François Clément

François Clement ( 714, Bèze, Côte-d'Or">Bèze.html" ;"title="714, Bèze">714, Bèze, Côte-d'Or – 29 March 1793, Paris) was a French historian and member of the Benedictine Congregation of St. Maur.

Biography

His first studies were at the college of the Jesuits in Dijon. Soon after his profession in 1731 his superiors sent him to the monastery of the "Blancs-Manteaux" in Paris to assist in the scholarly work of the congregation. He was a hard worker, who reportedly slept only two or three hours per night.

He first worked on the preparations for volumes XI and XII of the ; these volumes covered the years 1141-1167 and were edited by Charles Clémencet. He then edited, in collaboration with , a fellow Benedictine, volumes XII and XIII of the work begun by Bouquet in 1738, (Paris, 1786), or as the title is generally given . These volumes contain altogether 439 original documents, accompanied by exhaustive introductions, numerous explanatory remarks, and critical notes.

Clément's chief work is a revised edition of the chronology first issued by Clémencet in one volume, entitled: . The new edition in which the original work appeared in an entirely changed form was published in Paris in 1770. A third edition (Paris, 1783–1787) embraced three folio volumes; in this the original underwent even greater alterations, and the Clément spent more than ten years working on it. In contrast to Clémencet he treated his matter objectively, and was influenced neither by prejudices against the Jesuits nor by a strong support for the Jansenists. His position met with the approval of scholars and he was made a member of the "Académie des Inscriptions". The work has been called "the finest memorial of French learning of the eighteenth century". Clément was engaged in the preparation of a fourth and much enlarged edition when a stroke of apoplexy caused his death.

The unfinished work was completed by Nicolas Viton de Saint-Allais and appeared with additional matter in eighteen volumes (Paris, 1818–19). Viton de Saint-Allais also published from the literary remains of Clément the treatise (Paris, 1820). A work of less importance was one begun by Matthieu Poncet and edited by Clément, entitled (Paris, 1760). The amount of material Clément collected is shown by the (Paris, 1764). For information concerning his letters see the , XII, 508.

References

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* Cites as a source:
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Clement, F
1714 births
1793 deaths
18th-century French historians
Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres
French Benedictines
French male non-fiction writers
18th-century French male writers