This is a list of French historians limited to those with a biographical entry in either English or

French Wikipedia The French Wikipedia () is the French-language edition of Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia. This edition was started on 23 March 2001, two months after the official creation of Wikipedia. It has :fr:Special:Statistics, encyclopedia artic ...

. Other major French chroniclers, annalists, philosophers, or other writers are included if they have important historical output.

Introduction

Scope and style

This article includes French historians and other writers from France making important contributions to history, and having an article in either English or

. The list is organized chronologically, with sections devoted to time periods. Within a section, authors are listed alphabetically by last name, except for the brief section, where they are ordered by date of birth.

Background

History only matured as a serious academic profession in the 19th century. Before that, it was exercised as a literary pursuit by amateurs such as

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778), known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' Voltaire (, ; ), was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, philosopher (''philosophe''), satirist, and historian. Famous for his wit ...

Jules Michelet Jules Michelet (; 21 August 1798 – 9 February 1874) was a French historian and writer. He is best known for his multivolume work ''Histoire de France'' (History of France). Michelet was influenced by Giambattista Vico; he admired Vico's emphas ...

, and

François Guizot François Pierre Guillaume Guizot (; 4 October 1787 – 12 September 1874) was a French historian, orator and Politician, statesman. Guizot was a dominant figure in French politics between the July Revolution, Revolution of 1830 and the Revoluti ...

. The transition to an academic discipline first occurred in Germany under historian

Leopold von Ranke Leopold von Ranke (21 December 1795 – 23 May 1886) was a German historian and a founder of modern source-based history. He was able to implement the seminar teaching method in his classroom and focused on archival research and the analysis of ...

who began offering his university seminar in history in 1833. Similar introduction of the discipline into academia in France took place in the 1860s. Historians active in France at the time such as inherited the principles of a new academic discipline from Ranke and earlier mentors including

Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges (; 18 March 1830 – 12 September 1889) was a French historian. Biography Coulanges was born in Paris; he was of Breton descent. After studying at the École Normale Supérieure, he attended the French School at ...

Middle Ages

: ''listed by date of birth:'' *

Gregory of Tours Gregory of Tours (born ; 30 November – 17 November 594 AD) was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours during the Merovingian period and is known as the "father of French history". He was a prelate in the Merovingian kingdom, encom ...

(538–594), a

Gallo-Roman Gallo-Roman culture was a consequence of the Romanization (cultural), Romanization of Gauls under the rule of the Roman Empire in Roman Gaul. It was characterized by the Gaulish adoption or adaptation of Roman culture, Roman culture, language ...

historian and

Bishop of Tours The Archdiocese of Tours (; ) is a Latin Church archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France. The archdiocese has roots that go back to the 3rd century, while the formal erection of the diocese dates from the 5th century. The ecclesiastical p ...

during the

Merovingian period The Merovingian dynasty () was the ruling family of the Franks from around the middle of the 5th century until Pepin the Short in 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the ...

. His ten-volume ''

Historia Francorum Gregory of Tours (born ; 30 November – 17 November 594 AD) was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours during the Merovingian period and is known as the "father of French history". He was a prelate in the Merovingian kingdom, encompa ...

'' (History of the Franks) is a primary source for the period. Gregory is recognized as the "father of French history". *

Richerus Richerus or Richer of Reims (fl. 10th century) was a monk of Saint-Remi, just outside Reims, and a historian, an important source for the contemporary kingdom of France. Life He was a son of Rodulf, a trusted councillor and captain of Louis IV of ...

(), monk and historian *

Geoffrey of Villehardouin Geoffrey of Villehardouin (c. 1150 – c. 1213) was a French knight and historian who participated in and chronicled the Fourth Crusade. He is considered one of the most important historians of the time period,Smalley, p. 131 best known for wr ...

(1150–1210), chronicler of the

Fourth Crusade The Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) was a Latin Christian armed expedition called by Pope Innocent III. The stated intent of the expedition was to recapture the Muslim-controlled city of Jerusalem, by first defeating the powerful Egyptian Ayyubid S ...

; his account of the Conquest of Constantinople is the oldest surviving historical writing in French. *

Enguerrand de Monstrelet Enguerrand de Monstrelet ( 1400 – 20 July 1453) was a French chronicler. He was born in Picardy, most likely into a family of the minor nobility. Life In 1436 and later he held the office of lieutenant of the ''gavenier'' (i.e. receiver of the ...

