Napoleonic Europe

Stella Ghervas, "The Vienna Peace Settlements: From a Balance of Power to a Balance of Negotiation".

What were the innovations of the Congress of Vienna? It has been traditional to affirm that the European peace and security system established in the course of the Congress of Vienna had been an achievement of the political model of the balance of power. Historical reality was however more complex than that. Despite conflicting agendas, the statesmen and diplomats who drafted the settlements of 1814-15 genuinely sought to establish a lasting peace, after the long and bloody wars against Napoleon. In doing so, they effectively banned war among themselves for nearly four decades, until the outbreak of the Crimean War (1853).

Heeringen, R.M. van/A. Vissinga, 2016: Archeologisch vooronderzoek in het oostelijk deel van het camp d’Utrecht, een Frans legerkamp uit de periode van het Bataafs Gemenebest in Austerlitz. Een inventariserend veldonderzoek onder het protocol proefsleuven tussen Hubertweg 31 en Kamperlinie (Dorpsplan Austerlitz), gemeente Zeist, Amersfoort (Vestigia-rapport V1359).

ABSTRACT
The paper will analyse various representations of people called by an ethnonym Les Morlaques (Morlachs), which was used by French observers to describe various populations inhabiting Croatia and Dalmatia which were a part of the Illyrian Provinces (1709– 1713). The ethnonym “Morlachs” comes from Greek (Mavro Vlasi – the Black Vlachs), however, since the 16th century it was used not only to describe the Vlachs, but also the Slavs, or even other groups. French observers took over its use from the Italians, however, in the 18th century they started to investigate the Balkan peoples by themselves. Those first attempts resulted in a very inconsistent ethnic cartography of the Balkan peoples, based mainly on the Byzantine, German and Italian testimonies. This inconsistence is visible especially thanks to the comparison between relevant articles in the encyclopaedic publications.
However, within the rise of the French political interest in the Balkans and creation of the Illyrian Provinces by Napoleon, the French administrators started to concretize their image of the Balkan peoples. This concerned also Morlachs, who were described by the authors such as Balthasar Hacquet or Charles Nodier, and others. The paper will show how the identity of Vlachs and Slavs inhabiting Illyrian Provinces, known under the name of Morlachs, was changing in the eyes of the external observers. This problem is a part of a wider question of shaping the image of the Balkans by the western observers.

STRESZCZENIE Artykuł stanowi analizę różnych przedstawień ludności określanej etnonimem Les Morlaques (Morlacy). Był on używany przez francuskich obserwatorów do opisania róż-nych populacji zamieszkujących Chorwację i Dalmację, które były częścią Prowincji Iliryj-skich, istniejących w latach 1709–1713. Etnonim " Morlacy " pochodzi od greckiego wyraże-nia oznaczającego " Czarnych Wołochów " (Mavro Vlasi), ale od XVI w. był używany nie tyl-ko do opisywania Wołochów, ale również Słowian. Francuzi zapożyczyli stosowanie tego terminu od Włochów, chociaż od XVIII stulecia sami zaczęli badać Bałkany. Owe pierw-sze próby skutkowały bardzo niespójną kartografią etniczną ludów bałkańskich, opartą na źródłach włoskich, niemieckich czy bizantyjskich. Owa niespójność jest możliwa do prze-śledzenia m.in. dzięki przestudiowaniu odpowiednich haseł w wydawnictwach encyklo-pedycznych. W związku z coraz większym politycznym zaangażowaniem Francji na Bał-kanach i utworzeniem Prowincji Iliryjskich przez Napoleona, Francuzi zaczęli konkrety-zować swoje wyobrażenia dotyczące ludów bałkańskich. Dotyczyło to również Morlaków, o których wypowiadali się m.in. tacy autorzy, jak Balthazar Hacquet czy Charles Nodier. W artykule starano się pokazać, w jaki sposób tożsamość Wołochów i Słowian, mieszkań-ców Prowincji Iliryjskich znanych pod nazwą Morlacy, zmieniała się w oczach zewnętrz-nego obserwatora. Problem ten jest istotny w kontekście szerszej perspektywy kształtowa-nia się zachodnioeuropejskiego obrazu Bałkanów.

