Romancing the Past: The Rise of Vernacular Prose Historiography in Thirteenth-Century France

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University of California Press, 1993 - History - 422 pages
In a poststructuralist study of thirteenth-century French historical texts, Gabrielle Spiegel investigates the reasons for the rise of French vernacular prose historiography at this particular time. She argues that the vernacular prose histories that have until now been regarded as royalist were actually products of the aristocracy, reflecting its anxiety as it faced social and economic change and political threats from the monarchy.
 

Contents

ONE The Historical Setting
11
TWO PseudoTurpin and the Problem of Prose
55
FOUR The Question of the Heroic in Translations
152
The Contest
214
Disengagement
269
Epilogue
315
Bibliography
393
Index
413
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About the author (1993)

Gabrielle M. Spiegel is Professor of History at The Johns Hopkins University. She is the author of The Chronicle Tradition of Saint-Denis (1978).

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