(c. 1400–1453), chronicler *

Thomas Basin Thomas Basin (1412–1491) was a French bishop of Lisieux and historian. Biography Basin was born at Caudebec in Normandy, but in the devastation caused by the Hundred Years' War, his childhood was itinerant. He was taken from Caudebec in 1415 ...

(1412–1491) * Mathieu d'Escouchy (1420–1482), chronicler *

Jean Molinet Jean Molinet (1435 – 23 August 1507) was a French poet, chronicler, and composer. He is best remembered for his prose translation of '' Roman de la rose''. Born in Desvres, which is now part of France, he studied in Paris. He entered th ...

(1435–1507), chronicler *

Philippe de Commines Philippe de Commines (or de Commynes or "Philippe de Comines"; Latin: ''Philippus Cominaeus''; 1447 – 18 October 1511) was a writer and diplomat in the courts of Burgundy and France. He has been called "the first truly modern writer" (Charles ...

(1447–1511)

16th and 17th centuries

: ''listed alphabetically by last name (this, and all subsequent sections):'' *

Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet Jacques-Bénigne Lignel Bossuet (; 27 September 1627 – 12 April 1704) was a French Bishop (Catholic Church), bishop and theology, theologian. Renowned for his sermons, addresses and literary works, he is regarded as a brilliant orator and lit ...

(1627-1704) *

Pierre Gassendi Pierre Gassendi (; also Pierre Gassend, Petrus Gassendi, Petrus Gassendus; 22 January 1592 – 24 October 1655) was a French philosopher, Catholic priest, astronomer, and mathematician. While he held a church position in south-east France, he a ...

(1592-1655) *

François Hotman François Hotman (23 August 1524 – 12 February 1590) was a French lawyer and writer, associated with the legal humanists and with the monarchomaques, who struggled against absolute monarchy. His first name is often written 'Francis' in Engli ...

(1524-1590) *

Montesquieu Charles Louis de Secondat, baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (18 January 168910 February 1755), generally referred to as simply Montesquieu, was a French judge, man of letters, historian, and political philosopher. He is the principal so ...

(1689-1755) *

Philippe de Mornay Philippe de Mornay (5 November 1549 – 11 November 1623), seigneur du Plessis Marly, usually known as Du-Plessis-Mornay or Mornay Du Plessis, was a French Protestant writer and member of the anti-monarchist '' Monarchomaques''. Biography H ...

(1549-1623) * Honoratus a Sancta Maria (1651-1729) *

Joseph Justus Scaliger Joseph Justus Scaliger (; 5 August 1540 – 21 January 1609) was a Franco-Italian Calvinist religious leader and scholar, known for expanding the notion of classical history from Greek and Ancient Roman history to include Persian, Babylonian, Je ...

(1540-1609) *

Louis-Sébastien Le Nain de Tillemont Louis-Sébastien Le Nain de Tillemont (30 November 163710 January 1698) was a French ecclesiastical historian. Life He was born in Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, l ...

(1637-1698) *

(1694-1778)

18th century

François Bruys François Bruys (February 7, 1708 – May 20, 1738) was a French writer. He was born into a Roman Catholic family in Serrières (Saône-et-Loire); he later became a Protestant. His ''Histoire des papes'' was sometimes printed anonymously. Imperi ...

(1708-1738), historian of the papacy *

Charles Dezobry Louis Charles Dezobry (4 March 1798 – 16 August 1871) was a 19th-century French historian and historical novelist, born at St-Denis. Works * ''Rome au siècle d'Auguste, ou Voyage d'un Gaulois à Rome à l'époque du règne d'Auguste et ...

(1798–1871), historian and historical novelist *

(1787–1874), historian of general French, English history * Pauline de Lézardière (1754–1835), law historian * Louis Gabriel Michaud (1773–1858) *

(1798–1874), with a passion for his subjects and , he has been called "''the'' historian" of France, including his 17-volume *

François Mignet François Auguste Marie Mignet (, 8 May 1796 – 24 March 1884) was a French journalist and historian of the French Revolution. Biography He was born in Aix-en-Provence (Bouches-du-Rhône), France. His father was a locksmith from the Vendé ...

(1796–1884), historian of the Revolution, Middle Ages *

Adolphe Thiers Marie Joseph Louis Adolphe Thiers ( ; ; 15 April 17973 September 1877) was a French statesman and historian who served as President of France from 1871 to 1873. He was the second elected president and the first of the Third French Republic. Thi ...

