Posted on 03/31/2002 3:17:14 PM PST by Pokey78
THE French identity is based on an historical nonsense, according to an academic who says that the Gauls were a fiction invented by the Romans and exploited by French revolutionaries after 1789. Christian Goudineau, Professor of History at the respected Collège de France, says in a new book, Par Toutatis, that the Gallic people never existed and that contemporary symbols are figments of the popular imagination. Take, for example, the cock that always accompanies French rugby supporters to Twickenham. M Goudineau claims that the bird is not the Gallic emblem that France believes it to be. In fact, it was an insult thrown at Philippe Auguste, the 12th-century French King, by English scholars who wanted to ridicule him by comparing him to a rooster. According to the book, which debunks the myth that the French are descended from the happy-go-lucky people embodied by Asterix, it was the Romans who did most to falsify French history. The professor, considered to be one of the country’s most eminent historians, says that when the Romans marched into what is today called France they encountered a disparate array of peoples. It was Julius Caesar who gave the name of Gaul to the territories he had conquered, drawing an arbitrary boundary between France and Germany. In their quest for glory, the Romans depicted their enemies as warlike, courageous and uncontrollable, an image that retains its force in France today. Yet many, according to M Goudineau, had done deals with Caesar and put up little or no fight. His book, named after the Celtic god Toutatis, is significant because it attacks the legend that forms the basis of the modern French state. Schoolbooks, for instance, peddled the idea that France was a single geographical and cultural entity. They also perpetuated the widely held belief that the French character derived from two sources: the undisciplined but likeable Gauls and the rational, centralised administration imposed on them by the Romans. Such ideas are false, M Goudineau says, yet they permeate all levels of French society. President Chirac, for example, had accumulated failure upon failure during his term of office, but remained popular because his roots were seen to be deep in the Gallic myth: a healthy appetite for food, alcohol and women, a strong sense of humour and an ability to resist in adversity. Until Caesar, Gaul had been a term used to describe most of continental Europe, from the Atlantic coast to Hungary, according to M Goudineau. Caesar’s version gained credence after the French Revolution, when the country’s leaders sought to unite a nation that had lost the cementing factor of royalty. M Goudineau says that, despite the academic accuracy of his research, his compatriots are unlikely to abandon a myth driven by two centuries of propaganda. He points, for instance, to the untainted halo that hangs over Vercingetorix, the warrior who led a revolt against Caesar in 52BC. To the French, Vercingetorix is a founding father who placed himself at the head of a Gallic army. M Goudineau says that he was the leader of the Arvernes, who were one among a “mosaic of peoples” in what is now France.
LOL!!! Would that be those in and around Vichy? Wonder if Caesar's Conquests talks about the natural inclination of the French to give up.
In a related development, the eminent scholar BigCheese also noted: "D*mn! The more things change, the more things stay the same"
Yep, that sure sounds like the French that we've come to know and love!
That or a *Euro-trash bump list would be good to have.
Sacre bleu, mon ami, you are nothing but a soiled rooster!
God bless 'em.
Strange, this man clearly never saw the Asterix!
Whatever the history, it's a mistake to say these characteristics are myth. If they weren't true 2000 years ago, there sure are now, and they are the principle redeeming characteristics of the French.
How's that?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.