Histoire républicaine et conscience révolutionnaire : Enjeux politiques de la traduction de l’Histoire d’Angleterre de Catherine Macaulay-Graham

A few months after the death of Mirabeau, the translation of History of England from the accession of James I to the Elevation of the House of Hanover of Catherine Macaulay is published in Paris with a long preface of the « tribun ». Why does this book about history of English Civil War reappear at the time of French Revolution? How explain such an interest for a historical work which provoked strong debates in England? This questions structure the present paper dedicated to the understanding of political uses of history in the Great Revolution of 1789. The analysis of papers on Macaulay’s text shows the significance of English 17th century memory in the construction of criticism of royal absolutism and of the thought of political players as Brissot and Mirabeau. The 1791 translation is the final achievement of a precocious interest which both revolutionary leaders have been for the history of English Civil war, considered as the first moment of transnational history of liberty.