Guizot and politics
The entente Cordiale
The first “entente cordiale” between France and England took shape through a highly symbolic gesture: Queen Victoria’s visit to King Louis-Philippe at the Château d’Eu in Normandy, from 2 to 7 September 1843. It was the first time since Henry VIII that a British sovereign had travelled to France. This friendly occasion was all the more striking since, three years earlier, the two countries had been on the brink of conflict over the Eastern Question, and deep resentment had ensued in public opinion on both sides of the Channel. The appointment of a new government on 29 October 1840, with François Guizot at the Foreign Ministry, had been seen as a first sign of easing tensions. [read more]
Public education
When, on 11 October 1832, François Guizot became the seventh Minister of Public Instruction of the July Monarchy, he had long been a recognised specialist in educational questions. Since 1812 he had been professor of modern history at the Faculté des Lettres in Paris, and even his most determined opponents agree that he was the greatest professor of history in France in the first half of the nineteenth century. Moreover, with his future wife Pauline de Meulan, he had founded in 1811, and edited for three years, the Annales de l’Éducation, a monthly intended for families and teachers wishing to learn about the ideas, methods and books best suited to the successful education of children and pupils. [read more]
Heritage Policy
Upon entering the government in August 1830, Guizot set about rooting the new regime in the continuity of national history, so as to strengthen its legitimacy. In his view, history could be a powerful agent of social cohesion and could nourish a need for collective pride by showing that France had a very long past. His ideas and his knowledge as a historian, recognised everywhere, placed him in a good position to develop a kind of heritage policy, in line with the idea he had expressed as early as 1828 that “it is a serious disorder and a great weakening in a nation to forget and disdain the past.” From then on, the management of national memory became a matter for government. [read more]