The Transfer of Revolutionary Culture between Britain, France and Italy (1789-1815)
The transnational circulation of radical ideas of equality and rights has deeply shaped European societies since the revolutionary period. This AHRC-funded project repositions revolutionary translators not as passive collaborators of a predominantly French revolutionary culture but as activists seeking to spread radical, democratic ideas into new contexts. Who were the militant translators? How did they translate? What can these translations tell us about how a transnational revolutionary idiom was adapted, resisted or rejected in the effort to create new political tools for action?
Browse the data
Who were the radical translators? What did they translate? When and how did translation serve as a tool for direct action? Explore our database to find bibliographical information on 800 radicalising translations and prosopographical information on 475 translators, ranging from well-known revolutionaries to lesser-known radicals to anonymous or pseudonymous translators.
Translator’s paratexts are also searchable as separate records. Extensively annotated, these paratexts offer unparalleled insight into how translation performs the work of cultural transfer.
Find out more about Browse the dataRead the blog
Keep up to date with the project team's activities and collaborations, guest features, and ongoing reflections. Look out for the Lives in Translation series for more on key protagonists and developing case studies.
Find out more about Read the blogDiscover our activities
Learn more about upcoming talks and conferences, and our collaborative initiatives that seek to translate revolutionary language into the present.
Find out more about Discover our activitiesFind out more about the project
Find out more about who we are, our project's aims and research methods and developing case-studies.
Read more about our innovative collaborations with translators, performers and members of the public as we seek to bring this rich vein of revolutionary activity back to life. How is our relation to revolutionary ideas mediated by translation even today?
Find out more about Find out more about the projectEvents timeline
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Treaty of Paris, ending the American War of Independence
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Abolition of all religious confraternities in Milan
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Synod of Pistoia called by Peter Leopold, Grand Duke of Tuscany. Local churches declared independent from Rome
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Death penalty abolished in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany
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American Constitution comes into force
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Opening of the Estates General
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Tennis Court Oath
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Opening of the National Constituent Assembly
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Fall of the Bastille
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Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen establishes the liberty of expression and of the press (no preventive censorship for press and books)
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Creation of the utopian working community of San Leuco (close to Naples)
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Publication of Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, vol. 1
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Constitution of 1791 adopted
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Opening of the Legislative Assembly
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Foundation of the Society of United Irishmen
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Ratification of Bill of Rights
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Thomas Hardy founds the London Corresponding Society
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French revolutionary wars (until 1802)
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Royal Proclamation Against Seditious Writings and Publications
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September massacres (until 1792-09-07)
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Opening of the National Convention
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Year I of the Republic
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Execution of Louis XVI
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France declares war on United Kingdom and Holland
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Beginning of the Terror
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Execution of Queen Marie Antoinette
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End of the Society for Constitutional Information
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Suspension of Habeas corpus (until 1801)
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Coup d'état of 9 Thermidor (end of the Terror)
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Abolition of slavery
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Treason Trials of Thomas Hardy, John Thelwall, John Horne Tooke, Thomas Holcroft
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Beginning of the Directory
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Treasonable and Seditious Practices Act and Seditious Meetings Act
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Peace negotiations between United Kingdom and the Directory
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Bonaparte enters Milan
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French invasion expedition to Bantry Bay, Ireland
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Peace between the Pope and the French Republic signed in Tolentino
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Execution of Babeuf
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Proclamation of the Roman Republic
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Irish Rebellion begins
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Irish Republic (until 1798-09-08)
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French troops enter Naples. Creation of the Neapolitan Republic
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Pope Pius VI dies in exile at Valence
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Coup of 18 Brumaire (founding of Consulate, end of Directory)
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Decree against ‘invectives against the government, the social pact, popular sovereignty and the glory of the army’. Most newspapers abolished
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Battle of Marengo. French control over Northern Italy
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First proscription list of radicals
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Act of Union establishes the Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
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Signing of the Concordat
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Expulsion of Theophilanthropists from churches
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Consulte de Lyon. Creation of the Italian republic
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Treaty of Amiens
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Slavery re-established in colonies
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Constitution of the year X, instating the Consulate for life
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Suppression of the Classe de sciences morales et politiques of the Institut, last refuge of liberal intellectuals
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Last Festival of the Republic
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Civil Code adopted
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Censors appointed to all newspapers
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Napoleon crowned Emperor of the French
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Government office of censors for newspapers and theaters
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Napoleon crowned King of Italy in the Duomo of Milan
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Battle of Trafalgar. Britain defeats the French-Spanish fleet
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Battle of Austerlitz. Napoleon defeats Austro-Russian troops
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Republican calendar abolished
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Slave trade abolished
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Joachim Murat king of Naples
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Papal territories annexed to the French Empire
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Direction de la Librairie established to control book printers
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Napoleon marries Marie-Louise of Austria
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Birth of the King of Rome
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Battle of Leipzig
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Allied troops occupy Paris
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Napoleon abdicates and is exiled to Elba
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Congress of Vienna
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Battle of Waterloo