Documents for "Historians, European: Biographies":

• Accolti, Benedetto c.1415-1466?, Italian humanist and historian. From his history of the First Crusade, Tasso supposedly drew the idea for Jerusalem Delivered. His son Bernardo Accolti, 1465?-1535, was known in his...

• Altamira y Crevea, Rafaél 1866-1951, Spanish jurist and historian. He was appointed professor of the history of the law in the universities at Oviedo (1897), Madrid (1914), and Mexico City (1945), and he served (1921-45)...

• Aulard, Alphonse 1849-1928, French historian. He was the first professional historian of the French Revolution, and he devoted his life to this study. A professor at the Univ. of Paris, he founded the Société de...

• Bainville, Jacques 1879-1936, French historian and journalist. A nationalist and a royalist, he was one of the founders and the foreign editor of the royalist daily, Action française. His brilliant and concise...

• Barros, João de 1496-1570, Portuguese historian. Of noble family, he early entered the service of the prince who became King John III. The most important office he held (1533-67) was that of factor, or crown...

• Bielski, Martin Pol. Marcin Bielski , c.1495-1575, Polish historian and poet. His history of Poland, the first historical work written in Polish, was completed by his son, Joachim Bielski.

• Bignon, Louis Pierre Édouard 1771-1841, French diplomat and historian. He held diplomatic posts under Napoleon, was acting minister of foreign affairs during the Hundred Days, and signed the surrender of Paris after Waterloo...

• Bloch, Marc 1886-1944, French historian and an authority on medieval feudalism. He taught at the Univ. of Strasbourg from 1919, became professor at the Sorbonne in 1936, and was cofounder of the journal Annales. Bloch did much to promote the study of economic history. As a Jew, he was subject to German restrictions during World War II. He joined the French Resistance in Lyon in 1942, helping to publish the...

• Braudel, Fernand 1902-85, French historian. He studied under Lucien Febvre and was a founder of the Annales school of historiography. As a German prisoner-of-war during World War II, he wrote his monumental The Mediterranean...

• Burckhardt, Jacob Christoph 1818-97, Swiss historian, one of the founders of the cultural interpretation of history. He studied under Ranke at the Univ. of Berlin and taught (1844-53, 1858-93) art history and history at the Univ. of Basel. His best-known work is Die Kultur der Renaissance in Italien (1860, The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy, available in many English editions). It remains the classic on the subject, although its primarily political and cultural interpretation of the Renaissance is controversial among historians...

• Chastellain, Georges c.1405-1475, French chronicler, historiographer to the dukes of Burgundy. The surviving fragments of his Grande Chronique are a valuable 15th-century source.

• Comines, Philippe de c.1447-c.1511, French historian, courtier, and diplomat. In 1472 he left the service of Charles the Bold of Burgundy to enter that of Louis XI of France, who rewarded him richly. After Louis's...

• Commines, Philippe de see Comines, Philippe de.

• Commynes, Philippe de see Comines, Philippe de.

• Coulanges, Numa Denis Fustel de see Fustel de Coulanges, Numa Denis.

• Dahlmann, Friedrich Christoph 1785-1860, German historian. He was dismissed from his professorship at Göttingen for protesting (1837) the abrogation of the constitution by King Ernest Augustus of Hanover. He later taught at...

• Dalin, Olof von 1708-63, Swedish historian, poet, and journalist, the foremost figure of the Swedish Enlightenment. In his successful career in the civil service, Dalin served as royal librarian (1737-39), tutor...

• Delbrück, Hans 1848-1929, German historian, professor at the Univ. of Berlin. His Geschichte der Kriegskunst [history of the art of warfare] (4 vol., 1900-1927) is notable for going beyond technical problems and...

• Dionysius Exiguus d. c.545, Roman monk, chronologist, and scholar, a transmitter of Greek thought to the Middle Ages. He made collections of 5th-century papal decretals and the canons of the early church councils...

• Droysen, Johann Gustav 1808-84, German historian. A member of the Frankfurt Parliament , he was a leading proponent of German unification under the leadership of his native Prussia. His Geschichte der preussischen Politik...

