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About Cambridge Library Collection - European History
This series includes accounts of historical events and movements by eye-witnesses and contemporaries, as well as landmark studies that assembled significant source materials or developed new historiographical methods. It covers the social and political history of continental Europe from the Renaissance to the end of the nineteenth century, and its broad range includes works on Russia and the Balkans, revolutionary France, the Papacy and the inquisition, and the Venetian state archives.
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Although born in Australia, the historian and folklorist Joseph Jacobs (1854–1916) spent his adult years in England and America. Educated at Cambridge and Berlin, he came to public attention in 1882 following the publication in The Times of a series of articles on the persecution of Jews in Russia that had followed the assassination of Alexander II. The Mansion House Committee to aid the Jews of Russia was established as a result of these articles. In 1885 he published this book, listing all the printed works on the 'Jewish Question' that had appeared in the previous decade. It is notable that those items originating in Germany form the bulk of the bibliography, providing as much material as all other countries combined. Revealing in its scope, this has been described as the most important contemporary bibliography on the subject.
In the wake of German unification in 1871, Berlin became a place of increased interest to the other nations of Europe. The journalist Henry Vizetelly (1820–94) made his first journey to the capital of the new empire in 1872. Based on observations from a series of visits, this two-volume work presents a witty and detailed portrait of the city and its inhabitants. The topics covered in Volume 2 include the Prussian Landtag, the Reichstag, Berlin's places of education, its palaces, churches and museums, and its restaurants, cafés and beer gardens. Chapters on theatre, music, satire and socialism give a vivid sense of the cultural and political zeitgeist. Illustrated with hundreds of engravings from designs by German artists, the work first appeared in 1879. Vizetelly's Paris in Peril (1882) and Glances Back through Seventy Years (1893) are also reissued in this series.
An accomplished biographer of figures ranging from Talleyrand to Cardinal Newman, Charlotte Blennerhassett (1843–1917) originally published this three-volume study in German. Reissued here is the English translation of 1889 by J. E. Gordon Cumming. Madame de Staël (1766–1817), an intellectual in Paris at the turn of the nineteenth century, was ranked by Auguste Comte as being among the 'great men' of the era. A novelist, salonnière, literary and social critic, and follower of Rousseau, she became keenly involved in the opposition to Louis XVI. Volume 3 of Blennerhassett's authoritative study covers Madame de Staël's life from the early years of the nineteenth century through to her death. It includes a fascinating account of her journey to Weimar and friendships with Goethe and Schiller, her travels in Italy, her return to Paris after the defeat of Napoleon and her acquaintance with the Duke of Wellington.
This is the second of three parts of the sixth volume in a seven-volume collection - published between 1864 and 1890 - comprising Venetian and other northern Italian state papers relating to England. Translator and editor Rawdon Lubbock Brown (1806–83) lived for many years in Venice, had unrivalled access to the Venetian archives and travelled widely to find documents in other Italian libraries and archives. He had previously published two volumes of Sebastian Giustinian's dispatches to Venice from Henry VIII's court (also reissued in this series). This second part of the sixth volume contains documents from the years 1556–7, when Queen Mary's husband, Philip II of Spain, had gone to fight the French in Flanders and the Venetians were actively involved in diplomatic measures to negotiate peace. Correspondence from Giacomo Soranzo, ambassador to France, is included here, as well as letters from Philip II and Cardinal Pole.
This is the first of three parts of the sixth volume in a seven-volume collection - published between 1864 and 1890 - comprising Venetian and other northern Italian state papers relating to England. Translator and editor Rawdon Lubbock Brown (1806–83) lived for many years in Venice, had unrivalled access to the Venetian archives and travelled widely to find documents in other Italian libraries and archives. He had previously published two volumes of Sebastian Giustinian's dispatches to Venice from Henry VIII's court (also reissued in this series). This first part of the sixth volume contains documents from the years 1555–6, the early years of Mary I's reign, an important period for the Italian states when papal authority was reinstated in England and Mary married Philip of Spain - documented here by the correspondence of, among others, the papal legate Cardinal Pole. The editor's preface puts the various documents into historical context.
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821) is best remembered for establishing the First French Empire, declaring himself Emperor of the French in 1804. His military campaigns across Europe sparked the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) and profoundly shaped European political and economic activities during the early nineteenth century. These volumes, edited by military officer and historian Denis Arthur Bingham and first published in 1884, contain translations of a selection of Bonaparte's letters. Bonaparte was a prolific letter writer, and the translations in these volumes describe a variety of domestic and international situations, including his early military career, his reports on the invasion of Egypt, and his criticism of his relatives who he had installed on the thrones of various conquered countries. Arranged by year with concise explanatory notes, these volumes provide a valuable and fascinating resource for the study of Bonaparte's career and character. Volume 3 covers the years 1811–1815.
