This is a list of French historians limited to those with a biographical entry in either English or

French Wikipedia The French Wikipedia (french: Wikipédia en français) is the French-language edition of Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia. This edition was started on 23 March 2001, two months after the official creation of Wikipedia. It has articl ...

. Major chroniclers, annalists, philosophers, or other writers are included, if they have important historical output. Names are listed alphabetically by last name in each section, except for the section, where they are ordered by date of birth.

Introduction

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 François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his '' nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his criticism of Christianity—e ...

Jules Michelet Jules Michelet (; 21 August 1798 – 9 February 1874) was a French historian and an author on other topics whose major work was a history of France and its culture. His aphoristic style emphasized his anti-clerical republicanism. In Michelet' ...

, and

François Guizot François Pierre Guillaume Guizot (; 4 October 1787 – 12 September 1874) was a French historian, orator, and statesman. Guizot was a dominant figure in French politics prior to the Revolution of 1848. A conservative liberal who opposed the ...

. The transition to an academic discipline first occurred in Germany under historian

Leopold von Ranke Leopold von Ranke (; 21 December 1795 – 23 May 1886) was a German historian and a founder of modern source-based history. He was able to implement the seminar teaching method in his classroom and focused on archival research and the analysis ...

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 who were active at that time inherited the principles of a new academic discipline from Ranke and earlier mentors including

Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges (; 18 March 1830 – 12 September 1889) was a French historian. Joseph M. McCarthy argues that his first great book, '' The Ancient City'' (1864), was based on his in-depth knowledge of the primary Greek and Latin te ...

Middle Ages

: ''listed by date of birth:'' * Richerus (), monk and historian * Geoffrey of Villehardouin (1150 - 1210), chronicler of the

Fourth Crusade The Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) was a Latin Christian armed expedition called by Pope Innocent III. The stated intent of the expedition was to recapture the Muslim-controlled city of Jerusalem, by first defeating the powerful Egyptian Ayyubid S ...

; his account of the Conquest of Constantinople is the oldest surviving historical writing in French. * Enguerrand de Monstrelet (c. 1400–1453), chronicler *

Thomas Basin Thomas Basin (1412–1491) was a French bishop of Lisieux and historian. Biography Basin was born at Caudebec in Normandy, but in the devastation caused by the Hundred Years' War, his childhood was itinerant. He was taken from Caudebec in 1415 ...

(1412–1491) * Mathieu d'Escouchy (1420–1482), chronicler * Jean Molinet (1435–1507), chronicler * Philippe de Commines (1447–1511)

16th and 17th centuries

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

Joseph Justus Scaliger Joseph Justus Scaliger (; 5 August 1540 – 21 January 1609) was a French Calvinist religious leader and scholar, known for expanding the notion of classical history from Greek and Ancient Roman history to include Persian, Babylonian, Jewish a ...

(1540 - 1609)

18th century

Pauline de Lézardière Marie-Charlotte-Pauline Robert de Lézardière, commonly known as Pauline de Lézardière, was a French historian who was born on 25 March 1754 at the Château de la Vérie (Challans) and died on 8 February 1835 at the Château de la Proustière ...

(1754–1835), law historian * Charles Dezobry (1798–1871), historian and historical novelist *

(1787–1874), historian of general French, English history *

Louis Gabriel Michaud Louis-Gabriel Michaud (19 January 1773, Castle Richemont – 8 March 1858) was a French writer, historian, printer, and bookseller. He was notable as the compiler of ''Biographie Universelle'' (1811–). Life He became a lieutenant on 15 July ...

(1773–1858) *

(1798–1874), with a passion for his subjects and , he has been called "''the'' historian" of France, including his 17-volume * François Mignet (1796–1884), historian of the Revolution, Middle Ages *

Adolphe Thiers Marie Joseph Louis Adolphe Thiers ( , ; 15 April 17973 September 1877) was a French statesman and historian. He was the second elected President of France and first President of the French Third Republic. Thiers was a key figure in the July Rev ...

(1797–1877), historian of the Revolution, Empire

19th century

François Victor Alphonse Aulard François Victor Alphonse Aulard (19 July 1849 – 23 October 1928) was the first professional French historian of the French Revolution and of Napoleon. His major achievement was to institutionalise and professionalise the practice of history i ...

(1849–1928),

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...

and

Napoleon I Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...

Marc Bloch Marc Léopold Benjamin Bloch (; ; 6 July 1886 – 16 June 1944) was a French historian. He was a founding member of the Annales School of French social history. Bloch specialised in medieval history and published widely on Medieval France ...

