VO LT A I R E F O U N DA T I O N U N I V E R S I T Y OF OX F OR D www.voltaire.ox.ac.uk ISSN 2634-8047 Paul Rapin Thoyras and the art of eighteenth-century historiography MIRIAM FRANCHINA FRANCHINA Rapin’s unprecedented standards of historiographical accuracy triggered both politically informed reinterpretations of the Histoire in partisan newspapers and a multitude of adaptations that catered to an ever-growing number of readers. Despite a long-standing assessment as a “standard Whig historian,” Rapin fashioned the impartial persona of a judgehistorian, in compliance with the expectations of the Republic of Letters. His personal trajectory illuminates how scholars pursued trustworthy knowledge and how they reconsidered the boundaries of their community in the face of the booming printing industry and the interconnected growth of general readership. Rapin’s oeuvre provided significant raw material for Voltaire’s and Hume’s Enlightenment historiographical narratives. A comparative foray into their respective different approaches to history and authorship cautions us against assuming a direct transition from the Republic of Letters into an Enlightenment Republic of Letters. To study the diff usion and the impact of Rapin’s works is to understand that empirical history-writing, defi ned by its commitment to erudition in the service of impartiality, coexisted with histoire philosophique. Dr. Miriam Franchina received her PhD from the University of Halle, Germany. She is currently a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Trier for the project “Religion, slavery and race in the age of revolutions: Catholicism from colonial Saint-Domingue to independent Haiti” funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. Paul Rapin Thoyras and the art of eighteenth-century historiography This is the fi rst book on the genesis, impact, and reception of the most widely read history of England of the early eighteenth century: Paul Rapin Thoyras’s Histoire d’Angleterre (1724–1727). The Histoire and complementary works (Extraits des actes de Rymer, 1710–1723; Dissertation sur les Whigs et les Torys, 1717) gave practical expression to theorizations of history against Pyrrhonian postulations by foregrounding an empirical form of history-writing. OX FOR D U N I V E R SI T Y STUDIES IN THE ENLIGHTENMENT DISTRIBUTION PROHIBITED BY THE PUBLISHER Pau l R a p i n Thoy r a s a n d t h e a rt of e igh t e e n t h- c e n t u ry h i s t or io gr a p h y DISTRIBUTION PROHIBITED BY THE PUBLISHER Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment – formerly Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century (SVEC), is dedicated to eighteenth-century research. General editor Gregory S. Brown, University of Nevada, Las Vegas Associate editors Jenny Mander, University of Cambridge Alexis Tadié, Sorbonne Université Editorial board Katherine Brading, Duke University Jean-Luc Chappey, Université de Paris Panthéon-Sorbonne Nicholas Cronk, University of Oxford Andrew Curran, Wesleyan University Elisabeth Décultot, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg Nathalie Ferrand, École normale supérieure Amy Freund, Southern Methodist University Charlotte Guichard, Centre national de la recherche scientifique Catherine Jaffe, Texas State University Andrew Jainchill, Queen’s University, Canada Andrew Kahn, University of Oxford Lawrence Klein, University of Cambridge Avi Lifschitz, University of Oxford Christophe Martin, Sorbonne Université Pierre Musitelli, École normale supérieure Christy Pichichero, George Mason University Kate Quinsey, University of Windsor Glenn Roe, Sorbonne Université Ayana O. Smith, Indiana University Karen Stolley, Emory University Geoffrey Turnovsky, University of Washington DISTRIBUTION PROHIBITED BY THE PUBLISHER Pau l R a p i n Thoy r a s a n d t h e a rt of e igh t e e n t h- c e n t u ry h i s t or io gr a p h y MIRIAM FR ANCHINA Paul Rapin Thoyras and the art of eighteenth-century historiography DISTRIBUTION PROHIBITED BY THE PUBLISHER Published by Liverpool University Press on behalf of © 2021 Voltaire Foundation, University of Oxford ISBN 978 1 80085 989 0 Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment 2021:12 ISSN 2634-8047 (Print) ISSN 2634-8055 (Online) Voltaire Foundation 99 Banbury Road Oxford OX2 6JX, UK www.voltaire.ox.ac.uk A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library The correct style for citing this book is Miriam Franchina, Paul Rapin Thoyras and the art of eighteenth-century historiography Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment (Liverpool, Liverpool University Press, 2021) Cover illustration: George Vertue, Paul Rapin, 1661–1725. French historian. National Galleries of Scotland. Given by John Ritchie Findlay 1894. Printed and bound by TJ International Ltd, Padstow, Cornwall, PL28 8RW DISTRIBUTION PROHIBITED BY THE PUBLISHER Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment Paul Rapin Thoyras and the art of eighteenth-century historiography This is the first book on the genesis, impact, and reception of the most widely read history of England of the early eighteenth century: Paul Rapin Thoyras’s Histoire d’Angleterre (1724–1727). The Histoire and complementary works (Extraits des actes de Rymer, 1710–1723; Dissertation sur les Whigs et les Torys, 1717) gave practical expression to theorizations of history against Pyrrhonian postulations by foregrounding an empirical form of history-writing. Rapin’s unprecedented standards of historiographical accuracy triggered both politically informed reinterpretations of the Histoire in partisan newspapers and a multitude of adaptations that catered to an ever-growing number of readers. Despite a long-standing assessment as a “standard Whig historian,” Rapin fashioned the impartial persona of a judge-historian, in compliance with the expectations of the Republic of Letters. His personal trajectory illuminates how scholars pursued trustworthy knowledge and how they reconsidered the boundaries of their community in the face of the booming printing industry and the interconnected growth of general readership. Rapin’s oeuvre provided significant raw material for Voltaire’s and Hume’s Enlightenment historiographical narratives. A comparative foray into their respective different approaches to history and authorship cautions us against assuming a direct transition from the Republic of Letters into an Enlightenment Republic of Letters. To study the diffusion and the impact of Rapin’s works is to understand that empirical historywriting, defined by its commitment to erudition in the service of impartiality, coexisted with histoire philosophique. DISTRIBUTION PROHIBITED BY THE PUBLISHER Ricordando Toffy DISTRIBUTION PROHIBITED BY THE PUBLISHER Contents Contents Contents List of illustrations ix Acknowledgments xi List of abbreviations xv Introduction 1 Chapter 1: History-writing in the Republic of Letters 15 Chapter 2: Paul Rapin Thoyras and his Histoire project 63 Chapter 3: Impartiality in the making in the Histoire d’Angleterre 111 Chapter 4: Rapin’s oeuvre in the Republic of Letters and beyond 177 Chapter 5: History-writing and Enlightenment 245 Bibliography 285 Index 325 vii 

Paul Rapin Thoyras and the art of eighteenth-century historiography MIRIAM FRANCHINA OX FOR D U N I V E R SI T Y STUDIES IN THE ENLIGHTENMENT