An accomplished biographer of figures ranging from Talleyrand to Cardinal Newman, Charlotte Blennerhassett (1843–1917) originally published this three-volume study in German. Reissued here is the English translation of 1889 by J. E. Gordon Cumming. Madame de Staël (1766–1817), an intellectual in Paris at the turn of the nineteenth century, was ranked by Auguste Comte as among the 'great men' of the era. A novelist, salonnière, literary and social critic, and follower of Rousseau, she became keenly involved in the opposition to Louis XVI. Volume 2 of Blennerhassett's authoritative study addresses Madame de Staël's life from the Revolution through to the first decade of the nineteenth century, examining the ascent of Napoleon, with whom she strongly disagreed, and her exile to Coppet in Switzerland - where she organised her famous salon - as well as her celebrated visit to England and travels in Germany.
In the wake of German unification in 1871, Berlin became a place of increased interest to the other nations of Europe. The journalist Henry Vizetelly (1820–94) made his first journey to the capital of the new empire in 1872. Based on observations from a series of visits, this two-volume work presents a witty and detailed portrait of the city and its inhabitants. In Volume 1, Vizetelly describes travelling to Berlin and his mixed first impressions. He sketches a brief history of the city and its development from the thirteenth century onwards, and in a series of essay-style chapters he discusses aspects of Berlin culture and society - including dinner-party etiquette - as well as political and military personalities. Illustrated with hundreds of engravings from designs by German artists, the work first appeared in 1879. Vizetelly's Paris in Peril (1882) and Glances Back Through Seventy Years (1893) are also reissued in this series.
Paul Lacombe (1834–1919) had a varied career as a historian, senior official and general inspector of libraries and archives. He was one of the most brilliant minds of his day: in 1859 he graduated as first in his class from the elite École Nationale des Chartes, and he was made Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur in 1887. In 1894, Lacombe published this groundbreaking work, which put him at the heart of the debate about l'histoire science - history served by scientific inquiry - at a time of intense controversy among historians and sociologists. Lacombe insisted on the need for the historian to make strict selections of evidence and to establish a hierarchy among facts. He also laid the foundations of a history which brings social and economic factors to the forefront of investigation. The book remains important and relevant to historians, sociologists and ethnologists.
The pogroms in Russia following the assassination of Alexander II led many Jewish scholars in Europe to examine closely the history and culture of their people. In England, journalist and historian Lucien Wolf (1857–1930) and writer and folklorist Joseph Jacobs (1854–1916) were among those to write articles on the situation in Russia, and also on the wider history of European Judaism. In particular, they were both interested in the chequered history of the Jews in England, and following the successful Anglo-Jewish Historical Exhibition of 1887 (whose catalogue is also reissued in this series) they jointly compiled this important bibliography. Published in 1888, it was an attempt to list for the first time published works concerned with Judaism in England. Also including entries on manuscripts dating back to the reign of Henry III, this remains an essential resource for students of Anglo-Jewish history.
Catharine Macaulay (1731–91) is considered to have been the first female historian. Her eight-volume History of England (1763–83) and her radical views brought her considerable fame in eighteenth-century England. She was a political activist in favour of parliamentary reform, and wrote several political pamphlets on the subject. She also wrote the feminist work Letters on Education (1790), which argues for the equal education of men and women and is thought to have been influential upon Mary Wollstonecraft. Macaulay supported both the American Revolution and the French Revolution and saw them as moves towards equality and liberty. This political pamphlet, first published in 1790, was written in support of the French Revolution and against Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France. It is a passionate polemic that challenges Burke's interpretation of British history. It remains an important work in the history of political philosophy.
An influential and prolific Victorian author, Margaret Oliphant (1828–97) is best remembered for her Chronicles of Carlingford - novels which sketch the religious and domestic politics of a provincial community - and for her many book reviews, essays and serialised fiction for Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine. Her output included ninety-eight novels, some fifty short stories, works of biography and non-fiction, and a series of cultural histories of European cities, of which this is the last. A place of poignant association for Mrs Oliphant, Rome was the city in which both her husband and daughter Maggie died. Originally published in 1895, this book paints a compelling picture of the development of the great city from the fourth century to the Renaissance through accounts of its key figures. These include Saints Marcella and Paula, Cola di Rienzi, and pontiffs from Gregory I to Leo X. The volumes on Florence (1876) and Venice (1887) are also reissued in this series.
An influential and prolific Victorian author, Margaret Oliphant (1828–97) is best remembered for her Chronicles of Carlingford - novels which sketch the religious and domestic politics of a provincial community - particularly the most popular in the cycle, Miss Marjoribanks (1866), and for her many book reviews, essays and serialised fiction for Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine. Her output included ninety-eight novels, some fifty short stories, works of biography and non-fiction, and a series of cultural histories of European cities, of which this is the second. Originally published in 1887, the book paints a compelling picture of the cultural development of the great city of Venice during the middle ages and the Renaissance through biographical sketches of its key figures. They include the doge Enrico Dandolo, the explorer Marco Polo, and the artists Titian and Tintoretto. The volumes on Florence (1876) and Rome (1895) are also reissued in this series.
Nathaniel Wraxall (1751–1831) worked for the East India Company before becoming an MP in 1780. He travelled extensively in Europe and moved in royal and diplomatic circles, collecting anecdotes which later made their way into several popular travel narratives and memoirs that were to bring him great fame. In this work, published in two volumes in 1799 and using an epistolary form, Wraxall gives his impressions of a number of European courts that he visited in the late 1770s. In Volume 1 the author gives a personal account of the tragic destiny of Queen Caroline Matilda of Denmark (the sister of George III of Great Britain), who was exiled to Celle in Germany after an extra-marital affair with her husband's doctor and counsellor. He also describes Frederick the Great of Prussia and his court, and laments the decline of the once-great city of Cracow.
Little is known of the true origins of the French adventurer Victor-Antoine-Claude Robert, Count de Paradès (1752–86). He arrived in Paris in 1778, just as the Franco-American alliance, which guaranteed French military support to the United States against Great Britain, was being signed. Paradès was determined to join the French Army, but lacking the connections to do so, offered his services as a spy. He travelled repeatedly to England, visiting ports and fortifications to gather confidential information. First published in 1791, this work provides a detailed account of Paradès' adventures and misfortune. Written while he was jailed in the Bastille, the book denounces the corruption of ministers who wrongly accused him of state treason after the failure of the 1779 Franco-Spanish 'Armada' against Plymouth. A fascinating historical document, it sheds light on the political relations between France and England during the American War of Independence.
Cecil Nathan Sidney Woolf (1887–1917), Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, was killed in the First World War. In this prize-winning book, published in 1913, Woolf examines the way in which the medieval jurist Bartolus of Sassoferrato (1314–57) interprets the Roman Law to make it relevant to fourteenth-century Italian political reality. Considering Bartolus's treatment of the relationships between the Roman Empire and the papacy, kingdoms and city-republics, Woolf places Bartolus's thought in its wider historical context by surveying the complex problem of the empire from the mid-thirteenth century onwards. In particular, he assesses Bartolus's most famous argument that the city is its own emperor. Arguing that Bartolus's influence lasted into the early modern period, both in the practice of law and in the use made of his works by writers like Bodin and Albericus Gentilis, this book also includes a useful table explaining Bartolus's distinctions between imperium and jurisdiction.
Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq (1522–92) was a Flemish herbalist, diplomat and writer. In 1554, Ferdinand I, soon to be Holy Roman Emperor, dispatched him to Suleiman the Magnificent's court as an ambassador to the Ottoman empire, where Busbecq spent years negotiating a border dispute between his employer and the sultan. While there, he also discovered important manuscripts and sent the first tulip bulbs to Europe. He returned to Vienna in 1562, where he acted as counsellor to Ferdinand, after whose death he continued to serve the Habsburgs. This two-volume work, first published in 1881, contains Busbecq's letters, edited and translated into English from Latin by two Cambridge scholars. Volume 1 contains a lengthy biography of Busbecq, written by the editors, and his famous Turkish Letters, which are a unique source of information on Ottoman court life in the sixteenth century.
Renowned economic historian and clergyman William Cunningham (1849–1919) published this work in 1896, which is considered a companion volume to his seminal Essay on Western Civilisation. Educated at Edinburgh, Cambridge and Tübingen, Cunningham wrote widely on theology and economics. He was a Cambridge lecturer and fellow at Trinity, Professor of Economics at King's College London, a teacher at Harvard, a founding fellow of the British Academy, and President of the Royal Historical Society. Favouring historical empiricism over deductive theory, his work, labelled neo-mercantilist, was against laissez-faire and favoured economic regulation, social religion, and conservative incremental change. This book outlines these views as part of an analysis of the basic units of economic life - exchange, possessions, money, credit, selling, price, labour, trade, profit, interest, rent, wages - and how these interact within capitalism. The work strongly influenced contemporary thought and remains relevant in the historiography of economics.
Nathaniel Wraxall (1751–1831) worked for the East India Company before becoming an MP in 1780. He travelled extensively in Europe and moved in royal and diplomatic circles, collecting anecdotes which later made their way into several popular travel narratives and memoirs that were to bring him great fame. In this work, published in two volumes in 1799 and using an epistolary form, Wraxall gives his impressions of a number of European courts that he visited in the late 1770s. Volume 2 describes Poland as a country in decline, and discusses the historical background to its present condition. He also provides anecdotes of the court and people of Vienna, and especially of the Habsburg monarchs Maria Theresa and Joseph II.
Louis Blanc (1811–82) was a French historian and politician whose writings had a considerable influence on the development of French socialism. In his famous Organisation du travail (1839) he called for social reform by action of the State, an unusual position at the time. As a member of the provisional government established after the 1848 Revolution, he campaigned for workers' rights, advocating the creation of cooperative workshops. His twelve-volume Histoire de la Révolution Française (1847–62), most of which he wrote while in exile in England, combines years of thorough research with Blanc's characteristic socialist and republican enthusiasm. Volume 6, first published in 1864, deals with the elections of 1791 and the ensuing period of constitutional crisis. It describes the months leading up to the war with Austria, and culminates with the invasion of the Tuileries Palace by the people on 20 June 1892.