(1886–1944), medievalist and co-founder of the Annales school * Pierre Caron (1875–1952), French revolution * Augustin Cochin (1876–1916), French Revolution *

Léopold Delisle Leopold may refer to: People * Leopold (given name) * Leopold (surname) Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters * Leopold (''The Simpsons''), Superintendent Chalmers' assistant on ''The Simpsons'' * Leopold Bloom, the protagonist ...

(1826–1910), historian and librarian *

Bernard Faÿ Bernard Faÿ (; 3 April 1893 – 31 December 1978) was a French historian of Franco-American relations, an anti-Masonic polemicist who believed in a worldwide Jewish-Freemason conspiracy (see: Judeo-Masonic conspiracy theory) and during World ...

(1893–1978), unique in straddling the divide in transatlantic historiography in the heritage of the Englightenment, but also a supporter of the Catholic authoritarian right and a virulent agent of Vichy oppression *

Lucien Febvre Lucien Paul Victor Febvre (, ; 22 July 1878 – 11 September 1956) was a French historian best known for the role he played in establishing the Annales School of history. He was the initial editor of the ''Encyclopédie française'' together wit ...

(1878–1956), early modern Europe; co-founder of Annales school *

(1830 – 1889) antiquity; political institutions of Roman Gaul; originator of history as a rigorous academic discipline in France, after the techniques first established in Germany by

Ranke Ranke is a German surname. Persons with the surname include: * Clarissa von Ranke (1808-1871), Irish poet * Friedrich Heinrich Ranke (1798–1876), German theologian * Heinrich von Ranke (1830–1909), German physiologist and physician * Hermann ...

in the 1830s *

Étienne Gilson Étienne Henri Gilson (; 13 June 1884 – 19 September 1978) was a French philosopher and historian of philosophy. A scholar of medieval philosophy, he originally specialised in the thought of Descartes; he also philosophized in the tradition ...

(1884–1978), history of philosophy; a traditionalist, with his study of history rooted in religious faith * Élie Halévy (1870–1937), 19th c. British history; European socialism, with a distinctive, philosophical style *

Henri Hauser Henri Hauser (19 July 1866 – 27 May 1946) was a French historian, geographer, and economist. A pioneer in the study of the economic history of the early modern period, he also wrote on contemporary economic issues and held the first chair in e ...

(1866–1946), historian, economist, geographer * Paul Hazard (1878–1944), polymath, traveler, a founder of comparative literature, intellectual historian, his views of early modern Europe are highly influential * Auguste Himly (1823–1906), historian and geographer * François Christophe Edmond de Kellermann (1802–1868), political historian * Ernest Labrousse (1895–1988), influential economic historian of 18th c. France * Ernest Lavisse (1842–1922), French history * Georges Lefebvre (1874–1959), proponent of the orthodox, social interpretation of the causes of the French Revolution in the Jaurès tradition, plus its impact on the peasantry; controversial for his leftist politics *

Ferdinand Lot Ferdinand Victor Henri Lot ( Le Plessis Piquet, 20 September 1866 – Fontenay-aux-Roses, 20 July 1952) was a French historian and medievalist. His masterpiece, '' The End of the Ancient World and the Beginnings of the Middle Ages'' (1927), ...

(1866–1952), medievalist, focusing on transition from

late antiquity Late antiquity is the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, generally spanning the 3rd–7th century in Europe and adjacent areas bordering the Mediterranean Basin. The popularization of this periodization in English h ...

to the

Middle Ages 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 period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

* Albert Mathiez (1874–1932), preeminent authority on the French Revolution *

Henri Pirenne Henri Pirenne (; 23 December 1862 – 24 October 1935) was a Belgian historian. A medievalist of Walloon descent, he wrote a multivolume history of Belgium in French and became a prominent public intellectual. Pirenne made a lasting contribut ...

(1862–1935), monumental study of Belgian history; medieval cities and economy *

Ernest Renan Joseph Ernest Renan (; 27 February 18232 October 1892) was a French Orientalist and Semitic scholar, expert of Semitic languages and civilizations, historian of religion, philologist, philosopher, biblical scholar, and critic. He wrote in ...

(1823–1892), religion, including a 5-volume history of Christianity including a history of Jesus on historical principles * (1871–1946), a pioneer in early 20th c. French rural historical studies, working in a transitional period where 19th c. historical and philosophical traditions were giving way to new social sciences of the 1920s and 30s * Gustave Schlumberger (1844–1929) * (1864–1936), rural society, economics, Middle Ages * François Simiand (1873–1935), an economist by training and a sociologist, he sought to reform and unify the methodology and practice of all social/human sciences to follow sociological practice and encourage the use of empirical rather than deductive methods *

Hippolyte Taine Hippolyte Adolphe Taine (, 21 April 1828 – 5 March 1893) was a French historian, critic and philosopher. He was the chief theoretical influence on French naturalism, a major proponent of sociological positivism and one of the first practitio ...

