1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910972223603321

Autore

Lord Evelyn

Titolo

The Hellfire Clubs / / Evelyn Lord

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New Haven, CT : , : Yale University Press, , [2010]

©2010

ISBN

9780300177107

0300177100

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (250 p.)

Disciplina

366.094109033

Soggetti

Secret societies - History - 18th century - Great Britain

Great Britain Social life and customs 18th century

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- Contents -- Acknowledgements -- List of Illustrations -- The Hell-Fire Clubs Time Line -- Introduction -- 1. Prelude to the Fires of Hell -- 2. Gentlemen's Clubs, Journalistic Hacks, the Mohocks and Change -- 3. The Hell-Fire Clubs -- 4. Interlude Abroad: The Grand Tour, Dilettanti and Divans -- 5. The Medmenham Friars -- 6. Essay on Woman: The Friars Exposed -- 7. Public Men and Private Vices -- 8. Scotland and the Fires of Hell -- 9. Beefsteaks, Demoniacs, Dalkey and Colonial America -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

The Hell-Fire Clubs scandalized eighteenth-century English society. Rumors of their orgies, recruitment of prostitutes, extensive libraries of erotica, extreme rituals, and initiation ceremonies circulated widely at the time, only to become more sensational as generations passed. This thoroughly researched book sets aside the exaggerated gossip about the secret Hell-Fire Clubs and brings to light the first accurate portrait of their membership (including John Wilkes, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the Prince of Wales), beliefs, activities, and the reasons for their proliferation, first in the British Isles and later in America, possibly under the auspices of Benjamin Franklin. Hell-Fire Clubs operated under a variety of titles, but all attracted similar members-mainly upper-class men with abundant leisure and the desire to shock



society. The book explores the social and economic context in which the clubs emerged and flourished; their various phases, which first involved violence as an assertion of masculinity, then religious blasphemy, and later sexual indulgence; and the countermovement that eventually suppressed them. Uncovering the facts behind the Hell-Fire legends, this book also opens a window on the rich contradictions of the Enlightenment period.

2.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910263055203321

Titolo

Civil wars

Pubbl/distr/stampa

London, : Frank Cass & Co

ISSN

1743-968X

Disciplina

303.6405

Soggetti

Civil war

War

Ethnic relations

Guerre civile

Guerre

Relations interethniques

Relations internationales

Civil Wars

periodicals.

Periodicals.

Périodiques.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Periodico

Note generali

Refereed/Peer-reviewed