Ebook: Ideas of Monarchical Reform: Fénelon, Jacobitism and the Political Works of the Chevalier Ramsay

This book examines the political works of Andrew Michael Ramsay (1683-1743) within the context of early eighteenth century British and French political thought. In the first monograph on Ramsay in English for over sixty years, the author uses Ramsay to engage in a broader evaluation of thetheory in the two countries and the exchange between them.At the beginning of the eighteenth century Britain and France were on divergent paths of political sovereignty. After the Glorious Revolution (1688) Britain had rejected James II's absolutist pretensions in favour of a monarch that governed through Parliament, while in France Louis XIV ruled a seemingly absolute state. Yet in the first three decades of that century, the growing impetus towards mixedgovernment in Britain influenced the political theory of its long-standing enemy. Shaped by experiences and ideologies of the seventeenth century, thinkers in both states expressed a desire to stimulate change by integrating past wisdom with modern knowledge. A Scottish Jacobite emigre living inParis, Ramsay employed a synthesis of British and French principles to promote a Stuart restoration. He offered a daring vision of European co-operation that would allow Britain to claim its place as the "capital of the universe." Adapting a range of philosophies, including his mentor ArchbishopFenelon's opposition to Louis XIV, Ramsay created a compelling image of the future that grappled with key political ideas extant in Britain and France. Mansfield reveals that Ramsay was an important intellectual conduit for the two countries, whose contribution to the history of political thoughthas been greatly under appreciated.Due to the extensive analysis of the period between the 1660s and 1730s in Britain and France, this book will be of interest to scholars and students with an interest in the history of political thought, religious, intellectual, political and cultural history, as well as the earlyEnlightenment.