History in administrative contexts. Historical consciousness and historiographical constructions in the archival holdings of the late medieval French monarchy

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Georg Jostkleigrewe
• Subject Area: Medieval History
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 461533961

The aim of the project is to investigate the influence of historical consciousness and historical memory on political action in the phases of crisis and consolidation of the French monarchy in the late Middle Ages. The project does not focus on the historiographical, publicist, and iconographic testimonies, which are usually analysed as means of propagating relevant historical images. Rather, the focus is on the written material of governmental and administrative bodies, which to a certain extent functions as a communicative interface between kingship and subjects: What concrete elements of historical memory can be grasped there - and which significance do they have for the administrative interaction of rulers and ruled?In order to answer these questions, selected archive holdings will be examined for concrete evidence of historical thought and argumentation. We are looking for concise historical excursus, references to historical founding figures, or comparisons between the present and the past that can be found, for example, in memoranda, petitions, or the files of local 'enquêtes'. The systematic collection of this scarcely considered source material represents important basic historical work. As a result, this research step opens up new access to elements of late medieval French historical consciousness and its political relevance, since it does not only analyse the concepts propagated by the monarchical power, but rather focuses on the interaction with the subordinates: From a bottom-up perspective, we examine which elements of historical memory the subjects take up in order to express their own goals vis-à-vis the royalty and its representatives.Building on this, we will examine in depth the complex relationship between monarchical conceptions of history and their archival echoes among various actors and population groups. To this end, the focus will be on the tradition of a specific governmental and administrative institution: the Chambre des comptes, one of the most important governing bodies of the kingdom. In the memorial books of this institution, we can survey in condensed form the interaction between the monarchy and its subjects. Here we can analyse in nuce how, in the interface between royal claims and the expectations of an emerging public sphere, the everyday practice of government was operated with set pieces of historical memory and how - perhaps - a monarchical politics of history developed in the process.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants