Marie Henri d'Arbois de Jubainville (; 5 December 1827 – 26 February 1910) was a French
historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...
,
philologist
Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also defined as the study of ...
and
Celtic scholar.
Career
He qualified as a lawyer in 1850, and entered a seminary with the intention of becoming a Catholic priest,
but his attention turned to French history and in 1851 he left the
École des Chartes
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 ...
with the degree of
palaeographic archivist. He was placed in control of the departmental archives of
Aube
Aube ( ) is a French departments of France, department in the Grand Est region of northeastern France. As with sixty departments in France, this department is named after a river: the Aube (river), Aube. With 310,242 inhabitants (2019), , and remained in that position until 1880, when he retired on a pension.
He published several volumes of inventorial abstracts, a ''Répertoire archéologique du département'' in 1861; a valuable ''Histoire des ducs et comtes de Champagne depuis le VIe siècle jusqu'à la fin du XIe'', which was published between 1859 and 1869 (8 volumes), and in 1880 an instructive monograph, ''Les Intendants de Champagne''. Already he had become attracted to the study of the ancient inhabitants of
Gaul
Gaul () was a region of Western Europe first clearly described by the Roman people, Romans, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and parts of Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, and Northern Italy. It covered an area of . Ac ...
; in 1870 he brought out an ''Étude sur la déclinaison des noms propres dans la langue franque à l'époque mérovingienne''; and in 1877 a learned work on ''Les Premiers habitants de l'Europe'' (2nd edition in 2 vols. 1889 and 1894).
Next he concentrated his efforts on the field of
Celtic language
The Celtic languages ( ) are a branch of the Indo-European language family, descended from the hypothetical Proto-Celtic language. The term "Celtic" was first used to describe this language group by Edward Lhuyd in 1707, following Paul-Yves ...
s, literature and
law
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...
, in which he soon became an authority. Appointed in 1882 to the newly founded professorial chair of Celtic at the , he began the ''Cours de littérature celtique'' in 1908 extended to twelve volumes. For this he himself edited the following works: ''Introduction à l'étude de la littérature celtique'' (1883); ''L'Épopée celtique en Irlande'' (1892); ''Études de droit celtique'' (1895); and ''Les Principaux auteurs de l'Antiquité à consulter sur l'histoire des Celtes'' (1902).
He was among the first in France to study the most ancient monuments of Irish literature with a solid philological preparation and without prejudice.
Personal life
He was born at
Nancy, son of Charles-Joseph d’Arbois de Jubainville and Henriette de Beaufort de Gellercourt, a couple who were greatly influenced by
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Republic of Geneva, Genevan philosopher (''philosophes, philosophe''), writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment through ...
.
[ He married Melanie de Plante-Wildentag in 1857. After her death, in 1863, he married Charlotte de Pinterville de Cernon with whom he had children, including a son, Paul.][
]
See also
* List of archivists
References
*
External links
*
Works
a
Open Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arbois de Jubainville, Marie Henri d
1827 births
1910 deaths
Academic staff of the Collège de France
French archivists
French philologists
French medievalists
Celtic studies scholars
Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres
Writers from Nancy, France
École Nationale des Chartes alumni