Romancing the Past : The Rise of Vernacular Prose Historiography in Thirteenth-Century France

The New Historicism: Studies in Cultural Poetics

by Gabrielle M. Spiegel

In a poststructuralist study of thirteenth-century French historical texts, Gabrielle Spiegel investigates the reasons for the rise of French vernacular prose historiography at this particular time. She argues that the vernacular prose histories that have until now been regarded as royalist were actually products of the aristocracy, reflecting its anxiety as it faced social and economic change and political threats from the monarchy.

Genres: History, Medieval, France

440 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

Reviews

[Mir · Rating 4 out of 5]

History is a particularly effective tool for ideology because of its claims of impartiality and facticity. Spiegel argues that 13th-century French aristocrats invented histories which embedded ideologies in the past in order to redeem or mask present failures while promoting the continued relevance of values supposedly enshrined in the past. The documents thus produced reflect the needs of specific moments and are not literary or linguistic development.