Jean Gimpel (10 October 1918 – 15 June 1996) was a French

historian 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 ...

and

medievalist The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

. Gimpel was one of three sons of a French father, the art dealer

René Gimpel René Albert Gimpel (4 October 1881–3 January 1945) was a French art dealer of Alsatian Jewish descent who died in 1945 in Neuengamme concentration camp, near Hamburg, Germany. Art dealer and collector Friend and patron of living artists ...

, and an English mother, Florence, the youngest sister of Lord Duveen. Gimpel was brought up in luxury in a house in the

Bois de Boulogne The Bois de Boulogne (, "Boulogne woodland") is a large public park that is the western half of the 16th arrondissement of Paris, near the suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt and Neuilly-sur-Seine. The land was ceded to the city of Paris by the Em ...

, though he went on to be educated in both France and Britain. He made his living as a diamond broker before establishing himself as a critic of the concept of the great artist. During the Second World War Gimpel served in the

French Resistance The French Resistance ( ) was a collection of groups that fought the German military administration in occupied France during World War II, Nazi occupation and the Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy#France, collaborationist Vic ...

, for which he was awarded the

Croix de Guerre The (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awarded during World ...

, the

Resistance Medal The Resistance Medal (, ) was a decoration bestowed by the French Committee of National Liberation, based in the United Kingdom, during World War II. It was established by a decree of General Charles de Gaulle on 9 February 1943 "to recognize the ...

, and the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

. In 1987 Gimpel became a founding vice-president of the Society for the History of Mediaeval Technology and Science, the British affiliate of AVISTA, and the Association de Villard de Honnecourt. Gimpel believed that the basis of

sustainable development Sustainable development is an approach to growth and Human development (economics), human development that aims to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.United Nations General ...

in the developing world should be low-tech mediaeval machines that could be built, maintained, repaired, and replaced using local craftsmen and resources. He was also a founder of Models for Rural Development, part of the

appropriate technology Appropriate technology is a movement (and its manifestations) encompassing technology, technological choice and application that is small-scale, affordable by its users, labor-intensive, efficient energy use, energy-efficient, environmentally sust ...

movement. Gimpel and his wife Catherine maintained a

salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon A beauty salon or beauty parlor is an establishment that provides Cosmetics, cosmetic treatments for people. Other variations of this type of business include hair salons, spas, day spas, ...

in London in his later years.

Works

Gimpel's published works include: * ''The Medieval Machine: The Industrial Revolution of the Middle Ages'' (originally published in French as ''La Révolution industrielle du Moyen Âge'', Éditions du Seuil, 1975; published in English by

Victor Gollancz Sir Victor Gollancz (; 9 April 1893 – 8 February 1967) was a British publisher and humanitarian. Gollancz was known as a supporter of left-wing politics. His loyalties shifted between liberalism and communism; he defined himself as a Christian ...

, 1976; 2nd edition Wildwood House, 1988) * ''The Cathedral Builders'' (originally published in French as ''Les Bâtisseurs de cathédrales'',

Éditions du Seuil Éditions du Seuil (), also known as Le Seuil, is a French publishing house established in 1935 by Catholic intellectual Jean Plaquevent (1901–1965), and currently owned by La Martinière Groupe. It owes its name to this goal "The ''seuil'' (th ...

, 1958; published in English by

Grove Press Grove Press is an American publishing imprint that was founded in 1947. Imprints include: Black Cat, Evergreen, Venus Library, and Zebra. Barney Rosset purchased the company in 1951 and turned it into an alternative book press in the United S ...

, 1961, translated by Carl F. Barnes, Jr.; reprinted, 1983, translated by Teresa Waugh) * ''The Cult of Art: Against Art and Artists'' (originally published as ''Contre l'art et les artistes'', Éditions du Seuil, 1969; published in English by Weidenfeld & Nicolson and by Stein & Day, 1969) * ''The End of the Future: The of the High-Tech World'' (originally published as ''Fin de l'avenir'', Éditions du Seuil, 1992; published in English by the Adamantine Press in 1995, translated by Helen McPhail) Novelist

Ken Follett Kenneth Martin Follett (born 5 June 1949) is a Welsh author of thrillers and historical novels who has sold more than 198 million copies of his works. His books have been sold in over 80 countries. Follett's commercial breakthrough came with ...

wrote that he was inspired and informed by Gimpel's work and later retained him as a consultant while writing ''

The Pillars of the Earth ''The Pillars of the Earth'' is a historical novel by British author Ken Follett published in 1989 about the building of a cathedral in the fictional town of Kingsbridge, England. Set in the 12th century, the novel covers the time between the ...

''.Ken Follett, 1999 Preface to The ''Pillars of the Earth'' (first published in 1989), 2017

Penguin Books Penguin Books Limited is a Germany, German-owned English publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers the Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the ...

Signet edition, pp. xv-xvii.

References

External links

Website o
The Society for the History of Mediaeval Technology and Science
1918 births 1996 deaths French medievalists 20th-century French historians French male non-fiction writers French Resistance members Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1939–1945 (France) Recipients of the Resistance Medal Recipients of the Legion of Honour 20th-century French male writers {{France-historian-stub