Alfred Nicolas Rambaud (; 2 July 1842 – 10 November 1905) was a French historian.

Life

Alfred Nicolas Rambaud was born in

Besançon Besançon (, ; , ; archaic ; ) is the capital of the Departments of France, department of Doubs in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The city is located in Eastern France, close to the Jura Mountains and the border with Switzerland. Capi ...

. After studying at the

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

, he completed his studies in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. He was one of that band of young scholars, among whom were also

Ernest Lavisse Ernest Lavisse (; 17 December 184218 August 1922) was a French historian. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature five times. Lavisse is also known for being one of the main creator of the ''roman national'' ("National myth", lit. "nat ...

Gabriel Monod Gabriel Monod (7 March 1844 – 10 April 1912) was a French historian, the nephew of Adolphe Monod. Biography Born in Ingouville, Seine-Maritime, he was educated at Le Havre then went to Paris to complete his education, lodging with the de Pr ...

and

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, ...

, whose enthusiasm was aroused by the principles and organization of scientific study as applied beyond the Rhine, and who were ready to devote themselves to their cherished plan of remodelling higher education in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. He was appointed ''répétiteur'' at the

École des Hautes Études École or Ecole 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 * Éco ...

on its foundation in 1868. His researches were at that time directed towards the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

period of the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

, and to this period were devoted the two theses which he composed for his doctorate in letters, ''De byzantino hippodromo et circensibus factionibus'' (revised in French for the '' Revue des deux mondes'', under the title of ''Le monde byzantin; le sport et l'hippodrome'', 1871), and ''L'Empire grec au Xe siècle, Constantin Porphyrognete'' (1870). This latter work is still accepted as a good authority, and caused Rambaud to be hailed as a master on the Byzantine period; but with the exception of one article on

Digenis Acritas ''Digenes Akritas'' (Latinisation of names, Latinised as ''Acritas''; ) is a medieval Greek Romance novel, romantic Epic poetry, epic that emerged in the 12th-century Byzantine Empire. It is the lengthiest and most famous of the acritic songs, B ...

, in the ''Revue des deux mondes'' (1875), and one other on

Michael Psellus Michael Psellos or Psellus (, ) was a Byzantine Greek monk, savant, writer, philosopher, imperial courtier, historian and music theorist. He was born in 1017 or 1018, and is believed to have died in 1078, although it has also been maintained tha ...

, in the ''Revue Historique'' (vol. iii., 1876), Rambaud's researches were diverted towards other parts of the East: The

Franco-Prussian War The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...

inspired him with the idea for some courses of lectures which developed into books: ''La domination française en Allemagne''; ''les Français sur le Rhin'', 1792–1804 (1873) and ''L'Allemagne sous Napoleon I.'' 1804–1811 (1874). He watched attentively the role played by

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, and soon observed how much to the interest of France, a good entente with this power would be. He accordingly threw himself into the study of

Russian history The history of Russia begins with the histories of the East Slavs. The traditional start date of specifically Russian history is the establishment of the Rus' people, Rus' state in the north in the year 862, ruled by Varangians. In 882, Prin ...

, staying in Russia in order to learn its language, institutions and customs. In 1874 he took part in the 3rd Archeological Congress that was held in Kiev, and wrote a report on it for the "Revue des Deux Mondes". On his return, he published ''La Russie épique'', a study of the dumas, Ukrainian epic songs (1876), a short but excellent ''Histoire de la Russie depuis les origines jusqu'à l'année 1877'' (1878; 5th ed., 1900), ''Français et Russes, Moscou et Sévastopol'' 1812–1854 (1876; 2nd ed., 1881), and finally the two important volumes on Russian diplomatic history in the ''Recueil des Instructions données aux ambassadeurs'' (vols. vii. and ix., 1890 and 1891). He was not improbably moved by considerations of foreign policy to publish his ''Russes et Prussiens, guerre de Sept Ans'' (1895), a popular work, though based on solid research. After teaching history in the Faculties of Arts at

Caen Caen (; ; ) is a Communes of France, commune inland from the northwestern coast of France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Calvados (department), Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inha ...

(1871) and Nancy (1873), he was called to the Sorbonne (1883), where he was the first to occupy the chair of contemporary history. By this time he had already entered into politics; he had been ''chef du cabinet'' of

Jules Ferry Jules François Camille Ferry (; 5 April 183217 March 1893) was a French statesman and republican philosopher. He was one of the leaders of the Opportunist Republicans, Moderate Republicans and served as Prime Minister of France from 1880 to 18 ...

(1879–1881), though this did not distract him from his literary work. It was under these conditions that he composed his ''Histoire de la civilisation française'' (2 vols., 1885, 1887; 9th ed., 1901) and his ''Histoire de la civilisation contemporaine en France'' (1888; new ed. entirely revised, 1906), and undertook the general editorship of the '' Histoire générale du IVe siècle jusqu'à nos jours''. The plan of this great work had been drawn up with the aid of

, but the entire supervision of its execution was carried out by Rambaud. He contributed to it himself some interesting chapters on the history of the East, of which he had a thorough knowledge. In 1885 Rambaud published, in collaboration with J. B. Baille, a French translation of J.R. Seeley's ''Expansion of England'', and in the preface he laid great emphasis on the enormous increase of power brought to England by the possession of her colonies, seeing in this a lesson for France. He was anxious to see the rise of a Greater France, on the model of Greater Britain, and it was with this idea that he undertook to present to the public a series of essays written by famous explorers or political men, under the title of ''La France coloniale, histoire, geographie, commerce'' (1886; 6th ed., 1893). Having become senator for the ''

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. There are a total of 101 ...

'' of

Doubs Doubs (, ; ; ) is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in Eastern France. Named after the river Doubs, it had a population of 543,974 in 2019.minister of Public Instruction from 29 April 1896 to 28 June 1898, and in that capacity endeavoured to carry on the educational work of Jules Ferry, to whose memory he always remained faithful. He dedicated to his former chief a book (''Jules Ferry'', 1903), which is a valuable testimony to the efforts made by France to organize public education and found a colonial empire; but this fidelity also won him some enemies, who succeeded for some time in preventing him from becoming a member of the

Institute An institute is an organizational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes ca ...

. He was finally elected a member of the

Académie des Sciences morales et politiques An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

on 11 December 1897 in place of the duc d'Aumale, of whose life he wrote an account (vol. xxii., 2nd series, of the ''Mémoires'' of this academy). His many interests ended by wearing out even his robust constitution, and he died at

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

in 1905.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rambaud, Alfred Nicolas 1842 births 1905 deaths Writers from Besançon École Normale Supérieure alumni 19th-century French historians Members of the Académie des sciences morales et politiques Corresponding members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences Members of the Ligue de la patrie française Senators of Doubs French male non-fiction writers Foreign members of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts