Pauper Letters and Petitions for Poor Relief In Germany and Great Britain 1770-1914

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Historical research has shown a new and intensified interest in life testimonies and documents of the lower classes. In this context German historians have so far paid little attention to sources which have met with increasing interest in British research over the past years, namely letters, applications and petitions written by or for paupers to their home parish in order to apply for relief. Such 'pauper narratives' are preserved in British as well as in German archives, often in large numbers and alongside begging letters and other narratives.This project proposes: to collect and edit on-line a range of pauper narratives from comparable British and German communities over the period between 1770 and 1914; to analyse the linguistic structure and content of these narratives. This will be accomplished at three levels: an IT-based analysis of the linguistic similarities and differences between narrative forms; the quantitative study of recurring phrases, rhetorical forms and strategic reasoning within each narrative form; and the systematic comparison of the linguistic content of narratives with a corpus of other material written by or for ordinary people, including autobiographies, radical speeches and familial letters; the use of these sources and the linguistic analysis to explore issues such as the degree to, which the British and German poor claimed or developed agency when it came to entitlement; the use of political language and participation in the political process by the poor; and-the strategic and rhetorical methods (including for instance claiming belonging or Christian duty) used, by the poor to establish or maintain deservingness.