The French side of the Napoleonic Wars is often seen from a strategic point of view, or in terms of military organization and battlefield tactics, or through officers’ memoirs. It is rarely seen from the perspective of the lowest ranks of the army, and the experience of the ordinary soldiers is less well known and is often misunderstood. That is why this account, based on more than 1,600 letters written by French soldiers of the Napoleonic armies, is of such value. It adds to the existing literature by exploring every aspect of the life of a French soldier during the period 1799-1815.

The book will be fascinating and informative reading for military and cultural historians, but it will also appeal to anyone who is interested in the war experience of common soldiers. It offers the English-speaking audience a French view of a conflict which is too often limited to the traditional memoirs of Captain Coignet, Colonel Marbot or Sergeant Bourgogne.

Situated just to the north of the château/farm of Hougoumont on the Waterloo battlefield, the Bois d’Hougoumont seldom gets a mention in the history books. Many authors have assumed that the wood was cut down well before the battle, but Alasdair White’s recent research into the age of some of the trees in the wood show that they pre-date the Battle of Waterloo, suggesting that the Bois d’Hougoumont may well have existed at the time of the battle thus explaining some of the events that took place.

Venice and Austria were once powerful European empires.  While both still exist today, they are not nearly as large or powerful as they once were.  In comparing these two empires, there are quite a few similarities in their downfalls.  Both had nobles and rulers that resisted change, and both were weakened by wars with their neighbors.  In addition, they both did not decline and fall overnight; it was a slow and gradual process that lasted at least a century.  Both empires also were at one point connected, as Austria ruled over Venice for just over fifty years.  When comparing these two empires, one can find many similarities and also some striking differences in their decline as centers of power within the European continent.

From Publisher:

Austerlitz, Wagram, Borodino, Trafalgar, Leipzig, Waterloo: these are the places most closely associated with the era of the Napoleonic Wars. But how did this period of nearly continuous conflict affect the world beyond Europe? The immensity of the fighting waged by France against England, Prussia, Austria, and Russia, and the immediate consequences of the tremors that spread throughout the world.

In this ambitious and far-ranging work, Alexander Mikaberidze argues that the Napoleonic Wars can only be fully understood in an international perspective. France struggled for dominance not only on the plains of Europe but also in the Americas, West and South Africa, Ottoman Empire, Iran, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Mediterranean Sea, and the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Taking specific regions in turn, Mikaberidze discusses major political-military events around the world and situates geopolitical decision-making within its long- and short-term contexts. From the British expeditions to Argentina and South Africa to the Franco-Russian maneuvering in the Ottoman Empire, the effects of the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars would shape international affairs well into the next century. In Egypt, the wars led to the rise of Mehmed Ali and the emergence of a powerful state; in North America, the period transformed and enlarged the newly established United States; and in South America, the Spanish colonial empire witnessed the start of national-liberation movements that ultimately ended imperial control.

Skillfully narrated and deeply researched, here at last is the global history of the period, one that expands our view of the Napoleonic Wars and their role in laying the foundations of the modern world.

Resonances of Art and Poetry:  A post-conflict reflection from a visit to Shusha, Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan. Princess Khurshidbanu Natavan (1832-1897) entertained Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870) in Baku. Dumas was a close friend of the O’Donnell Counts, descendants of the Princes of Tyrconnell, in Paris in the 19th century. Princess Natavan was the daughter of the Mehdigulu Khan, the last ruler of the Khanate of Karabakh, under Persian suzerainty, his only child, and was born in Shusha. She learnt music, painting and poetry in her youth. Her poetry was mainly in Azeri or Persian languages, and she was known for her romantic ghazals and rubaiyat. She inherited vast wealth and lands and was very philanthropic and culturally active, and described as both artistocratic, progressive, and bohemian.

