Benjamin Guérard, (15 March 1797 – 10 March 1854) was a 19th-century French librarian and historian, especially known for his edition of

cartularies A cartulary or chartulary (; Latin: ''cartularium'' or ''chartularium''), also called ''pancarta'' or ''codex diplomaticus'', is a medieval manuscript volume or roll (''rotulus'') containing transcriptions of original documents relating to the fo ...

of abbeys of the

Carolingian period The Carolingian dynasty (; known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charlemagne, grandson of mayor Charles Martel and a descendant of the Arnulfing and Pippi ...

Biography

Born in a family of Burgundian bourgeoisie, Guérard studied in

Dijon Dijon (, , ) (dated) * it, Digione * la, Diviō or * lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920. The earlies ...

from 1807 to 1814, then moved to Paris where he was first a bank employee. In 1818, he obtained a supernumerary place at the manuscript department of the Bibliothèque royale and decided to improve his training by following the course of the École royale des chartes established in 1821. Became permanent employee of the Royal Library, he devoted himself to historical research, getting a mention from the

Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

for his ''Discours sur la vie et les ouvrages du président Jacques-Auguste de Thou'' and collaborated to the ''L'Art de vérifier les dates''. But he is mostly known for his ''Essai sur les divisions territoriales de la Gaule sous les rois des Francs'', crowned by the

Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres The Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres () is a French learned society devoted to history, founded in February 1663 as one of the five academies of the Institut de France. The academy's scope was the study of ancient inscriptions ( epig ...

(1830) and printed at government expense in 1832. In 1831, he was appointed at the chair of

diplomatics Diplomatics (in American English, and in most anglophone countries), or diplomatic (in British English), is a scholarly discipline centred on the critical analysis of documents: especially, historical documents. It focuses on the conventions, p ...

of the École des chartes and in 1833, was elected a member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, in the seat of his master Abel Remusat, while being assistant curator at the . A founding member of the

Société de l'histoire de France The Société de l'histoire de France (SHF) (English: ''Society of the History of France'') was established on 21 December 1833 at the instigation of the French minister of Public Instruction, François Guizot, in order to contribute to the renewa ...

and member of the publishing committee of the ''Documents inédits relatifs à l'histoire de France'', he devoted himself to publishing many ancient documents, particularly the abbey cartularies. The best known is probably the

Polyptych of Irminon The Polyptych of Irminon, also known as the Polyptych of Saint-Germain, is an inventory of properties compiled around 823 by Irminon, the abbot of the Saint-Germain-des-Prés in France. The Polyptych describes the possessions of the monastery, loc ...

. After the reorganization of the École des chartes in 1846, his courses became more important and in 1848, Benjamin Guérard was appointed director of the school. At the end of 1852, he becomes curator of the manuscript department of the Bibliothèque impériale, but not for long since he died a year and a half later.

Selected publications

*''Discours sur la vie et les ouvrages du président Jacques-Auguste de Thou'' *''L'Art de vérifier les dates'' *''Essai sur les divisions territoriales de la Gaule sous les rois des Francs'' * ;Editions of ancient documents *''Le Polyptyque d'Irminon''

References

External links

André Guérard
on Wikisource
Notice
on CTHS {{DEFAULTSORT:Guerard, Benjamin French librarians École Nationale des Chartes alumni French medievalists Officiers of the Légion d'honneur Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres People from Montbard 1797 births 1854 deaths