Andrew Mansfield – författare

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 the political theory in the two countries and the exchange between them. At the beginning of the eighteenth century, Britain and France were on divergent political paths. Yet in the first three decades of that century, the growing impetus of mixed government in Britain influenced the political theory of its long-standing enemy. Shaped by experiences and ideologies of the seventeenth century, thinkers in both states exhibited a desire to produce great change by integrating past wisdom with modern knowledge. A Scottish Jacobite émigré living in Paris, Ramsay employed a synthesis of British and French principles to promote a Stuart restoration to the British throne that would place Britain at the centre of a co-operative Europe. Mansfield reveals that Ramsay was an important intellectual conduit for the two countries, whose contribution to the history of political thought has been greatly under appreciated. Including 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 political, religious, intellectual, and cultural history, as well as the early Enlightenment.

Transcending the traditional categories of ‘medieval’ and ‘early modern’ to analyse pan-European attitudes and behaviours, Sex and Sexuality in Europe, 1100–1750 provides students with a grounding in the history of sexuality by supplying both a detailed analysis of the existing historiographical debates but also analysis of the primary sources such as autobiographies and contemporary literature.Offering an accessible overview that places sex and sexuality within the historical context of the time period, it creates a deeper understanding of connections and differences across Europe. An interdisciplinary work, it draws on cultural, social, religious, philosophical, literary, economic and scientific ideas while incorporating theory from within the field to broaden perspective of the history of sexuality. Challenging the separation of the medieval and early modern ‘periods’, this volume highlights a great deal of continuity between 1100 and 1750 across Europe, with change occurring more notably towards the eighteenth century. Key interventions on the role of the passions, the imagination, the ‘two worlds’ motif and subordination are made across the work. Moreover, it questions the belief that the ‘Middle Ages’ was one of sexual repression and highlights a second ‘world’ in which sex was a natural, even celebrated part of life and engages with the belief that the eighteenth century saw a ‘sexual revolution’.This book is essential reading for students, scholars and the general public interested in the history of sexuality.

Transcending the traditional categories of ‘medieval’ and ‘early modern’ to analyse pan-European attitudes and behaviours, Sex and Sexuality in Europe, 1100–1750 provides students with a grounding in the history of sexuality by supplying both a detailed analysis of the existing historiographical debates but also analysis of the primary sources such as autobiographies and contemporary literature.Offering an accessible overview that places sex and sexuality within the historical context of the time period, it creates a deeper understanding of connections and differences across Europe. An interdisciplinary work, it draws on cultural, social, religious, philosophical, literary, economic and scientific ideas while incorporating theory from within the field to broaden perspective of the history of sexuality. Challenging the separation of the medieval and early modern ‘periods’, this volume highlights a great deal of continuity between 1100 and 1750 across Europe, with change occurring more notably towards the eighteenth century. Key interventions on the role of the passions, the imagination, the ‘two worlds’ motif and subordination are made across the work. Moreover, it questions the belief that the ‘Middle Ages’ was one of sexual repression and highlights a second ‘world’ in which sex was a natural, even celebrated part of life and engages with the belief that the eighteenth century saw a ‘sexual revolution’.This book is essential reading for students, scholars and the general public interested in the history of sexuality.