La Révolution Française et les origines celtiques de la France

Abstract

Jean-Yves Guiomar, The French Revolution and the Celtic Origins of France. It was during the Revolution that the Celtic character of France's origins was emphasized as it never had been before. This contrasted with the legacy of ethnic and aristocratic notions from the previous century. The author traces the stages and carriers of the emerging notion in milieux such as Le Cercle Social and among men such as Combry, the author of A Voyage in Finistère. The latter was one of the founders of Le Cercle Celtique and active among people fascinated by the Celtic tradition in Paris under the Directory. The author demonstrates how the debate on the cult of the dead brought together common themes of discussion. The study of the works and publications of the Celtic Academy, from 1805 on, reveals the successes and failures of this current of thought and its significance within the cultural, scientific and political context of the time. The future "regionalist" current was developed by the hiers of the Enlightenment and not by those who were the depositories of a purely aristocratic tradition of thought.