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List of French historians

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This is a list of French historians limited to those with a biographical entry in either English or French Wikipedia.[a] Other major French chroniclers, annalists, philosophers, or other writers are included if they have important historical output.[1]

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

Introduction

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Allegory of History, by François Chauveau

Scope and style

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

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 § Middle Ages section, where they are ordered by date of birth. Red links below with a suffixed language code in brackets indicate articles available only at French Wikipedia.

Background

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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, Jules Michelet, and François Guizot. The transition to an academic discipline first occurred in Germany under historian Leopold von Ranke 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 Henri Sée [fr] inherited the principles of a new academic discipline from Ranke and earlier mentors including Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges.[2]

Middle Ages

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listed by date of birth:

16th and 17th centuries

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

18th century

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19th century

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20th century

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Further information: List of contemporary French historians
  • Maurice Agulhon (1926–2014), French history of the 19th and 20th centuries[26]
  • Henri Amouroux (1920–2007), Nazi occupation of France[1]
  • Philippe Ariès (1914–1984), cultural history, with focus on the changing nature of childhood, and attitudes toward death[1][27]
  • Jacques Berque (1910–1995), Arab world; European colonization and decolonization in the modern era[28]
  • Fernand Braudel (1902–1985), early modern Europe and the Mediterranean[29][10]
  • Charles-Olivier Carbonell (1930–2013); contemporary history; one of the first to consider French historiography[30]
  • Michel de Certeau (1925–1986), multidisciplinary Jesuit scholar of philosophy, religion, psychoanalysis, and history[31]
  • Véronique Chankowski (born 1971), economic and social history of the ancient Greek world[citation needed]
  • Roger Chartier (born 1945), books, publishing, reading; print culture and reading practices[32]
  • Pierre Chaunu (1923–2009), Latin American religious and demographic history; legacy of the French Revolution; contemporary national debates[33]
  • Louis Chevalier (1911–2001), population changes in 19th c. Paris [34][10]
  • Alain Corbin (born 1936) Limousin; daily life, emotions, and sensory experience[35]
  • Jean Delumeau (1923–2020), early modern Europe (esp. France, Italy); Christianity as lived by the masses[36]
  • Jacques Droz [fr] (1909–1998), German world, political philosophies, diplomacy[37][10]
  • Georges Duby (1919–1996), social and economy of medieval France and Europe[38][10]
  • Jean-Baptiste Duroselle (1917–1994), French diplomacy[1]
  • Marc Ferro (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[39]
  • Michel Foucault (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[40][10]
  • Bruno Fuligni (born 1968), French history[1]
  • François Furet (1927–1997), key in leading the "exodus of French intellectuals from Marxism", his works went beyond academics to the educated public[1][41]
  • 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[42]
  • Pierre Goubert (1915–2012), 17th c. peasant life; Beauvais; demographic, economic, and social history[43]
  • Michel Kaplan (born 1946), French Byzantinist[1]
  • Jacques Le Goff (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[44][10]
  • Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie (1929–2023), French peasantry of the early modern period; long-term continuities and demographic equilibrium (histoire immobile) of the 14th–17th c.[1][10][45]
  • Hélène Miard-Delacroix (born 1959), Franco-German relations[46]
  • Roland Mousnier (1907–1993), prolific and influential conservative and traditionalist (against the prevailing Annalistes) interpreter of institutions, the venality of nobles, and society[47]
  • Gérard Noiriel, immigration in France, social and labor history.[48]
  • 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[49]
  • Mona Ozouf (born 1931), along with § François Furet, known for their revisionist approach to the French Revolution, contrary to the accepted social interpretation (of Mathiez, Lefebvre, Soboul)[50]
  • Michelle Perrot (born 1928), prisons, labor, and women's history[51]
  • Antoine Prost (born 1933), 20th-century French history, in particular the First World War.[52]
  • René Rémond (1918–2007), politics and religion in modern France[1][53]
  • 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.[54]
  • Henry Rousso (born 1954), a leading contemporary historian specializing in the Vichy regime[55]
  • George Rudé (1910–1993), French revolution[1]
  • Pierre de Saint Jacob [fr](1905–1960), medieval rural history, especially of Bourgogne[56]
  • Albert Soboul (1914–1982), prolific author on the French revolution based on formidable erudition and meticulous archival work, from a controversial, Marxist point of view[1][57]
  • Jean-Pierre Vernant (1914–2007), French, ancient Greece[1]
  • Paul Veyne (1930–2022), French, ancient Greece and Rome[1]
  • Pierre Vidal-Naquet (1930–2006), French, ancient Greece, civil rights activist[1]
  • Michel Vovelle (1933–2018), social and cultural history of 18th and 19th c. France; key in the historiographical turn away from the Annales paradigm of the longue durée towards history of mentalités and microhistory[58]
  • Eugen Weber (1925–2007), modern French[1]