(1828–1893), French Revolution

20th century

* (1926–2014), French history of the 19th and 20th centuries * Henri Amouroux (1920–2007),

Nazi occupation of France The Military Administration in France (german: Militärverwaltung in Frankreich; french: Occupation de la France par l'Allemagne) was an interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied zo ...

Philippe Ariès Philippe Ariès (; 21 July 1914 – 8 February 1984) was a French medievalist and historian of the family and childhood, in the style of Georges Duby. He wrote many books on the common daily life. His most prominent works regarded the change in t ...

(1914–1984), cultural history, with focus on the changing nature of childhood, and attitudes toward death *

Jacques Berque Jacques Augustin Berque (4 June 1910, Molière, Algeria – 27 June 1995) was a French scholar of Islam and sociologist of the Collège de France. His expertise was the decolonisation of Algeria and Morocco. Berque wrote several histories on th ...

(1910–1995), Arab world; European colonization and decolonization in the modern era *

Fernand Braudel Fernand Braudel (; 24 August 1902 – 27 November 1985) was a French historian and leader of the Annales School. His scholarship focused on three main projects: ''The Mediterranean'' (1923–49, then 1949–66), ''Civilization and Capitalism'' ...

(1902–1985), early modern Europe and the Mediterranean * (1930–2013); contemporary history; one of the first to consider French historiography *

Michel de Certeau Michel de Certeau (; 17 May 1925 – 9 January 1986) was a French Jesuit priest and scholar whose work combined history, psychoanalysis, philosophy, and the social sciences as well as hermeneutics, semiotics, ethnology, and religion. He was ...

(1925–1986), multidisciplinary Jesuit scholar of philosophy, religion, psychoanalysis, and history *

Roger Chartier Roger Chartier, (born December 9, 1945 in Lyon), is a French historian and historiographer who is part of the Annales school. He works on the history of books, publishing and reading. He teaches at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Soc ...

(1945– ), books, publishing, reading; print culture and reading practices * Pierre Chaunu (1923–2009), Latin American religious and demographic history; legacy of the French Revolution; contemporary national debates * Louis Chevalier (1911–2001), population changes in 19th c. Paris * Alain Corbin (1936– ) Limousin; daily life, emotions, and sensory experience * Jean Delumeau (1923–2020), early modern Europe (esp. France, Italy); Christianity as lived by the masses * (1909–1998), German world, political philosophies, diplomacy *

Georges Duby Georges Duby (7 October 1919 – 3 December 1996) was a French historian who specialised in the social and economic history of the Middle Ages. He ranks among the most influential medieval historians of the twentieth century and was one of Fran ...

(1919–1996), social and economy of medieval France and Europe *

Jean-Baptiste Duroselle Jean-Baptiste Duroselle (17 November 1917, Paris – 12 September 1994, Arradon) was a French historian and professor. He had initially considered an army career or study of geography, but his poor skills in mathematics and drawing led him to turn ...

(1917–1994), French diplomacy * 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 *

Michel Foucault Paul-Michel Foucault (, ; ; 15 October 192625 June 1984) was a French philosopher, historian of ideas, writer, political activist, and literary critic. Foucault's theories primarily address the relationship between power and knowledge, and ho ...

(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 * Bruno Fuligni (born 1968), French history *

François Furet François Furet (; 27 March 1927 – 12 July 1997) was a French historian and president of the Saint-Simon Foundation, best known for his books on the French Revolution. From 1985 to 1997, Furet was a professor of French history at the University ...

(1927–1997), key in leading the "exodus of French intellectuals from Marxism", his works went beyond academics to the educated public *

Jacques Godechot Jacques Léon Godechot (3 January 1907 – 24 August 1989) was a French historian of the French revolution, and a pioneer of Atlantic history. As a frequent and varied contributor to the ''Annales Historiques de la Révolution Française'', he act ...

(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 *

Pierre Goubert Pierre Goubert (25 January 1915 – 16 January 2012) was a French historian. A member of the Annales School, he is considered one of the founders of historical demography and modern rural history. He was a noted specialist on the 17th century, ...

(1915–2012), 17th c. peasant life; Beauvais; demographic, economic, and social history *

Michel Kaplan Michel Kaplan (born 15 April 1946) is a French medieval historian, Habilitation#France, docteur d'État, professor emeritus and former president of University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne, Pantheon-Sorbonne University. He is a Byzantine studies, ...

