François Louis Ganshof (14 March 1895,

Bruges Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the country by population. The area of the whole city a ...

– 26 July 1980,

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

) was a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

medievalist The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often vo ...

. After studies at the Athénée Royal, he attended the

University of Ghent Ghent University ( nl, Universiteit Gent, abbreviated as UGent) is a public research university located in Ghent, Belgium. Established before the state of Belgium itself, the university was founded by the Dutch King William I in 1817, when the ...

, where he came under the influence of

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 contributi ...

. After studies with Ferdinand Lot, he practiced law for a period, before returning to the University of Ghent. Here he succeeded Pirenne in 1930 as professor of medieval history, after Pirenne left the university as a result of the enforcement of

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

as language of instruction. He remained there until his retirement in 1961. Ganshof's work was primarily on

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to cultu ...

in the Carolingian period. His best known book is ''Qu'est-ce que la féodalité?'' (1944). Here he defines

feudalism Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structur ...

narrowly, in simple legal and military terms. Feudalism, in Ganshof's view, existed only within the nobility. This contrasts with

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 ov ...

, where feudalism encompasses society as a whole, and Susan Reynolds, who questions the concept of feudalism in itself. Though Ganshof's definition is not always accepted today, this book was not his only work. He contributed greatly to his field, mostly through articles. Among the few books he published were ''Les Destinées de l'Empire en occident de 395 à 888'' (1928) and ''Flandre sous les premiers comtes'' (1943). In 1946 he received the

Francqui Prize The Francqui Prize is a prestigious Belgian scholarly and scientific prize named after Émile Francqui. Normally annually since 1933, the Francqui Foundation awards it in recognition of the achievements of a scholar or scientist, who at the start ...

for Human Sciences. Ganshof was renowned as the greatest European expert on the Frankish kingdoms, particularly under the Carolingian dynasty; he never wrote the definitive biography of Charlemagne that everyone expected of him, but his contributions to Frankish history continue to be fundamental. The best English-language introduction to this (very major) aspect of his work is in F.L. Ganshof, ''The Carolingians and the Frankish Monarchy. Studies in Carolingian History'', tr. Janet Sondheimer (London: Longman, 1971). This collection of major articles ends with an exhaustive bibliography of Ganshof's writings on

Merovingian The Merovingian dynasty () was the ruling family of the Franks from the middle of the 5th century until 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the Franks and northern Gauli ...

and Carolingian history down to 1970.

Selected works

*1926. ''Étude sur les ministeriales en Flandrie et en Lotharingie''. Brussels. *1928 (with Ferdinand Lot and Christian Pfister). ''Les Destinées de l'Empire en occident de 395 à 888''. In ''Histoire du Moyen Âge''. *1937. "Die mittelalterlichen Städte Flanderns und Brabants." ''Forschungen und Fortschritte'' 13. 170–2. *1937. ''De staatsinstellingen van Vlaanderen en Brabant''. *1938. "Die Rechtsprechung des gräflichen Hofgerichtes in Flandern vor der Mitte des 13. Jahrhunderts." ''Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte. Germanist. Abt.'' 58 = ''Festschrift Ulrich Stutz zum siebzigsten Geburtstag''. 163–77. *1938. "Die mittelalterlichen Städte Flanderns und Brabants." ''Forschungen und Fortschritte'' 13. 170–2. *1938. "The Mediaeval Cities of Flanders and Brabant." ''Research and progress'' 4.2. 62–6. *1941. ''Voorstel tot voorbereiding en uitgave van een Historisch Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Rechtstaal. Met een verslag door E.I. Strubbe''. Mededelingen van de Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie voor wetenschappen, letteren en schone kunsten van België. Kl. der letteren (henceforward abbreviated to Mededelingen) 3.3. Brussels. *1941. ''Over stadsontwikkeling tusschen Loire en Rijn gedurende de Middeleeuwen''. Antwerpen. 2nd ed.: Antwerp, 1944. *1941. ''Pages d’histoire''. Brussels. *1943. ''Étude sur le développement des villes entre Loire et Rhin au Moyen Âge''. Paris. *1943. ''Flandre sous les premiers comtes''. Brussels. *1944. ''Qu'est-ce que la féodalité''. Translated into English as ''Feudalism'' by

Philip Grierson Philip Grierson, FBA (15 November 1910 – 15 January 2006) was a British historian and numismatist, emeritus professor of numismatics at Cambridge University and a fellow of Gonville and Caius College for over seventy years. During his long an ...