See also

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Notes and references

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Notes
  1. ^ All entries in the list are linked, and most are available in English Wikipedia. Entries which are only available in French Wikipedia may be accessed from the superscript '[fr]' attached to the name.
Citations
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am Boyd 1999.
  2. ^ Potter 2010b, p. 564.
  3. ^ Catholic Encyclopedia 1910.
  4. ^ Noronha-DiVanna 2010, p. 126.
  5. ^ Smalley 1974, p. 131.
  6. ^ Boyd 1999, p. 809–810.
  7. ^ Rousso 1991, p. 255,269.
  8. ^ Clark 1999, p. 497.
  9. ^ Michaud 2010, p. 39–61.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Prag & Tendler 2018.
  11. ^ Harvey 2010, p. 202–217.
  12. ^ Kirsop 2010, p. 218–238.
  13. ^ EB online 2022, Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges.
  14. ^ Potter 2010b, p. 564–565.
  15. ^ Daileader 2010b, p. 285–305.
  16. ^ Daileader 2010c, p. 328–343.
  17. ^ Loft 2010, p. 344–349.
  18. ^ Potter 2010, p. 361–370.
  19. ^ Davis 2010, p. 417–427.
  20. ^ Friguglietti 2010, p. 428–436.
  21. ^ EB online 2022b, Ernest Renan summary.
  22. ^ Watson 1999, pp. 993–995.
  23. ^ Whalen 2010a, p. 527–544.
  24. ^ Potter 2010b, p. 564–572.
  25. ^ Whalen 2010b, p. 573–588.
  26. ^ McPhee 2010a, p. 1–10.
  27. ^ Hutton 2010, p. 11–22.
  28. ^ Whidden 2010, p. 23–24.
  29. ^ Dursteler 2010, p. 62–76.
  30. ^ Lukacs 1977, pp. 155–160.
  31. ^ Frijhoff 2010, p. 77–78.
  32. ^ Mason 2010, p. 93–104.
  33. ^ Stewart 2010, p. 105–111.
  34. ^ Ratcliffe 2010, p. 112–135.
  35. ^ McPhee 2010b, p. 136–143.
  36. ^ Worcester 2010, p. 144–163.
  37. ^ Tendler 2010, p. 164–179.
  38. ^ Shopkow 2010, p. 180–201.
  39. ^ Callahan 2010, p. 239–251.
  40. ^ Winders 2010, p. 252–270.
  41. ^ Cox 2010, p. 271–284.
  42. ^ Kennedy 2010, p. 306–316.
  43. ^ Collins 2010, p. 317–327.
  44. ^ Rollo-Koster 2010, p. 371–393.
  45. ^ Bowman 2010, p. 394–416.
  46. ^ Sorbonne 2022.
  47. ^ Kettering 2010, p. 437–443.
  48. ^ "Noiriel, Gérard (1950-....)". IdRef (in French). 17 June 2016. Retrieved 31 October 2024.
  49. ^ Holbrook 2010, p. 445–460.
  50. ^ Chisick 2010, p. 462–474.
  51. ^ Davidson 2010, p. 475–485.
  52. ^ Universalis, Encyclopædia. "Biographie d'ANTOINE PROST (1933- )". Encyclopædia Universalis (in French). Retrieved 31 October 2024.
  53. ^ Kalman 2010, p. 501–512.
  54. ^ Chisick 2010b, p. 513–526.
  55. ^ Frey & Flood 2010, p. 545–555.
  56. ^ Collins 2010b, p. 556–563.
  57. ^ McPhee 2010c, p. 589–598.
  58. ^ McPhee 2010d, p. 599–610.

Works cited

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