Letters to the Authorities. Definition and Evolution of an Epistolary Practice (16th to 20th Centuries)

Letters of request have a long and complex trajectory, reflecting the history of need and social inequality. Since their emergence in Ancient History until their democratization and widespread increase in the Contemporary Age, pleas and petitions have been a tool for everyman, no matter their social, cultural or economic class, because all of us have used them at some point in our lives, either to ask for something we consider we deserve or to complain about an unfair situation. We find this epistolary practice has suffered different material variations in order to adapt to the historical moment in which the letters were written and the changing relations between the authorities and citizens along the centuries. Our objective, therefore, is to define, delimit and analyze the evolution of this practice, collecting for this purpose a good part of the studies that from different disciplines and historiographical traditions have been carried out on this epistolary typology. At the same time, we point out some of the multiple possibilities that this study offers and that are still waiting to be exploited.