whole of the 19th century, and even longer, had a strong influence on
historical production. The section of the Institut de France,
which in 1816 assumed the old name of Académie des Inscriptions
et Belles-lettres, began to reissue the two series of the Mémoires
and of the Notices et extraits des manuscrits tirés de la bibliothèque
royale (the first volume had appeared in 1787); began (1844) that
of the Mémoires présentés par divers savants and the Comptes rendus
(subject index 1857–1900, by G. Ledos, 1906); and continued the
Recueil des historiens de France, the plan of which was enlarged by
degrees (Historiens des croisades, obituaires, pouillés, comptes, &c.),
the Ordonnances and the Table chronologique des diplômes. During
the reign of Louis Philippe, the ministry of the interior reorganized
the administration of the archives of the departments, communes
and hospitals, of which the Inventaires sommaires are a mine of
precious information (see the Rapport au ministre, by G. Servois,
1902). In 1834 the ministry of public instruction founded a committee,
which has been called since 1881 the Comité des Travaux
historiques et scientifiques, under the direction of which have been
published: (1) the Collection des documents inédits relatifs à l’histoire
de France (more than 260 vols. have appeared since 1836); (2) the
Catalogue général des manuscrits des bibliothèques de France; (3)
the Dictionnaires topographiques (25 vols. have appeared); and the
Répertoires archéologiques of the French departments (8 vols. between
1861 and 1888); (4) several series of Bulletins, the details of which will
be found in the Bibliographie of Lasteyrie. At the same time were
founded or reorganized, both in Paris and the departments, numerous
societies, devoted sometimes partially and sometimes exclusively to
history and archaeology; the Académie Celtique (1804), which in
1813 became the Société des Antiquaires de France (general index by
M. Prou, 1894); the Société de l’Histoire de France (1834); the
Société de l’École des Chartes (1839); the Société de l’Histoire de Paris
et de l’Île-de-France (1874; four decennial indexes), &c. The details
will be found in the excellent Bibliographie générale des travaux
historiques et archéologiques publiés par les sociétés savantes de France,
which has appeared since 1885 under the direction of Robert de
Lasteyrie.
Individual scholars also associated themselves with this great literary movement. Guizot published a Collection de mémoires relatifs à l’histoire de France (31 vols., 1824–1835); Buchon, a Collection des chroniques nationales françaises écrites en langue vulgaire du XIIIe au XVIe siècle (47 vols., 1824–1829), and a Choix de chroniques et mémoires sur l’histoire de France (14 vols., 1836–1841); Petitot and Monmerqué, a Collection de mémoires relatifs à l’histoire de France (131 vols., 1819–1829); Michaud and Poujoulat, a Nouvelle Collection de mémoires pour servir a l’histoire de France (32 vols., 1836–1839); Barrière and de Lescure, a Bibliothèque de mémoires relatifs à l’histoire de France pendant le XVIIIe siècle (30 vols., 1855–1875); and finally Berville and Barrière, a Collection des mémoires relatifs à la Révolution Française (55 vols., 1820–1827). The details are to be found in the Sources de l’histoire de France, by Alfred Franklin (1876). The abbé J. P. Migne in his Patrologia Latina (221 vols., 1844–1864), re-edited a number of texts anterior to the 13th century. Under the second empire, the administration of the imperial archives at Paris published ten volumes of documents (Monuments historiques, 1866; Layettes du trésor des chartes, 1863, which were afterwards continued up to 1270; Actes du parlement de Paris, 1863–1867), not to mention several volumes of Inventaires. The administration of the Bibliothèque impériale had printed the Catalogue général de l’histoire de France (10 vols., 1855–1870; vol. xi., containing the alphabetical index to the names of the authors, appeared in 1895). Other countries also supplied a number of useful texts; there is much in the English Rolls series, in the collection of Chroniques belges, and especially in the Monumenta Germaniae historica.
At the same time the scope of history and its auxiliary sciences becomes more clearly defined; the École des Chartes produces some excellent palaeographers, as for instance Natalis de Wailly (Éléments de paléographie, 1838), and L. Delisle (q.v.), who has also left traces of his profound researches in the most varied departments of medieval history (Bibliographie des travaux de M. Léopold Delisle, 1902); Anatole de Barthélemy made a study of coins and medals, Douët d’Arcq and G. Demay of seals. The works of Alexandre Lenoir (Musée des monuments français, 1800–1822), of Arcisse de Caumont (Histoire de l’architecture du moyen âge, 1837; Abécédaire ou rudiment d’archéologie, 1850), of A. Napoléon Didron (Annales archéologiques, 1844), of Jules Quicherat (Mélanges d’archéologie et d’histoire, published after his death, 1886), and the dictionaries of Viollet le Duc (Dictionnaire raisonné de l’architecture française, 1853–1868; Dictionnaire du mobilier français, 1855) displayed to the best advantage one of the most brilliant sides of the French intellect, while other sciences, such as geology, anthropology, the comparative study of languages, religions and folk-lore, and political economy, continued to enlarge the horizon of history. The task of writing the general history of a country became more and more difficult, especially for one man, but the task was none the less undertaken by several historians, and by some of eminence. François Guizot treated of the Histoire de la civilisation en France (1828–1830); Augustin Thierry after the Récits des temps mérovingiens (1840) published the Monuments de l’histoire du tiers état (1849–1856), the introduction to which was expanded into a book (1855); Charles Simonde de Sismondi produced a mediocre Histoire des français in 31 vols. (1821–1844), and Henri Martin a Histoire de France in 16 vols. (1847–1854), now of small use except for the two or three last centuries of the ancien régime. Finally J. Michelet, in his Histoire de France (17 vols., 1833–1856) and his Histoire de la Révolution (7 vols., 1847–1853), aims at reviving the very soul of the nation’s past.
