Short answers, pulled from the story.
The phrase Respublica literaria appeared for the first time in a letter dated the 6th of July 1417. Francesco Barbaro wrote to Poggio Bracciolini using these words to describe a community of scholars.
Pierre Bayle published Nouvelles de la République des Lettres in 1684. His journal translated and popularized the term across Europe after it had remained obscure for nearly three centuries.
Isaac Newton served as president of the Royal Society from 1703 until his death in 1727. The society established charters and governance systems for scientific inquiry during this period.
Societal constraints limited membership in this intellectual community primarily to men. Women faced significant barriers when attempting to join formal groups, which shaped the composition of these long-distance communities.
A radical critique of worldliness emerged in salons after 1770. Rousseau inspired thinkers to denounce the mechanisms of polite sociability and call for a new model of the independent writer.