Francis Rapp (27 June 1926 – 29 March 2020) was a French

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 ...

specializing in the

history of Alsace The history of Alsace has been influenced by the Rhine and its tributaries, a favorable climate, fertile loess soils, and the region's relative accessibility through and around the Vosges. It was first inhabited by early modern humans during the P ...

and

medieval Germany The concept of Germany as a distinct region in Central Europe can be traced to Julius Caesar, who referred to the unconquered area east of the Rhine as ''Germania'', thus distinguishing it from Gaul. The victory of the Cherusci, Germanic tribes ...

. An ''

emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...

'' university professor, he was a member of the

Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres The () is a French learned society devoted to history, founded in February 1663 as one of the five academies of the . The academy's scope was the study of ancient inscriptions (epigraphy) and historical literature (see Belles-lettres). History ...

since 1993.

Life

Youth

Born in

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

, the son of lawyer Léon Rapp, Rapp was born into a Catholic and patriotic family. He did his secondary studies at the

Jean Sturm Gymnasium The Jean Sturm Gymnasium (, ) is a private Protestant school in Strasbourg, teaching children from the third year of secondary education through to the Baccalaureat. History The school, which was the precursor of the University of Strasbour ...

and practiced

scouting Scouting or the Scout Movement is a youth social movement, movement which became popularly established in the first decade of the twentieth century. It follows the Scout method of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activi ...

within the Scouts de France. Breaking with forced incorporation, he joined a clandestine scouting group that gathered about twenty young people at the

Mont Sainte-Odile Mont Sainte-Odile ( or Ottilienberg; called Allitona in the 8th century) is a 764-metre-high peak in the Vosges Mountains in Alsace in France, immediately west of Barr, Bas-Rhin, Barr. The mountain is named after Saint Odile. It has a monaste ...

from December 1942. At the end of the 1960s he joined the

Association des Guides et Scouts d'Europe The Association des Guides et Scouts d'Europe (AGSE, ''Association of the Guides and Scouts of Europe'') is a Roman Catholic Scouting and Guiding organization in France. It was founded in 1958 and serves about 26,600 members. The organization was ...

and was commissioner of the Alsace Province until the mid-1980s.

Academic career

Rapp graduated as a major of the

agrégation d'histoire The is a French competitive examination for the recruitment of associate professors who teach history or geography at the , or level. There is also an and the . In practice, though not an absolute requirement, it is often used as a selection cri ...

in 1952, then was a teacher at the Lycée Fustel-de-Coulanges de Strasbourg between 1952 and 1953 and a resident of the

Fondation Dosne-Thiers The Fondation Dosne-Thiers is a history library located in the 9th arrondissement of Paris at 27, place St-Georges, Paris, France. It is open to researchers who obtain recommendations from a member of the Institut de France. Description The foun ...

from 1956 to 1961; he was a lecturer at the faculté des lettres de Nancy from 1961 to 1972, then an assistant in

medieval history 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 World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

at the

Marc Bloch University The University Marc Bloch, also known as Strasbourg II or UMB, was a university in Strasbourg, Alsace, France. As of 2006, it had around 13,000 students. Its name used to be ''Université des Sciences Humaines'' (University of Social Sciences), bu ...

of Strasbourg. After becoming a Doctor of Letters in 1972, he was a lecturer and then a professor at the

University of Strasbourg The University of Strasbourg (, Unistra) is a public research university located in Strasbourg, France, with over 52,000 students and 3,300 researchers. Founded in the 16th century by Johannes Sturm, it was a center of intellectual life during ...

from 1974. A lecturer in the

history of Christianity The history of Christianity began with the life of Jesus, an itinerant Jewish preacher and teacher, who was Crucifixion of Jesus, crucified in Jerusalem . His followers proclaimed that he was the Incarnation (Christianity), incarnation of Go ...

at the between 1972 and 1991, Rapp was an associate professor at the

university of Neuchâtel The University of Neuchâtel (UniNE) is a French-speaking public research university in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. The university has four faculties (schools) and more than a dozen institutes, including arts and human sciences, natural sciences, ...

and a

visiting scholar In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting scientist, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic fo ...

at several universities in North America and Europe. Rapp was a member of the Consultative Committee of Universities, the Higher Council of University Bodies, the national committee of the

Centre national de la recherche scientifique The French National Centre for Scientific Research (, , CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,637 staff, including 11,137 tenured researchers, 13,415 eng ...

