discoveries and unprecedented inventions, proclaimed the superiority of their era over antiquity in knowledge of the world, declared that their contemporaries had transcended antique experience, learned the whole of the globe and transformed the world into a single space of exchange and trade for the first time. Critical position of De Montaigne, who disputed the exhaustive nature of modern geographical discoveries and the innovative nature of a number of inventions, did not spread, because it did not meet the needs of humanists in high historical self-esteem. It was this need that often led intellectuals of the epoch to compare “our age” and antiquity and to be convinced of the superiority of modernity. However, the idea of the superiority of the modern era never developed into the “idea of progress” in the culture of French humanism. For humanists, this complex conception, according to which humanity moved successively towards a desirable image of the future, was both superfluous (in terms of satisfying the need for a high historical self-esteem) and inconsistent with their world view. The conditions for the birth of the idea of progress emerged only in the eighteenth century, within the culture of the Enlightenment. The humanists' understanding of history was based on the idea of cycles, the idea that human civilization, once established, would periodically reach its peak and then inevitably decline. This was borne out by all the historical experience available to humanists.","PeriodicalId":82203,"journal":{"name":"Novaia i noveishaia istoriia","volume":"3 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"72691276","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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