, foreword by F.M. Stenton. 1st ed.: New York and London, 1952; 2nd ed: 1961; 3d ed: 1976. *1944. ''Vlaanderen onder de eerste graven''. Antwerp. *1946-7. ''Geschiedenis van de Middeleeuwsche instellingen: de instellingen van West-Europa''. Ghent. *1948. ''Het falen van Karel de Grote''. Utrecht. *1949. ''The imperial coronation of

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first ...

: theories and facts''. Lecture on the David Murray Foundation 16. Glasgow. *1951. ''Encyclopaedie van de geschiedenis: middeleeuwen''. Ghent. *1953. ''Le moyen âge''. Histoire des relations internationales 1. Paris. *1953. ''Over het idee van het Keizerschap bij Lodewijk de Vrome tijdens het eerste deel van zijn regering''. Mededelingen 15.9. Brussels. *1956. ''Het statuut van de vreemdeling in het Frankische Rijk''. Mededelingen 18.3. Brussels. *1957. "Einwohnergenossenschaft und Graf in den flandrischen Städten während des 12. Jahrhunderts." ''Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte. Germanist. Abt.'' 74. 98-118. *1958. ''Het tolwezen in het Frankisch rijk onder de Merowingen''. Mededelingen 20.4. Brussels. *1959. ''Het tolwezen in het Frankisch rijk onder de Karolingen''. Mededelingen 21.1. Brussels. *1960. ''De internationale betrekkingen van het Frankisch rijk onder de Merowingen''. Mededelingen 22.4. Brussels. *1961. ''Was ist das Lehnswesen?'', tr. from the French by Ruth and Dieter Groh. Darmstadt. *1961. ''Was waren die Kapitularien?'' (with Birgit Franz), tr. Willem A. Eckhardt. Weimar. *1963. ''De internationale betrekkingen van het Frankisch rijk onder de Karolingen''. Mededelingen 25.2. Brussels. *1963. ''Het "Iudicium crucis" in het frankisch Recht''. Mededelingen 25.5. Brussels. *1965. ''Een kijk op de verhoudingen tussen normatieve beschikkingen en levend recht in het Karolingische rijk''. Mededelingen 27.2. Brussels. *1965. "Note sur une charte de Thierry d’Alsace, comte de Flandre, intéressant la propriété foncière à Saint-Omer." ''Festschrift für Hektor Ammann''. Wiesbaden. 84–96. Reproduced as monograph: Studia historica Gandensia 36. Ghent. *1966. ''Een historicus uit de VIe eeuw: Gregorius van Tours''. Mededelingen 28.5. Brussels. *1966. "Note sur une charte de Baudouin V, comte de Flandre, pour Saint-Pierre de Lille." In ''Mélanges René Crozet''. Vol 1. Poitiers. 293–306. Reproduced as monograph: Studia historica Gandensia 37. Ghent. *1967. ''Een kijk op het regeringsbeleid van Lodewijk de Vrome tijdens de Jaren 814 tot 830''. Mededelingen 29.2. Brussels. *1967. "Note sur la preuve dans la procédure en cas de flagrant délit en droit franc." In ''Miscellanea mediaevalia in memoriam Jan Frederik Niermeyer''. Groningen. 9-16. Reproduced as monograph: Studia historica Gandensia 77. Ghent. *1968. ''Frankish Institutions under Charlemagne''. Translated from the French by Bryce and Mary Lyon. Providence (Rhode Island), 1968. *1969. ''Bekentenis en foltering in het Frankisch Recht''. Amsterdam. *1970. ''Een historicus uit de VIIe eeuw: Fredegarius''. Mededelingen 32.5. Brussels. *1971. ''The Carolingians and the Frankish monarchy. Studies in Carolingian history'' *1971. ''Een historicus uit de IXe eeuw: Nithard''. Mededelingen 33.3. Brussels. *1972. ''Aantekeningen over het grondbezit van de Sint-Bertijnsabdij en in het bijzonder over haar domein te Poperinge tijdens de IXe eeuw''. Mededelingen 34.1. Brussels. *1972. "Stämme als "Träger des Reiches?" Zu Walther Kienasts Studien über die französischen Volksstämme des Frühmittelalters." ''Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte. Germanist. Abt.'' 89. 147-60. *1975. ''Le polyptyque de l’abbaye de Saint-Bertin, 844-859''.

References

*McKitterick, R. "Ganshof, F.L.", in Cannon, John (ed.) ''Blackwell Dictionary of Historians'', (Blackwell, 1988). {{DEFAULTSORT:Ganshof, Francois Louis 1895 births 1980 deaths Ghent University faculty Belgian medievalists 20th-century Belgian historians Corresponding Fellows of the Medieval Academy of America Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class) Members of the German Academy of Sciences at Berlin Corresponding Fellows of the British Academy