Preliminary Programme

Wed 22 March
    8:30
    10:45
    14:15
    16:30

Thu 23 March
    8:30
    10:45
    14:15
    16:30

Fri 24 March
    8:30
    10:45
    14:15
    16:30

Sat 25 March
    8:30
    10:45
    14:15
    16:30

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Wednesday 22 March 2006 8:30
E-1 RUR04 Elites and progress in agriculture
Room E
Networks: Elites and forerunners , Rural Chair: Nadine Vivier
Organizers: - Discussant: Nadine Vivier
Laurent Bourquin : Country Gentlemen and Noble Agronomists. Agriculture and Noble Identity in Modern France (XVIth-XVIIIth Century)
Under the Old Regime, land was the core of nobiliary identity and nobles should not lose rank by making profit out of industry or money handling. Thus, noble families had to possess a domain and get a sufficient income out of their estate. But property brings prestige as well as ... (Show more)
Under the Old Regime, land was the core of nobiliary identity and nobles should not lose rank by making profit out of industry or money handling. Thus, noble families had to possess a domain and get a sufficient income out of their estate. But property brings prestige as well as a living ideal. New-rich commoners, even ennobled by letter or office, bought domains on which they could spend several months keeping an eye on the agricultural production.
All along early modern times, many country gentlemen managed the development of their land by themselves. Most customs allowed them to graft fruit trees and even, if necessary, to plough. They hired labourers, dispatched work and controlled it during harvest. The diaries show their attention to the domain’s budget balance, even when the improvement of agricultural techniques was not their care. There were still few experiments such as Olivier de Serre’s on his land of Le Pradel at the end of the XVIth Century.
Agronomy, improving in England by the beginning of the XVIIth century, spread slowly and tardily among French nobility. During the Enlightenment, noble agronomists were still scarce but knew how to spread their knowledge by publishing the results of their experiments. The marquis de Turbilly in Anjou, along with the baron de Lapeyrouse in the Toulousain or the marquis de Costa in Savoy tested processes that had been proven before in England, and also experimented new ones. However, this thought process, linked with physiocracy and the expansion of agricultural societies, did not aim at increasing their income. They thought their mission was to enlighten the nation by sharing knowledge and know-how. As in international trade, or in textile industry, these men wanted to embody the vanguard of progress. To them, agronomy was a new field where nobles had a decisive part to play, both for philanthropic concerns and as a way to reassert their social domination. (Show less)

Stefan Brakensiek : Experts and progress in agriculture, Germany 1750-1850
The paper deals with the professionalisation of agrarian expertise, beginning with the ‚inspired laymen‘ who dominated the enlightened debate on agriculture, passing to the ‚heroes of progress‘ during the reform-era in the early 19th century, and ending with some considerations upon the significance of agrarian bureaucrats until 1850. It analyzes ... (Show more)
The paper deals with the professionalisation of agrarian expertise, beginning with the ‚inspired laymen‘ who dominated the enlightened debate on agriculture, passing to the ‚heroes of progress‘ during the reform-era in the early 19th century, and ending with some considerations upon the significance of agrarian bureaucrats until 1850. It analyzes the emergence of an agrarian discourse, the development of corresponding institutions and the agency of participating elites. (Show less)

Richard W Hoyle : Landowning elites and progress in English agriculture, 1500-1800
This paper will argue that agricultural innovation was not a major concern of English landowners before the late eighteenth century. There were moments in which they engaged in the introduction of new crops – woad in the late sixteenth century for instance – which were claimed to offer quick (and ... (Show more)
This paper will argue that agricultural innovation was not a major concern of English landowners before the late eighteenth century. There were moments in which they engaged in the introduction of new crops – woad in the late sixteenth century for instance – which were claimed to offer quick (and unrealisable) profits. The Hartlib circle of the 1650s and 1660s dabbled in new crops and agricultural methods. Landowners also became involved in their estates at times of agricultural depression when they needed to support tenants financially or assist them in converting from arable to pastoral husbandry. But their behaviour – when seen over the whole period – was primarily rent seeking. Seventeenth-century fen drainage and continuing enclosure are best seen in this light. The key question is why there was a new development of intellectual interest in improvement amongst some prominent landowners, including George III, in the later eighteenth century. The forms this took, including experimentation to prove new techniques, the building of model farms and the establishment of societies to advocate new methods will all be considered. (Show less)

María Dolores Muñoz Dueñas : Élites, liberal reformation and development in Spanish agriculture (1750-1868)
The purpose of this paper is to trace the contemporary élites in connection with agricultural development in Spain and, more specifically, it focuses on the role played by the new electoral aristocracy. The origins of this can be found in the emergence of a most ambitious agricultural discourse in the ... (Show more)
The purpose of this paper is to trace the contemporary élites in connection with agricultural development in Spain and, more specifically, it focuses on the role played by the new electoral aristocracy. The origins of this can be found in the emergence of a most ambitious agricultural discourse in the second half of the 18th century, as formulated by such well-known reformist ministers like Campomanes and Jovellanos, the practical side of which would pass unnoticed. The outspread of such discourse is enriched by the channels of the new “illustrated” sociability. Under the aegis of a new minority of land-owner noblemen and members of the clergy, the debates and projects on agricultural instruction and support proliferate. The Church, that then suffered the erosive effect of the incipient secularisation and the latent criticism against riches and privileges, seemed, however, to go through a good time in economical matters, while maintaining a certain degree of superiority with respect to nobility in land hereditary management and in market control, thanks no doubt to an efficient financial and administrative network. Some parsons collaborated enthusiastically in the spreading of agronomic news and in the social positive evaluation of the land labourer class. The revolutionary dynamics will end up by substantially modifying that panorama. It is the new political élites who, by acting on behalf of the citizens and through the use of an ideological discourse very close to anticlericalism, determined the priorities in the agenda of the construction of a liberal State: the pending agricultural reform required as a condition the disentailment or sales of Church lands and also the abolition of the Church tithe, which, among other tax benefits for agriculture, it proved to be a stimulus for innovation and technological change. The extraordinary efforts made by the land-owner élites to overcome the power of the clergy during the first half of the 19th century can be set in contrast with the weakness of other reforms that have comparatively more relevance and more democratic significance. The general delay of agricultural education in Spain could be seen in this light through biographical illustrations and concrete experiences. (Show less)



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