The project “Prisoners of war between the Bourbon nations and the United Kingdom during the 18th Century: ways of life and humanity in misfortune” studies changing assumptions about captivity in the Ancien Régime and the different worldviews these entail, using specific examples from Britain, France and Spain as case studies. Through the lens of social History, it engages with crucial questions about Europe in a changing world, and it reflects on Protecting freedom and the security of Europe and its citizens, named in the Horizon 2020 Societal Challenge of that name: Rights of/in war and specifically prisoners of war are terms from a specific construction of History and have evolved or, in some cases, regressed, to present-day conventions. The living conditions of a prisoner of war in the eighteenth Century varied according to the moral standards of the time, but also according to religion, social group and notions of honor, of both captor and captive. It was the duty of captors to care for prisoners and the captive’s situation was therefore not necessarily unhappy -there was a place for humanity. This study will analyse prisoners’ feelings and thoughts and how they were considered by their captors and interacted with the communities in which they found themselves, assessing variations and parallels between nations. We will trace an evolution from the beginning of the century to the Napoleonic era, accelerated by the phenomenon of the French Revolution.
What is proposed here is a transcultural study with two main targets: 1) to trace the echoes of the same conflict in the political classes of the United Kingdom, France and Spain, from the War of the Spanish Succession to the Peninsular War. 2) to deepen our knowledge of the situation of and consideration towards prisoners of war in the long 18th century going beyond just one conflict and one group of prisoners in order to make a major contribution on the topic. In aiming to show examples from Spain, it extends, completes and strengthens the studies that are being carried out by Dr. Katherine Astbury. Thus, both applicant and supervisor are ideally suited to work together in order to develop this study and the University of Warwick has a wealth of expertise and experience in the field of prisoner of war studies. We are aware that this is an ambitious proposal, but it also reveals its importance.
We propose to start with the War of Spanish Succession since it changed Europe’s foreign affairs considerably. This war will also offer an ideal opportunity to analyse the situation of prisoners of war from different countries. The main focus will be the way prisoners of war were treated and considered in the United Kingdom, and at the same time the situation of the British ones in other countries, first as enemies and then as allies, mainly the way they felt, and what their correspondence reveals. The primary material will open a huge and interesting field in relation to social classes, political affairs and international perceptions of the strength of a nation, as well as hitherto unexplored aspects of military and social History and questions of the humanitarian in the Ancien Régime. But not only that, since I would like to know how captivity could affect women, which is another innovative aspect. Female captivity as combatant was less common but of course, there are cases that we would highlight. Furthermore we will explore the consequences for women of the imprisonment of their husbands, fathers or sons and the humanitarian efforts women exerted towards the captives.
