
Aagje Deken
(1741–1804), Dutch woman of letters. Deken was the author, in close collaboration with Betje Wolff-Bekker, of closely observed epistolary novels in Dutch, among them De Historie van Mejuffrouw Sara ...

agrarianism
Agrarian societies are those which combine horticulture and animal husbandry in systems of farming. Agrarianism also refers to the romanticization of the rural farm as the ideal place for family life.

Agriculture and Animal Husbandry
From 1740 to 1850, the organization and efficiency of much of western European agriculture were transformed. Sometimes called an agricultural revolution, this process was prior to or concomitant with ...

Alberto Radicati di Passerano
(1698– 1737), Italian-born religious controversialist and author. Alberto Radicati di Passerano, who was born in 1698 either at Passerano or Casalborgone, of an old Piedmontese noble family, did not ...

Alexander Nikolayevich Radishchev
(1749–1802), Russian poet and reformist. The founder of the Russian intelligentsia's radical tradition, Radishchev was a writer and poet whose “Ode to Liberty” inspired the Decembrists when they rose ...

Anatomy Act
Of 1832, enabling the unclaimed bodies of institutionalized paupers to be sold to anatomy schools for dissection. Traditionally, the law had provided surgeons with the remains of executed murderers ...

Ancient Greece
For a long time ancient Greece was viewed as one component of a whole termed “antiquity,” a period largely dominated by Rome. It only acquired individuality and autonomy during the ...

Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome continued to be a major reference point for the culture of the Enlightenment, due notably to the central role played by Latin. There was a gradual decline in ...

ancients and moderns
Medieval readers and writers were strongly aware of their relationship to the past. They viewed classical learning as their inheritance and assumed the responsibility of safeguarding and transmitting ...

Anders Chydenius
(1729–1803), Scandinavian statesman and writer on political economy. Anders Chydenius was an important political figure and political writer, especially in the 1760s. He was a priest at that time and ...