Open AccessThe Role of the Nouvelles Ecclésiastiques in Toppling the Old Regime
Author(s) -
Aleksandra Gieralt
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
le monde français du dix-huitième siècle
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2371-722X
DOI - 10.5206/mfdsecfw.v6i2.14129
Subject(s) - reputation , public opinion , monarchy , order (exchange) , perception , frame (networking) , history , law , sociology , political science , philosophy , politics , epistemology , engineering , economics , telecommunications , finance
Robert Darnton proposes that scandalous books played a role in toppling the old regime by providing “a frame for the public’s perception of events during the crisis of 1787-1788”. He also thinks that rumors, which pamphleteers and propagandists spread through clandestine publications and songs, manipulated public opinion against the monarchy. The Jansenists were among those tarnishing its reputation. Likewise, Cyril B. O’Keefe observes that Voltaire referred to the Jansenists as allies of the freethinking philosophes despite themselves. This order thought that people should read the Bible so that they are not influenced by “false teachings”. The philosophers also proposed a second perusal of our sources. What constitutes rumors is either what subsists of a condemned book or the clandestine publication exposing the falsehood of a canonical opinion.