Écrire le passé en compilant le présent

In 1611 started the publication of a collected works of periodicals called the Mercure François. Because of its periodicity (it was published once a year between 1619 and 1633), the periodical is often regarded as the beginning of journalism in France. As a matter of fact, the Mercure François is closer to a history book. It inherits from an extended tradition of writing the past and it follows the Chronologie septenaire de l’Histoire de la paix […] by Pierre-Victor Palma-Cayet. If the chronological and geographical distance is getting shorter and shorter during a period of time, the Mercure François is still a history book. Because of the various temporalities that it deals with, the Mercure François stands at the crossroad of tradition and innovation and could be associated to various literary and discursive genres. Its publication between the murder of Henry IV (1611) and the regency of Anne d’Autriche (1648) makes the periodical cross three political regimes thus questioning the political use of writing the past.