After the successful edition of L’Antiquité expliquée et représentée en figures (1719-1724), Montfaucon (1655-1741), a maurist benedictine monk, published a second secular book Les monumens de la monarchie françoise qui comprennent l’Histoire de France, avec les figures de chaque règne que l’injure des tems a épargnées (1729-1733). The principal theme of this illustrated compilation, dedicated to king Louis XV, is the protection of ancient national monuments. Thanks to the innovating ideas of some of their superiors, the maurists, such as Jean Mabillon (1632-1707), enlisted in the advanced researches of scholarly history, aiming precisely to connect it with established sources. Montfaucon, who was already famous for his exhaustive publications synthesizing his talents for philology, paleography and codicology, revealed true capacities as an antiquary, when staying in Saint Germain abbey. For example, he presented a chronology of the french monarchy, ranging from Pharamond to Henri IV, in learned researches. This history of the nation, illustrated with pictures of « monumens » transmitting a memory, brings non written proofs of authenticity to History, and so, revolutionizes its method. Acknowledged by his colleagues, praised by the « République des Lettres », Montfaucon is going to reveal to the readers of Modern Times a very original vision of Middle Ages.And thus, by inserting in the very heart of his historical narration the representation of those « bas-temps », he introduced an innovating vision.