Title page of Volume 4 of Tassin and Toustain's ''Nouveau traité de diplomatique'' (1759) René-Prosper Tassin (17 November 1697 – 10 September 1777) was a French historian, belonging to the

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

Congregation of Saint-Maur. Tassin was born at Lonlay, in the Diocese of Le Mans. He was professed at the Abbey of Jumièges in 1718. United in close friendship with his brother in religion,

Charles-François Toustain Charles-François Toustain (13 October 1700 – 1 July 1754) was a French historian and a member of the Benedictine Congregation of Saint Maur. He is remembered for his scholarly work carried out with his fellow Maurist, René-Prosper Tassin. L ...

, he collaborated with him on a new edition of the works of

Theodore the Studite Theodore the Studite (; 759–826), also known as Theodorus Studita and Saint Theodore of Stoudios/Studium, was a Byzantine Greek monk and abbot of the Stoudios Monastery in Constantinople. He played a major role in the revivals both of Byzantin ...

, which task led them to visit Rome together. Their work was interrupted by a dispute between the Benedictine Abbey of St. Ouen and the chapter of

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine, in northwestern France. It is in the prefecture of Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one ...

, which was supported by the erudite Jean Saas. Tassin and his friend wrote against Saas in defence of their brethren. They then resided at the Abbey of Rouen where they remained till 1747, when they were summoned to the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, at Paris, by their general. To defend the authenticity of the

deed A deed is a legal document that is signed and delivered, especially concerning the ownership of property or legal rights. Specifically, in common law, a deed is any legal instrument in writing which passes, affirms or confirms an interest, right ...

s of their abbey they were obliged to make a deep study of

diplomatics Diplomatics (in American English, and in most anglophone countries), or diplomatic (in British English), is a scholarly discipline centred on the critical analysis of documents, especially historical documents. It focuses on the conventions, pr ...

, dealing with diplomas,

charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the ...

s, and other official documents, for which

Jean Mabillon Dom Jean Mabillon , (; 23 November 1632 – 27 December 1707) was a French Benedictine monk and scholar of the Congregation of Saint Maur. He is considered the founder of the disciplines of palaeography and diplomatics. Early life Mabillon w ...

had laid the foundations in his great Latin work, ''De re diplomatica'' (1681). As a result of their researches they wrote the ''Nouveau traité de diplomatique'', in six

quarto Quarto (abbreviated Qto, 4to or 4º) is the format of a book or pamphlet produced from full sheets printed with eight pages of text, four to a side, then folded twice to produce four leaves. The leaves are then trimmed along the folds to produc ...

volumes, which appeared between the years 1750 and 1765. Toustain died before the second volume had been entirely printed, and so Tassin saw the great work to completion. However, he wished the name of his friend to be associated with the project in its entirety, and consequently all the volumes are described as the work of "two Benedictines". Tassin later wrote his ''Histoire littéraire de la Congrégation de Saint-Maur'' (Paris and Brussels, 1770), a model history containing the lives and list of works, printed or in manuscript, of all the learned authors of the Congregation, from its formation in 1618 until his own time, including a list of their works, printed or in manuscript. Several manuscript works of Tassin are in the

Bibliothèque nationale A library is a collection of books, and possibly other materials and media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or digital (soft copies) materials, and may be a p ...

in Paris. Tassin died in Paris.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tassin, Rene Prosper People from Seine-Maritime 1697 births 1777 deaths 18th-century French historians French Benedictines 18th-century French writers 18th-century French male writers