Alexis Paulin Paris (25 March 180013 February 1881) was a French scholar and author.

Life

Paris was born at

Avenay Avenay () is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region of north-western France. Geography Avenay is located some 12 km south-west of Caen just east of Évrecy. Access to the commune is by the D36 road from Sainte-Honorine- ...

(

Marne Marne can refer to: Places France *Marne (river), a tributary of the Seine *Marne (department), a département in northeastern France named after the river * La Marne, a commune in western France *Marne, a legislative constituency (France) Nethe ...

). He studied classics in Reims and law in Paris. He published in 1824 an ''Apologie pour l'école romantique'' (''In Defense of the

Romantic school Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...

'') and took an active part in Parisian journalism. His appointment, in 1828, to the department of manuscripts in the Bibliothèque royale left him leisure to pursue his studies in

medieval French literature Medieval French literature is, for the purpose of this article, Medieval literature written in Oïl languages (particularly Old French and early Middle French) during the period from the eleventh century to the end of the fifteenth century. The ...

. His numerous editions of early French poems continued the work begun by

Dominique Meon "Dominique" is a 1963 French language popular song, written and performed by the Belgian female singer Jeannine Deckers, better known as Sœur Sourire ("Sister Smile" in French) or The Singing Nun. The song is about Saint Dominic, a Spanish-bo ...

in arousing general interest in the ''

chanson de geste The ''chanson de geste'' (, from Latin 'deeds, actions accomplished') is a medieval narrative, a type of epic poem that appears at the dawn of French literature. The earliest known poems of this genre date from the late 11th and early 12th cen ...

''. Admitted to the

Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres 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 1837, Paris was shortly afterwards appointed on the commission entrusted with the continuation of the ''

Histoire littéraire de la France ''Histoire littéraire de la France'' is an enormous history of French literature initiated in 1733 by Dom Rivet and the Benedictines of St. Maur. It was abandoned in 1763 after the publication of volume XII. In 1814, members of the Académie de ...

''. In 1853, a chair of

medieval literature Medieval literature is a broad subject, encompassing essentially all written works available in Europe and beyond during the Middle Ages (that is, the one thousand years from the fall of the Western Roman Empire ca. AD 500 to the beginning of t ...

was founded 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 ne ...

, and Paris became the first occupant. He retired in 1872 with the title of honorary professor and was promoted to officer of the

Legion of Honour 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, ...

in the next year.

Works

His works include: *''Manuscrits français de la bibliothèque du roi'' (7 vols., 1836-1848) *''Les Romans du

Garin le Loherain The 12th-century ''chanson de geste'' of ''Garin le Loherain'' ('Garin the Lotharingian'), together with the slightly later ''Girbert de Metz'', form the core and initial parts of the so-called ''Lorraine cycle'', which was expanded in the 13th ...

, précédé d'un examen des romans carlovingiens'' (1883-1885) *''Les Romans de Berte aux grans piés'' (1832) *''Le Romancero français, histoire de quelques anciens trouvères et choix de leurs chansons'' (1833) *an edition of the ''

Grandes chroniques de France The ''Grandes Chroniques de France'' is a vernacular royal compilation of the history of France, most manuscripts of which are luxury copies that are heavily illuminated. Copies were produced between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, the ...

'' (1836-1840) *''La

Chanson d'Antioche The ''Chanson d'Antioche'' is a ''chanson de geste'' in 9000 lines of in stanzas called ''laisses'', now known in a version composed about 1180 for a courtly French audience and embedded in a quasi-historical cycle of epic poems inspired by th ...

'' (1848) *''Les Aventures de maître

Renart Reynard the Fox is a literary cycle of medieval allegorical Dutch, English, French and German fables. The first extant versions of the cycle date from the second half of the 12th century. The genre was popular throughout the Late Middle Ages, as ...

et d'Ysengrin'' (1861) *''Les Romans de la table ronde'' (1868-1877). His son

Gaston Paris Bruno Paulin Gaston Paris (; 9 August 1839 – 5 March 1903) was a French literary historian, philologist, and scholar specialized in Romance studies and medieval French literature. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1901, 19 ...

contributed a biographical notice to vol. xxix of the ''Histoire littéraire''.

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Paris, Alexis Paulin 1800 births 1881 deaths Collège de France faculty Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres Officiers of the Légion d'honneur French male writers