ROYALIST MEDIEVALISMS IN THE AGE OF REVOLUTION: From Robert de Lézardière to Chateaubriand, 1792-1831

Abstract

This essay examines the histories of the French monarchy composed by French royalists of the period 1787-1831 with a threefold aim: to develop a model of how French royalist medievalisms evolved from Revolution to Restoration; to investigate whether the French Revolution altered perceptions of the Middle Ages; and to elaborate a theory of the relationship between medievalism and politics. The exercise is especially revelatory when studying periods of severe press censorship like the one that occupies us, and political groups inimical – like our monarchists – to the theoretical expression of political ideals.