2012, Vol., No.27

Autobiography and the Changes in the Medieval Society: The Cases of Guibert de Nogent and of Pierre Abelard

Yong-Jin PARK | 2012, (27) | pp.5~31 | number of Cited : 0

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This article attempts to show the growing self-consciousness expressed in the autobiographies and to reveal the changes of the medieval society and culture, by comparing two autobiographies of Guibert de Nogent and of Pierre Abelard. The twelfth century was a period of rapid and extensive economic, social, and cultural change, wherein the newly emerged urban life expanded but the traditional community became lesser important. So many people were confused in anxiety and discomfort, which led them to look into themselves more closely and to write the autobiography. The most conspicuous among them were Guibert de Nogent’s De vita sua and Pierre Abelard’s Historia calamitatum. Guibert’s autobiography was a sort of ‘confession(confessio)’, but abelard’s was a sort of ‘apology(apologia)’. Guibert confess his sin before God and ask to God or himself who he is, like St Augustine. Abelard talked to his friend his life, with explaining why he suffered misfortune. Both described their lives based on deep looking into themselves and their inner life. Two autobiographies also show the transition in medieval civilization. In Guibert’s De vita sua, the role of Guibert’s mother was a ‘wise man’ in a village, who had knowledge and wisdom, and told the future. It was a feature of the traditional rural society, based on oral tradition, which would give the place to the clerical society, based on literal tradition in the thirteenth century. In Abelard’s Historia calamitatum, he compare knowledge to labor and he made a living from only teaching and writing. So he might be called ‘new wise man’. The economic and social changes in the twelfth century result in the conflicts of old and new values, and consequent ambiguity in social and cultural roles. This situation compelled a monk, and a scholar, to reorder their lives and to explain those conflicts and ambiguity. In a word, the anxiety and the conflicts resulting from the rapid economic and social changes, functioned as a stimulus for autobiography in twelfth century.

Louis XV and Administrative Monarchy

Lee, Young Lim | 2012, (27) | pp.33~57 | number of Cited : 2

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Carrier and the Water Burials in Nantes

OH,Kwang-Ho | 2012, (27) | pp.59~91 | number of Cited : 2

Jean Baptiste Carrier had governed Nantes for 120 days from October 1793 to February 1794 as a proconsul(Représentant du peuple en mission) assigned by the National Convention. However, after the Thermidor in 1794, he was sentenced to death for terrorism in Nantes, and executed in December 1794. The accusation against Carrier was started from the trials of 132 Nantes citizens whom he had decided to prosecute in Paris for their counterrevolutionary activities. During their criminalities investigations, the citizens accused Carrier of his atrocities in Nantes. Especially, they condemned him for the water burials beneath the river of Loire. In fact, these burials were conducted not only by Carrier but also by the Revolutionary Committee of Nantes, the Popular Society of Vincent- la-Montagne and the company of Marat. The tragedy that occurred in Nantes has brought some questions. What were the effects of the measures? Why did they plan to eliminate the catholic priests who had refused the Civil Constitution of Clergy? How many prisoners in the Bouffay and the Entrepôt were drowned in the Loire? Who were the victims? How many times and how were they drowned in the river? Were there, in fact, ‘the Republican Marriage’ and the children’s water burials?In addition, this study focuses on finding the relationship between the Terror of the French Revolution in 1789 and the policies of Carrier in Nantes. There continues a debate on the massacres in Nantes, whether Carrier was entirely responsible for this or was just following the policies in general under the Decemvir. Why did G. Babeuf call the revolutionary regime as the system for the depopulation? Carrier also insisted that he had pursued the demands of the National Convention and the Committee of Public Safety. On the contrary, J.-C. Martin, a French contemporary historian, claimed that Carrier had misunderstood the principles of human rights under the French Revolution and had overstepped those policies. In an other point of view, Carrier was executed for his misbehaviors in Nantes according to Martin’s appraisal. Here, the concrete research on the water burials in the Loire was conducted in this article.

