Edmond-René Labande (1908-1992) was a French archivist and historian.

Early life

Edmond-René Labande was born in

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 ...

on June 11, 1908. He was orphaned at the age of ten and raised by his maternal grandfather, Alfred Jeanroy. His paternal uncle,

Léon-Honoré Labande Léon-Honoré Labande (1867-1939) was a French museum curator, historian and archivist. He was the curator of the Calvet Museum in Avignon from 1890 to 1906. He was the archivist of the Prince's Palace of Monaco from 1906 to 1939. He was the auth ...

, was a museum curator and archivist of the

Prince's Palace of Monaco The Prince's Palace of Monaco (; ) is the official residence of the Monarchy of Monaco, Sovereign Prince of Monaco. Built in 1191 as a Republic of Genoa, Genoese fortress, during its long and often dramatic history it has been bombarded and bes ...

. Labande graduated from the

University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...

in 1928. He also graduated from the

École pratique des hautes études The (), abbreviated EPHE, is a French postgraduate top level educational institution, a . EPHE is a constituent college of the Université PSL (together with ENS Ulm, Paris Dauphine or Ecole des Mines). The college is closely linked to É ...

and the

École Nationale des Chartes The École Nationale des Chartes (; ) is a French ''grande école'' and a constituent college of Université PSL, specialising in the auxiliary sciences of history, historical sciences. It was founded in 1821, and was located initially at the A ...

Career

Labande started his career as an archivist in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

Algiers Algiers is the capital city of Algeria as well as the capital of the Algiers Province; it extends over many Communes of Algeria, communes without having its own separate governing body. With 2,988,145 residents in 2008Census 14 April 2008: Offi ...

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

Toulon Toulon (, , ; , , ) is a city in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the French Riviera and the historical Provence, it is the prefecture of the Var (department), Var department. The Commune of Toulon h ...

, and

La Flèche La Flèche () is a town and commune in the French department of Sarthe, in the Pays de la Loire region in the Loire Valley. It is the sub-prefecture of the South-Sarthe, the chief district and the chief city of a canton, and the second most p ...

. Labande started teaching

medieval history 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 World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

at the

University of Poitiers The University of Poitiers (UP; , ) is a public university located in Poitiers, France. It is a member of the Coimbra Group. It is multidisciplinary and contributes to making Poitiers the city with the highest student/inhabitant ratio in France ...

in 1947. Two years later, in 1949, he was promoted to professor. He was a co-founder of the '' Cahiers de civilisation médiévale'', an academic journal. Labande was the first scholar to offer a skeptical interpretation of

Eleanor of Aquitaine Eleanor of Aquitaine ( or ; ; , or ; – 1 April 1204) was Duchess of Aquitaine from 1137 to 1204, Queen of France from 1137 to 1152 as the wife of King Louis VII, and Queen of England from 1154 to 1189 as the wife of King Henry II. As ...

, debunking the myth of her persona and researching primary sources about her life.

Personal life

Labande married Yvonne Mailfert in 1932. Labande joined the

Third Order of Saint Francis The Third Order of Saint Francis, or Franciscan Tertiaries, is the third order of the Franciscan tradition of Christianity, founded by the medieval Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi. Francis founded the Third Order, originally called t ...

in 1942.

Death

Labande died in

Poitiers Poitiers is a city on the river Clain in west-central France. It is a commune in France, commune, the capital of the Vienne (department), Vienne department and the historical center of Poitou, Poitou Province. In 2021, it had a population of 9 ...

on July 22, 1992.

Bibliography

*''Rinaldo Orsini, comte de Tagliacozzo, et les premières guerres suscitées en Italie centrale par le grand schisme'' (Imprimerie de Monaco, 1939). *''Étude sur 'Baudouin de Sebourc', chanson de geste'' (Droz, 1940). *''Sainte Catherine de Sienne et le duc d’Anjou'' (Annales de l’Université de Poitiers, 1949). *''Florence'' (Arthaud, Collection 'Les beaux pays', 1950). *''Rome'' (Arthaud, Collection 'Les beaux pays', 1950). *''L'Italie de la Renaissance: Duecento - Trecento - Quattrocento: Évolution d'une société'' (Payot, 1954). *''Clément V et le Poitou'' (Extrait du 'Bulletin de la Société des Antiquaires de l'Ouest', Poitiers, 1957).

References

1908 births 1992 deaths University of Paris alumni French archivists French medievalists Academic staff of the University of Poitiers Members of the Third Order of Saint Francis École Nationale des Chartes alumni Corresponding Fellows of the Medieval Academy of America {{France-academic-bio-stub