Title: Village Bells
Subtitle: sound and meaning in the nineteenth-century French countryside
First published: 1998
Description: In the French Canton of Brienne in November 1799, local authorities were scandalized when a crowd of girls broke through the doors of the church and rang the bells in order to mark the festival of St. Catherine. Religious use of the bells was forbidden by law, but the villagers boldly insisted on their right to celebrate with peals the feast of a beloved saint.

So begins Village Bells, Alain Corbin's exploration of the "auditory landscape" of nineteenth-century France, a story of lost sensory experiences and forgotten passions. In the nineteenth century, these instruments were symbols of their towns and objects of both ecclesiastic and civic pride. Bell-ringing served practical purposes of communication, marking both religious and secular time, as well as calling citizens to pray, assemble, take arms, or beware of danger. As Corbin shows, the bells also reflected the social, political, and religious struggles of the time.

To control the bells was to control the symbolic order, rhythm, and loyalties of French village and country life. Using church archives and local documents, Corbin forges a unique history of the role of bells from the aftermath of the Revolution to the dawn of the twentieth century.
Subjects: History, Country life, Social life and customs, Church bells, France, social life and customs, Bells, France, history, 19th century, Change ringing, Rural conditions, Kerkklokken, Agrarische maatschappij
Places: France
Time periods: 19th century
LC classification: DC33.5 .C6713 1998