Jules Michelet

Jules Michelet (1798–1874) was a French historian whose vivid, nationalist histories treated France and its people as historical actors, shaping nineteenth-century writing about the French Revolution.

Romanticism: An intellectual and artistic movement that emphasized emotion, imagination, nature, and historical particularity. Its emphasis on national character and feeling informs Michelet’s dramatic historical style.
Histoire de France: Michelet’s multivolume history tracing France from its origins through the early modern period. This long project made the French nation the central subject of his historical narrative.
Edgar Quinet: A French historian, philosopher, and republican writer who collaborated with Michelet in opposition to clerical influence. Their shared political commitments brought them together in public opposition to the Jesuits.
Ernest Lavisse: A French historian and educator whose textbooks helped establish republican national history in schools. Lavisse carried the nation-centered historical tradition into French public education.
Historiography: The study of how history is written, interpreted, and debated. Michelet’s work became a landmark in nineteenth-century historical writing.
History of the French Revolution: Michelet’s multivolume account of the French Revolution, published between 1847 and 1853. It presents the Revolution as a drama of popular awakening and national renewal.
Victor Cousin: A French philosopher and educational official who helped shape nineteenth-century university life. Michelet’s early academic career developed within the educational institutions Cousin influenced.
French Third Republic: The French republican regime established in 1870 and lasting until 1940. Michelet’s patriotic account of France resonated with the Republic’s civic historical culture.
Nationalism: A political idea that treats a nation as a community entitled to collective identity and self-government. Michelet presented France as a people with a shared historical destiny.
The People: Michelet’s 1846 book portraying the people as the source of social life and political energy. This work makes explicit the popular subject that animates his histories.

Linked from 4 pages