Il lungo arco cronologico che va dal 1494 sino alla vittoria austriaca nella Prima guerra per l’indipendenza italiana (1849) si apre con l’instaurarsi nella Penisola della ‘preponderanza’ di una potenza ‘straniera’, la Francia dei Valois, e si chiude con la restaurazione dell’egemonia di un’altra, l’Austria degli Asburgo-Lorena. Le vicissitudini degli antichi Stati italiani nei secoli compresi tra queste date sono state interpretate, sino al secondo ’900, come il riflesso della passività dei popoli e delle élites peninsulari e della loro subordinazione a decisioni politiche elaborate oltralpe. Questo caposaldo della storiografia ottocentesca è stato recentemente messo in discussione anche grazie a un nuovo approccio agli studi storici militari, la New Military History: in tale prospettiva l’esercito viene analizzato quale prodotto delle dinamiche sociali e politiche interne all’aggregato politico di cui costituisce il braccio armato, e la guerra diviene il terreno privilegiato dell’incontro-scontro tra le progettualità sociali e politiche di tutti gli attori interessati, ossia delle potenze in competizione e dei soggetti che mettono a disposizione dello sforzo bellico – volontariamente o forzosamente – le indispensabili risorse umane e materiali.
Proprio da questo modello di ricerca emerge il protagonismo delle élites e della base sociale peninsulari nelle guerre della Prima età moderna, determinato da tre dati di fatto ineludibili: il carattere permanente della competizione politica e militare che nell’arco cronologico considerato coinvolse in Europa un numero di potenze sempre maggiore, e che fu il prodotto della vocazione all’espansione territoriale delle dinastie sovrane ai vertici di tali potenze; l’incapacità dei contendenti di finanziare attraverso il gettito fiscale ordinario uno sforzo bellico esercitato su più fronti, che richiese l’accrescimento numerico degli eserciti, nonché l’aggiornamento delle armi e delle strutture organizzative, scandito dai costanti progressi tecnologici; l’impossibilità di finanziare le crescenti spese di guerra attraverso il solo incremento della pressione fiscale, per le inevitabili tensioni interne che tali politiche avrebbero ingenerato.
Per comprendere le modalità della risposta delle monarchie alla sfida posta dal conflitto permanente in Europa è necessario precisare che nelle società d’Antico regime il tessuto sociale era costituito, oltre che da vincoli famigliari e parentali, da legami di subordinazione e protezione: legami che rispondevano, dal basso, all’impossibilità di migliorare la propria condizione individuale senza il sostegno di un superiore nella piramide sociale e, dall’alto, all’altrettanto oggettiva impossibilità di esercitare una qualunque forma di potere (incluso il comando di un reparto in guerra) senza un folto numero di protetti (i ‘clienti’). Questi ultimi offrivano i propri ‘servizi’ in cambio del ‘favore’ del patrono che dispensava – a seconda del rango dei suoi sottoposti e del proprio – cibo e vestiti, terre da lavorare, denaro, posti nella burocrazia e nell’esercito, rendite, protezione in sede giudiziaria, incarichi di prestigio, convenienti matrimoni e soprattutto la mediazione tra i propri clienti e altri patroni più potenti di lui, ossia i patroni del patrono. Il ricorso da parte delle dinastie in lotta ai privati, ai più potenti tra i propri sudditi, alle loro risorse economiche e relazionali – una scelta obbligata proprio in virtù delle ininterrotte emergenze belliche – si articolò prevalentemente in tali dinamiche clientelari e privatistiche sino a ben oltre l’Età dei Lumi.

http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674729711

Convened following Napoleon’s defeat in 1814, the Congress of Vienna is remembered as much for the pageantry of the royals and elites who gathered there as for the landmark diplomatic agreements they brokered. Historians have nevertheless generally dismissed these spectacular festivities as window dressing when compared with the serious, behind-the-scenes maneuverings of sovereigns and statesmen. Brian Vick finds this conventional view shortsighted, seeing these instead as two interconnected dimensions of politics. Examining them together yields a more complete picture of how one of the most important diplomatic summits in history managed to redraw the map of Europe and the international system of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