French Radical Republicans' Anti-Clericalism and 1901 Association Law

Min, You-ki | 2012, (27) | pp.93~121 | number of Cited : 4

The purpose of this study is to identify historical significance of the 1901 Association law, which has received relatively little attention throughout the history of anti-clericalism under the French Third Republic, compared to the 1905 law on the Separation of the Churches and the State. To this end, this paper examines political and social circumstances behind the enactment of the Association law, parliamentary disputes over establishing the law, and then anti-clericalism policies promoted by Radical Republican Party’s Emile Combe administration that strictly applied the law. The Association law was enacted in 1901 with the intention of controlling and curbing clericalism responsible for endangering the Third Republic with the Dreyfus affair in the final years of the 19th century. The law, spearheaded by Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau’s ‘Republican Defense Cabinet’ dealt with not only allowing citizens to have the freedom of association, but also controlling Congregation, which was wielding strong influence over the society. During the legislation, the conservative right wing and clericalists argued that Congregation also had a right to enjoy the freedom of association, but Radical Republicans and socialists reputed the idea, saying that being a citizen is basically a prerequisite for a right to association, and therefore Congregation defined as a faith community was not eligible for being a free association. Radical Republican Party’s Emile Combe government, which took power after having won the general election in 1902, rigidly enforced the Association law. The government closed unauthorized Congregations and their affiliate educational institutions, made it a law to ban all congregationist educational activities, and began in earnest to discuss a law on the separation of religion and politics. Placing a high value on democracy, republicanism and secularity, the Party did not object to the Church itself, but to clericalists posing a treat to democracy and republic by colluding with conservative force to intervene in political, social realms. The Association law and the Combe government’s anti-clericalism policy served as a basis for establishing the 1905 law on the Separation of the Churches and the State.

Laicite between the Vichy Government and the Catholic Church

Ji-Hyun PARK | 2012, (27) | pp.123~152 | number of Cited : 4

The objective of this article is to examine the concept of laïcité with reference to the Vichy Government in order to understand the problem of “Hijab Affaire” in France. The Vichy Government had a good partnership with the Catholic Church, and reestablished the law of catholic education(September 4, 1940). This law was against the separation of the church and state (this separation was the principle of the French Republic). However, until now, the French Government was upholding the law passed in 1940, which guarantees the Catholic Church more privileges as compared to those granted to other religions. The French Republic established a law based on laïcité, which provides for the wearing of religious symbols in public schools. Why did the French Republic strictly apply the law with respect to the Hijab Affaire, under the principle of the separation of the church and state?There are three possible answers to this question. First, the Catholic Church had privileges in the past. The Third French Republic had attempted to give the Catholic Church more power than other religions and in 1940, the Vichy Government made and passed laws concerning the educative function of the Catholic Church. Second, the Vichy Government brought back the law passed in 1940 in order to reestablish the former national identity. This Government wanted an educational system that was based on the concept of laïcité. The Catholic Church voluntarily accepted it. These two agencies invented conciliatory laïcité for national education. The Catholic Church was not a universal religion but the traditional and national one in this conciliatory laïcité. Finally, laïcité under the Vichy Government emphasized the national identity and proceeded to have an “exclusive” attitude toward other religions and races. This could have resulted in a policy biased toward anti- Semitism. With respect to this point, we can today observe the double attitude of the French Republic. This attitude has its origins in laïcité practiced by the Vichy Government. Thus, it was necessary to examine the characteristics of laïcité, and how they were different under the Vichy Government and for the Catholic Church.

The Birth of Resistance: The Cases of 'the Museum of Man' and 'the Liberation-Nord'

Yong-Woo Lee | 2012, (27) | pp.153~187 | number of Cited : 2

The 'Bataille pour la production' of the CGT, 1944-1947: Case Study of the Trade Union at Berliet Firm in Lyon

Shin, Dongkyu | 2012, (27) | pp.189~220 | number of Cited : 2

French Christian Intellectuals and Decolonization Issues: The Case of French Indochina

JAE-WON LEE | 2012, (27) | pp.221~250 | number of Cited : 3

During Indochina War, the first French decolonization war, Christian intellectuals were absorbed in discussing the subject and gave their different opinions. Some blamed the solutions of the government including the military one, and others resisted what was considered to be giving up the French mission. However, the majority of Christian intellectuals were convinced that the colonial should be ended by the negotiation with Vietnam and by the withdrawal of French army. They considered Indochina War as an insoluble economic and financial burden as well as an ethical one caused by the victims of the war and by some military way against the terrorism and the revolutionary war. However, at the beginning of the war, some progressive Christians and the ‘serious’ magazines for intellectuals such as Esprit and Thémoignage chrétien didn’t change public opinion. Despite the thirst for peace being increased, there were few who doubted the necessity of sustaining French Union and believed that the colonial business was based on the violence, exploit, and the forced civilization. At the end of the war, especially after the defeat at Dien Bien Phu, the French finally experienced the feeling of “rage, humiliation, shock, grudge, kind of regret and bitterness” and welcomed the treaty of truce with relief. Nevertheless, it can be said that the attentive attitude of the Christian church and the intellectuals played an important role in awakening many Christians as well as those who support the maintaining the colonialization. While the majority of the French sticked to the myth of colonialism without understanding irresistible power of national liberation and didn’t respond to its effect and result, Christian intellectuals supported the resistance movement of the colonies, changed public perception, and made many Frenches accept decolonization. Although they could not overthrow the colonial ideology which was dominant in French society at that time, their behaviorism played an important role in providing the basis for decolonization by making the public aware the cultural relativism that resist the tradition belief for western civilization and by revealing the sense of guilt about what is called ‘the sin of colonialism’.

de Gaulle and the Independence of Algeria

Lee Yong Jae | 2012, (27) | pp.251~269 | number of Cited : 6

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2012, Vol., No.27