Writing the History of the English Monarchy: Franco-British Historiographical Cultures 1688-1788

This thesis examines the historiographical cultures of the period of 1688-1788 through an exploration of French historical accounts of English history. At its centre are the French historians Paul de Rapin-Thoyras (1661-1725), Abbé Millot (1726-1785), and Abbé Raynal (1713-1726), whose works were translated into English and published and circulated widely in Britain. The thesis discusses these and other French historians of English history as well as several British historians of English and French history. Through a series of comparative readings, this study illuminates the shared historiographical practices of Britain and France. It is particularly concerned with how historians wrote in the grand manner about English monarchs, from the Norman Conquest in 1066 to the execution of Charles I in 1649. These historians wrote in a neoclassical manner by organising their texts around the lives of key historical figures and presenting them as models of behaviour, using ideas of virtue and vice. This thesis argues that while French historians looked back to the neoclassical mode, they employed it to connect with a British audience by reflecting on contemporary ideals of politics, gender norms, and moral virtues. In the comparative study of these historical texts, this thesis provides new evidence of French and British historiographical cultures in the eighteenth century through its exploration of the exchange of neoclassical historiographical practices across the channel.