The Literature of History: Michelet's Middle Ages

While we disentangle the purposes of the historian from the events of the past, we recognize his method of choosing and arranging facts. Michelet's cult of freedom grows out of an identification of the spirit and meaning of history. A number of specific illustrations are drawn from his account of the Middle Ages, from his characterization of France and Germany to his comments on the Albigensian crusades, on Louis IX and Louis XI. These examples are all the more significant as they come from the years when Michelet's democratic idealism (his ideology) is less articulate than it will be later on: his faith in the people of France is for all that no less profound. (OAH)