Revue des questions historiques
| Categories | History |
|---|---|
| Frequency | Quarterly, later bimonthly |
| Publisher | Victor Palmé |
| Founder | Gaston du Fresne de Beaucourt |
| First issue | 1866 |
| Final issue | 1939 |
| Country | France |
| Based in | Paris |
| Language | French |
The Revue des questions historiques (Review of Historical Questions) was a French historical journal established in July 1866 by the Marquis Gaston du Fresne de Beaucourt and published by Victor Palmé. According to Gabriel Monod, it was a conservative and ultramontane journal, in opposition to his own Revue historique, which was founded a decade later. The Revue des questions historiques was published until 1939.
History
[edit]Starting in 1866, some royalists engaged in historical scholarship as a way to challenge republican historians in academia. At the time, historical research was largely dominated by clergy and notables, who sought to find the roots of their traditions, families, parishes, towns, dioceses, and professions within the past. The Marquis Gaston de Beaucourt and the Count de Mas-Latris founded the Revue des questions historiques alongside a group of young, legitimist historians. This group of archivists and scholars set out with scientific, political, and religious aims to counteract what they saw as the dilution of Catholic history and to unite scholars around faith-based perspectives.
Unlike official historians, these scholars focused on topics such as Étienne Marcel, Philip Augustus, the Fronde, Feudalism, the Inquisition, and the Revolution. The journal revitalized religious history and effectively challenged official historical narratives with innovative approaches.
The Revue des questions historiques was the first French historical journal with scientific ambitions. It included five scholarly articles of approximately 50 pages each, addressing topics such as the history of France, ecclesiastical history, literary history, institutional history, foreign history, exegesis, Greek and Roman history, archaeology, and apologetics. The journal also reviewed international historical scholarship and maintained a bibliographic bulletin featuring around 30 book reviews, which evaluated the methods and potential biases of authors, whether Catholic or royalist.
With a network of researchers, correspondents, 600 subscribers, and readers linked through the Bibliographic Society, the journal served as a counterweight to official historiography.
Over its 73 years of publication, the journal had four directors: Gaston du Fresne de Beaucourt (1866–1902), Paul Allard (1902–1914), Roger Lambelin (1922–1929), who saved it from bankruptcy, and Jean Baudry (1933–1939).
Influence
[edit]- In 1876, the Revue des questions historiques remarked that it had "attained such a high rank among scholars and such success that our adversaries are preparing to publish a historical journal identical in format to ours." This prediction was fulfilled by the creation of the Revue historique by Gabriel Monod and Gustave Fagniez.
- In 1973, Victor Nguyen drew inspiration from the Revue des questions historiques for the creation of the historical journal Anthinéa.
External links
[edit]
- Catalog entry on Gallica – Link to issues available online (1866–1937)
- Erudits catholiques et royalistes de 1884 siècle, "Catholic and Royalist Scholars of the 1884 Century"] by Philippe Lallement