Data Base

This database will provide an inventory of all the disputes, querelles and controversies that underpin the intellectual universe of the early modern period (16th- 18th centuries). It will focus on both France and Britain, on the domains of literature, art, philosophy, science, religion and politics. In the first instance, the corpus comprises cases in which the term ‘querelle or quarrel’ is used (according to the first endogenous criteria); in the second, it considers cases displaying similar traits, even when the word itself is not employed (according to the second endogenous criteria).

Every case will include further information about each dispute (participants, places, the list of texts and documents, generic category, time-frame, bibliography and an analysis of the key issues). There will also be links to a range of sources. Disputes that contain similar themes will be connected by a reference system. You will be able to search by name, date, place, institution, genre, key-word and complex key-words. A plain text search will also be possible.

There are few others databases of this kind—that are both archival and analytical. Instead of time-based research criteria (l’Ancien Régime, the Enlightenment etc.) or genre-led searches (correspondence, theatre), which can be somewhat limiting, you will be able to use open criteria, like that of the dispute, and be able to search the corpus via a question or problematic. This will allow for more complex research results, bringing together documents that are different by nature (paintings, texts) and the way they have been organised. This project will pioneer innovations in online art and literature databases

The database has been constructed by Julien Jouan, using the latest software. It is a multifaceted and changing object—and one that will grow and expand as the project itself evolves.

A version of the database is currently under construction.