(1797–1877), historian of the Revolution, Empire

19th century

Robert Aron Robert Aron (; ; 25 May 1898 – 19 April 1975) was a French historian and writer who wrote several books on politics and European history. Early life and career Robert Aron was born in Le Vésinet on 25 May 1898 to an upper-class Jewish family f ...

(1898–1975), politics; European history, Vichy; his views were upset by the Paxtonian revolution *

François Victor Alphonse Aulard François Victor Alphonse Aulard (19 July 1849 – 23 October 1928) was the first professional French historian of the French Revolution and of Napoleon. His major achievement was to institutionalise and professionalise the practice of history ...

(1849–1928), French Revolution and

Napoleon I Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

* Henri Berr (1863–1954), founder of the journal '' Revue de synthèse''; anticipated the ''

Annales school The ''Annales'' school () is a group of historians associated with a style of historiography developed by French historians in the 20th century to stress long-term social history. It is named after its scholarly journal '' Annales. Histoire, S ...

'' *

Marc Bloch Marc Léopold Benjamin Bloch ( ; ; 6 July 1886 – 16 June 1944) was a French historian. He was a founding member of the Annales School of French social history. Bloch specialised in medieval history and published widely on France in the Middle ...

(1886–1944), medievalist and co-founder of the

* Pierre Caron (1875–1952), French revolution * Augustin Cochin (1876–1916), French Revolution * Léopold Delisle (1826–1910), historian and librarian *

Bernard Faÿ Marie Louis Emmanuel Bernard Faÿ (3 April 1893 – 31 December 1978) was a French historian of Franco-American relations, an anti-Masonic polemicist who believed in a worldwide Jewish-Freemason conspiracy. During World War II he was an offic ...

(1893–1978), unique in straddling the divide in transatlantic historiography in the heritage of the Enlightenment, but also a supporter of the Catholic authoritarian right and a virulent agent of Vichy oppression *

Lucien Febvre Lucien Paul Victor Febvre ( ; ; 22 July 1878 – 11 September 1956) was a French historian best known for the role he played in establishing the Annales School of history. He was the initial editor of the ''Encyclopédie française'' together wit ...

(1878–1956), early modern Europe; co-founder of

(1830 – 1889) antiquity; political institutions of Roman Gaul; originator of history as a rigorous academic discipline in France, after the techniques first established in Germany by Ranke in the 1830s *

Étienne Gilson Étienne Henri Gilson (; 13 June 1884 – 19 September 1978) was a French philosopher and historian of philosophy. A scholar of medieval philosophy, he originally specialised in the thought of Descartes; he also philosophized in the tradition ...

(1884–1978), history of philosophy; a traditionalist, with his study of history rooted in religious faith *

Élie Halévy Élie Halévy (; 6 September 1870 – 21 August 1937) was a French philosopher and historian who wrote studies of the British utilitarians, the book of essays '' Era of Tyrannies'', and a history of Britain from 1815 to 1914 that influenced Bri ...

(1870–1937), 19th c. British history; European socialism, with a distinctive, philosophical style *

Henri Hauser Henri Hauser (19 July 1866 – 27 May 1946) was a French historian, geographer, and economist. A pioneer in the study of the economic history of the early modern period, he also wrote on contemporary economic issues and held the first chair in e ...

(1866–1946), historian, economist, geographer *

Paul Hazard Paul Gustave Marie Camille Hazard (; 30 August 1878, in Noordpeene, Nord – 13 April 1944, in Paris), was a French professor and historian of ideas. Biography Hazard was the son of a school teacher. Starting in 1900, he attended the École No ...

(1878–1944), polymath, traveler, a founder of comparative literature, intellectual historian, his views of early modern Europe are highly influential *

Auguste Himly Auguste Louis Himly (28 March 1823, Strasbourg, France6 October 1906, Sèvres, France) was a French historian and geographer. After studying in his native town and taking the university course in Berlin (1842-1843), Himly went to Paris and passed ...

(1823–1906), historian and geographer * François Christophe Edmond de Kellermann (1802–1868), political historian * Ernest Labrousse (1895–1988), influential economic historian of 18th c. France *

Ernest Lavisse Ernest Lavisse (; 17 December 184218 August 1922) was a French historian. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature five times. Lavisse is also known for being one of the main creator of the ''roman national'' ("National myth", lit. "nat ...

