Jules Michelet | |
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.jpg) Detail of a portrait byThomas Couture,c. 1865 | |
| Born | (1798-08-21)21 August 1798 Paris,France |
| Died | 9 February 1874(1874-02-09) (aged 75) |
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| Education | |
| Alma mater | University of Paris |
| Philosophical work | |
| Era | Modern philosophy |
| Region | Western philosophy |
| School | Anti-clericalism Freethought Republicanism |
| Main interests | French history |
Jules Michelet (French:[ʒylmiʃlɛ]; 21 August 1798 – 9 February 1874)[1] was a Frenchhistorian andwriter, best known for his multi-volume workHistoire de France (History of France), which chronicles the history of France from its earliest origins to theFrench Revolution.[2] Michelet was influenced byGiambattista Vico, particularly by his emphasis on the role of ordinary people and their customs in shaping historical narratives, which contrasted with the traditional focus onpolitical andmilitary elites.[3] Michelet also drew inspiration from Vico's concept of thecorsi e ricorsi—the cyclical nature of history—in which societies rise and fall in a recurring pattern.
InHistoire de France, Michelet coined the term''Renaissance'' (French for "rebirth") to describe a cultural movement in Europe that marked a clear departure from theMiddle Ages. Although the term was initially used by the Italianart historianGiorgio Vasari in 1550 to describe the revival of classical art beginning withGiotto, Michelet was the first historian to apply the French equivalent systematically to a broader historical era. His use of the term "Renaissance'' established the modern interpretation of this period as a time of renewed humanism, artistic flourishing, and intellectual transformation in "post-medieval" Europe.[4]
HistorianFrançois Furet described Michelet'sThe History of the French Revolution as "the cornerstone of revolutionary historiography" and "a literary monument."[5]
Michelet’s father was a master printer, and Michelet often assisted him in his work. He was later offered a position at the imperial printing office but chose instead to study at theLycée Charlemagne, a prestigious secondary school in Paris. He passed the university examination in 1821 and was soon appointed to a professorship of history at theCollège Rollin.[1]
In 1824, Michelet marriedPauline Rousseau. The couple had their first child, Adèle, the same year.[6] Among Michelet's notablepatrons wereAbel-François Villemain andVictor Cousin, who supported his early academic career.
Since childhood, he is said to have embracedrepublicanism and a distinctive form ofromantic free thought. He was an active political thinker, a man of letters, and a committed historian. His first published works wereschool textbooks.[1]
Between 1825 and 1827, he produced a series of drafts, chronological tables, and preparatory materials relating to modern history. In 1827, he publishedPrécis d’histoire moderne, an influential overview of contemporary history. That same year, he was appointed as amaître de conférences at theÉcole normale supérieure.[1] He followed this withIntroductionà l'histoire universelle in 1831.
The events of theJuly Revolution of 1830 put Michelet in a better position for his research. He secured a position at the Record Office and served as deputy professor under historianFrançois Guizot in the literary faculty of theUniversity of France.[7] Soon afterwards, he began hismagnum opus, theHistoire de France, which would take 30 years to complete. He also published numerous other books, such as theŒuvres choisies de Vico, theMémoires de Luther écrits par lui-même, theOrigines du droit français, and somewhat later, thele Procès des Templiers.[1]
In 1838, Michelet's studies reinforced his natural aversion to the principles of authority andecclesiasticism. During the revival ofJesuit activity in France, he was appointed to the chair of history at theCollège de France. Assisted by his friendEdgar Quinet, he began apolemic against the religious order and the principles that it represented.
He publishedHistoire Romaine in 1839, the same year his first wife died. The results of his lectures appeared in the volumesDu prêtre,de la femme et de la famille andLe peuple. These books do not display the dramatic style (partly borrowed fromLamennais) that characterizes Michelet's later works. However, they contain many of his core beliefs—a mixture ofsentimentalism,communism, and anti-sacerdotalism.[1]
Michelet, along with many others, propagated the principles that led to theoutbreaks of 1848. When the revolution broke out, instead of attempting to enter active political life, he devoted himself to his literary work. Besides continuing theHistoire de France, he also wroteHistoire de la Révolution française during the years between the downfall ofLouis Philippe and the final establishment ofNapoleon III.[1]
In 1849, at 51, he married his second wife, the 23-year-oldAthénaïs Michelet (née Mialaret). She was a natural history writer and memoirist and had republican sympathies. She had been a teacher inSaint Petersburg before their extensive correspondence led to marriage. They entered into a shared literary life and she would assist him significantly in his endeavors. He openly acknowledged this, although she was never given credit in his works.
