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| Edwin Blashfield's Prose Mural under the barrel-vaulted ceiling of the Detroit Public Library |
My Dear Heavenly Muse,
When
I consider whom you’ve inspired throughout your Chronicles of Time—Moses on Mt.
Sinai, Michelangelo under the Sistine Chapel—I imagine your hand upon Edwin
Blashfield’s shoulder while he stood on the balustrade of the Detroit Public
Library. Thank you for whispering Jules
Michelet into his ear. I may never have met him otherwise.
It’s
a pleasant surprise to become acquainted with a French writer who cherished his
country’s history and wasn’t a womanizer. Also, I’d never heard the term
“Huguenot” which describes the religious traditions of Michelet’s family tied
to 1517 in Wittenberg, Germany. Yes, the place you inspired Martin Luther to
nail his Ninety-Five Theses to the church door. There, he offered Christians
another manner to worship within the Protestant Reformation.
John
Calvin (1509-1564), a Frenchman and Huguenot, supported the Reformation. Calvin
influenced his kinsmen to leave the Roman Catholic Church and embrace Christian
worship from Biblical texts in a more personal relationship with God.
Unlike
many Huguenots of that period who fled the violence of French Catholics and
kings for refuge in the New World, the Michelets remained in France. Over a
hundred years later, Jules was born in Paris in August 1798. His father was a printer of meager means who kept his son in school with high expectations.
Michelet published his Introduction à
l'histoire universelle in 1831. In 1838 he was appointed professor at the
Collège de France where he held the chair of History and Ethics. His "peculiar
romantic and visionary qualities" made him one the most stimulating of all
historians.
His account "featured his tendency to indulge in
historical suggestions which, although associated with solid facts, are not
always trustworthy. The Introduction à l'histoire universelle was in
fact partly inspired by the anti-rationalist approach of the philosopher Vico
who had proclaimed the triumph of the imagination over analysis."
Michelet completed his study Histoire de France in 1867, one hundred years before I graduated from high school. The work contains over 19 volumes. And that's without a word processor. Most authorities say Michelet
was perhaps the first historian to imagine anything like "a
picturesque history of the middle ages." They say his account is "still the most vivid
that exists."
Michelet's "style, emotional strength, and powerful evocation make Histoire de France a masterpiece of French literature." He "traced the biography of the
nation as a whole, instead of concentrating on persons or groups of persons.”
Hmmm…I like that word “traced”, Muse. I trace my
history and the Protestant tradition of my ancestors. It all began with Luther.
I am part of the whole from Germany, Ireland, Scotland, and Appalachia.
Who knows (other than you), with 90% DNA Northern European, I could be related to Michelet. That would explain my
passion for history. What do you think? Just what do you have in mind for my history and stories?
I write and wait patiently for your reply.
Sincerely,
Iris
Lee Underwood
