"Goods of the Nation": book heritage and the building of a republican space during the Jacobin Triennium (1796-1799)

Journal title RISORGIMENTO (IL)
Author/s Francesco Dendena
Publishing Year 2016 Issue 2016/1
Language Italian Pages 36 P. 81-116 File size 260 KB
DOI 10.3280/RISO2016-001004
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This paper analyses the nationalization of the book heritage in the Cisalpine Republic. It also accounts for the Republic’s failure in creating a national library system and examines the cultural dynamics associated with the establishment of the republican regime. The first part of the essay deals with the legislature’s debates and examines the Floreal 19th law, which led to the confiscation of the Church property. It also stresses the difference from what had previously occurred in France and discusses the way requisitions were carried out in different departments. The economic aspects of nationalization gradually acquire a more political dimension. This becomes self-evident when the author elaborates on the measures taken in the second half of 1798 which resulted in the framework law of Pluvieux 3, year VII. Due to the Austro-Russian invasion the law was never enforced. Nevertheless it inspired the Consular period’s library system, which turned an ancien régime’s space of knowledge into a civic space for the revolutionary project.

Keywords: Cisalpine Republic, cultural policies, nationalization of the Church property, book heritage

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Francesco Dendena, «Le cose della Nazione»: patrimonio librario e costruzione dello spazio repubblicano nel Triennio (1796-1799) in "RISORGIMENTO (IL)" 1/2016, pp 81-116, DOI: 10.3280/RISO2016-001004