AfterNapoleon III’s rise to power in 1852, Jules Michelet lost his position at the Record Office due to his refusal to swear loyalty to the new emperor. This event further aligned him with republican ideals,a perspective likely influenced by his marriage to Athénaïs, who also supported republicanism. While Michelet’s primary focus remained on his major work,Histoire de France, he also produced additional writings during this period. Some of these were expanded versions of specific episodes fromHistoire, presented as commentaries or companion volumes. One such example isLes Femmes de la Révolution (1854), which examined the role of women in the French Revolution, covering the period from 1780 to 1794.
During this period, Michelet began a series of books on natural history, starting withL’Oiseau (1856). These works reflected his pantheistic worldview rather than a strictly scientific approach and were partly inspired by his wife, Athénaïs. The series continued withL'Insecte (1858),La Mer (1861), andLa Montagne (1868). InLa Montagne, Michelet adopted a more lyrical style than his typical historical narratives, employing a staccato technique with short, fragmented sentences to build emotional tension.
Two other works from this period,L’Amour (1859) andLa Femme (1860), represent another thematic direction in Michelet’s writing. These books generated debate for their detailed exploration of personal relationships and the evolving role of women in society.[8]These books also explored broader cultural and literary themes within French society. Notably, Vincent van Gogh referencedLa Femme in his drawingSorrow, inscribing it with the quote: “Comment se fait-il qu’il y ait sur la terre une femme seule?” (“How can there be on earth a woman alone?”).[9]
In 1862, Michelet publishedLa Sorcière (Satanism and Witchcraft), a book that developed from a historical topic and reflected some of his more unconventional views. In 1973, the work was adapted into an animated art film,Belladonna of Sadness, directed by Eiichi Yamamoto and produced by Mushi Production.
Although Michelet continued to write in a similar style, his later works received less critical attention. For instance,La Bible de l’humanité (1864), a historical overview of world religions, did not achieve the same level of readership in the 20th century as his earlier publications.
The writing and publication of these works, along with the completion ofHistoire de France, occupied Michelet throughout both decades of the Second Empire. During this time, he lived partly in France and partly in Italy, frequently spending winters on the French Riviera, particularly in Hyères.
In 1867, Michelet completed his magnum opus, theHistoire de France, comprising 19 volumes. The first of these deals with early French history up to the death ofCharlemagne; the second with the flourishing time of feudal France; the third with the thirteenth century; the fourth, fifth, and sixth volumes with theHundred Years' War; the seventh and eighth with the establishment of the royal power underCharles VII andLouis XI. The 16th and 17th centuries have four volumes apiece, much of which is very distantly connected with French history proper, especially in the two volumes entitledRenaissance andReforme. The last three volumes carry on the history of the eighteenth century to the outbreak of the Revolution.[1]
Michelet abhorred the Middle Ages and celebrated their end as a radical transformation. He attempted to clarify how a livelyRenaissance could originate from an ossified medieval culture.[10][11]
Michelet had several themes running throughout his works, which included the following three categories: maleficent, beneficent, and paired. Within each of the three themes, there are subsets of ideas occurring throughout Michelet's various works. One of these themes was the idea of paired themes; for example, in many of his works, he writes on grace and justice, grace being the woman or feminine, and justice being more of a masculine idea. Michelet often used union and unity in his discussions about history, both human and natural.
