Joan of Arc / Jules Michelet and Thomas De Quincey

Trade paperback. New. 

In 1847, Thomas De Quincey took to the pages of Tait’s Magazine to sarcastically contest Jules Michelet’s telling of the saga of Joan of Arc in his History of France. Michelet’s chronicle and De Quincey’s polemic, both reproduced here in full, encapsulate not just the astonishing chronicle of Joan of Arc’s rise, trial, and passion, but also the acrimonious nature of historiographic and nationalistic debates in the mid-nineteenth century. Along the way, the reader will encounter the historian's mania for footnotes and in brief cameos such figures as “Sir John Falstoff” and “Gilles de Retz”.

Jules Michelet (21 August 1798 – 9 February 1874) was a prolific French historian. In addition to his history of France which fills many volumes, he wrote books on insects, birds, landscape, and witchcraft.

Thomas De Quincey (15 August 1785 – 8 December 1859) was a translator and essayist. He was the author of works of literary criticism, biographical studies, historical essays, translations from German, and a much-lauded memoir, Confessions of an English Opium-Eater.