The short-lived enthusiasm in France for scènes historiques – prose dramas on historical events, designed to be read – which lasted roughly from Ludovic Vitet's Les Barricades of 1826 to Musset's Lorenzaccio of 1834, sprang from a combination of factors: the publication of memoirs, notably of the sixteenth century; the renewal of historiography by historians such as Prosper de Barante and Augustin Thierry; the revelation of the literary potential of the national past through the translation of Sir Walter Scott's historical novels; and the desire to break free from the constraints of French Classical theatre. Shakespeare's history plays and Goethe's Götz von Berlichingen provided a model for the direct presentation of the past. Whereas Vitet strove for historical accuracy in his scènes, Mérimée's portrayal of the French peasant revolt of 1358 uses representative fictional characters...
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Citation: Cogman, Peter. "La Jacquerie: scènes féodales, suivies de La Famille de Carvajal, drame". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 27 November 2003 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=12330, accessed 05 December 2025.]