(born 1946), French

Byzantinist 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 ...

Jack Le Goff Jack Louis Joseph Marie Le Goff (April 8, 1931 in Alençon, Orne, France – July 24, 2009 in Saumur, Maine-et-Loire, France) was a French equestrian, best known as the coach of the American three-day eventing team from 1970 to 1984. He co ...

(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 *

Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie Emmanuel Bernard Le Roy Ladurie (, born 19 July 1929) is a French historian whose work is mainly focused upon Languedoc in the ''Ancien Régime'', particularly the history of the peasantry. One of the leading historians of France, Le Roy Ladurie h ...

(born 1929), French peasantry of the early modern period; long-term continuities and demographic equilibrium () of the 14th-17th c. *

Roland Mousnier Roland Émile Mousnier (; Paris, September 7, 1907– February 8, 1993, Paris) was a French historian of the early modern period in France and of the comparative studies of different civilizations. Life Mousnier was born in Paris and recei ...

(1907–1993), prolific and influential conservative and traditionalist (against the prevailing ) interpreter of institutions, the venality of nobles, and society *

Pierre Nora Pierre Nora (born 17 November 1931) is a French historian elected to the Académie française on 7 June 2001. He is known for his work on French identity and memory. His name is associated with the study of new history. He is the brother of t ...

(1931–?), Algeria, "national memory", and a dual career in academia and publishing, reaching a wider audience through new collections issued through Gallimard; French historiography *

Mona Ozouf Mona Ozouf born Mona Annig Sohier (born 24 February 1931) is a French historian and philosopher. Born into a family of schoolteachers keen on preserving the language and culture of Brittany, she graduated as a teacher of philosophy from the Éc ...

(1931–?), along with , known for their revisionist approach to the French Revolution, contrary to the accepted social interpretation (of Mathiez, Lefebvre, Soboul) *

Michelle Perrot Michelle Perrot (born 18 May 1928, Paris) is a French historian, and Professor emeritus of Contemporary History at the Paris Diderot University. She won the 2009 Prix Femina Essai. Life She has worked on the history of labor movements, and stud ...

(1928–?), prisons, labor, and women's history *

René Rémond René Rémond (; 30 September 1918 – 14 April 2007) was a French historian, political scientist and political economist. Born in Lons-le-Saunier, Rémond was the Secretary General of Jeunesses étudiantes Catholiques (JEC France in 1943) and ...

(1918–2007), politics and religion in modern France * Daniel Roche (1935–?), 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. *

Henry Rousso Henry Rousso (born 23 November 1954) is an Egyptian-born French historian specializing in World War II France. Early life Henry Rousso was born on 23 November 1954 in Cairo, Egypt to a Jewish family. Forced out of Egypt under anti-Semitic measures ...

(1954–?), a leading contemporary historian specializing in the

Vichy regime Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its ter ...

George Rudé George Rudé (8 February 1910 – 8 January 1993) was a British Marxist historian, specializing in the French Revolution and " history from below", especially the importance of crowds in history.George Rudé (1964). ''The Crowd in History. A St ...

(1910–1993), French revolution * (1905–1960), medieval rural history, especially of Bourgogne * 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 * Jean-Pierre Vernant (1914–2007), French, ancient Greece *

Paul Veyne Paul Veyne (; 13 June 1930 – 29 September 2022) was a French archaeologist and historian, and a specialist of Ancient Rome. A student of the École Normale Supérieure and member of the École française de Rome, he was honorary professor at ...

(born 1930), French, ancient Greece and Rome *

Pierre Vidal-Naquet Pierre Emmanuel Vidal-Naquet (; 23 July 1930 – 29 July 2006) was a French historian who began teaching at the '' École des hautes études en sciences sociales'' (EHESS) in 1969. Vidal-Naquet was a specialist in the study of Ancient Greece, bu ...

(1930–2006), French, ancient Greece, civil rights activist *

Michel Vovelle Michel Vovelle (6 February 1933 – 6 October 2018) was a French historian who specialised in the French Revolution.James Friguglietti, 'Michel Vovelle and the Revolutionary Succession', ''French Politics and Society'', No. 8 (December 1984), pp. 2 ...

(1933–2018), social and cultural history of 18th and 19th c. France; key in the historiographical turn away from the paradigm of the towards history of and microhistory * Eugen Weber (1925–2007), modern French

Notes and references

;Notes ;Citations

Works cited

* * ** ** ** ** } ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** * * * * * {{History of Europe

Historians 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 ...

French historians

Lists of scholars and academics Lists of historians