Jean Tulard (born 22 December 1933, Paris) is a French academic and historian, specialising in the history of cinema, of the

French Consulate The Consulate (french: Le Consulat) was the top-level Government of France from the fall of the Directory in the coup of 18 Brumaire on 10 November 1799 until the start of the Napoleonic Empire on 18 May 1804. By extension, the term ''The Con ...

and the

First French Empire The First French Empire, officially the French Republic, then the French Empire (; Latin: ) after 1809, also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental Eu ...

. He is a 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 ...

since 1994.

Career

Tulard was one of the experts involved in verifying the heart believed to be that of

Louis XVII of France Louis XVII (born Louis Charles, Duke of Normandy; 27 March 1785 – 8 June 1795) was the younger son of King Louis XVI of France and Queen Marie Antoinette. His older brother, Louis Joseph, Dauphin of France, died in June 1789, a little over a m ...

, actually the

Dauphin of France Dauphin of France (, also ; french: Dauphin de France ), originally Dauphin of Viennois (''Dauphin de Viennois''), was the title given to the heir apparent to the throne of France from 1350 to 1791, and from 1824 to 1830. The word ''dauphin'' ...

as the heir apparent to the throne, who died in 1795 in imprisonment. Scientists using DNA samples from

Queen Anne of Romania Princess Anne Antoinette Françoise Charlotte Zita Marguerite of Bourbon-Parma (18 September 1923 – 1 August 2016) was the wife of King Michael I of Romania. Michael abdicated the throne in 1947, and he and Anne married the next year. Nonethel ...

, and her brother Andre de Bourbon-Parme, maternal relatives of Louis XVII, and from a strand of

Marie-Antoinette Marie Antoinette Josèphe Jeanne (; ; née Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last queen of France before the French Revolution. She was born an archduchess of Austria, and was the penultimate child ...

's hair, proved the young royal's identity. Historic evidence as to the location of the heart over the decades was also considered. In a summary of the investigation in 2004, Tulard wrote: "This heart is ... almost certainly that of Louis XVII. We can never be 100 per cent sure but this is about as sure as it gets". In April 2010, he became Commander 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 ...

.Le Figaro
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References

Historians of the Napoleonic Wars Members of the Académie des sciences morales et politiques Commandeurs of the Légion d'honneur 1933 births Living people 20th-century French historians First French Empire Historians of the French Revolution Film historians Officers of the Ordre national du Mérite French male writers {{France-historian-stub

Career

See also

References