After the Franco-German War begins a better organization of scientific studies, modelled on that of Germany. The École des Hautes Études, established in 1868, included in its programme the critical study of the sources, both Latin and French, of the history of France; and from the séminaire of Gabriel Monod came men of learning, already prepared by studying at the École des Chartes: Paul Viollet, who revived the study of the history of French law; Julien Havet, who revived that of Merovingian diplomatics; Arthur Giry, who resumed the study of municipal institutions where it had been left by A. Thierry, prepared the Annales carolingiennes (written by his pupils, Eckel, Favre, Lauer, Lot, Poupardin), and brought back into honour the study of diplomatics (Manuel de diplomatique, 1894); Auguste Molinier, author of the Sources de l’histoire de France (1902–1904; general index, 1906), &c. Auguste Longnon introduced at the École des Hautes Études the study of historical geography (Atlas historique de la France, in course of publication since 1888). The universities, at last reorganized, popularized the employment of the new methods. The books of Fustel de Coulanges and Achille Luchaire on the middle ages, and those of A. Aulard on the revolution, gave a strong, though well-regulated, impetus to historical production. The École du Louvre (1881) increased the value of the museums and placed the history of art among the studies of higher education, while the Musée archéologique of St-Germain-en-Laye offered a fruitful field for research on Gallic and Gallo-Roman antiquities. Rich archives, hitherto inaccessible, were thrown open to students; at Rome those of the Vatican (Registres pontificaux, published by students at the French school of archaeology, since 1884); at Paris, those of the Foreign Office (Recueil des instructions données aux ambassadeurs depuis le traité de Westphalie, 16 vols., 1885–1901; besides various collections of diplomatic papers, inventories, &c.). Those of the War Office were used by officers who published numerous documents bearing on the wars of the Revolution and the Empire, and on that of 1870–1871. In 1904 a commission, generously endowed by the French parlement, was entrusted with the task of publishing the documents relating to economic and social life of the time of the Revolution, and four volumes had appeared by 1908. Certain towns, Paris, Bordeaux, &c., have made it a point of honour to have their chief historical monuments printed. The work now becomes more and more specialized. L’Histoire de France, by Ernest Lavisse (1900, &c.), is the work of fifteen different authors. It is therefore more than ever necessary that the work should be under sound direction. The Manuel de bibliographie historique of Ch. V. Langlois (2nd edition, 1901–1904) is a good guide, as is his Archives de l’histoire de France (1891, in collaboration with H. Stein).
Besides the special bibliographies mentioned above, it will be useful to consult the Bibliothèque historique of Père Jacques Lelong (1719; new ed. by Fevret de Fontette, 5 vols., 1768–1778); the Geschichte der historischen Forschung und Kunst of Ludwig Wachler (2 vols., 1812–1816); the Bibliographie de la France, established in 1811 (1st series, 1811–1856, 45 vols.; 2nd series, 1 vol. per annum since 1857); the publications of the Société de Bibliographie (Polybiblion, from 1868 on, &c.); the Bibliographie de l’histoire de France, by Gabriel Monod (1888); the Répertoire of the abbé Ulysse Chevalier (Biobibliographie; new ed. 1903–1907; and Topobibliographie, 1894–1899). Bearing exclusively on the middle ages are the Bibliotheca historica medii aevi of August Potthast (new ed. 1896) and the Manuel (Les Sources de l’histoire de France, 1901, &c.) of A. Molinier; but the latter is to be continued up to modern times, the 16th century having already been begun by Henri Hausser (1st part, 1906). Finally, various special reviews, besides teaching historical method by criticism and by example, try to keep their readers au courant with literary production; the Revue critique d’histoire et de littérature (1866 fol.), the Revue des questions historiques (1866 fol.), the Revue historique (1876 fol.), the Revue d’histoire moderne et contemporaine, accompanied annually by a valuable Répertoire méthodique (1898 fol.); the Revue de synthèse historique (1900 fol.), &c. (C. B.*)
French Law and Institutions
Celtic Period.—The remotest times to which history gives us access with reference to the law and institutions formerly existing in the country which is now called France are those in which the dominant race at least was Celtic. On the whole, our knowledge is small of the law and institutions of these Celts, or Gauls, whose tribes constituted independent Gaul. For their reconstruction, modern scholars draw upon two sources; firstly, there is the information furnished by the classical writers and by Caesar and Strabo in particular, which is trustworthy but somewhat scanty; the other source, which is not so pure, consists in
