The Society of Prisoners : Anglo-French Wars and Incarceration in the Eighteenth Century

War captivity is an ideal observatory to address three interrelated questions. First, I argue that in order to understand what a prisoner of war was in the eighteenth century, from a legal viewpoint, we must forget what we know about this notion, as it has been shaped by twentieth-century international conventions. In the eighteenth century, the distinction between a prisoner of war, a hostage, a criminal and a slave was not always clear-cut, in theory and even more so in practice. Second, war captivity tells us something important about the eighteenth-century state, how it transformed itself, and why it endured. The third approach is a social history of international relations. The aim here is to understand how eighteenth-century societies were impacted by war: how the detention of foreign enemies on home soil revealed and challenged social values, representations, hierarchies, and practices. The book’s argument hinges on the experience of prisoners of war as the pivot of social relations within and outside the prison, between Britons and French and between prisoners and host communities. War does not simply destroy society, but it also creates new sorts of social ties.The book addresses a wide range of topics, such as the ethics of war, philanthropy, forced migrations, the sociology of the prison and the architecture of detention places. One of its strengths is the sheer magnitude and diversity of the archival material used, in English and in French, most of which have been little explored by other historians. Cover The Society of Prisoners: Anglo-French Wars and Incarceration in the Eighteenth Century Copyright Acknowledgements Contents List of illustrations Book cover Charts List of Abbreviations Note on Text Introduction I. War Captivity: A ‘Fragile’ Social Institution II. What Was a Prisoner of War? The Normative Framework and Its Limitations A. Categorizing the Prisoner of War B. Spaces and Scales C. Peace and War, Peace in War III. The State at War IV. The War Prison A. The War Prison as Society B. The War Prison in Society 1 Defining the Prisoner of War in International Law: A Comparative Approach I. Introduction II. Can ‘Civilians’ be Prisoners of War? A. Constraints in Warfare and Exemptions B. Women and Children III. Traitors and Rebels IV. Private and Public Prisoners A. Who Owns the Captive of War? B. The Hostage, a War Captive Beyond the Reach of the State C. Fishermen V. Conclusion 2 Hate or Love Thy Enemy? Humanitarian Patriotism I. Introduction II. The Duty to Treat the Enemy with ‘Humanity’ A. The Law of Nations B. The Civilized Nature of Eighteenth-century Wars III. The ‘Inhuman’ Treatment of Prisoners of War in Their Own Words A. The Prisoners’ Complaints B. The Effect of the Complaints IV. The 1759–60 Philanthropic Campaign A. The Donors B. Giving to the Enemy: Treason or Moral Obligation? C. The Recipients IV. The Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars A. Propaganda Campaigns and Parliamentary Inquiries B. Prisoners of War and Missionaries V. Conclusion 3 The Multiple Geographies of War Captivity I. Introduction II. The Caribbean Circulatory Regime A. The Caribbean Mediterranean: A Crossroads between Empires B. Who Should Pay for the Prisoners of War? C. Regional Cartels of Exchange D. The Flags of Truce System: The Prisoners as Trade Enablers III. Atlantic Crossings A. Local Detention or Transportation to Europe? The American War of Independence B. Manning Enemy Ships IV. European Mobility A. Moving by Land or Sea: The Problem of Distance B. The Mechanics of Inland Journeys C. Slipping Away D. The ‘Trackless Wild’: Prisoners on the Road V. Conclusion 4 The Anatomy of the War Prison I. Introduction II. Emergency Buildings (Late Seventeenth Century–American War of Independence) A. A Question of Time B. Islands and Towers C. The Fear of Contamination D. The Castle-type III. Prisoners of War in ‘Reformed Prisons’: The British Case A. New Challenges, New Solutions: The American War of Independence B. The First War Prisons: The Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars IV. Coexistence or Separation? A. Prisoners of War and Criminals B. Hell is Other Prisoners of War V. Violent Buildings A. Holes B. Walls C. Fire VI. Conclusion 5 The Reinvention of Society? I. Introduction II. The Parole Zones A. The Parole System B. Disputes of Honour III. The Worth of the Prisoners A. The Search for Equivalences B. Crossing Racial Boundaries: The Case of the Atlantic Ocean IV. Conclusion 6 War Captivity and Social Interactions I. Introduction II. A Multi-layered Surveillance System A. Who Guarded the Prisoners of War? B. Rules, Punishments, and Rewards III. Prison Riots A. The Power of Insults B. Legitimate and Illegitimate Violence C. Legal Consequences IV. Crossing the Boundary A. ‘The Corruption of Authority’ B. Extortion and Corruption C. The Prisoners’ Dilemma V. The Prison as Synapse A. Escapes B. The Prison Market VI. Conclusion Conclusion Epilogue: Napoleon the Prisoner of Peace I. Napoleon as a Prisoner of War II. A New Definition of War: The Lawyers’ Debates III. St Helena, the Island-prison Sources I. Archives II. Printed primary sources Bibliography Index "In the eighteenth century, as wars between Britain, France, and their allies raged across the world, hundreds of thousands of people were captured, detained, or exchanged. They were shipped across oceans, marched across continents, or held in an indeterminate limbo. The Society of Prisoners challenges us to rethink the paradoxes of the prisoner of war, defined at once as an enemy and as a fellow human being whose life must be spared. Amidst the emergence of new codifications of international law, the practical distinctions between a prisoner of war, a hostage, a criminal, and a slave were not always clear-cut. Renaud Morieux's vivid and lucid account uses war captivity as a point of departure, investigating how the state transformed itself at war, and how whole societies experienced international conflicts. The detention of foreigners on home soil created the conditions for multifaceted exchanges with the host populations, involving prison guards, priests, pedlars, and philanthropists. Thus, while the imprisonment of enemies signals the extension of Anglo-French rivalry throughout the world, the mass incarceration of foreign soldiers and sailors also illustrates the persistence of non-conflictual relations amidst war. Taking the reader beyond Britain and France, as far as the West Indies and St Helena, this story resonates in our own time, questioning the dividing line between war and peace, and forcing us to confront the untenable situations in which the status of the enemy is left to the whim of the captor."-- Book jacket In the eighteenth century, as wars between Britain, France, and their allies raged across the world, hundreds of thousands of people were captured, detained, or exchanged. They were shipped across oceans, marched across continents, or held in an indeterminate limbo. The Society of Prisoners challenges us to rethink the paradoxes of the prisoner of war, defined at once as an enemy and as a fellow human being whose life must be spared. Renaud Morieux redefines how we understand the notion of what a prisoner of war was before international legal and social conventions were introduced - in the eighteenth century, the distinction between a prisoner of war, a hostage, a criminal, and a slave was not always clear-cut. Morieux then uses war captivity as a lens through which to observe the eighteenth-century state, how it transformed itself, and why it endured. In so doing, he invites the reader to trace the history of the prisoners via a journey between Britain, France, the West Indies, and St Helena. Very little has been written of the history of prisoners of war before the twentieth century, and Renaud Morieux seeks to correct this in this new history of war captivity in the eighteenth century, mining archives in Britain and France to take a fresh look at international relations through the histories of prisoners and host communities.