• Duruy, Victor 1811-94, French historian. He was a professor at Reims and Paris, and as minister of public instruction (1863-69) under Napoleon III he encouraged the adoption of the principle of free obligatory...

• Eginhard see Einhard.

• Einhard or Eginhard , c.770-840, Frankish historian. Educated in the monastery of Fulda, he continued his studies at Charlemagne's palace school in Aachen and rose to high favor with the emperor. Emperor Louis I made...

• Eustathius d. c.1194, Byzantine scholar, archbishop of Salonica (from 1175). He became renowned as master of the orators at Hagia Sophia, Constantinople, then a center of learning. He lectured on Homer and...

• Fischer, Fritz 1908-99, German historian. Appointed professor at the Univ. of Hamburg in 1948 (emeritus after 1973), he became famous as the result of his book Griff nach der Weltmacht (1961; tr. Germany's Aims in the First World War, 1967). His controversial thesis held that Germany's bid for world power before and during World War I was the main cause of the conflict in 1914. Fischer's unflattering picture of imperial Germany...

• Froissart, Jean c.1337-1410?, French chronicler, poet, and courtier, b. Valenciennes. Although ordained as a priest, he led a worldly life. He became a protégé of Queen Philippa of England, visited the court of...

• Fustel de Coulanges, Numa Denis 1830-89, French historian. His masterly study, La Cité antique (1864, tr. The Ancient City, 1874), stressed the influence of primitive religion on the development of Greek and Roman institutions. Losing (1870) his professorship in antiquities at the Univ. of Strasbourg after Strasbourg...

• Görres, Joseph von 1776-1848, German historian, journalist, and writer. As lecturer on philosophy at the Univ. of Heidelberg he befriended Joachim von Arnim and Clemens Brentano, whose folk song collection he...

• Geijer, Erik Gustav 1783-1847, Swedish historian and poet. A leader in the revival of Swedish national literature, he also taught history at the Univ. of Uppsala. His History of the Swedes (tr. 1845), terminating with the reign of Queen Christina, is his best-known work. Geijer also wrote hymns, lyrics, and songs that enjoyed wide popularity. Previously known as a conservative, he...

• Giesebrecht, Wilhelm von 1814-89, German historian. A gifted student of Ranke, he later taught at the Univ. of Königsberg. His Geschichte der deutschen Kaiserzeit [history of the imperial period of Germany] (5 vol.,...

• Giry, Arthur 1848-99, French historian. His Manuel de diplomatique (new ed. 1925) remains a standard work on the scientific study of documents.

• Graevius, Johann Georg 1632-1703, German antiquary. His German name was Gräve or Greffe. He was historiographer to William III of England and is remembered for his vast catalogs of Roman and Italian antiquities.

• Gregoras, Nicephorus c.1295-c.1359, Byzantine historian and theologian, one of the most learned men of his time. Among his scientific and philosophical works is a plan for a calendar reform similar to that effected by...

• Gregorovius, Ferdinand 1821-91, German historian. He spent many years in Rome, where he produced his authoritative History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages (8 vol., 1859-72; tr. 1894-1900). Other works include his...

• Guicciardini, Francesco 1483-1540, Italian historian and statesman. He represented (1512-14) his native Florence at the court of Spain, held offices in the Florentine government, and in 1516 entered the service of Pope...

• Guizot, François 1787-1874, French statesman and historian. The son of a Protestant family of Nîmes, he was educated at Geneva. He began a legal career in Paris in 1805, but soon took up literary work and later...

• Halévy, Élie 1870-1937, French historian, an authority on 19th-century England; son of Ludovic Halévy. In The Growth of Philosophic Radicalism (3 vol., 1901-4; tr., new ed. 1949) Halévy made a major...

• Hanotaux, Gabriel 1853-1944, French historian and statesman. Twice minister of foreign affairs (1894-95, 1895-98), he greatly furthered the Franco-Russian rapprochement. His chief fame is as a historian, notably as...

• Herculano de Carvalho e Araújo, Alexandre 1810-77, Portuguese historian. One of the outstanding thinkers of his time, he is considered the first modern Portuguese historian. His great four-volume history of Portugal (1846-53) is notable...

• Herrera y Tordesillas, Antonio de 1559?-1625, Spanish historian. Appointed official historiographer of Castile and the Indies under Philip II, he wrote a general history of the New World (1601), a history of Philip's reign...

