The Society of Prisoners: Anglo-French Wars and Incarceration in the Eighteenth Century. By Renaud Morieux

Abstract

Recently released in paperback, Renaud Morieux’s The Society of Prisoners is now widely available and will be of great interest to social historians of the Atlantic and Caribbean, as well as the Anglo-French context in which he centers his analysis. The prisoner of war in the eighteenth century was caught at the intersection of two key characteristics of the era: endemic warfare and the emergence of moral and legal norms mandating that those wars be conducted in a “civilized and humane” manner. While understanding prisoners of war thus sheds light on central features of the eighteenth century (state development, enlightened humanitarianism, new international laws and norms, etc.), Morieux’s approach to French and British prisoners highlights the multiple, conflicting laws and contingent practices in the liminal zones of the maritime world. Using ego-documents such as petitions, diaries and memoirs, alongside legal treatises, pamphlets, correspondence and material objects, Morieux reads the state archives that form the bulk of his sources against the grain, emphasizing the resilience of societies and individuals caught up in the eighteenth century’s relentless wars.