The Congress of Vienna investigates the Vienna Congress within a broad framework of influence networks that included unofficial opinion-shapers of all kinds, both men and women: artists and composers, entrepreneurs and writers, hosts and attendees of fashionable salons. In addition to high-profile negotiation and diplomatic wrangling over the post-Napoleonic fates of Germany, Italy, and Poland, Vick brings into focus other understudied yet significant issues: the African slave trade, Jewish rights, and relations with Islamic powers such as the Ottoman Empire and Barbary Corsairs. Challenging the usual portrayal of a reactionary Congress obsessed with rolling back Napoleon’s liberal reforms, Vick demonstrates that the Congress’s promotion of limited constitutionalism, respect for religious and nationality rights, and humanitarian interventions was influenced as much by liberal currents as by conservative ones.

In the early modern town, the public peace was not simply kept by one institution. Individual citizens, corporations and (semi-)governmental bodies all policed the early modern city. I will analyze the transition of the traditional system of urban policing to the modern institution called ‘police’, roughly between 1795 and 1820. I shall centre my attention on Amsterdam, because this city served as a ‘test plot’ for the provincial and central authorities in those years. New regulations concerning policing were often tried out in Amsterdam before being applied to the rest of the country. On the one hand, this was the result of the reform policy of the Department of Holland that was eager to reform the police in all its cities, including Amsterdam. And on the other hand, Napoleonic administrators feared that Amsterdam’s population might rebel against the French. To what extent and in which way was Amsterdam’s traditional policing system – an amalgam of strictly local institutions – transformed into a centralized police force at the turn of the nineteenth century?

Stella Ghervas, "Ein Palimpsest für den Frieden: Die Heilige Allianz und das Ende des französischen Empire" [A Palimpsest for Peace: The Holy Alliance and the End of the French Empire], in Die Heilige Allianz. Entstehung - Wirkung - Rezeption, ed. Anselm Schubert and Wolfram Pyta (Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 2018), pp. 61-78.

Stella Ghervas & Mark Jarrett,  "Wie Frieden geschaffen wird" [How Peace was established], Die Zeit 38, September 11, 2014, p. 20.
http://www.zeit.de/2014/38/wiener-kongress-europa-frieden
Der Wiener Kongress vor 200 Jahren gilt als Triumph der Reaktion gegen die Revolution. Aber er war auch ein großer Moment der Diplomatie, der Europa stabilisierte.

A strand of recent German historiography on the kingdom of Westphalia emphasizes the discrepancy between Napoleon’s reformist ambitions and the actual results of his rule. This school of thought argues that Napoleon’s continued fiscal and military exploitation of the territory discredited the newly-created state, provoking a widespread rejection of the regime and its administration. Moreover, the argument goes, only a small section of the population was ever prepared to cooperate with the French.
In fact, public opinion varied widely within the kingdom and across different social levels in its views of the new state. The relatively poor experience of French rule in Hesse-Cassel with its capital, on which historians have focused much of their attention, should not be generalized for the kingdom as a whole. Involvement of the wider population in administrative processes by public monitoring of the administrators proved far more effective than it is often acknowledged.
Based on many years of research in German, French and Russian archives, this chapter attempts to give a more nuanced view of this kingdom organized as it was at a decisive moment in the construction of the modern bureaucratic state.

Stella Ghervas, “Das Erbe des Wiener Kongresses und der Wert von Friedensstiften” [The Legacy of the Congress of Vienna and the Virtue of Peacemakers], Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte (APuZ), Vol. 65, No. 22-24 (2015): 15-20.