(1842–1922), French history *

Georges Lefebvre Georges Lefebvre (; 6 August 1874 – 28 August 1959) was a French historian, best known for his work on the French Revolution and peasant life. He is considered one of the pioneers of " history from below". He coined the phrase th ...

(1874–1959), proponent of the orthodox, social interpretation of the causes of the French Revolution in the Jaurès tradition, plus its impact on the peasantry; controversial for his leftist politics *

Ferdinand Lot Ferdinand Victor Henri Lot ( Le Plessis Piquet, 20 September 1866 – Fontenay-aux-Roses, 20 July 1952) was a French historian and medievalist. His masterpiece, ''The End of the Ancient World and the Beginnings of the Middle Ages'' (1927), ...

(1866–1952), medievalist, focusing on transition from

late antiquity Late antiquity marks the period that comes after the end of classical antiquity and stretches into the onset of the Early Middle Ages. Late antiquity as a period was popularized by Peter Brown (historian), Peter Brown in 1971, and this periodiza ...

to the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

Albert Mathiez Albert-Xavier-Émile Mathiez (; 10 January 1874 – 26 February 1932) was a French historian, best known for his Marxist interpretation of the French Revolution. Mathiez emphasized class conflict. He argued that 1789 pitted the bourgeoisie agains ...

(1874–1932), preeminent authority on the French Revolution *

Ernest Renan Joseph Ernest Renan (; ; 27 February 18232 October 1892) was a French Orientalist and Semitic scholar, writing on Semitic languages and civilizations, historian of religion, philologist, philosopher, biblical scholar, and critic. He wrote wo ...

(1823–1892), religion, including a 5-volume history of Christianity including a history of Jesus on historical principles *

Pierre Renouvin Pierre Renouvin (January 9, 1893 – December 7, 1974) was a French historian of international relations. Early life and education He was born in Paris and attended Lycée Louis-le-Grand, where he was awarded his aggrégation in 1912. Renouvin s ...

(1893–1974), international relations, specializing in the

origins of World War I The identification of the causes of World War I remains a debated issue. World War I began in the Balkans on July 28, 1914, and hostilities ended on November 11, 1918, leaving 17 million dead and 25 million wounded. Moreover, the Russian Civi ...

and demonstrating Germany's responsibility for the war. * (1871–1946), a pioneer in early 20th c. French rural historical studies, working in a transitional period where 19th c. historical and philosophical traditions were giving way to new social sciences of the 1920s and 30s *

Gustave Schlumberger Gustave Léon Schlumberger (17 October 1844 – 9 May 1929) was a French historian and numismatist who specialised in the era of the crusades and the Byzantine Empire. His ' (1878–82) is still considered the principal work on the coinage of the ...

(1844–1929) * (1864–1936), rural society, economics, Middle Ages * François Simiand (1873–1935), an economist by training and a sociologist, he sought to reform and unify the methodology and practice of all social/human sciences to follow sociological practice and encourage the use of empirical rather than deductive methods *

Hippolyte Taine Hippolyte Adolphe Taine (21 April 1828 – 5 March 1893) was a French historian, critic and philosopher. He was the chief theoretical influence on French naturalism, a major proponent of sociological positivism and one of the first practitione ...

(1828–1893), French Revolution

20th century

* Maurice Agulhon (1926–2014), French history of the 19th and 20th centuries * Henri Amouroux (1920–2007),

Nazi occupation of France The Military Administration in France (; ) was an interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied zone in areas of northern and western France. This so-called ' was established in June 19 ...

Philippe Ariès Philippe Ariès (; 21 July 1914 – 8 February 1984) was a French medievalist and historian of the family and childhood, in the style of Georges Duby. He wrote many books on the common daily life. His most prominent works regarded the change in ...

(1914–1984), cultural history, with focus on the changing nature of childhood, and attitudes toward death * Jacques Berque (1910–1995), Arab world; European colonization and decolonization in the modern era *

Fernand Braudel Fernand Paul Achille Braudel (; 24 August 1902 – 27 November 1985) was a French historian. His scholarship focused on three main projects: ''The Mediterranean'' (1923–49, then 1949–66), ''Civilization and Capitalism'' (1955–79), and the un ...

(1902–1985), early modern Europe and the Mediterranean * Charles-Olivier Carbonell (1930–2013); contemporary history; one of the first to consider French historiography *

Michel de Certeau Michel de Certeau (; 17 May 1925 – 9 January 1986) was a French Jesuit priest and scholar whose work combined history, psychoanalysis, philosophy, and the social sciences as well as hermeneutics, semiotics, ethnology, and religion. He was known ...

