Ideas of monarchical reform : Fénelon, Jacobitism and the political works of the Chevalier Ramsay / Andrew Mansfield.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mansfield, Andrew (Andrew K.)

Series:

Studies in early modern European history

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ramsay, Chevalier (Andrew Michael), 1686-1743.

Ramsay.

Great Britain--Politics and government--18th century.

Great Britain.

Politics and government.

France--Politics and government--18th century.

France.

Political science.

Physical Description:

237 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Manchester : Manchester University Press, 2015.

Summary:

This book examines the political works of Andrew Michael Ramsay (1683-1743) within the context of early eighteenth-century British and French political thought. In the first monograph on Ramsay in English for over sixty years, the author uses Ramsay to engage in a broader evaluation of the theory in the two countries and the exchange between them. After the Glorious Revolution (1688), Britain had rejected James II's absolutist pretensions in favour of a monarch that governed through Parliament, while in France Louis XIV ruled a seemingly absolute state. Yet in the first three decades of that century, the growing impetus towards mixed government in Britain influenced the political theory of its long-standing enemy. Shaped by experiences and ideologies of the seventeenth century, thinkers in both states expressed a desire to stimulate change by integrating past wisdom with modern knowledge. A Scottish Jacobite émigré living in Paris, Ramsay employed a synthesis of British and French principles to promote a Stuart restoration. He offered a daring vision of European co-operation that would allow Britain to claim its place as the 'capital of the universe.' Adapting a range of philosophies, including his mentor Archbishop Fénelon's opposition to Louis XIV, Ramsay created a compelling image of the future that grappled with key political ideas extant in Britain and France. Mansfield reveals that Ramsay was an important intellectual conduit for the two countries, whose contribution to the history of political thought has been greatly under appreciated. With extensive analysis of Britain and France between the 1660s and 1730s, this book will be of interest to scholars, students and those with an interest in the history of political thought, religious, intellectual, political and cultural history, as well as the early Enlightenment. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Division and unity I: revolution and party 14

2 Division and unity II: fear and corruption 51

3 The political principles of Fénelon 83

4 The reign of Louis XIV: absolute monarchy 105

5 Confronting the legacy of Louis XIV: government reform and Britain 129

6 Ramsay and his associations 152

7 A mythical conversation: an Essay and a Vie 166

8 A mythical education: Ramsay's Cyrus and Plan 190.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [223]-231) and index.

ISBN:

9780719088377

0719088372

OCLC:

889183928