The eighteenth-century passion to order and systematize as well as to measure and calculate has been explained as a result of both the Scientific Revolution and the emergence of centralized states.... Show moreThe eighteenth-century passion to order and systematize as well as to measure and calculate has been explained as a result of both the Scientific Revolution and the emergence of centralized states. The first, enabled the new experimental philosophy that quantified the 'sciences', while the latter created the need for statistics (e.g., demographic data). This paper explores the diffusion of the ‘quantifying spirit’ among the wider public in the eighteenth century and offers alternative explanation for the interest of the population at large in structured quantitative data. Using a corpus of 188 handwritten chronicles, produced by a heterogenous group of middle-class authors from the Low Countries, between 1500-1800, it analyses how early modern chroniclers used Western/Hindu-Arabic numerals in their writings, and under which circumstances this changed in the eighteenth century. From the analysis it appears that chroniclers used meteorological measurement and demographic data for different purposes than natural philosophers and (centralized) governments. Moreover, it transpires that the collection of quantitative data was initially stimulated by local governments, subsequently made public by various media, and picked up by the society at large and higher authorities. Show less
One of the reasons why early modern people chronicled current events in their communities, was to search for patterns. Chroniclers frequently recorded odd weather patterns (scorching summers or... Show moreOne of the reasons why early modern people chronicled current events in their communities, was to search for patterns. Chroniclers frequently recorded odd weather patterns (scorching summers or frigid winters), famines, troop movements, wars, epidemics, prices, prodigies, monstrous births, and other premonitions to search for elements that could help them to comprehend current, and to anticipate on, future events. In this paper I will explore how chroniclers from the Low Countries constructed causal relations between various phenomena and events, and how that changed between 1500 and 1850. I will do so by combining computational and historical methods to analyse 250 early modern Dutch chronicles, focusing especially on authors of the middling sort (e.g., farmers, merchants, and local officials). As a result, we gain insight on how they tried to get grip on current events in their attempt to limit future harm.In this paper I will focus especially on how chroniclers collected data on epidemics, meteorological phenomena, and food- and fuel prices, knowledge which they regarded as useful. Using this evidence, I will argue that throughout the period, this group continued to believe in the idea that disruptive events could have both human and natural but also supernatural origins. Both faith and reason conditioned responses to potential hazards, and the solutions chosen were discussed side-by-side, usually without an apparent sense of conflict. However, natural explanations became more complex over time, which resulted in more detailed explanations on the causes and consequences of (future) hazards. By focussing on the information that chroniclers regarded as useful, and studying the causal relations they constructed, we can not only reconstruct how chroniclers coped with contemporary hazards and crises, but also how they used their chronicle as a compass and anchor to get some grip on events as they sailed into an uncertain future. Show less
