Chapter 6 - Debating the Nation’s History

Summary

Chapter 6 investigates the changes in the notion of national character within the debate on the origins of France between the mid-eighteenth century and the Restoration. Analysing the texts of authors such as the abbé Mably, the abbé Velly, Gabriel Brizard, and Mme. de Lézardière and showing the influence of Montesquieu’s own writings, the argument is made that discussions about national and class character became fundamental in justifying political authority. In particular the chapter shows that an important assumption influencing the arguments of these and other authors was that an ‘ethnic’ group could claim to represent the entire nation only by proving that it had always embodied the true French character – be it the bravery of the nobles, the alleged descendants of the Franks, or the industriousness of the bourgeois, the supposed offspring of the Gauls.