A Disputed Inheritance Writing the Cultural History of Medieval Arras in the Long Nineteenth Century

Abstract

During the nineteenth century the medieval history of the city of Arras became increasingly important for cultivation of the literary and musical history of the French nation. Modern scholars typically cast the remarkable culture of medieval Arras within the context of France, largely erasing the city’s complex geopolitical position during the medieval period. This article argues that the historiography is more complicated, revealing scholars who attempted to claim medieval Arrageois culture for Belgium, as well as scholars whose regionalist approach to cultural history defied contemporary nationalist currents on either side of the Franco-Belgian border. In showing the variety of nineteenth-century approaches to writing the cultural history of this important medieval center, the article argues that Arras and its history provide a useful context for understanding how the nascent Belgian nation curated and understood its past.