Grand Prix Gobert

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The Grand Prix Gobert is a prize for historiography awarded by the Académie française . It is awarded annually for the “most eloquent” work on the history of France.

There is also a Prix Gobert from the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, also for historiography.

Baron Napoleon Gobert (1807–1833), son of the Napoleonic general Jacques Nicolas Gobert (1760–1808) and Napoleon's godson, donated both prizes . He had to break off his military career for health reasons, was at the French embassy in London and then went to Cairo, where he died of a fever after a careless bath in the Nile. He bequeathed an annuity to the two academies, from which two prizes were financed: at the Academie des Sciences, nine tenths of the prize amount annually to the author of the most eloquent book on French history of the past year and one tenth to the second best. As long as no better book is published, the author should continue to receive the award at annual intervals (this is how Augustin Thierry receivedGobert won the first Grand Prix in 1841 and continued to receive it until his death in 1856). The Academie des Inscriptions should similarly award first and second prizes for the most learned and thorough work on the history of France. The heirs tried in vain to contest the legacy, which had been paid out as prize money since 1840 (10,000 francs annually for the two academies). The Academie des Sciences Prize was later called the Grand Prix Gobert.

In 2017 the Grand Prix Gobert was endowed with 3800 euros.

Award winners

The list is incomplete.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Official website
  2. ^ Charles Dana et al. a. American Cyclopaedia
  3. ^ Augustin Thierry , Encyclopedia Britannica 1911