Abstract (in German):
„Eine Betrachtung des Wiener Kongresses und des „Kongresssystems“ von 1815 bis 1823 entlang ihrer (Miss-)Erfolge bei der Bewahrung des Friedens zeigt fünf
„Lektionen“ auf, die heute noch angewandt werden könnten – vor allem mit Blick auf eine tragfähige Beziehung zwischen der Europäischen Union und Russland“.
See also on-line version: https://www.bpb.de/apuz/206927/das-erbe-des-wienerkongresses

Abstract (in English):
“This article examines the legacy of the Congress of Vienna and the ‘Congress System’ (1815-23) through their successes and failures in keeping peace. It outlines five “lessons” or principles that might still be applicable, especially in establishing a viable relationship between the European Union and Russia.”

Short biography of the Austrian general Adam Albrecht von Neipperg (1775-1829), second husband of Marie Louise of Habsburg .
From: Parma 2016 Dal ministro Magawly alla duchessa Maria Luigia, Quaderni del Museo Glauco Lombardi n. 16, Parma, 2016.

This book is designed as a companion volume to The Great Waterloo Controversy, the Story of the 52nd Foot at the Battle of Waterloo and both books will be published at the same time by two different publishers.

In the process of searching out the evidence for the complete story of the actions of the 52nd Foot at Waterloo, a number of previously unpublished accounts have been unearthed and a number of obscure accounts rediscovered.

Much of the material inevitably brought together extends across the entire period of the Waterloo campaign and throughout the following three years the regiment remained in France as part of the Army of Occupation. A great deal of this is of course outside of the remit of the book on their actions at Waterloo, but it was deemed too valuable to simply ignore. It also means that for the first time ever, all of the accounts by members of the 52nd Foot at Waterloo and of those who were eyewitnesses to their actions have been brought together to give the clearest picture of the regiment during these entire four years it is possible to ascertain.

You will find much here on the actions of the regiment at Waterloo and the controversies that followed, but there is also much on their honourable entry into Paris, the social life of the regiment in Paris and during the long boring years in Northern France, including setting up a regimental hunt, with a full complement of hounds from England.

There is also a great deal on the disciplinary record of the regiment, which was surprisingly bad regarding desertions and with high numbers of court martials, the results of which are sometimes very intriguing.

The inspection reports by senior officers also hint at a surprisingly poor level of ability of Colonel Colborne at drill and manoeuvres, not perhaps what one would expect given his high reputation. These are only a few of the interesting events that occur, including last minute pardons from execution, other soldiers on murder charges, accidental shootings, stabbings and unfortunate drownings, alongside regular reviews and mock battles re-run for the Emperor of Russia.

Hopefully it will provide the reader with a much more rounded view of the regiment during the period of 1815 to 1818 and will challenge many preconceptions. It is an honest view of the officers and men of the regiment and their abilities, warts and all.

Gareth Glover
Cardiff

160pp., 4to, over 800 colour illustrations, printed boards binding. 2018.

This is the major work on the subject, exploring the uniforms, organisation and equipment of the Landwehr, essential for Prussia to maintain her important contribution to the coalition effort to defeat Napoleon. Precise details of uniforms are difficult to sort out with the distance of time. Stephen presents the known information and resolves inconsistencies. This stunning publication includes photographs of original costume and delightful artwork by the incomporable Stanislav Lyulin.

Sièges de Saragosse fue, por lo tanto, la obra con la que en 1840 Louis-François Lejeune se inicia en el sendero del género autobiográfico. Para él escribir era otra forma de pintar. Lo explica ya en el subtítulo de la obra afirmando que va a abordar los hechos haciendo «Historia y pintura de los acontecimientos» que tuvieron lugar en Zaragoza durante los años 1808 y 1809. Durante toda su vida se había valido de los pigmentos y de la técnica aprendida en el taller de Valenciennes para cantar las glorias del Consulado y del Imperio de las que había sido testigo. Ahora, superada a la barrera de los sesenta años, iba a utilizar las palabras con el mismo fin, añadiendo además la voluntad de ofrecer el testimonio de una generación que había protagonizado las jornadas más gloriosas de la reciente historia de Francia. Y el resultado tendrá, sin lugar a dudas, carácter pictórico porque se impone su voluntad de ir más allá del diario de operaciones y no conformarse con llevar a cabo una obra útil en las academias y en las escuelas militares, como habían pretendido Rogniat o Suchet. Fernand Fleuret llegará a afirmar que sus memorias «son las más emocionantes, completas y mejor escritas […] de todas las que conocemos»105. Y su editor defendía que era una obra superior a la escrita por los mariscales, los generales y los soldados de la Revolución y del Imperio que, como hombres de acción «contaron lo que habían visto sin tomarse el tiempo de describir el medio ni de dibujar el marco de los cuadros que presentaban y cuyos escritos tan solo provocan emoción por la sucesión de los propios acontecimientos».

