Courier du Bas-Rhin (or Courrier du Bas Rhin, lit. Courier of Lower Rhine) was one of the leading European papers of the late 18th century and the Enlightenment period. [1] It was published in French language in Kleve (Cleves) (then a Prussian exclave east of the Dutch Republic [1] [2] from 1767. [1] [3]
In the 18th century, the Netherlands (United Provinces) were very tolerant in matters of freedom of the press and religious freedom. Unlike most contemporary countries, such as France, Great Britain or the Holy Roman Empire, there was little government interference (censorship or monopolies) there. [4] Many Huguenots were exiled to the Netherlands during the reign of Louis XIV, and the numbers of French refugees increased with the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. Several exiles begun publishing French-language (as it was both an international language and their own - see lingua franca) newspapers in various European cities covering political news in France and Europe. Read by the European elites, in France these papers were called "Foreign gazettes". [4]
The Courier had a circulation of 1430 in 1793 and 530 in 1801. [5]
It was heavily influenced by the Prussian authorities, and seen by some as a Prussian propaganda outlet. [6] It was, nonetheless, much freer when it came to reporting events outside Prussia, for example, in France. [6] [7] It lost most of its remaining independence around 1806–1807, when the authorities took control of most German newspapers. [8]
Courier du Bas Rhin supported enlightened absolutism; [9] supported British liberties - but doubted they were fully respected; [10] supported the Dutch Stadholder, [10] and was sympathetic to the French Revolution (although mostly, post-revolution). [9] [10] [11] It was often in major opposition to another leading journal of its time, Gazette de Leyde (the papers were, for example, on opposite sides concerning the Dutch Revolution). [11]
Sources vary on when the Courier stopped publication. Barker and Burrows suggest 1807, [1] while Beermann indicates 1810. [12] Alexander notes that a publication with similar name was published in the first half of the 19th century. [13] [14] Another similarly named publication (Courrier du département du Bas-Rhin, also known as Niederrheinischer Kurier) was also published in Alsace in the second half of the 19th century. [15]
In the administrative divisions of France, the department is one of the three levels of government under the national level, between the administrative regions and the communes. Ninety-six departments are in metropolitan France, and five are overseas departments, which are also classified as overseas regions. Departments are further subdivided into 332 arrondissements, and these are divided into cantons. The last two levels of government have no autonomy, instead serving as the basis of local organisation of police, fire departments and, sometimes, administration of elections.
Bas-Rhin is a department in Alsace which is a part of the Grand Est super-region of France. The name means 'Lower Rhine', referring to its lower altitude among the two French Rhine departments: it is downstream of the Haut-Rhin department. Note that both belong to the European Upper Rhine region. It is, with the Haut-Rhin, one of the two departments of the traditional Alsace region which until 1871, also included the area now known as the Territoire de Belfort. The more populous and densely populated of the pair, it had 1,148,073 inhabitants in 2020. The prefecture is based in Strasbourg. The INSEE and Post Code is 67.
Vosges is a department in the Grand Est region, Northeastern France. It covers part of the Vosges mountain range, after which it is named. Vosges consists of three arrondissements, 17 cantons and 507 communes, including Domrémy-la-Pucelle, where Joan of Arc was born. In 2019, it had a population of 364,499 with an area of 5,874 km2 ; its prefecture is Épinal.
Wissembourg is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Grand Est in northeastern France.
Haguenau is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department of France, of which it is a sub-prefecture.
Le Temps is a Swiss French-language daily newspaper published in Berliner format in Geneva by Le Temps SA. It is the sole nationwide French-language non-specialised daily newspaper of Switzerland. Since 2021, it has been owned by Fondation Aventinus, a not-for-profit organisation.
Charles Théveneau de Morande was a gutter journalist, blackmailer and French spy who lived in London in the 18th century.
Erckartswiller is a commune, in the Bas-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. It is part of the arrondissement of Saverne and the canton of Ingwiller.
Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre was a French lawyer and statesman who became one of the most widely known, influential, and controversial figures of the French Revolution.
Gazette d'Amsterdam was one of the most important international European newspapers of the Enlightenment period and a major source of political information. It was a French language bi-weekly newspaper published in Amsterdam from the second half of the 17th century till 1796, during the Batavian Republic.
Nouvelles Extraordinaires de Divers Endroits or Gazette de Leyde was the most important newspaper of record of the international European newspapers of the late 17th to the late 18th century. In the last few decades of the 18th century it was one of the main political newspapers in the Western world.
Le Courrier français was an illustrated weekly founded and edited by Jules Roques. It appeared from 1884 to 1914.
The natural borders of France were a nationalist theory developed in France, notably during the French Revolution. They correspond to the Rhine, the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea, the Pyrenees and the Alps, according to the revolutionaries.
José Alejandro Bernheim (1822–1893) was a French journalist of Jewish origin. He served as typographer of the Ejército Grande under the command of Justo José de Urquiza.
Place de la République is one of the main squares of the city of Strasbourg, France. It is surrounded on three sides by five buildings only, of which none is residential: the Palais du Rhin, the National and University Library, the Théâtre national de Strasbourg, the Préfecture of Grand Est and Bas-Rhin, and the tax center Hôtel des impôts. All of these buildings are classified as monuments historiques. The fourth side of the square is devoid of buildings.
The Battle of Limburg, also called the Battle of Friedberg, was a battle of the War of the First Coalition, itself part of the French Revolutionary Wars. It took place on 9 November 1792 at Limburg an der Lahn between French Revolutionary forces and Prussian troops, ending in a French victory.
Jean-Jacques d'Esparbès was a French soldier who was briefly Governor of Saint-Domingue in 1792 during the French Revolution.