Image of Henri, Duke of Guise in French historiography of the 19th century

Abstract

The article is devoted  to the study of the personality and activity of a participant of the French  Wars of Religion, Henri I de Guise in the French historiography of the 19th  century.

The research  is based on different sources, mostly the works of the French historians on history of France and Wars of Religion of the 19th  century in general and on special works which authors  focused their  attention on Henri  de Guise biography.  The key objective  of this  work is to follow the development of the views of historians on the activity of that person and to identify such moments in his political career which cause the greatest controversy among historians.

An emphasis is placed on the fact that  the authors  of that  period put into circulation the main sources on the subject  and laid the base for studying the biography  of Henri I de Guise which later the most researchers  relied upon. For the first time in historical  studies  the author overviews the main literature on the theme and based on the comparative method makes an attempt to follow the creation  by the historians of the 19th  century of a certain image of Henri I, Duke of Guise, endowed with some features  of the romantic character. It was at that time that  the concept according to which the actions of the Duke were directed by the desire to imitate  his father and to take revenge on the perpetrators of his death was formed. But according to many researchers he didn’t manage to reach the level of his ancestors and become an independent political figure.