• Hrushevsky, Mikhailo 1866-1934, Ukrainian historian and statesman. Hrushevsky's monumental History of Ukraine (10 vol., 1899-1937) covers the period to 1658. Other works include A History of Ukraine (tr. 1941) and History of Ukrainian Literature (5 vol., 1922-27). Hrushevsky argued that the period of the Kievan state (10th-13th cent.) belonged to Ukraine only, thus repudiating the Russian nationalist tradition that traced the history of...

• Huizinga, Johan 1872-1945, Dutch historian. He began his academic career in Indian literature, but his reputation rests on his work in the cultural history of the late Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the...

• Joinville, Jean, sire de 1224?-1317?, French chronicler, biographer of Louis IX of France (St. Louis). As seneschal (governor) of Champagne, Joinville was a close adviser to Louis, whom he accompanied (1248-54) on the Seventh Crusade. He opposed and refused to take part in the...

• Jordanes fl. 6th cent., historian of the Ostrogoths, b. in the lower Danube region. His History of the Goths, an abridgment of the lost work of Cassiodorus , is the only extant source for Ostrogothic history...

• Jullian, Camille 1859-1933, French historian. His monumental Histoire de la Gaule (8 vol., 1908-26) combines scholarly erudition with colorful style and remains the most authoritative work on Gaul from 600 BC to the...

• Justin (Marcus Junianus Justinus), fl. 3d cent., Roman historian. He made a collection of excerpts from Trogus , which gives many facts not recounted elsewhere.

• Karamzin, Nikolai Mikhailovich 1766-1826, Russian historian and writer. His Letters of a Russian Traveler, 1789-90 (1792, abr. tr. 1957), dealing with a journey to Western Europe, brought a cosmopolitan awareness into Russian writing. Karamzin made the Russian literary language more polished, elegant, and...

• Klyuchevsky, Vasily Osipovich 1841-1911, Russian historian. Interpreting history from a sociological viewpoint, he emphasized geographic and economic conditions as the determining factors of social change. Klyuchevsky...

• López de Ayala, Pedro 1332-1407, Spanish statesman, poet, and chronicler. As a royal official in Castile, he served Peter the Cruel, Henry II, John I, and Henry III, rising to become chancellor of Castile (1398-1407)...

• Lamprecht, Karl 1856-1915, German historian. Opposing the notion of heroes in history, he advocated a history based on broad social, cultural, and psychological trends. His chief works are Die kulturhistorische Methode...

• Las Cases, Emmanuel, comte de 1766-1842, French historian. He accompanied Napoleon into exile to St. Helena, where the emperor dictated a part of his memoirs to him. His famous Mémorial de Sainte-Hélène (tr....

• Lavisse, Ernest 1842-1922, French historian. He was for many years a professor at the Sorbonne. His early works deal chiefly with the history of Prussia, particularly Frederick the Great. His chief fame rests,...

• Lefebvre, Georges 1874-1959, French historian, an authority on the French Revolutionary period. From 1937 to 1945 he held the chair of French Revolutionary history at the Sorbonne, and he founded the Institut...

• Liutprand d. 744, king of the Lombards (712-44). Under his rule the Lombard kingdom of Italy reached its zenith. The first Christian Lombard ruler, Liutprand strongly favored Roman law and institutions. His...

• Luchaire, Achille 1846-1908, French historian. He edited, in collaboration with Berthold Zeller, L'Histoire de France racontée par les contemporains (65 vol., 1880-90), a collection of excerpts from original...

• Magnusson, Árni 1663-1730, Icelandic historian and antiquarian. He taught at the Univ. of Copenhagen, and his important collection of ancient Icelandic manuscripts is housed there.

• Marcellinus Ammianus see Ammianus Marcellinus.

• Mariana, Juan de 1536?-1623?, Spanish historian and political philosopher, a Jesuit. He taught in Rome and in Paris before going to Toledo, where he wrote his two great works. His Historiae de rebus Hispaniae [history of Spain], a notable achievement in history, presented a unified and coordinated history rather than a simple chronicle. Although sometimes credulous, he was to some extent critical of...

