Papers by Giulio Talini
Rivista Storica Italiana, 2024
Quaderni Storici, 2023
Historians have long argued that the sugar revolution in the mid-17 th Caribbean world gave way t... more Historians have long argued that the sugar revolution in the mid-17 th Caribbean world gave way to what Marx described as land capitalisation and to the formation of the plantation complex. In the French West Indies, this process gradually turned the revocable concessions of royally-owned lands for their «mise en valeur» into large, unseizable estates belonging to a minority of capitalist planter dynasties. The aim of this article is to show that the de facto appropriation of the colonial spaces as terrae nullius was neither uncontested nor inevitable. In the aftermath of the Seven Years' War (1756-1763), the Chambers of Agriculture of Saint-Domingue and Guadeloupe-the expert bodies of the «maîtres éclairés»-criticised the accumulation of overextended possessions and the subsequent increase of wasteland. Stressing the relationship between labour and property as well as the subordination of colonial ownership to the imperatives of political economy, they urged the administration to redistribute the uncultivated parcels in order to boost a class of small-scale white farmers, promote agricultural diversification, and redress the racial imbalance favouring the population of enslaved Africans. The contradictions the Chambers denounced would violently come to the surface at the outbreak of the Haitian Revolution in 1791.
Storica, 2022
Mercantile Spaces and Maritime Cosmopolitanism This volume explores commercial practices and sea ... more Mercantile Spaces and Maritime Cosmopolitanism This volume explores commercial practices and sea traffic in eighteenth-century Rome, problematizing the notion of maritime cosmopolitanism in the Mediterranean. To this end, Talini discusses the intertwined problems of early modern littoral societies, mercantilism in the Papal States, and seafarers' identity.
Storiografia etico-politica e "contemporaneità" della storia nel Novecento italiano. Cultura, società, politica, a cura di G. Talini, Pisa, Pacini, 2022
Non è esagerato affermare che, nonostante gli sforzi storiografici sinora profusi e le pur lodevo... more Non è esagerato affermare che, nonostante gli sforzi storiografici sinora profusi e le pur lodevoli ricerche dedicate all'argomento, la biografia intellettuale e politica di Furio Diaz, sindaco comunista di Livorno tra il 1944 e il 1954, storico militante dei Lumi e, dal 1957, voce autorevole del socialismo italiano, ancora debba essere scritta. Questo non significa, tuttavia, che i ricordi, le dotte ricostruzioni e le proposte interpretative di allievi e studiosi di cultura illuministica non abbiano dato esiti apprezzabili e in grado di stimolare ulteriori riflessioni critiche e nuove indagini 1 .
Il mondo in subbuglio. Ricerche sull'età delle rivoluzioni (1789-1849), a cura di M. Dinacci e D. Maione, Federico II University Press, 2022
French History, 2022
This article analyses the political and intellectual debates that took place in the French Empire... more This article analyses the political and intellectual debates that took place in the French Empire concerning the admission of neutral commerce to the colonies at the outbreak of the Seven Years' War (1756-1763). The decision taken by the Minister for the Navy, Machault d'Arnouville, was justified as the only means available to provide the Antilles with essential goods in the face of British naval primacy. Nonetheless, it met with strenuous opposition from the French Chambers of Commerce, which were reluctant to redistribute power in favour of the colonies. On the other hand, the economist Véron de Forbonnais and the Dominguan planter Pierre-Louis de Saintard strongly supported the minister, albeit for different reasons and goals. Linking questions of colonial dependence and neutrality, their theories disclose new perspectives on the political and intellectual impact of enlightened reform in the French Atlantic empire.
The Literary Encyclopedia, 2021
Until recently, his name has been associated with the vast and multifaceted European tradition of... more Until recently, his name has been associated with the vast and multifaceted European tradition of utopian thought on account of the presumed impracticability of his numerous projects and designs. His Projet pour rendre la paix perpétuelle en Europe (1713-1717), a pacifist plan for a European federation, has, most notably, sustained criticism since its first publication. Only in the last decades have historians recognised Saint-Pierre for who he really was: an audacious, original, and learned reformer whose radical views on politics, institutions, international relations, culture, and education expressed the first utilitarian trends of the Enlightenment and envisioned the foundation in France of a new kind of state aimed at the "bonheur du plus grand nombre" ("happiness of the majority"). The abbé's cultural legacy and intellectual impact mark him out as one of the most intriguing and significant voices of the early French lumières.
