Viatica (Mar 2023)
Les mauristes et le voyage savant aux xviie et xviiie siècles
Abstract
The travels of the Maurists are a milestone in the history of the scholarly practices of the Republic of Letters in the modern era. The golden age of Maurist travel was between 1660 and 1720. The ten or so monks involved (including Mabillon, Montfaucon and Martène) were primarily monks, and their travel practices were part of a tradition and a precise normative framework. Beyond the justifications and modalities of the journeys, it is also the narration of these peregrinations that raises questions: correspondence and travel notes precede or accompany the writing of true accounts, first handwritten and then intended for publication, in Latin and then in French. After the 1720s, the Mauritians adopted the model of the learned societies of the Enlightenment and their travels were more limited, essentially in the context of the elaboration of provincial histories.