(1925–1986), multidisciplinary Jesuit scholar of philosophy, religion, psychoanalysis, and history * Véronique Chankowski (born 1971), economic and social history of the ancient Greek world * Roger Chartier (born 1945), books, publishing, reading; print culture and reading practices * Pierre Chaunu (1923–2009), Latin American religious and demographic history; legacy of the French Revolution; contemporary national debates * Louis Chevalier (1911–2001), population changes in 19th c. Paris *

Alain Corbin Alain Corbin (born January 12, 1936, in Courtomer) is a French historian. He is a specialist of the 19th century in France and in microhistory. Trained in the Annales School, Corbin's work has moved away from the large-scale collective structu ...

(born 1936) Limousin; daily life, emotions, and sensory experience *

Jean Delumeau Jean Léon Marie Delumeau (18 June 1923 – 13 January 2020) was a French historian specializing in the history of the Catholic Church, and author of several books regarding the subject. He held the Chair of the History of Religious Mentalities ( ...

(1923–2020), early modern Europe (esp. France, Italy); Christianity as lived by the masses * (1909–1998), German world, political philosophies, diplomacy *

Georges Duby Georges Duby (; 7 October 1919 – 3 December 1996) was a French historian who specialised in the social and economic history of the Middle Ages. He ranks among the most influential medieval historians of the twentieth century and was one of Fra ...

(1919–1996), social and economy of medieval France and Europe *

Jean-Baptiste Duroselle Jean-Baptiste Duroselle (17 November 1917, Paris – 12 September 1994, Arradon) was a French historian and professor. He had initially considered an army career or study of geography, but his poor skills in mathematics and drawing led him to turn ...

(1917–1994), French diplomacy *

Marc Ferro Marc Ferro (; 24 December 1924 – 21 April 2021) was a French historian. Author of several books, including '' The Use and Abuse of History''. Life and career Marc Ferro was born in Paris to a Greek-Italian father and a Russian-born Jewish mot ...

(1924–2021), his magnum opus ''Histoire de France'' is a rare, 20th century account of all of French history written by a single historian, and not entirely in accord with his Annales school beliefs *

Michel Foucault Paul-Michel Foucault ( , ; ; 15 October 192625 June 1984) was a French History of ideas, historian of ideas and Philosophy, philosopher who was also an author, Literary criticism, literary critic, Activism, political activist, and teacher. Fo ...

(1926–1984), theories of the structure of power in societies; enormously innovative and influential in a wide range of studies, esp. in the area of cultural history, penology, and sexuality * Bruno Fuligni (born 1968), French history *

François Furet François Furet (; 27 March 1927 – 12 July 1997) was a French historian and president of the Saint-Simon Foundation, best known for his books on the French Revolution. From 1985 to 1997, Furet was a professor of French history at the University ...

(1927–1997), key in leading the "exodus of French intellectuals from Marxism", his works went beyond academics to the educated public * Jacques Godechot (1907–1989), prolific writer about links between the French Revolution and other revolutions, but also counter-revolution, espionage, the press, the Army, and the south of France * Pierre Goubert (1915–2012), 17th c. peasant life; Beauvais; demographic, economic, and social history * Michel Kaplan (born 1946), French

Byzantinist Byzantine studies is an interdisciplinary branch of the humanities that addresses the history, culture, demography, dress, religion/theology, art, literature/epigraphy, music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination ...

Jacques Le Goff Jacques Le Goff (; 1 January 1924 – 1 April 2014) was a French historian and prolific author specializing in the Middle Ages, particularly the 12th and 13th centuries. Le Goff championed the Annales School movement, which emphasizes long-term ...

(1924–2014), a leader of the Annales school, and world-renowned medievalist and "mass media star" for his accessible publications and TV appearances, and a founder of historical anthropology *

Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie Emmanuel Bernard Le Roy Ladurie (, 19 July 1929 – 22 November 2023) was a French historian whose work was mainly focused upon Languedoc in the ''Ancien Régime'', particularly the history of the peasantry. One of the leading historians of Franc ...