This MA Thesis analyses hundreds of Victorian newspapers, periodicals, pamphlets and other media to investigate how Victorian perceptions of Napoleon I affected perceptions of Napoleon III and vice versa. It is argued that Victorian Britons frequently viewed Napoleon III through the lens of Napoleon I with significant consequences for the legacies of both Emperors today. Through analysis of letters to the editor and newspapers which appealed to all classes of society, this thesis does not produce a history of ‘Great Men’ from the top-down but rather an analysis of how such men were perceived from the bottom up and how popular perceptions helped shape their legacies. Why is it that Napoleon I, once the most hated and feared enemy of Britain, has obtained an almost celebrity-like status in Britain today whilst Napoleon III, the friend of Queen Victoria and champion of the entente cordiale is largely forgotten by the general public? The answer, this thesis argues, can be found in Victorian perceptions of both Napoleons, and in the resulting perceptions of themselves.

El alter ego de Alí Bey, Domingo Francisco Jorge Badía y Leblich, nació en Barcelona. De formación autodidacta, este intelectual y científico ilustrado ha pasado a la historia como funcionario, político, militar y espía al servicio del rey de España, pero también como arabista, escritor, explorador, aventurero, inventor, dramaturgo, geógrafo, astrónomo, grabador o bibliófilo. Su amplia cultura quedó reflejada en el relato de sus viajes, publicado durante su exilio en Francia y en francés, en la que, junto a las pormenorizadas descripciones de las ciudades y territorios que visitó, se encuentran sus observaciones sobre campos tan dispares como la geografía, botánica, geología, meteorología, zoología, economía y vida cotidiana de sus habitantes.

Chocolate has early associations in the West with Spanish Catholic missionaries to America. From the middle of the 16th century, chocolate was employed in many useful ways, including economic. However, till now, there have been no associations with the liquid drink and financial survival during and after periods of war or revolution. Yet for Italian monks during the Napoleonic years (1798-1814), chocolate was employed to support certain impoverished clerics during the leanest years of this period. Leading one of these initiatives was Mauro Cappellari, the future Pope Gregory XVI (r. 1831-1846), who, along with others in his Camaldolese order, produced and retailed the chocolate throughout Italian lands. This article draws on Italian archival materials in Rome and Camaldoli in order to piece together this hitherto overlooked food enterprise. In addition, this article will also reveal much about the chocolate trade and production in general in Italian lands.

Po stručném představení napoleonské éry je podán základní přehled o jednotlivých napoleonských kodifikacích. Následuje popis jejich zavádění v Polsku. Poslední část se zabývá právními kodifikacemi v Rakousku a jejich vztahem ke kodifikacím napoleonským.

Il 27 gennaio 1809 Gioacchino Murat, re di Napoli, nominò una commissione incaricata di redigere un progetto di legge sulla pubblica istruzione.I due documenti prodotti a tale scopo, e cioè Il Progetto di decreto per la pubblica istruzione (1809) e il Rapporto al re Gioacchino Murat (1809) furono sottoscritti dall’intera commissione incaricata. Tuttavia, sulla scia di ricerche e riflessioni condotte in ambito scientifico, si può ritenere che Vincenzo Cuoco ne fosse il reale autore. Il saggio analizza Il Progetto e il Rapporto che lo introduce allo scopo di riflettere su alcuni nodi problematici della visione politica cuochiana. In primo luogo, saranno delineate le principali differenze fra il sistema d’istruzione napoleonico e il testo di Cuoco. Alla luce di tale comparazione saranno poi affrontati due aspetti controversi della visione politica cuochiana: 1) la caratterizzazione del pensiero di Cuoco in chiave democratica o moderata; 2) il rapporto specifico di Cuoco con il riformismo napoleonico francese sul tema dell’istruzione. In ultimo, si proverà a contestualizzare la riedizione del Progetto nella Napoli del 1848, collegandola ai temi e alle modalità della mobilitazione politica napoletana