• Masson, Frédéric 1847-1923, French historian, an authority on Napoleon I and his family. His work is uncritically laudatory with regard to Napoleon himself; his admiration, however, did not deter his severe...

• Mathiez, Albert 1874-1932, French historian, an authority on the French Revolution. He studied under Aulard , whose scientific method he adopted, although it led him to different conclusions. Although not a member of the Socialist party, Mathiez was a follower of Jean Jaurès. Mathiez's chief work, La Révolution français (3 vol., 1922-27; tr. 1928, repr. 1962), was essentially a socialist interpretation. For Mathiez, the French Revolution began as a struggle between the bourgeoisie and the aristocracy, but evolved...

• Meinecke, Friedrich 1862-1954, German historian and intellectual figure. Educated at the Univ. of Berlin, he became a professor there in 1914 and directed (1893-1935) the Historische Zeitschrift. In 1948 he was made rector of the Free Univ. of Berlin. During the Nazi era his humanist views led to official disfavor and his withdrawal from active teaching. Meinecke was both a nationalist and...

• Michaud, Joseph François 1767-1839, French journalist and historian. Under the Directory he was deported for advocating the restoration of the Bourbons. On his return (1799) to France he wrote a History of the Crusades (tr.,...

• Michelet, Jules 1798-1874, French writer, the greatest historian of the romantic school. Born in Paris of poor parents, he visualized himself throughout his life as a champion of the people. He headed the...

• Mignet, François Auguste Marie 1796-1884, French historian and journalist. With his lifelong friend, Adolphe Thiers , Mignet edited the National, a powerful liberal daily, and helped to overthrow Charles X in the July Revolution of 1830. As a historian, Mignet is best known for L'Histoire de la Révolution française (1824; many later editions and translations). A moderate, Mignet deplored the violence of the Terror but defended the French Revolution as the necessary product of economic and social conditions...

• Mommsen, Theodor 1817-1903, German historian. Appointed (1848) professor of civil law at the Univ. of Leipzig, he supported the Revolution of 1848 and lost his chair because of his political opinions. He...

• Muratori, Ludovico Antonio 1672-1750, Italian historian, a Roman Catholic priest. One of the foremost scholars of his age, he was long archivist and ducal librarian at Modena. He discovered the Muratorian Canon, a scrap of...

• Naruszewicz, Adam Stanislaw 1733-96, Polish historian. A Jesuit, he became, after the suppression of his order, bishop of Smolensk (1788) and of Lutsk (1790). At the court of Stanislaus II he held a position similar to poet...

• Navarrete, Martín Fernández de 1765-1844, Spanish historian and hydrographer. Joining (1780) the Spanish navy, he entered (1796) the navy department and later established its hydrographic office. After Napoleon took Spain,...

• Nestor d. 1115?, Russian chronicler. A monk in a Kiev monastery, he wrote a life of saints Boris and Gleb and of the prior of his monastery St. Feodosi. Until recently the authorship of the Russian Primary...

• Niebuhr, Barthold Georg 1776-1831, German historian, b. Copenhagen; son of Karsten Niebuhr. He served in the Danish and, after 1806, in the Prussian civil service, took part in the foundation of the Univ. of Berlin, and was (1816-23) Prussian ambassador to the Holy See. From 1823 to his...

• Oncken, Hermann 1869-1946, German historian. He taught at the universities of Heidelberg, Munich, Chicago, and (1928-35) Berlin. He was forced to retire because of his opposition to the Nazi regime. Among his...

• Oncken, Wilhelm 1838-1905, German historian. He taught at the Univ. of Giessen after 1866. A typical national liberal of the 19th cent., Oncken regarded history as a means of national political education. His...

• Ordericus Vitalis 1075-c.1143, Norman monk and chronicler, b. England. He spent most of his life in Saint-Évroul in Normandy. His Ecclesiastical History (4 vol., tr. 1853-56; repr. 1968), a universal history...

• Otto of Freising b. after 1111, d. 1158, German chronicler, bishop of Freising. He was a son of Leopold III of Austria, a half brother of Emperor Conrad III, and an uncle of Emperor Frederick I. His history of the...