Quaderni del Circolo Rosselli, 2021
Intellectual History Review, 2021
In 1788 the Tuscan intellectual Giovanni Maria Lampredi (1731–1793) published in Florence his mos... more In 1788 the Tuscan intellectual Giovanni Maria Lampredi (1731–1793) published in Florence his most famous treatise, Del commercio dei popoli neutrali in tempo di guerra, conceived as a reply to his well-known opponent, Ferdinando Galiani. Since then, many scholars have claimed that Lampredi’s reflection upon neutral trade remains one of the most objective academic contributions on the subject. Furthermore, these interpretations have generally analysed Lampredi’s Del commercio without taking into account the context of work nor the author’s real political intents and intellectual goals. Therefore, the aim of this article is to provide a new interpretation of Lampredi’s ideas on trade and neutrality, demonstrating that, far from being impartial, his theories allow us to appreciate the intellectual dimension of the strategies formulated by European and Mediterranean small powers, such as Tuscany, to buttress their neutral policies and independence. In addition, Del commercio proposed an original conception of neutrality which urged Italian small states to pursue a more autonomous and profitable foreign and commercial policy, taking advantage of their sovereignty and neutral condition. Lampredi’s thought, then, requires us to reconsider the relationship between small powers and neutrality in eighteenth-century Europe.
The Literary Encyclopedia, 2021
The last thirty years have seen increasing interest in the Norman political and economic thinker ... more The last thirty years have seen increasing interest in the Norman political and economic thinker Charles-Irénée de Castel, abbé de Saint-Pierre (1658-1743). The main reason for this attention is to be found in his Projet pour rendre la paix perpétuelle en Europe [Project for Bringing about Perpetual Peace in Europe], published in two volumes between 1713-the year of the Treaty of Utrecht that ended the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714)-and 1717. More specifically, Saint-Pierre's relentless and lifelong insistence on the need to surpass the balance of power system through the foundation of a powerful, sovereign European Diet has led historians to wonder where such a visionary proposal might have originated. As shown by scholars like Maria Grazia Bottaro Palumbo and Jean-Pierre Bois, despite Voltaire's and d'Alembert's snide accusations of utopianism, Saint-Pierre's Projet did not arise from a sort of abstract ideal, but was rather the final outcome of an intense, pragmatic, rational analysis regarding the instability of the European interstate system as well as an original re-elaboration of the former European peace plans put forward by king Henry IV of France (1589-1610) and his minister Sully, and by the French monk Émeric Crucé (c. 1590-1648). However, these undoubtedly brilliant historiographical attempts to deepen and broaden our understanding of Saint-Pierre's radical ideas about war, peace and states nonetheless leave questions that are by no means negligible or secondary. What exactly was the connection, supposing that there was one, between the European Union, so fervently craved for by the abbé, and previous, surprisingly similar projects advocating perpetual peace, published on the other side of the Channel by the English Quakers William Penn (Essay Towards the Present and Future Peace of Europe, 1693) and John Bellers (Some Reasons for an European State, 1710)? And, from a more general point of view, considering Saint-Pierre's well-known admiration for Great Britain and its philosophical, scientific, economic and political culture, how far were the abbé's pacifist programs and theories shaped, influenced or even simply inspired by the British pacifist milieux of the time and vice versa? The research undertaken in the 1980s and 1990s by Peter van den Dungen and Daniel Sabbagh has shown the extent to which these questions are indispensable. In fact, it is no exaggeration to define Saint-Pierre as a passeur (mediator) of pacifist theories between France and Britain (Perrot, 43), implying that, on the one hand, the abbé drew heavily on English Quaker pacifism as espoused by William Penn and John Bellers and that, on the other, his plan for perpetual peace in Europe met with substantial success with British public opinion, at least during the first half of the eighteenth century, as will be explained later. Saint-Pierre's Projet pour rendre la paix perpétuelle en Europe was a text indisputably at the cutting edge of enlightened political science. What lay at the core of the Projet from its very first draft (ébauche), conceived in 1707 in the middle of the dramatic, cruel, ruinous War of the Spanish Succession, was a dazzling intuition: the endless recurrence of war in Europe should not be dismissively attributed to Louis XIV's expansionist policies, as many kept saying on a daily basis, but was to be traced back to the so-called balance of power principle
Rivista Storica Italiana, 2021
Questo articolo intende analizzare la figura di Saint-Pierre come «passeur d'idées» pacifiste tra... more Questo articolo intende analizzare la figura di Saint-Pierre come «passeur d'idées» pacifiste tra Francia e Inghilterra. Le linee fondamentali del Projet pour rendre la paix perpétuelle en Europe circolarono in Gran Bretagna alla vigilia della pace di Utrecht e di quella di Aquisgrana, attestando l’influenza che la proposta di Saint-Pierre esercitò sul pensiero e sulla politica britannici. D’altra parte, l’abbé dialogò con il pacifismo britannico di matrice quacchera e, segnatamente, con i progetti messi in campo da William Penn e da John Bellers, entrambi teorici di uno «European State . Dopo aver esaminato il rapporto tra l’Essay di Penn e Saint-Pierre, l’articolo dimostrerà come numerosi elementi del Some Reasons di Bellers confluirono nel Projet con molte convergenze nel lessico e nei contenuti, dalle quali si evince che Saint-Pierre si era ispirato anche a Bellers. Vi fu pertanto un costante scambio intellettuale tra l’abbé e il pensiero politico, economico e filosofico britannico.
