Frantz Funck-Brentano (15 June 1862 – 13 June 1947) was a French historian and librarian. He was born in the castle of Munsbach (Luxembourg) and died at

Montfermeil Montfermeil () is a commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. Montfermeil is famous as the location of Thénardiers' inn in '' Les Misérables''. It has made the headlines due to troubles in its ...

. He was a son of

Théophile Funck-Brentano Théophile Funck-Brentano (21 August 1830 – 23 January 1906) was a Luxembourgian-French sociologist. He was the son of Jacques Funck, a notary in Luxembourg City that lived with Charles Metz, who was witness to Funck-Bretano's birth. He wa ...

Biography

After graduating at a young age from the prestigious

École Nationale des Chartes The École Nationale des Chartes (, literally National School of Charters) is a French '' grande école'' and a constituent college of Université PSL, specialising in the historical sciences. It was founded in 1821, and was located initially at ...

, Frantz Funck-Brentano was in 1885 named curator of the

Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal The Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal (''Library of the Arsenal'', founded 1757) in Paris has been part of the Bibliothèque nationale de France since 1934. History The collections of the library originated with the private library of Marc-René, 3rd ...

, of which he never became director. His research focused especially on the

Ancien Régime ''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word for " ancient, old" ** Société des anciens textes français * the French for "former, senior" ** Virelai ancien ** Ancien Régime ** Ancien Régime in France {{disambig ...

, primarily because this library housed the archive of documents from the

Bastille The Bastille (, ) was a fortress in Paris, known formally as the Bastille Saint-Antoine. It played an important role in the internal conflicts of France and for most of its history was used as a state prison by the kings of France. It was stor ...

, which represented an incomparable source for the history, in particular the

political history Political history is the narrative and survey of political events, ideas, movements, organs of government, voters, parties and leaders. It is closely related to other fields of history, including diplomatic history, constitutional history, soci ...

of the Ancien Régime. Funck-Bentano himself compiled the voluminous and exhaustive catalogue of this archive while he was curator. The depths of this resource led him to study all aspects of the history of the Ancien Régime: its institutions, peculiarities, personalities and famous events, which he made the subject of highly referenced books that brought great success to the library. In 1900 he became replacement professor at the

Collège de France The Collège de France (), formerly known as the ''Collège Royal'' or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment ('' grand établissement'') in France. It is located in Paris ...

, in the chair of comparative legislative history, where he dealt with the foundation of western European cities. In 1905 he was appointed a principal lecturer of the

Alliance française An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

to the United States. At the same time he was mandated by the French government to study the spread of

French literature French literature () generally speaking, is literature written in the French language, particularly by citizens of France; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of France other than Fr ...

in the United States, Canada and

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

. In this capacity he spoke before President

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

in the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington, D.C., NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. preside ...

. On his return to France, he was made a knight of the

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon B ...

. In 1909 he spoke before French circles of

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

, in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

and

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

, on the history of France through the ages. After this he served several times as lecturer for the Alliance française, in the Netherlands, England, Denmark,

Sweden and Norway Sweden and Norway or Sweden–Norway ( sv, Svensk-norska unionen; no, Den svensk-norske union(en)), officially the United Kingdoms of Sweden and Norway, and known as the United Kingdoms, was a personal union of the separate kingdoms of Swede ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, a ...

and Russia. In 1907 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 ...

awarding him the important Prix Berger for his works on the

history of Paris The oldest traces of human occupation in Paris, discovered in 2008 near the Rue Henri-Farman in the 15th arrondissement, are human bones and evidence of an encampment of hunter-gatherers dating from about 8000 BC, during the Mesolithic period ...

. He was elected member of the

Académie des sciences morales et politiques An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, f ...

in 1928, and president of the Société des études historiques. Alongside his academic work, Funck-Brentano pursued a literary career, writing plays and popular historical works, and in journalism: he contributed notably to ''Minerva'', a nationalist and monarchist historical and critical review, to '' Revue d'Action française'' and

Charles Maurras Charles-Marie-Photius Maurras (; ; 20 April 1868 – 16 November 1952) was a French author, politician, poet, and critic. He was an organizer and principal philosopher of ''Action Française'', a political movement that is monarchist, anti-par ...

's ''

Action Française Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 f ...

''. His involvement with extreme right-wing politics also influenced his work; a major part of his ''Marat ou le mensonge des mots'' (1941) consists of a virulent attack on

Marat Marat may refer to: People *Marat (given name) *Marat (surname) **Jean-Paul Marat (1743-1793), French political theorist, physician and scientist Arts, entertainment, and media *'' Marat/Sade'', a 1963 play by Peter Weiss * ''Marat/Sade'' (fi ...

, whom he describes as a "semite", riddled with classic

antisemitic Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Ant ...

themes of the day. One of his sons, Christian Funck-Bentano (1894–1966) was among the founders of the newspaper ''

Le Monde ''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...

''; another, Claude Théophile (born 1892) was shot down on the front at

Vosges The Vosges ( , ; german: Vogesen ; Franconian and gsw, Vogese) are a range of low mountains in Eastern France, near its border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a single ...

in February 1916. He is commemorated at Pair-et-Grandrupt.

Literary works

*1896: ''Philippe le Bel en Flandre'' (doctoral thesis) *1900: ''Le drame des poisons'' *1903: ''Grandeur et Décadence des Aristocraties'' *1912: ''Rosette, ou l'Amoureuse conspiration'' (novel, with

André de Lorde André de Latour, comte de Lorde (1869–1942) was a French playwright, the main author of the Grand Guignol plays from 1901 to 1926. His evening career was as a dramatist of terror; during daytimes he worked as a librarian in the Bibliothèque ...

) *1922: ''The National History of France: The Middle Ages'' (English translation: Elizabeth O'Neill, M.A.) *1926: ''L'Ancien régime'' *1926: ''Les lettres de cachet'' *1932: ''Les secrets de la Bastille''

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Funck-Brentano, Franz 19th-century Luxembourgian historians 20th-century French historians Members of the Académie des sciences morales et politiques French librarians 1862 births 1947 deaths People from Schuttrange French male non-fiction writers École Nationale des Chartes alumni 19th-century French historians