Abstract

This article traces the engagement of Catholic authors of the Counter-Enlightenment and the Counterrevolution with historical writing. While disagreeing with Enlightenment interpretations of European history, which tended to be critical of the Catholic church, these authors embraced the Enlightenment view that history offered a window into the fundamental characteristics of human nature and a powerful toolkit to analyze and solve current predicaments. Faced with the reforming policies of enlightened monarchs, revolutionary dechristianization, and the persistence of the Revolution’s legacy in the Restoration era, Catholic writers looked to the Middle Ages to find alternative models of society. Considering the cultural and social role of religion in medieval society, they realized that appeals for the restoration of the alliance of church and state were not enough; Catholicism itself needed to be transformed into a force that could vie for social and cultural hegemony in the modern world – a modern political ideology.