Les écrits de l’abbé Castel de Saint-Pierre, 2021
Le Discours sur la manière d’écrire l’histoire représente assurément le texte le plus systématiqu... more Le Discours sur la manière d’écrire l’histoire représente assurément le texte le plus systématique et, par conséquent, le plus significatif de la réflexion historiographique de Saint-Pierre mais, malheureusement, pas encore suffisamment approfondie par les historiens de l’abbé. Bien que n’ayant jamais pu publier le traité, dont il ne reste rien d’autre que le manuscrit conservé à Rouen, Saint-Pierre amena ici à maturité sa très personnelle et, sous maints aspects, originale conception de l’ars historica – précisément la « manière d’écrire l’histoire », significative non seulement pour réinterpréter certains de ses ouvrages édités par la suite et pour reconstruire le vif débat français de l’époque sur la pratique historiographique mais aussi pour mieux comprendre le processus génétique et l’anatomie de l’historiographie d’un Voltaire ou d’un Montesquieu, l’histoire « philosophique ».
En cours de publication. © 2018-2020 Les écrits de l’abbé Castel de Saint-Pierre. Carole Dornier, directeur scientifique CRHQ, UMR 6583 ; Pierre-Yves Buard, responsable technique, pôle Document numérique, MRSH — Presses universitaires de Caen — Université de Caen Normandie.
History of European Ideas, 2020
This article analyses the abbé de Saint-Pierre as a mediator of ideas between France and England.... more This article analyses the abbé de Saint-Pierre as a mediator of ideas between France and England. The political proposal of the Projet pour rendre la paix perpétuelle en Europe circulated in Great Britain just before the signing of the peace treaties of Utrecht and Aachen, attesting the influence that Saint-Pierre’s proposal exerted on British thought and politics. The abbé was engaged in dialogue with Quaker pacifists and, in particular, with the projects put forward by William Penn and John Bellers, both theorists of a ‘European State’. After examining the relationship between Penn’s Essay and Saint-Pierre’s ideas, the article will demonstrate how elements of Bellers’s Some Reasons found their way into the Projet with numerous convergences of lexicon and content suggesting that the abbé had drawn inspiration from Bellers. Quaker ideas on politics had a greater effect on Saint-Pierre’s conception of peace and international relations than is commonly recognized. In fact, there was a constant intellectual exchange between the abbé and British political, economic and philosophical thought.
Books by Giulio Talini
La pubblicazione è stata realizzata grazie al contributo della Direzione Generale Educazione, Ric... more La pubblicazione è stata realizzata grazie al contributo della Direzione Generale Educazione, Ricerca e Istituti Culturali del Ministero della Cultura italiano nonché della Fondazione Circolo Rosselli.
Conference Presentations by Giulio Talini
Quand je ne serai animé que de l'amour du bien, rien ne m'arrêtera". This is how Samuel Demissy (... more Quand je ne serai animé que de l'amour du bien, rien ne m'arrêtera". This is how Samuel Demissy (1755-1820), a renowned merchant and ship owner from La Rochelle, replied to his cousin Pierre-Samuel Meschinet de Richemond on 26 December 1789. More specifically, Demissy referred to his adherence to the Society of the Friends of the Blacks (Société des ami des noirs) and his determination to uphold the abolitionist cause in the National Constituent Assembly. My paper aims to clarify why and how a French slave trader like Demissy could come to this apparently paradoxical conclusion and to which extent his unusual political and intellectual trajectory can enrich our understanding of the contradictions of abolitionism. After years spent studying the economic cultures of French merchants and planters and their relation to imperial state-building in the Caribbean colonies, I believe that Demissy's case, hardly explored by scholars
1B-Session/Atelier 2: Race and Racialization/Race et racialisation Salle 10 Chair/Présidence: Arl... more 1B-Session/Atelier 2: Race and Racialization/Race et racialisation Salle 10 Chair/Présidence: Arlette Gautier, Université de Brest-LABERS D'esclave à officier ? Ascension, exclusion et racialisation des hommes de couleur dans l'empire colonial français au XVIII e siècle Anna Forestier, Centre Mousnier, Sorbonne Université
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Papers by Giulio Talini
En cours de publication. © 2018-2020 Les écrits de l’abbé Castel de Saint-Pierre. Carole Dornier, directeur scientifique CRHQ, UMR 6583 ; Pierre-Yves Buard, responsable technique, pôle Document numérique, MRSH — Presses universitaires de Caen — Université de Caen Normandie.
Books by Giulio Talini
Conference Presentations by Giulio Talini
En cours de publication. © 2018-2020 Les écrits de l’abbé Castel de Saint-Pierre. Carole Dornier, directeur scientifique CRHQ, UMR 6583 ; Pierre-Yves Buard, responsable technique, pôle Document numérique, MRSH — Presses universitaires de Caen — Université de Caen Normandie.