Resumen: Este artículo estudia los orígenes y la evolución de la propaganda centrada en Juan Martín Díez, " el Empecinado " , durante la guerra de la Independencia (1808-1814). Durante la invasión francesa de España, el Empecinado pasó de ser un simple campesino a convertirse en uno de los jefes guerrilleros más importantes. Esta evolución se debió al talento del Empecinado para hacer la guerra irregular, pero también al uso masivo y permanente de la propaganda. Palabras clave: Propaganda, imagen, guerra de guerrillas, guerra de la Independencia, prensa periódica. Abstract: This paper studies the genesis and evolution of propaganda about Juan Martín Díez, called the " Empecinado " , during the Peninsular War (1808-1814). During the French invasion of Spain, the " Empecinado " went from being a simple peasant to become one of the most important guerrilla leaders. This development is largely due to the talent of the " Empecinado " to make the irregular war, but also because of a massive and permanent use of propaganda.

Przedmiotem  niniejszej  analizy  jest  proces  reform  w  zakresie  organizacji  Kościoła  rzymskokatolickiego we Francji, jakie przeprowadzono w pierwszym okresie Rewolucji, kiedy to Zgromadzenie Narodowe podjęło się próby etatyzacji Kościoła. W okresie tym nie występują jeszcze oznaki jawnej dechrystianizacji i ateizacji. Reformy parlamentarne  dotyczą  spraw  organizacyjnych,  majątkowych  i  osobowych  Kościoła,  których  zwieńczeniem  było  uchwalenie  konstytucji  cywilnej  duchowieństwa  w  dniu  12  lipca  1790  r.,  co pociągnęło jednakże za sobą wzrost niezadowolenia duchowieństwa, które popierało do tego czasu dotychczasowe przemiany, oraz doprowadziło do rozłamu i podziału wewnątrz łona organizacji kościelnej. Ustawodawstwo w sprawach kościelnych spotkało się z  potępieniem  ze  strony  papieża  Piusa  VI  i  spowodowało  wzrost  nastrojów  antyrewolucyjnych  szczególnie  na  prowincji.  W  trakcie  analizy  autor  nieraz  korzysta  dla  celów  poznawczych  z  metody  porównawczej,  przywołując  rozwiązania  w  zakresie  stosunków  wyznaniowych  wprowadzone  w  kolejnych  latach  Rewolucji  i  rządów  Napoleona,  które  modyfikowały omówione rozwiązania będące właściwym przedmiotem badań.

The  article  examines  the  process  of  reforms  in  the  organisation  of  the  Roman  Catholic Church in France, which were implemented during the first period of the Revolution,  when  the  National  Assembly  made  an  attempt  at  introducing  state  control  (étatisation)  of  the  Church.  At  this  time,  no  signs  of  overt  dechristianisation  and  atheisation could be seen. The parliamentary reforms affected the organisational, pro-perty, and personal affairs of the Church, and culminated in the adoption of the Civil Constitution of the Clergy on 12 July 1790. However, this increased the dissatisfaction of the clergy, who hereto had supported the transformations, and caused a rift within the  Church.  The  legislation  on  ecclesiastical matters was condemned by Pope Pius VI and caused an increase in anti-revolutionary sentiments, especially locally. The author makes  a  frequent  use  of  the  comparative  method  for  reference  only,  invoking  the  solutions  used  in  the  area  of  religious  relations  in  the  subsequent  years  of  the  Revolution  and  Napoleon’s  rule.  These  solutions  modified  the  ones  discussed  in  detail  in the article.