Chapter 9 - Debating the Nation’s History:

Summary

The final chapter considers the impact of the writings of Thierry on the ongoing debate on the origins of France. In particular it analyses the way in which these are reinterpreted by François Guizot, François Mignet and other historians to reshape and give a new meaning to the complex of myths, memories, and symbols of the members of the Third Estate. Here, it is argued, are the roots of what will become the official narrative of the Third Republic, a narrative based on an ethic of work and sacrifice that will contribute to the ‘triumph’ of the Gauls. The chapter shows, in particular, that the narrative to which these authors contributed was set within the boundaries of an ethnic paradigm shaped through centuries of legal and political divisions.