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

By Gabrielle M. Spiegel

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.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0520089359
• ISBN13: 9780520089358
• Release Date: February 1995
• Publisher: University of California Press
• Length: 440 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.4" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

romance as history

This book is an admirable example of how literature and history are entertwined. It takes a skillful historian to make sense of two disciplines at once, but Spiegel succeeds. A must-read for anyone interested in historical analysis of texts.