• Pastor, Ludwig, Freiherr von 1854-1928, German historian. The author of the monumental and authoritative History of the Popes from the Close of the Middle Ages (40 vol., tr. 1891-1953), he combined a Roman Catholic bias with the most painstaking scholarship and erudition. He was privileged with access to the secret archives of the Vatican, and his...

• Paul the Deacon c.725-799?, Lombard historian. He received a good education, probably at Pavia, and he learned Latin thoroughly and some Greek. He lived at Monte Cassino and at Charlemagne's court. His first work...

• Paulus Diaconus see Paul the Deacon.

• Pirenne, Henri 1862-1935, Belgian historian. He was for many years a professor of history at the Univ. of Ghent. A leader of Belgian passive resistance in World War I, he was held (1916-18) as a hostage by the...

• Pogodin, Mikhail Petrovich 1800-1875, Russian historian and publisher. His conservative journal The Muscovite (1841-56) defended the policies of Nicholas I. He was professor of Russian history at Moscow Univ. (1835-44) and wrote a history of Russia (7 vol., 1846-57) and a study of the origins of Russia (3...

• Procopius d. 565?, Byzantine historian, b. Caesarea in Palestine. He accompanied Belisarius on his campaigns as his secretary, and later he commanded the imperial navy and served (562) as prefect of Constantinople. His education, high connections, and public offices give his histories...

• Quinet, Edgar 1803-75, French historian. A romantic nationalist, he was much influenced by Johann Gottfried von Herder and was a close friend and associate of Jules Michelet. Praising the French Revolution for...

• Rambaud, Alfred Nicolas 1842-1905, French historian and politician. He served in the administration of Jules Ferry, was elected senator (1895), and was minister of public instruction (1896-98). Rambaud taught at the...

• Ramusio, Giambattista 1485-1557, Italian editor and compiler, b. Treviso. He served in diplomatic posts for the Venetian state and eventually in the Council of Ten. He is remembered for his monumental Delle navigationi e viaggi (1550-59), a collection of geographical accounts of explorations. This work provides many of the extant accounts of early voyages of exploration; it includes a fine edition of Marco Polo's account...

• Ranke, Leopold von 1795-1886, German historian, generally recognized as the father of the modern objective historical school. He applied and elaborated Barthold Niebuhr 's scientific method of historical investigation. Ranke's aim was to reconstruct the unique periods of the past as they actually were and to avoid injecting the history of former times with the...

• Raynal, Guillaume Thomas François, Abbé 1713-96, French historian and philosopher. Raynal was a priest, but he was dismissed from his parish in Paris; he then turned to writing and sought the society and collaboration of the...

• Renan, Ernest 1823-92, French historian and critic. He began training for the priesthood but renounced it in 1845. His first trip to Italy (1849) influenced his interest in antiquity but did not change most of...

• Salvemini, Gaetano 1873-1957, Italian historian. He taught at the universities of Messina, Pisa, and Florence and also served (1919-21) in parliament. After being arrested in 1925 as an anti-Fascist, he left Italy...

• Saxo Grammaticus c.1150-c.1220, the first important Danish historian. He was in the service of Absalon , archbishop of Lund, at whose suggestion Saxo wrote the Gesta Danorum (or Historia Danica ). The first nine books, translated (1893, repr. 1967) Danish History, are mostly composed of oral tradition and legends concerning the early Danes, including the story of Hamlet. The remaining seven books, dealing more with contemporary events, are an extremely...

• Scaliger, Joseph Justus 1540-1609, French classical scholar. He was the son of Julius Caesar Scaliger, from whom he acquired his early mastery of Latin. He adopted Protestantism in 1562, served as companion of a Poitevin...

• Seignobos, Charles 1854-1942, French historian. He taught at the Univ. of Paris and wrote many works on French and European history and civilization, some being contributions to the series edited by Ernest Lavisse and...

• Siebold, Philipp Franz van 1796-1866, German naturalist and physician; son of A. E. von Siebold. He was noted for his studies of the natural history, ethnography, and language of Japan, a country then very little known to...

• Sigurðsson, Jón 1811-79, Icelandic statesman and historian. A student in Copenhagen from 1833, he developed an interest in Icelandic literature and history, on which he became the outstanding authority. He was...