In terms of the maleficent themes, there were subcategories: themes of the dry, which included concepts such as the machine, the Jesuits, scribes, the electric, irony (Goethe), the Scholastics, public safety, andfatalism (Hobbes, Molinos,Spinoza,Hegel). Themes of the empty and the turgid included the Middle Ages, imitation, tedium, the novel, narcotics, Alexander, and plethoric (engorged blood). Michelet also touches on themes of the indeterminate such as the Honnêtes-Hommes, Condé, Chantilly Sade, gambling, phantasmagoria, Italian comedy, white blood, and sealed blood.[12]
Martial dualism is a prominent theme for him. He wrote, "With the world began a war which will end only with the world: war of man against nature, spirit against matter, liberty against fatality. History is nothing other than the record of this interminable struggle."[13] Intellectual historianDavid Nirenberg describes this as a "Manichaean dualism."[14] His framing of history as a struggle between Christian spirit and liberty against Jewish matter, fatality, and tyranny, is seen by Nirenberg as an example ofanti-Judaism as a constituent conceptual tool in western thought.[15]
During his career, Michelet wrote a pamphlet on the condition on France’s popular masses in relation to the growth of machinery, arguing that the latter had brought about positive developments in addition to negative consequences. As noted by one observer, “While well aware that machines enslaved and demeaned their serfs, he noticed nevertheless that machine products improved the general condition of the laboring poor, among whom peasants and artisans were still much more numerous than industrial workers.” Machines, according to Michelet, had made it financially possible for whole classes to obtain household items they had never possessed before such as curtains, body linen, bed and table linen.[16] As Michelet argued
“Once upon a time, every women wore a single blue or black gown that she kept ten years without washing, for fear that it would fall to shreds. Today, her husband, poor working man, for one day’s wages, covers her with a garment of flowers. All this multitude of women that turns our street into a dazzling many-colored rainbow, was once in mourning.”[17]
Michelet was perhaps the first historian to devote himself to anything resembling a picturesque history of theMiddle Ages and his account is still one of the most vivid that exists. He spent extensive time researching printed authorities and manuscripts for hisHistoire de France, however, his many personal biases (both political and religious) reduced the book's objectivity.[1]
Michelet gave certain parts of history more weight than others, however, his insistence thathistory should concentrate on "the people, and not only its leaders or its institutions" was unique in historical scholarship at the time.[18]
Thefall of Napoleon in 1870 amid France's defeat byPrussia, followed by the rise and fall of theParis Commune the next year, once more stimulated Michelet to activity. While he wrote letters and pamphlets during the struggle, upon its conclusion he became determined to add a 19th volume (French:XIXe siècle) to hisHistoires which covered theNapoleonic Wars. He did not, however, live to carry it further than theBattle of Waterloo, and his health was beginning to fail: he opened the 19th volume with the words "l'âge me presse" ("age hurries me").
The new republic was not altogether a restoration for Michelet; his professorship at theCollège de France, of which he always contended he had been unjustly deprived, was not given back to him.[1]
As a young man, Michelet married Pauline Rousseau in 1824. The couple had two children, Adèle and Charles, in 1824 and 1829, respectively. His first wife died oftuberculosis in 1839 at the age of 48.[6]
Michelet married his second wife,Athénaïs Michelet, in 1849. She had been a teacher inSaint Petersburg and was an author in natural history and memoirs. She had opened a correspondence with him arising from her ardent admiration of his ideas that ensued for years. They became engaged before they had seen each other. After their marriage, the couple had one child, Yves Jean Lazare, in 1850.[19] She collaborated with Michelet in his labors albeit without formal credit, introduced him to natural history, inspired him on themes, and was preparing a new work,La nature, at the time of his death in 1874.[20] She lived until 1899.
Upon his death from a heart attack atHyères on 9 February 1874, Michelet was interred there. At his widow's request, a Paris court granted permission for his body to be exhumed on 13 May 1876 so he could be buried in Paris.
On 16 May, his coffin arrived for reburial atLe Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. Michelet's monument there, designed by architectJean-Louis Pascal, was erected in 1893 through public subscription.[21]
Michelet accorded Athénaïs literaryrights to his books and papers before he died, acknowledging the significant role she had in what he published during his later years.[22] After winning a court challenge to this bequeathment, Athénaïs retained the papers and publishing rights.[22] A memoirist, she later published several books about her husband and his family based on extracts and journals he had left her.
Athénaïs bequeathed that literary legacy toGabriel Monod, a historian who founded theRevue historique journal. The historianBonnie Smith notes the potentiallymisogynistic effort to discount the contributions of Athénaïs. Smith writes: "Michelet scholarship, like otherhistoriographical debates, has taken great pains to establish the priority of the male over the female in writing history."[23]
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Saintsbury, George (1911). "Michelet, Jules".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 18 (11th ed.). pp. 369–370.
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