André Duchesne

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André Duchesne (sometimes also Du Chesne , Latinized Andreas Chesneus , Andreas Quercetanus or Andreas Querneus , born May 1584 in L'Île-Bouchard , † May 30, 1640 in Paris ) was a French geographer and historian. He is widely regarded as the father of French historiography .

Duchesne studied in Loudun and later in Paris. His first work was Egregiarum seu selectarum lectionum et antiquitatum liber , which was published when he was 17 years old . At the age of 22 he translated Juvenal . He benefited from the support of Cardinal Richelieu , who came from the same region as he and whose influence made him a royal historiographer and geographer. He died in 1640 after falling under a car on the way from Paris to his country house in Verrières .

Duchesne's work is numerous and varied. In addition to his publications, he left more than 100 folio volumes with handwritten notes, which are kept in the Bibliothèque nationale de France .

  • Les Antiquités et recherches de la grandeur et majesté des rois de France (Paris 1609)
  • Les Antiquités et recherches des villes, châteaux, & c., De toute la France (Paris 1609)
  • Histoire d'Angleterre, d'Écosse, et d'Irlande (Paris 1614)
  • Bibliothèque des auteurs qui ont écrit l'histoire et la topographie de la France (1618)
  • Histoire des Papes jusqu'à Paul V (Paris 1619)
  • Histoire des rois, ducs, et comtes de Bourgogne (1619–1628, 2 folio volumes)
  • Historiae Normanorum scriptores antiqui (1619, folio, today the only source for some of the texts it contains)
  • Historiae Francorum scriptores (5 folio volumes, 1636–1649). This work should comprise 24 volumes and contain the narrative sources on French history in the Middle Ages. Only two volumes were published by the author, three more by his son, the rest remained unfinished.

In addition, Duchesne published a large number of family histories and genealogies of the nobility, of which that of the House of Montmorency is considered to be the best. He also edited the works of Abälard (1616), Alain Chartier (1617) and Alkuin and the letters of Étienne Pasquier (1619).

Some of his most important works were continued by his only son François Duchesne (1616–1693), who also succeeded him as royal historiographer. Two works by André Duchesnes, the Histoire des tous les cardinaux français (2 volumes, 1660–1666) and the Histoire des chanceliers et gardes des sceaux de France (1630) were first published by François.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Léopold Delisle : Le Cabinet des manuscrits de la Bibliothèque Impériale. Volume 1. Imprimerie Impériale, Paris 1868, pp. 333-334 .
personal data
SURNAME Duchesne, André
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Du Chesne, André; Chesneus, Andreas; Querneus, Andreas (Latinized); Quercetanus, Andreas (Latinized)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French geographer and historian
DATE OF BIRTH May 1584
PLACE OF BIRTH L'Île-Bouchard
DATE OF DEATH May 30, 1640
Place of death Paris