My subject is Legitimism in the Third Republic, focusing on the period 1877-93, namely the period which witnessed both the stabilisation of the Republic and thedecline and ultimate failure of Legitimism as a political movement. Legitimism can beread as a local phenomenon, which makes studying it in the local context an obviousapproach. I have opted for a comparative study, selecting two contrastingdepartements in the Midi-Pyrenees, the Haute-Garonne and A veyron. I approachLegitimism as a political culture, examining the ideas and ideology that underpinnedLegitimist activity. In particular I investigate the role of myths of the Revolution of1789 within this political culture, given the context of the 'republican Republic' thattook shape 1877-79 and drew explicitly on the Revolution to legitimate itself. Isuggest that previous research on Legitimism has seriously underestimated theimportance of these myths within the Legitimist movement. My study is centred on anexamination of the struggles initiated by the advent of the 'republican Republic': thestruggle for republican education, the struggle for republican politics and the strugglefor republican symbolism. At all these levels the Legitimist conceptions of society andof the nature of France were challenged. Legitimist mobilisation in the face of thesechallenges revealed not only their social and political conceptions, but also raisedquestions about the political strength of Legitimism in the novel context of masspolitics. I show the successes and the failures that ensued, the importance of the localdimension and discuss Legitimist engagement in broader reactionary politics,suggesting that standard studies of the French right in this period have neglected nondynasticclerical conservative politics. I conclude by offering a new perspective on thenature of Legitimism.