Charlemagne and France

by Morrissey, Robert; Tihanyi, Catherine

• ISBN13: 9780268022778
• ISBN10: 0268022771
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-02-01
• Publisher: Univ of Notre Dame Pr

Summary

"Charlemagne, claimed by the Church as a saint, by the French as their greatest king, by the Germans as their compatriot, by the Italians as their emperor, heads all modern histories in one way or another; he is the creator of a new order of things, " wrote the historian Sismondi in 1821. In this fascinating book, available for the first time in an English translation, Robert Morrissey explores a millennium's worth of history and myth surrounding Charlemagne (768-814).

Charlemagne's persona -- derived from a blending of myth, history, and poetry -- assumes a constitutional value in France, where for more than ten centuries it was deemed useful to trace national privileges and undertakings back to Charlemagne. His plasticity, Morrissey argues, endows Charlemagne with both legitimizing power and subversive potential. Part 1 of the book explores a fundamental cycle in the history of Charlemagne's representation, beginning shortly after the great emperor's death and continuing to the end of the sixteenth century. Part 2 of the book discusses the remythologizing o

Author Biography

Robert Morrissey is professor of French literature and director of American and French Research on the Treasury of the French Language at the University of Chicago.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xi
Illustrations	xiii
Introduction	xvii
PART I. BETWEEN MYTH AND HISTORY
The Magic of Origins	3	(40)
Beginnings Revisited
Why Charlemagne?
Charlemagne: Elusive and Fundamental
Warrior and Protector: The Annales Regni Francorum
Wisdom Incarnate: Einhard's Life of Charlemagne
Notker: The Power and the Glory
The King and the Magnates: Hincmar
Poetic Space, Political Reflection	43	(42)
Poetry and History
The Chanson de Roland: A Fragile Equilibrium
The Pseudo-Turpin Chronicle: France and Saint-Denis
Emperor of the World
Galien: From Roncevaux to Constantinople
Charlemagne between France and the Empire
Fierabras and La Chanson d'Aspremont
Songs of Revolt
Karolinus: Return to the Carolingians
Rewriting History	85	(27)
Accumulating Glory: Philippe Mousket's Chronicle
Charlemagne According to Primat: The Grandes Chroniques de France
Charlemagne and Saint Louis
Knight: The Protector of Christendom
Charles VIII: A New Charlemagne
Italian Adventures
Francois I and the Dream of a European Union
A Call for Reality, a Need for Myth	112	(33)
Charlemagne the Humanist: Robert Gaguin
Against Fantastic History
Charlemagne the Civilizer
King of the French, Emperor of Others
A New Model of the King: Claude de Seyssel
Charlemagne's Abuses and Sins: Etienne Pasquier
The Golden Age and the Power of the People: Hotman
Charlemagne versus Saint Louis: The League
Henry IV: Exiting from History, Marginalizing Charlemagne
PART II. FROM UBIQUITY TO OBLIVION
The National Past in the Classical Age	145	(43)
King of France: Hercules, Alexander, Augustus
Charlemagne as Absolutist
In the Service of French Expansionism
In the Service of Scholarship and Letters
The Survival of Roland
Charlemagne at the Court of the Sun King
An Epic Hero
Charlemagne and Louis the Great
Charlemagne as Jansenist
Charlemagne, the Dukes, and the Peers
Saving the Monarchy, Establishing the Republic	188	(62)
The Enlightenment and History
Idyll of the King of a Nation of Nobles: Boulainvilliers
Vertot and the Germanist Thesis
Du Bos and the Roman Legacy
Charlemagne as Usurper and Barbarian: Voltaire
Charlemagne and the Intermediary Bodies: Montesquieu
Savior, Legislator, Conqueror, and Bourgeois: Le Paige and Mably
Following Charlemagne's Example: Malesherbes
Making a Whole Nation Move: Le Trosne
Charlemagne to the Rescue of the Monarchy: Moreau
Constitution and Revolution: The Estates-General
The Old Knighthood and the Old Romances: Sainte-Palaye and the Count de Caylus
The Series Bibliotheque universelle des romans
A Rational and Sentimental Charlemagne: Gaillard and Stephanie-Felicite de Genlis
To Conquer and to Sing Praises	250	(44)
The Regeneration of Charlemagne's Throne: Napoleon
Marchangy and La Gaule poetique
The Founding Hero and the Sovereign People
Hugo/Shakespeare = Napoleon/Charlemagne
Charlemagne: A Creation of the Nation
Final Comments: The Waning Power of the Figure of Charlemagne	294	(9)
Notes	303	(68)
Index	371