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French Historiography of the English Revolution Under the Restoration

2010; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 14; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/13825577.2010.517296

1744-4233

Karine Bigand,

Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis

In a seminal study on the political uses of history during the French Restoration, Stanley Mellon showed in 1958 how history had then become the language of politics. Intense historical activity between 1815 and 1830 saw the publication of several major rewritings of the history of France but also, quite interestingly, a series of studies on Britain, notably by François Guizot and Augustin Thierry. The deep interest shown by French historians in the English revolution certainly stems from the contemporary concern to redefine the nation's relation to its pre-revolutionary past. It is also part of a wider European phenomenon of emerging national history-writing or rewriting. The perception French historians had of the English revolution as a socio-political conflict differs largely from the contemporary British interpretation of the same events as resulting essentially from religious divisions. The paper will explain the reasons for this new angle taken by early nineteenth-century French historiography of the English revolution. It will also explore the contacts between the two historiographies in the main cross-Channel circulated reviews and assess what impact, if any, French historians had on their contemporary British counterparts.