, the scientific council and the board of directors of the

École nationale des chartes The École Nationale des Chartes (; ) is a French ''grande école'' and a constituent college of Université PSL, specialising in the auxiliary sciences of history, historical sciences. It was founded in 1821, and was located initially at the A ...

and the

École française de Rome The École française de Rome (EFR) is a French research institute for history, archaeology, and the social sciences; overseen by the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, and a division of the Ministère de l'Enseignement supérieur et ...

. He was also a member of the , the Académie des Marches de l’Est and the

Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities The Göttingen Academy of Sciences (name since 2023 : )Note that the German ''Wissenschaft'' has a wider meaning than the English "Science", and includes Social sciences and Humanities. is the oldest continuously existing institution among the eig ...

. A member of the editorial board of the review '' Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte'' and a contributor to the ''Encyclopédie de l'Alsace'' and the ', Rapp was elected in 1993 as a member of the

in the seat of Emmanuel Laroche. Rapp died on 29 March 2020 in

Angers Angers (, , ;) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the Prefectures of France, prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Duchy of Anjou, Anjou until the French Revolution. The i ...

at the age of 93, following an infection from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

Honours

* Chevalier of the

Légion d'honneur 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 ...

* Commandeur de l'Ordre national du Mérite (He was promoted to the rank of Officer on 24 June 2005, and then received the rank of Commandeur by decree dated 13 May 2016.) * Commandeur de l'ordre des Palmes académiques

Awards

* Prix Guizot (2001). * of the

Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

(1983).

Publications

Rapp's publications are listed in the database, including; * ''Inventaire des sources manuscrites de l’histoire d’Alsace conservées dans les bibliothèques publiques de France'', Paris, Fédération des sociétés d’histoire et d’archéologie d'Alsace, 1956. * ''Le château-fort dans la vie médiévale : le château-fort et la politique territoriale'', Strasbourg, Centre d'Archéologie médiévale, 1968. * ''L’Église et la vie religieuse en Occident à la fin du Moyen Âge'', Paris, PUF, coll. "Nouvelle Clio", 1971, . * ''Réformes et réformation à Strasbourg. Église et société dans le diocèse de Strasbourg (1450–1525)'', Paris, Ophrys, 1974. * ''Grandes figures de l’humanisme alsacien. Courants, milieux, destins'', Strasbourg, Istra, 1978. * ''Histoire de Strasbourg des origines à nos jours'' nder his dir. 9 vols, Strasbourg, Dernières nouvelles de Strasbourg, 1981. * ''Les origines médiévales de l’Allemagne moderne. De Charles IV à Charles Quint (1346–1519)'', Paris, , 1989, . * ''Histoire des diocèses de France :'' ''Le Diocèse de Strasbourg'', Paris, , 1997. * ''Koenigsbruck : l’histoire d’une abbaye cistercienne'' (with ), Strasbourg, Société d’histoire et d’archéologie du Ried Nord, 1998. * ''Le Saint-Empire romain germanique, d’Otton le Grand à Charles Quint'', Paris,

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 ...

, 2003. * ''Christentum und Kirche im 4. und 5. Jahrhundert'', Heidelberg, Universitätsverlag Winter, 2003, * ''Christentum IV : Zwischen Mittelalter und Neuzeit (1378–1552)'', Stuttgart, Kohlhammer, 2006, * ''Maximilien d'Autriche'', Paris, Éditions Tallandier, 2007. * ''Protestants et protestantisme en Alsace de 1517 à nos jours'' nder his dir. Strasbourg, Fédération des sociétés d’histoire et d’archéologie d'Alsace, 2007. * ''Strasbourg'' nder his dir. Paris, La Nuée Bleue, 2010.

References

External links

Rapp, Francis
on Persée
"Francis Rapp, vivre dans Strasbourg annexée"
''France 3''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Rapp, Francis Musicians from Strasbourg 1926 births 2020 deaths 20th-century French historians 21st-century French historians French medievalists Academic staff of the University of Neuchâtel Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres Knights of the Legion of Honour Commanders of the Ordre national du Mérite Commandeurs of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques People from Alsace Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in France 20th-century French male writers 21st-century French male writers French male non-fiction writers Academic staff of the University of Strasbourg Historians of Germany Scouting and Guiding in France