Augustin Thierry (or ''Jacques Nicolas Augustin Thierry''; 10 May 179522 May 1856) was a French historian. Although originally a follower of

Henri de Saint-Simon Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de Saint-Simon (17 October 1760 – 19 May 1825), often referred to as Henri de Saint-Simon (), was a French political, economic and socialist theorist and businessman whose thought had a substantial influence on p ...

, he later developed his own approach to history. A committed liberal, his approach to history often introduced a romantic interpretation, although he did engage in research of primary sources. He nevertheless was recognised as a significant historian of the evolution of communal governance.

Early life

He was born in

Blois Blois ( ; ) is a commune and the capital city of Loir-et-Cher department, in Centre-Val de Loire, France, on the banks of the lower Loire river between Orléans and Tours. With 45,898 inhabitants by 2019, Blois is the most populated city of the ...

, Loir-et-Cher, and was the elder brother of

Amédée Thierry Amédée Simon Dominique Thierry (2 August 1797, Blois, Loir-et-Cher27 March 1873, Paris), French journalist and historian, was the younger brother of Augustin. Biography Amédée Thierry began life as a journalist (after an essay, like his br ...

. He had no advantages of birth or fortune, but was distinguished at the Blois Grammar School, and entered the

École Normale Supérieure École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, S ...

in 1811. In 1813 he was sent as a professor to

Compiègne Compiègne (; pcd, Compiène) is a commune in the Oise department in northern France. It is located on the river Oise. Its inhabitants are called ''Compiégnois''. Administration Compiègne is the seat of two cantons: * Compiègne-1 (with ...

, but stayed there a very short time.

Career

Thierry enthusiastically embraced the ideals of 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 conside ...

and Saint Simon's vision of an ideal future society. He briefly became Saint-Simon's secretary and "adopted son". Initially he had been put off by what he perceived as the elitism of ''Mémoire sur le science de l'homme''. However by 1814, having no teaching position he accepted a position as Comte's secretary. He collaborated with Saint Simon on ''De la réorganisation de la société européenne'' – a tract calling for the unification of Europe on the basis of a single constitution. However by 1817 Thierry relinquished this position to

Auguste Comte Isidore Marie Auguste François Xavier Comte (; 19 January 1798 – 5 September 1857) was a French philosopher and writer who formulated the doctrine of positivism. He is often regarded as the first philosopher of science in the modern sense ...

. But whereas most of Saint-Simon's followers applied his theories to present-day matters of political economy, Thierry trod an independent path and turned to history instead. Thierry was also inspired by

Romantic literature 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 ...

, such as Chateaubriand's ''

Les Martyrs ''Les martyrs'' (''The Martyrs'') is a four-act grand opera by Gaetano Donizetti set to a French libretto by Eugène Scribe. The libretto was based on one written by Salvadore Cammarano for an original Italian version known as '' Poliuto'', whic ...

'', and

Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy ...

's novels. Though Thierry did not actually write romances, his conception of history recognised the dramatic element (for instance, ''Les Martyrs'' dramatises the clash of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...

with

Early Christianity Early Christianity (up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325) spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and beyond. Originally, this progression was closely connected to already established Jewish centers in the Holy Land and the Jewis ...

). Thierry's main ideas on the Germanic invasions, the

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Conq ...

, the formation of the Communes, the gradual ascent of the nations towards free government and parliamentary institutions, are set forth in the articles he contributed to the '' Censeur européen'' (1817–20), and later in his ''Lettres sur l'histoire de France'' (1820). From

Claude Charles Fauriel Claude Charles Fauriel (21 October 1772 – 15 July 1844) was a French historian, philologist and critic. Biography He was born at Saint-Étienne, Loire, the son of a poor joiner, but received a good education in the Oratorian colleges of Tourn ...

he learned to use

primary source In the study of history as an academic discipline, a primary source (also called an original source) is an artifact, document, diary, manuscript, autobiography, recording, or any other source of information that was created at the time under ...

s; and by the aid of the Latin chronicles and the collection of

Anglo-Saxon law Anglo-Saxon law (Old English ''ǣ'', later ''lagu'' "law"; dōm "decree, judgment") is a body of written rules and customs that were in place during the Anglo-Saxon period in England, before the Norman conquest. This body of law, along with early ...

s, he wrote ''Histoire de la Conquête de l'Angleterre par les Normands'' (History of the Conquest of England by the Normans), the appearance of which was greeted with great enthusiasm (1825). It was written in a style at once precise and picturesque, and was dominated by a theory of Anglo-Saxon liberty resisting the invasions of northern barbarians, and eventually reviving in the

parliamentary monarchy A constitutional monarchy, parliamentary monarchy, or democratic monarchy is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in decision making. Constitutional monarchies dif ...

