From Narrative to Analysis: “The Great French Monarchy” by Claude de Seyssel as Reflection of Trends in Development of Historical Worldview between Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Age

Abstract

The work of Claude de Seyssel “The Great French Monarchy” is considered in the context of new data on the development of historical writing in the late Middle Ages and early modern times. It is noted that this treatise is not similar to the traditional historical works of the era of humanism, since in it the ancient idealism in the field of assessing social structures was replaced by explicit realism in the understanding that the basis of social relations was the nobility. Attention is paid to the method and approach that distinguishes this treatise, considering the views on the development of science, formulated by M. Foucault. It is indicated that de Seyssel considered the Renaissance an era of imitation and comparison, and only the time of the scientific revolution of the 17th — 18th centuries as a period of interest in the analysis of the structure of society and power. It is shown that, at the same time, in the work of de Seyssel, written around 1519, we see precisely the method of structural analysis, and not a comparative narrative. The authors conclude that, like the Venetian historian Domenico Morosini, who did not idealize the Venetian Republic, de Seissel did not idealize the French monarchy and viewed it as the power of the noble class in all its aspects.