(1929–2023), French peasantry of the early modern period; long-term continuities and demographic equilibrium () of the 14th–17th c. * Hélène Miard-Delacroix (born 1959), Franco-German relations * Roland Mousnier (1907–1993), prolific and influential conservative and traditionalist (against the prevailing ) interpreter of institutions, the venality of nobles, and society *

Gérard Noiriel Gérard Noiriel () is a French historian. He is director of studies at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences. Awards and honors * Prix Augustin-Thierry 2010 * Prix Eugène-Colas 2019. * Prix de l'Union rationaliste 2020 * Doct ...

, immigration in France, social and labor history. * Pierre Nora (born 1931), Algeria, "national memory", and a dual career in academia and publishing, reaching a wider audience through new collections issued through Gallimard; French historiography *

Mona Ozouf Mona Ozouf (born Mona Annig Sohier 24 February 1931) is a French historian and philosopher. Born into a family of schoolteachers keen on preserving the language and the culture of Brittany, she graduated as a teacher of philosophy from the Écol ...

(born 1931), along with , known for their revisionist approach to the French Revolution, contrary to the accepted social interpretation (of Mathiez, Lefebvre, Soboul) *

Michelle Perrot Michelle Perrot (born 18 May 1928, Paris) is a French historian, and Professor emeritus of Contemporary History at the Paris Diderot University. She won the 2009 Prix Femina Essai. Life She has worked on the history of labour movements, and st ...

(born 1928), prisons, labor, and women's history * Antoine Prost (born 1933), 20th-century French history, in particular the First World War. *

René Rémond René Rémond (; 30 September 1918 – 14 April 2007) was a French historian, political scientist and political economist. Born in Lons-le-Saunier, Rémond was the Secretary General of Jeunesses étudiantes Catholiques (JEC France in 1943) and ...

(1918–2007), politics and religion in modern France * Daniel Roche (1935–2023), did long-series archival work in social phenomena, and was the outstanding exponent of the Annales school approach to cultural history, esp. regarding the last century leading up to the Revolution. *

Henry Rousso Henry Rousso (born 23 November 1954) is an Egyptian-born France, French historian specializing in World War II France. Early life Henry Rousso was born on 23 November 1954 in Cairo, Egypt, to a Egyptian jewish, Jewish family. Forced out of Egypt u ...

(born 1954), a leading contemporary historian specializing in the

Vichy regime Vichy France (; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was a French rump state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II, established as a result of the French capitulation after the defeat against ...

George Rudé George Frederick Elliot Rudé (8 February 1910 – 8 January 1993) was a British Marxist historian, specializing in the French Revolution and " history from below", especially the importance of crowds in history.George Rudé (1964). ''The Crow ...

(1910–1993), French revolution * (1905–1960), medieval rural history, especially of Bourgogne *

Albert Soboul Albert Marius Soboul (27 April 1914 – 11 September 1982) was a historian of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic periods. A professor at the Sorbonne, he was chair of the History of the French Revolution and author of numerous influenti ...

(1914–1982), prolific author on the French revolution based on formidable erudition and meticulous archival work, from a controversial, Marxist point of view *

Jean-Pierre Vernant Jean-Pierre Vernant (; January 4, 1914 – January 9, 2007) was a French resistant, historian and anthropologist, specialist in ancient Greece. Influenced by Claude Lévi-Strauss, Vernant developed a structuralist approach to Greek myth, traged ...

(1914–2007), French, ancient Greece *

Paul Veyne Paul Veyne (; 13 June 1930 – 29 September 2022) was a French historian and a specialist of Ancient Rome. A student of the École Normale Supérieure and member of the École française de Rome, he was honorary professor at the Collège de Franc ...

(1930–2022), French, ancient Greece and Rome *

Pierre Vidal-Naquet Pierre Emmanuel Vidal-Naquet (; 23 July 193029 July 2006) was a French historian who began teaching at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS) in 1969. Vidal-Naquet was a specialist in the study of Ancient Greece, but was als ...

(1930–2006), French, ancient Greece, civil rights activist * Michel Vovelle (1933–2018), social and cultural history of 18th and 19th c. France; key in the historiographical turn away from the paradigm of the towards history of and microhistory *

Eugen Weber Eugen Joseph Weber (April 24, 1925 – May 17, 2007) was a Romanian-born American historian with a special focus on Western civilization. Weber became a historian because of his interest in politics, an interest dating back to at least the ag ...

(1925–2007), modern French

Notes and references

;Notes ;Citations

Works cited

* * * * ** ** ** ** } ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:French historians

Historians A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

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