Is the history of France universal ?

Abstract

After Victor Hugolastweek,another giant of the ^19th centuryjoins us for this session: Jules Michelet. Michelet, " creator of thehistory of France ", was instrumental in naturalizingthe idea ofFrance's universal mission. To understand this, we need to go back to the sources of his philosophy ofhistory ,theIntroduction à l'histoire universelle, published in 1831, in which he asserts that France, becauseit is the " mostmixedpeople ", hasreceived from its history " the pontificate of modern civilization ".

InHistoire de la Révolutionfrançaise (1847-1853), the perspective has changed, and 1789is now a rupture. The Revolution was both anadventand arevelation. Thefamouschaptersdevoted to thefederationmovement, then to theFête de lafédérationon July14 1790,celebratetheunity of France, theabandonment of all particularities on thealtar of the fatherland, the nation's march into fraternity. Imbued with religiosity, theyfeatured " the new religion ", a quasi-mystical substitute for the nowrepudiated Christianity. Thehistory of France is a liturgy of the nation with globalresonance.

In the years 1860, Michelet went even further in his rejection of the Christian Middle Ages. In La Bible de l'Humanité (1864), he inscribed 1789 in anotheruniversalistgenealogy, that of the " torrent oflight " that came from High Antiquity, the Indian, Persian and Greek religions. The change is profound. At the cost ofasometimes disturbingManichaeism, Michelet reinvents his philosophy ofhistory, but retains the universal dimension of the France born of the Revolution.

References to works cited in the lecture

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