• Sismondi, Jean Charles Léonard Simonde de 1773-1842, Swiss historian, economist, and critic. A member of the circle of Mme de Staël, he was a moderate liberal; his political views colored his writings. His celebrated History of the Italian Republics in the Middle Ages (16 vol., 1809-18; tr., abr. and rev., 1906) is marred by his Calvinist bias against the Roman Catholic Church, which he considered chiefly responsible for the loss of liberty in the Italian...

• Socrates Scholasticus fl. 5th cent., Byzantine historian. His Ecclesiastical History (in Greek, 7 vol.) continues the work of Eusebius for the period from 305 to 439. The work is unusual for its objectivity, dependence on original primary sources (e.g., acts of councils, the...

• Sorel, Albert 1842-1906, French historian. After a diplomatic career that gave him unique access to the archives of the foreign ministry, Sorel concentrated on diplomatic history. His monumental Europe et la Révolution française (8 vol., 1895-1904) surveyed the influence of the French Revolution in Europe. Applying to diplomatic history the Tocqueville thesis of essential continuity between the ancien régime and...

• Spengler, Oswald 1880-1936, German historian and philosopher. His studies covered many fields, among them mathematics, science, philosophy, history, and art. His major work, The Decline of the West (2 vol., 1918-22; tr. 1926-28), brought him worldwide fame. Spengler maintained that every culture passes a life cycle from youth through maturity and old age to death. Western culture, he...

• Sybel, Heinrich von 1817-95, German historian. He studied under Ranke at the Univ. of Berlin, but later abandoned the Rankean striving for objective history; he began to take an active part in politics and promoted...

• Thierry, Augustin 1795-1856, French historian. His vivid literary style, romantic treatment of events, and use of contemporary documents helped to create interest in historical studies in the early 19th cent. His...

• Thou, Jacques Auguste de 1553-1617, French historian and magistrate. As a member of the Parlement of Paris, Thou rendered outstanding service to Henry IV. The first volumes of his great History of His Own Times (1604-8, in Latin), covering the Wars of Religion of the 16th cent., aroused Roman Catholic opposition because of his strictures against the Catholic League and his Gallican leanings. The complete...

• Treitschke, Heinrich von 1834-96, German historian. A fervid partisan of Prussia, he left Baden at the outbreak of the Austro-Prussian War (1866) and became professor of history at Kiel (1866), Heidelberg (1867), and...

• Varchi, Benedetto 1502?-1565, Italian poet and historian. A protégé of Filippo Strozzi and Cosimo de' Medici, he was commissioned to write the history of Florence. His Storia fiorentina (16 vol.) covers...

• Villani, Giovanni c.1275-1348, Italian historian of Florence. As a Florentine government functionary, he participated in some of the events he narrates. His 12-volume history of Florence, written as a universal...

• Villari, Pasquale 1826-1917, Italian historian and statesman. He took part in the Revolution of 1848, served in the legislative chamber (1867-82), and was minister of education (1889-92). His first work on...

• Virgil, Polydore see Vergil, Polydore.

• Volney, Constantin François de Chassebœuf, comte de 1757-1820, French scholar. He traveled in Egypt and Syria in the 1780s and wrote an account of his journey, Voyage en Syrie et en Égypte (1787); notable for its exact descriptions, it was useful to Napoleon during his Egyptian campaign. Volney served as deputy (1789) to the States-General, as secretary (1790) of the National...

• Waitz, Georg 1813-86, German historian. In the Frankfurt Parliament in 1848 he defended the idea of a unified Germany, including Austria and Prussia. He was professor at Göttingen after 1849. His great...

• Wallon, Henri Alexandre 1812-1904, French historian and politician. He was elected (1871) to the national assembly, and it was his proposal (1875) that led to the adoption of the organic laws that formed the constitution...

• William of Tyre b. c.1130, d. before 1185, historian and churchman. Born in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem and possibly of French extraction, he received his education at Antioch and in Europe. In 1167 he was...

• Wittfogel, Karl August 1896-1988, German historian and sinologist, Ph.D. Univ. of Frankfurt, 1928. In the 1920s and early 30s, he was an active member of the German Communist party and, between 1925 and 1933, a member...