Henri Martin (a.k.a. Bon Louis Henri Martin) (20 February 1810 in

Saint-Quentin, Aisne Saint-Quentin (; pcd, Saint-Kintin; nl, label=older Dutch, Sint-Kwintens ) is a city in the Aisne department, Hauts-de-France, northern France. It has been identified as the ''Augusta Veromanduorum'' of antiquity. It is named after Saint Qu ...

– 14 December 1883 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. S ...

) 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 stu ...

, who was celebrated in his own day but whose modern reputation has been eclipsed by the greater literary and interpretive powers of his contemporary, the equally passionate patriot

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's ...

, whose works have often been reprinted. After publishing a few novels, Martin devoted his life to the study of the

history of France The first written records for the history of France appeared in the Iron Age. What is now France made up the bulk of the region known to the Romans as Gaul. The first writings on indigenous populations mainly start in the first century BC. Gree ...

, writing ''Histoire de France'', a formidable work in 13 volumes (1833-1836). He later brought the history down to 1789 in the 4th edition (19 vols., 1865), and received from the

Institut de France The (; ) is a French learned society, grouping five , including the Académie Française. It was established in 1795 at the direction of the National Convention. Located on the Quai de Conti in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, the institute m ...

20,000 francs as a prize in 1869. The

Avenue Henri-Martin Avenue Henri-Martin is an avenue in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, named after the French historian Henri Martin (1810–1883), onetime mayor of the 16th arrondissement. The Avenue Henri-Martin in the 16th arrondissement of Paris is 663 metre ...

in Paris is named after him.

Biography

Martin was born in Saint-Quentin into an upper-middle-class family. Trained as a notary, he followed this profession for some time but having achieved success with an historical romance, ''Wolfthurm'' (1830), he applied himself to historical research. Martin sat in the ''

Assemblée Nationale The National Assembly (french: link=no, italics=set, Assemblée nationale; ) is the lower house of the bicameral French Parliament under the Fifth Republic, the upper house being the Senate (). The National Assembly's legislators are know ...

'' as deputy for

Aisne Aisne ( , ; ; pcd, Ainne) is a French department in the Hauts-de-France region of northern France. It is named after the river Aisne. In 2019, it had a population of 531,345.Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

, but he left no mark as a politician. Redactor at the ''Siècle'', he was also mayor of the

16th arrondissement of Paris The 16th arrondissement of Paris (''XVIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, this arrondissement is referred to as ''seizième''. The arrondissement includes part of the Arc de T ...

in 1870, deputy of Paris in 1871, senator in 1876, and one of the founders and the first president of the ''Ligue des Patriotes''. He died in Paris on 14 December 1883 and, acclaimed as "national historian", was given a public funeral. A laudatory biography soon appeared: Gabriel Hanotaux, ''Henri Martin'', Paris, 1885.

Writings

''Histoire de France''

Becoming associated with

Paul Lacroix Paul Lacroix (; 27 February 1806 – 16 October 1884) was a French author and journalist. He is known best by his pseudonym P.L. Jacob, bibliophile, or Bibliophile Jacob, suggested by his great interest in libraries and books generally. Biogra ...

(''Le Bibliophile Jacob''), he planned with him a history of France to consist of excerpts from the chief chroniclers and historians, with original matter filling up gaps in the continuity. In the first volume, which appeared in 1833, ''Histoire de France depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu'en juillet 1830'' the compiler promised to seek "always the dramatic and picturesque side of history, the one that interests the greatest number"; its success encouraged Martin to make the work his own, and his ''Histoire de France'', in 15 volumes (1833–1836) which spans the space from earliest times to the

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 considere ...

of 1789, was the result. This magnum opus, rewritten and further elaborated during the following 18 years of research (4th ed., 16 vols. and index, 1861–1865) gained for him in 1856 the first prize of the Academy, and in 1869 the grand biennial prize of 20,000

franc The franc is any of various units of currency. One franc is typically divided into 100 centimes. The name is said to derive from the Latin inscription ''francorum rex'' (Style of the French sovereign, King of the Franks) used on early France, ...

s. A popular abridgement, ''L'Histoire de France Populaire'' (7 vols.) was published in 1867. This, together with the continuation, ''Histoire de France depuis 1789 jusqu'à nos jours'' (History of France from 1789 to the Present Time) (6 vols. 1878-1883), gives a complete history of France, superseding Sismondi's ''Histoire des Français'' as the #1 French history of the 19th century. Alas, this monumental work has not withstood the test of time. Martin's romanticized descriptions of

Gaul Gaul ( la, Gallia) was a region of Western Europe first described by the Romans. It was inhabited by Celtic and Aquitani tribes, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, most of Switzerland, parts of Northern Italy (only during ...

s as representing the

Druid A druid was a member of the high-ranking class in ancient Celtic cultures. Druids were religious leaders as well as legal authorities, adjudicators, lorekeepers, medical professionals and political advisors. Druids left no written accounts. Whi ...

ic key to France's

essentialist Essentialism is the view that objects have a set of attributes that are necessary to their identity. In early Western thought, Plato's idealism held that all things have such an "essence"—an "idea" or "form". In ''Categories'', Aristotle si ...

"primitive tradition" are based on his longstanding close ties with the

Saint-Simonian Saint-Simonianism was a French political, religious and social movement of the first half of the 19th century, inspired by the ideas of Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de Saint-Simon (1760–1825). Saint-Simon's ideas, expressed largely through a ...

counter-Enlightenment The Counter-Enlightenment refers to a loose collection of intellectual stances that arose during the European Enlightenment in opposition to its mainstream attitudes and ideals. The Counter-Enlightenment is generally seen to have continued from t ...

philosopher Jean Reynaud rather than on objective history.Rearick (1972), p. 55, noting the "extremely hostile" account in

Jules Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly Jules-Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly (2 November 1808 – 23 April 1889) was a French novelist and short story writer. He specialised in mystery tales that explored hidden motivation and hinted at evil without being explicitly concerned with anythin ...

, ''Le XIXe siècle, les oeuvres et les hommes'', first series (1861), pp. 97-110 However flawed, his popularized accounts gave a great impetus to

Celt The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient ...

ic linguistic and anthropological studies. His knowledge of 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 a ...

is inadequate, and his criticisms are not discriminating. As a free-thinking liberal republican outside the Roman Catholic Church, his prejudices often biased his judgment on the political and religious history of 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 ...

''. The last six volumes, devoted to the 17th and 18th centuries, are superior to the earlier ones.

Other writings

In his essay ''De la France, de son génie et de ses destinées'' (1847) he sought to give the French a sense of their essentially national destiny within the framework of

Romantic nationalism Romantic nationalism (also national romanticism, organic nationalism, identity nationalism) is the form of nationalism in which the state claims its political legitimacy as an organic consequence of the unity of those it governs. This includes ...

. Other minor works included ''Daniel Manin'' (1860), ''La Russie et l'Europe'' (1866), ''Etudes d'archéologie celtique'' (1872), and ''Les Napoléon et les frontières de la France'' (1874).

Notes

References

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Henri (historian) 1810 births 1883 deaths People from Saint-Quentin, Aisne Politicians from Hauts-de-France Opportunist Republicans Members of the National Assembly (1871) French Senators of the Third Republic Senators of Aisne Members of the Ligue des Patriotes 19th-century French historians French male non-fiction writers 19th-century French male writers Members of the Académie Française Anti-Russian sentiment