French Historians’ Loyalty and Disloyalty to French Monarchy Between 1815 and 1848

Abstract

This chapter examines how the early nineteenth-century French historians’ loyalty and disloyalty to contemporary monarchy was discernible in their historiographical representations, especially concerning those of the Merovingian period. Aali focuses on the works of two different kinds of historians who were both active in historiographical production in the 1830s, Henri Martin (1810–1883) and Pierre-Denis, Count of Peyronnet (1778–1854). When writing about past royals the historians took a stand on the nature and role of the contemporary reigning monarchy, the July Monarchy. Neutrality was not an option and all historians had to choose their sides. They were thus both constructing and writing history.