François Déroche (born October 24, 1952) is an academic and specialist in

Codicology Codicology (; from French ''codicologie;'' from Latin , genitive , "notebook, book" and Greek , ''-logia'') is the study of codices or manuscript books. It is often referred to as "the archaeology of the book," a term coined by François Masai. ...

and

Palaeography Palaeography (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, UK) or paleography (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, US) (ultimately from , , 'old', and , , 'to write') is the study and academic disciplin ...

, especially in relation to

Quranic studies Quranic studies is the academic study of the Quran, the central religious text of Islam. Like in biblical studies, the field uses and applies a diverse set of Academic discipline, disciplines and methods, such as philology, textual criticism, lex ...

. He is a professor at the

Collège de France The (), formerly known as the or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment () in France. It is located in Paris near La Sorbonne. The has been considered to be France's most ...

, where he is holding "History of the Quran Text and Transmission" Chair.

Biography

Déroche was born on 24 October 1952 in

Metz Metz ( , , , then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle (river), Moselle and the Seille (Moselle), Seille rivers. Metz is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments ...

. After completing his '' Classe préparatoire'' at

Lycée Henri-IV The Lycée Henri-IV () is a public secondary school located in Paris. Along with the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, it is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious and demanding sixth-form colleges ('' lycées'') in France. The school educates more ...

, he began his studies 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 ...

in 1973. He got the '' Agrégation de Lettres classiques'' in 1976 and passed the '' Diplôme d'études approfondies'' in Egyptology in 1978. After a year of aggrégation internship, he was recruited in 1979 by the ''

Bibliothèque nationale de France The (; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites, ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository of all that is published in France. Some of its extensive collections, including bo ...

'' as a scientific resident, responsible for preparing the catalog of manuscripts of the

Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...

. In 1983 he was appointed a scientific resident at the ''French Institute of Anatolian Studies'' in Istanbul for a period of three years, he will remain in this city two additional years thanks to a grant from the Fondation Max van Berchem (Geneva). During his stay in Istanbul, he completed his doctoral thesis on the oasis of Dedan/al-'Ulâ that he defended in 1987. On his return to France in 1988, he was assigned to secondary education, first in the Paris region, then to

Auneau Auneau () is a former commune in the Eure-et-Loir department in northern France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French ...

and

Châteauneuf-en-Thymerais Châteauneuf-en-Thymerais () is a Communes of France, commune in Eure-et-Loir Departments of France, department in northern France. The commune was once an important stronghold reigning over the whole natural and historic province of Thymerais. ...

. In 1990, he was elected director of studies at the Section of Historical and Philological Sciences at 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 ...

''. He was a vice-president, then a president of the ''Society for the Study of Prehistoric'', Ancient and Medieval Maghreb, he directs the organization of study days in collaboration with the

Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres The () is a French learned society devoted to history, founded in February 1663 as one of the five academies of the . The academy's scope was the study of ancient inscriptions (epigraphy) and historical literature (see Belles-lettres). History ...

, where he was elected as a correspondent on October 26, 2000, and a member on January 28, 2011; he is also involved in the preparation of the academic seminars of this society, in Tripoli (2005), Caen (2009) and Aix and Marseille (2014). He is a member of many learned societies, including the '' Société Asiatique'', the ''

Comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques The Comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques (CTHS) (''Committee for Historic and Scientific Works'') is a French research institution created by the Minister of Public Education François Guizot on 18 July 1834 for the purpose of 'leading ...

'', and the Board of Experts of the

Al-Furqan Islamic Heritage Foundation Al-Furqan Islamic Heritage Foundation is a London-based non-profit institution which is primarily concerned with promoting "the study, cataloguing, publication, preservation and conservation of Islamic manuscripts A manuscript (abbrevi ...

in London. He is a member of the Board of Directors and Scientific Council of the École Pratique des Hautes Études.

Awards and honours

* 1988:

CNRS The French National Centre for Scientific Research (, , CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,637 staff, including 11,137 tenured researchers, 13,415 eng ...

Bronze Medal * 2008: Chevalier of the

Legion of Honor The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and civil. Currently consisting of five classes, it was ...

* 2009: Commander of the

Ordre des Palmes Académiques A suite, in Western classical music, is an ordered set of instrumental or orchestral/concert band pieces. It originated in the late 14th century as a pairing of dance tunes; and grew in scope so that by the early 17th century it comprised up to ...

Works

* ''Catalogue des manuscrits arabes'', fascicules 1 et 2, Bibliothèque nationale (France), département des manuscrits, Bibliothèque nationale. * 1989 - ''Manuscrits Moyen-Orient Essais de Codicologie et Paléographie'', actes du colloque d’Istanbul, 26-29 mai 1986, Institut français d’études anatoliennes : Bibliothèque nationale. * * * ''Scribes et manuscrits du Moyen-Orient'', Bibliothèque nationale de France. 1997. * ** * * * * * * * The Quran of Historians

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Déroche, François 1952 births 20th-century French historians 21st-century French historians Knights of the Legion of Honour Academic staff of the Collège de France Commandeurs of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques French Islamic studies scholars French orientalists Writers from Metz Living people Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres École Normale Supérieure alumni Codicologists