by Jean-Jacques COURTEY, Doctor in Economic Geography, Ph. D
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Our title might totally surprise you in this very unstable and uncertain period of world history, marked by a fateful pandemics puzzling the best scientists, and letting no time to think quietly.
So let's go further "in a cross-cutting manner" to understand what is not told to you usually, and what we are meaning with the words "French redeemed Monarchy" !
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The Constitution of October 4th, 1958, founding the Vth Republic in France has been enforced on january Ist, 1959. So it is now 62 years old.
This new regime - because it's really a new one -, is trying to reconciliate France with its glorious past. That's why it appears as a performing mixture between the Royal Old Regime, the Empire, Restauration, and the second Empire...with some important symbols kept from the Ist Republic, which wasn't really proclaimed on September 22nd,1792 !
Republic is a word coming from the Roman words "Res publica" ("the Public Thing", or more expressively "The State" - "L'Etat" in French). So it's not antinomic with Monarchy through the etymological angle. That's why this expression of "Republic" was already in use at the time of the French jurist Jean Bodin ("The six books of the republic" - 1576), under the Reign of King Henri III (1574 - 1589). Don't forget the latter was justly elected King to the Crown of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1573 !
The unproclaimed Ist Republic of 1792 was the result of a strong divergence between Maximilien de Robespierre (1758 - 1794) and Georges Danton (1759 - 1794). The first one was considering it like something temporary, as a hidden "Rosati prince": he had something else in mind, with himself ("The Supreme Being" of a riotous Rabble, according to the Parisian unleashed "Mother of God", Catherine Théot) at the top of a "New Dynasty" for the Kingdom of France.
Danton was obliged to follow his view, as he was hiding himself to be the inglorious organizer of the Massacre of the Innocents of September 1792 precisely.
It is his strange connection with this Great Priestess of Darkness which caused the sudden and bloody fall of Robespierre and his supporters in Thermidor 1794. It lead them to the guillotine when those weird and close links were subito presto unveiled !
Then, in fact this new regime is subtly implied by the use of a new pagan Calendar, justly starting from September 22nd, 1792. It was the result of a compromise between Robespierre and Danton, who were actually two predominant characters of the French Revolution.
In 1958, the idea of General Charles de Gaulle (1890 - 1970) in return to power since May 13th ("Resurrection" day), was to establish in France a solid regime to put an end to the tiring government instability of the IVth Republic (1946 -1958) : the Vth Republic.
And as a descendant of Capetian Kings himself through women, he had the idea to come back to the elective redeemed Monarchy of Hugues Capet (987).
That's the very reason the preparatory works of the new Constitution were untitled "Du Principat" ("About the Principate" in English) !
To be followed...