. Notably, it is in this work that Thierry voices the belief that Robin Hood was a leader of the Anglo-Saxon resistance. His artistic talent as a writer makes the weaknesses and deficiencies of his scholarship less obvious. This work, the preparation of which had required several years of hard work, cost Thierry his eyesight; in 1826 he was obliged to engage secretaries and eventually became quite blind. Notwithstanding, he continued to write. In 1827, he republished his ''Lettres sur l'histoire de France'', with the addition of fifteen new ones, in which he described some of the more striking episodes in the history of the rise of the medieval communes. The chronicles of the 11th and 12th centuries and a few communal charters provided him with materials for a solid work. For this reason his work on the communes has not become so out of date as his Norman Conquest; but he was too apt to generalise from the facts furnished by a few striking cases which occurred in a small portion of France, and helped to spread among the public, and even among professional historians, mistaken ideas concerning one of the most complex problems relating to the social origins of France. Thierry ardently supported the

July Revolution The French Revolution of 1830, also known as the July Revolution (french: révolution de Juillet), Second French Revolution, or ("Three Glorious ays), was a second French Revolution after French Revolution, the first in 1789. It led to ...

and the triumph of liberal ideas; at this time, too, his brother Amédée was appointed prefect, and he went to live with him for four years. He now re-edited, under the title of ''Dix ans d'études historiques'', his first essays in the ''Censeur européen'' and '' Le Courrier français'' (1834), and composed his ''Récits des temps mérovingiens'', in which he vividly presented some of the stories of

Gregory of Tours Gregory of Tours (30 November 538 – 17 November 594 AD) was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours, which made him a leading prelate of the area that had been previously referred to as Gaul by the Romans. He was born Georgius Floren ...

. These ''Récits'' appeared first in the ''

Revue des deux mondes The ''Revue des deux Mondes'' (, ''Review of the Two Worlds'') is a monthly French-language literary, cultural and current affairs magazine that has been published in Paris since 1829. According to its website, "it is today the place for debates a ...

''; when collected in volume form, they were preceded by long ''Considerations sur l'histoire de France''. From 7 May 1830, Thierry had already been a member of 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 1841, on the motion of

Villemain Villemain is a commune in the Deux-Sèvres department in western France. See also *Communes of the Deux-Sèvres department The following is a list of the 256 communes of the Deux-Sèvres department of France France (), officially ...

, the

Académie française 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 philosop ...

awarded him the first

Prix Gobert Prix was an American power pop band formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1975 by Tommy Hoehn and Jon Tiven. The group ended up primarily as a studio project. Its recordings were produced by Tiven along with former Big Star member Chris Bell, who al ...

. He continued to receive this prize for the next fifteen years. Moreover, he had been asked to edit a volume of the series ''Documents inédits'' containing a selection of acts bearing on the history of the

Third Estate The estates of the realm, or three estates, were the broad orders of social hierarchy used in Christendom (Christian Europe) from the Middle Ages to early modern Europe. Different systems for dividing society members into estates developed and ...

. Helped by collaborators (including Bourquelot and Louandre) he compiled, in four volumes, ''Recueil des monuments inédits de l'histoire du Tiers Etat'' (1850–70), which, however, bear only on the northern part of France. The preface appeared afterwards in a separate volume under the title of ''Histoire du Tiers Etat''.

Later years and legacy

To Thierry belongs the credit for inaugurating in France the really critical study of the communal institutions. The last years of his life were clouded by domestic griefs and by illness. In 1844 he lost his wife, Julie de Querengal, who had been a capable and devoted collaborator in his studies. The

Revolution of 1848 The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Springtime of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe starting in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in Europe ...

inflicted on him a final blow by overturning the regime of the Liberal

bourgeoisie The bourgeoisie ( , ) is a social class, equivalent to the middle or upper middle class. They are distinguished from, and traditionally contrasted with, the proletariat by their affluence, and their great cultural and financial capital. Th ...

, whose triumph he had hailed and justified as the necessary outcome of the whole course of French history. Thierry began to abandon the strict rationalism that had hitherto estranged him from the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

. When Catholic writers criticised the "historical errors" in his writings he promised to correct them, and in the final edition of his ''Histoire de la Conquête'' his severe judgments of Vatican policies are eliminated. Though he did not renounce his liberal friends, he sought the company of enlightened priests, and just before his death seems disposed to reentering the Church. He died in Paris in 1856.

Works

* 1814
De la réorganisation de la société européenne
' (by Claude Henri de Saint-Simon and by A. Thierry, his pupil) Paris: Adrian Égron

References

Attribution: * {{DEFAULTSORT:Thierry, Jacques Nicolas Augustin 1795 births 1856 deaths Writers from Blois École Normale Supérieure alumni French classical liberals 19th-century French historians French medievalists Saint-Simonists Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres Burials at Montparnasse Cemetery French male writers