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

历史研究对下层阶级的生活证言和文献表现出新的和增强的兴趣。在这种背景下，德国历史学家迄今为止很少关注过去几年来在英国研究中日益引起兴趣的资料来源，即由穷人或为穷人写给其家乡教区的信件、申请和请愿书，以申请救济。这样的“乞丐叙述”在英国和德国的档案中都保存了下来，通常是大量的，还有乞讨信和其他叙述。该项目建议：在线收集和编辑一系列来自1770年至1914年期间可比较的英国和德国社区的贫民叙述；分析这些叙事的语言结构和内容。这将在三个层面上完成：基于信息技术的叙事形式语言异同分析；定量研究每一种叙事形式中反复出现的短语、修辞形式和策略推理；将叙事的语言内容与普通人写的或为普通人写的其他材料的语料库进行系统的比较，包括自传，激进的演讲和家庭信件；利用这些资源和语言分析来探索诸如英国和德国穷人在权利方面主张或发展代理的程度等问题；穷人使用政治语言和参与政治进程；以及穷人用来建立或维持应得性的策略和修辞方法（包括例如声称属于或基督徒的责任）。

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.