Louis René Bréhier (; 5 August 1868 – 13 October 1951) 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 race; as well as the st ...

who specialized in

Byzantine studies Byzantine studies is an interdisciplinary branch of the humanities that addresses the history, culture, demography, dress, religion/theology, art, literature/epigraphy, music, science, economy, coinage and politics of the Eastern Roman ...

. His brother was the philosopher Émile Bréhier.

Biography

Louis Bréhier was born in

Brest, France Brest (; ) is a port city in the Finistère department, Brittany. Located in a sheltered bay not far from the western tip of the peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French ...

on 5 August 1868."Bréhier, Louis René", ''The Catholic Encyclopedia and Its Makers'', New York, the Encyclopedia Press, 1917, p. 18
/ref> He studied history and literature in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

, obtaining his agrégation in history in 1892. Afterwards, he worked as a schoolteacher in

Montauban Montauban (, ; oc, Montalban ) is a commune in the Tarn-et-Garonne department, region of Occitania, Southern France. It is the capital of the department and lies north of Toulouse. Montauban is the most populated town in Tarn-et-Garonne, ...

Bourges Bourges () is a commune in central France on the river Yèvre. It is the capital of the department of Cher, and also was the capital city of the former province of Berry. History The name of the commune derives either from the Bituriges, ...

, Reims and Saint-Quentin (1892–99). In 1899 he received his doctorate at the Sorbonne with the dissertation ''Le schisme oriental du XI^e siècle'' ("The Eastern Schism in the 11th Century"). Bréhier became a professor at the University of Paris, teaching ancient and medieval history and geography. He presented a paper on "Les colonies d'Orientaux en Occident du Moyen Age" at the Thirteenth Congress of Orientalists in Hamburg in 1902. From 1903 to 1938 he was professor of

ancient Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient history cov ...

and

medieval history In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

Clermont-Ferrand Clermont-Ferrand (, ; ; oc, label= Auvergnat, Clarmont-Ferrand or Clharmou ; la, Augustonemetum) is a city and commune of France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, with a population of 146,734 (2018). Its metropolitan area (''aire d'attrac ...

. His travels were largely confined to the Mediterranean world that included an archaeological mission to

Mount Athos Mount Athos (; el, Ἄθως, ) is a mountain in the distal part of the eponymous Athos peninsula and site of an important centre of Eastern Orthodox monasticism in northeastern Greece. The mountain along with the respective part of the peni ...

in 1930. He settled in Reims after World War II and died in this city in 1951.Institut national d'histoire de l'art
biography Bréhier's best known work was the three-volume ''Le Monde byzantin'' ("The Byzantine World"). He was a specialist of Byzantine

iconography Iconography, as a branch of art history, studies the identification, description and interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct fro ...

, and in 1924 published an influential treatise on

Byzantine art Byzantine art comprises the body of Christian Greek artistic products of the Eastern Roman Empire, as well as the nations and states that inherited culturally from the empire. Though the empire itself emerged from the decline of Rome and lasted u ...

titled ''L'Art byzantin''. In 1935 he became a member of 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 (epigr ...

. Bréhier contributed many articles to the ''Catholic Encyclopedia''.

Selected publications

* ''l'égypte de 1798 à 1900'' (1898) * ''De Graecorum judiciorum origine'' (1899) * ''Le Schisme oriental du 11^e siècle'' (1899) * ''La Querelle des images'' (1904) * ''L'Église et l'Orient au Moyen Âge : les croisades'' *Articles in the

Catholic Encyclopedia The ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'' (also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedia'') i ...

(1913) * ''Le travail historique'' (1908) * ''L'Auvergne'' (1912) * ''La Cathédrale de Reims. Une œuvre française'', Paris 1916 * ''L'art chrétien, son développement iconographique des origines à nos jours'' (1918) * ''Les églises romanes'' * ''L'homme dans la sculpture romane'' * ''Études archéologiques : Le sarcophage des Carmes-Déchaux ; Les anciens inventaires de la cathédrale : Le Bible historiée de Clermont'' * ''Les survivances du rite impérial romain: à propos des rites shintoïstes'' (1920) * ''L'Art byzantin'', Paris 1924 * ''L'Art en France, des invasions barbares à l'époque romane'', Paris 1930 * ''Le Monde byzantin'', Paris 1947-50 (3 Volumes) ** Volume 1: ''Vie et mort de Byzance'' ** Volume 2: ''Les Institutions de l'Empire byzantin'' ** Volume 3: ''La civilisation byzantine''

Translation or collaboration

* ''Histoire anonyme de la première croisade, éditée et traduite par Louis Bréhier'', (Anonymous history of the

First Crusade The First Crusade (1096–1099) was the first of a series of religious wars, or Crusades, initiated, supported and at times directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The objective was the recovery of the Holy Land from Islamic ...

, edited and translated into French by Louis Bréhier), Paris 1924.Bréhier, L. (1924)
Histoire anonyme de la première croisade
Paris: H. Champion.

References

External links

Publications by Louis Bréhier
in the OPAC Regesta Imperii

* ttps://www.google.com/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22Louis+Br%C3%A9hier%22&gws_rd=ssl Google SearchPublished works by Louis Bréhier. {{DEFAULTSORT:Brehier, Louis 20th-century French historians Historians of the Crusades Writers from Brest, France University of Paris alumni 1868 births 1951 deaths French Byzantinists Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres French male non-fiction writers Contributors to the Catholic Encyclopedia 19th-century French historians