The Memory of the Fronde in the Age of Louis XIV (1653-1715)

What do we make of civil wars once the fighting is over? What is the role of memory in the transition to peace and the shaping of national identity? The uncertain and troubled aftermath of many recent civil wars reminds us today just how important these questions are. In response to a growing interest in such issues, memory studies have developed into a flourishing field of research in recent years, yet little attention has been paid so far to early modern remembering processes, which, my project argues, have intellectual, cultural and social values for us today.

In this context, my project concentrates on the aftermath of the mid-seventeenth-century civil wars known as the Fronde ('Sling') (1648-53), which took place during the minority of Louis XIV. The last upheaval of the Ancien Regime before the French Revolution, these wars brought the aristocracy, the parliaments and the people into opposition with the court. There is no doubt that it was in reaction to these troubles that the king subsequently engineered an authoritarian absolute monarchy in which the memory of the Fronde was challenged by strict censorship. Yet, the conflict was not erased from history by decision of the king: historians, playwrights and novelists continued to reflect, distort and re-create the events of the Fronde, thereby contributing to the shaping of a collective memory of the wars. By overwhelmingly ignoring the ways in which the Fronde was written and rewritten after the troubles, today's historians seem to award Louis XIV this final victory. My project thus addresses the need to reassess the significance of the memory of the Fronde.

My research will look at works of history and fiction rewriting the Fronde and their relationship to propaganda, political thought and the philosophy of history. In the first area, the project will explore the various strategies used by many of the authors studied to defy censorship, convey criticism of the regime and deconstruct the image of a great reign elaborated by Louis XIV's propaganda. In addition, the project will examine how many of the works studied offer radical reflections on the best form of government, thus providing a link between Renaissance political thought and that of the Enlightenment, a link which has hitherto been overlooked. Finally, many of the works studied also use the Fronde to call into question the capacity of history to teach us lessons: they form an understudied factor accounting for the scepticism associated with neo-classical French literature. Moreover, the works studied also reveal shifting conceptions of history, often opposing a cyclical representation of political time inspired by Antiquity to a linear vision of history inspired by Christianity; however, in a period of increasing secularisation, civil wars like the Fronde are increasingly seen as resulting merely from human actions and explained by the then emerging notion of self-interest.

In showing that the memory of the Fronde has a key part to play in the evolution of political thought and the philosophy of history, my project will make an original contribution to the study of early-modern France. Seeking a cross-pollination of approaches developed by literary history, historiography and memory studies, the project also promotes an original methodology, one which can be applied to other areas beyond French studies, as the conclusion to my book and an article discussing the methods used in this project will show. With this in mind, I will organise a conference on post-conflict memory in early modern Europe aimed at fostering a transversal approach across disciplines and a dialogue with stakeholders who can influence post-conflict policies today as well as with members of the general public. In order to engage a wider audience beyond academia, workshops in local schools will also be organised to encourage critical thinking on the remembrance of civil wars and the writing of history.

In the last three or four decades, the troubled aftermath of many civil wars such as those in Northern Ireland, the former Yugoslavia or the so-called Arab Spring, has generated a high level of interest beyond academia for the study of post-conflict strategies. Along with transitional justice, negotiation and restoration, post-conflict remembering processes are indeed pivotal to the restoration of peace in war-torn countries. These are also essential to the well-being of societies like ours, which may be described as a product of (more or less distant) conflicts. Addressing an audience beyond academia, my research aims to promote a greater awareness of the strategies used in the past to reconcile divided communities, thereby fostering better informed opinions and debates on contemporary post-conflict policies and practices.

To this end, specific sessions of the conference will foster a comparative approach to practices in the early modern and contemporary periods, and encourage a dialogue between academic researchers and other stakeholders in public sector bodies who can influence decision-makers with regard to remembrance policies. I will invite contributions from institutions which have been successful in creating such a dialogue - in particular, the Academy for Irish Cultural Heritages in Northern Ireland, the Fondation pour la mémoire de la Shoah and the UNESCO. Workshops on transversal themes will ensure greater integration between academic and non-academic contributors. Dedicated evening sessions will seek to engage the general public. Contributors will share their views on issues such as the extent to which a political legislation of memory may be effective or desirable; the extent to which amnesia or selective forgetfulness may be beneficial; the issue of how inclusive commemoration may need to be in order to transform itself into a shared memory; or the healing role of partial, fictional or counterfactual memory. Not only will the conference give historical foundation to debates on post-conflict policies, but the study of practices of amnesty, reintegration and commemoration in the early modern period will encourage a renewed approach to these questions today.

Using my research to encourage critical thinking on the politics of memory, I will also organise workshops in local schools aimed at Advanced Higher students taking History. Students will compare two conflicting accounts of the day of the barricades (one by a courtier, the other by a Frondeur). The partiality of these accounts and their ironic undertones will form the basis for a discussion on the ways in which ideology is embedded in the very form of history. This will also foster a reflection on the relationship between power and memory. In a follow-up session, students will look at the ways in which the memory of the Fronde is being transmitted today, using the free online encyclopaedia Wikipedia as a case study. In identifying the shortcomings of this entry, students will be encouraged to look at its one-sided nature, due essentially to a lack of sources. Students will think of ways to improve this page, in particular by incorporating the texts which will have been discussed in the earlier session. The revised version of the page will be published online. To conclude the workshops, parallels will be drawn between the Fronde and other, more recent, post-conflict situations. Fostering a form of experiential learning which empowers students to write as historians, these workshops aim to cultivate students' generic skills for evaluating source materials, develop their awareness of trans-historical patterns in conflict resolution and remembering, and nurture their abilities to form a critical judgement on post-conflict policies and practices.

These impact activities thus contribute in different ways towards the creation of social and cultural benefits by translating my research approaches and outcomes for audiences beyond academia.