This is a list of French historians limited to those with a biographical entry in either English or French Wikipedia.[a] Other major French chroniclers, annalists, philosophers, or other writers are included if they have important historical output.[1]
This article includes French historians and other writers from France making important contributions to history, and having an article in either English or French Wikipedia.
The list is organized chronologically, with sections devoted to time periods. Within a section, authors are listed alphabetically by last name, except for the brief § Middle Ages section, where they are ordered by date of birth. Red links below with a suffixed language code in brackets indicate articles available only at French Wikipedia.
History only matured as a serious academic profession in the 19th century. Before that, it was exercised as a literary pursuit by amateurs such as Voltaire, Jules Michelet, and François Guizot. The transition to an academic discipline first occurred in Germany under historian Leopold von Ranke who began offering his university seminar in history in 1833. Similar introduction of the discipline into academia in France took place in the 1860s. Historians active in France at the time such as Henri Sée [fr] inherited the principles of a new academic discipline from Ranke and earlier mentors including Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges.[2]
Richerus (fl. 10th century), monk and historian[1]
Geoffrey of Villehardouin (1150–1210), chronicler of the Fourth Crusade; his account of the Conquest of Constantinople is the oldest surviving historical writing in French.[5]
Jules Michelet (1798–1874), with a passion for his subjects and le peuple, he has been called "the historian" of France, including his 17-volume Histoire de France[6]
François Mignet (1796–1884), historian of the Revolution, Middle Ages[1]
Bernard Faÿ (1893–1978), unique in straddling the divide in transatlantic historiography in the heritage of the Enlightenment, but also a supporter of the Catholic authoritarian right and a virulent agent of Vichy oppression[11]
Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges (1830 – 1889) antiquity; political institutions of Roman Gaul; originator of history as a rigorous academic discipline in France,[13] after the techniques first established in Germany by Ranke in the 1830s[14]
Étienne Gilson (1884–1978), history of philosophy; a traditionalist, with his study of history rooted in religious faith[15]
Élie Halévy (1870–1937), 19th c. British history; European socialism, with a distinctive, philosophical style[16]
Henri Hauser (1866–1946), historian, economist, geographer[1]
Paul Hazard (1878–1944), polymath, traveler, a founder of comparative literature, intellectual historian, his views of early modern Europe are highly influential[17]
Georges Lefebvre (1874–1959), proponent of the orthodox, social interpretation of the causes of the French Revolution in the Jaurès tradition, plus its impact on the peasantry; controversial for his leftist politics[1][19]
Gaston Roupnel [fr] (1871–1946), a pioneer in early 20th c. French rural historical studies, working in a transitional period where 19th c. historical and philosophical traditions were giving way to new social sciences of the 1920s and 30s[23]
Henri Sée [fr] (1864–1936), rural society, economics, Middle Ages[24]
François Simiand (1873–1935), an economist by training and a sociologist, he sought to reform and unify the methodology and practice of all social/human sciences to follow sociological practice and encourage the use of empirical rather than deductive methods[25]
Marc Ferro (1924–2021), his magnum opus Histoire de France is a rare, 20th century account of all of French history written by a single historian, and not entirely in accord with his Annales school beliefs[39]
Michel Foucault (1926–1984), theories of the structure of power in societies; enormously innovative and influential in a wide range of studies, esp. in the area of cultural history, penology, and sexuality[40][10]
François Furet (1927–1997), key in leading the "exodus of French intellectuals from Marxism", his works went beyond academics to the educated public[1][41]
Jacques Godechot (1907–1989), prolific writer about links between the French Revolution and other revolutions, but also counter-revolution, espionage, the press, the Army, and the south of France[42]
Pierre Goubert (1915–2012), 17th c. peasant life; Beauvais; demographic, economic, and social history[43]
Jacques Le Goff (1924–2014), a leader of the Annales school, and world-renowned medievalist and "mass media star" for his accessible publications and TV appearances, and a founder of historical anthropology[44][10]
Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie (1929–2023), French peasantry of the early modern period; long-term continuities and demographic equilibrium (histoire immobile) of the 14th–17th c.[1][10][45]
Roland Mousnier (1907–1993), prolific and influential conservative and traditionalist (against the prevailing Annalistes) interpreter of institutions, the venality of nobles, and society[47]
Pierre Nora (born 1931), Algeria, "national memory", and a dual career in academia and publishing, reaching a wider audience through new collections issued through Gallimard; French historiography[49]
Mona Ozouf (born 1931), along with § François Furet, known for their revisionist approach to the French Revolution, contrary to the accepted social interpretation (of Mathiez, Lefebvre, Soboul)[50]
Daniel Roche (1935–2023), did long-series archival work in social phenomena, and was the outstanding exponent of the Annales school approach to cultural history, esp. regarding the last century leading up to the Revolution.[54]
Albert Soboul (1914–1982), prolific author on the French revolution based on formidable erudition and meticulous archival work, from a controversial, Marxist point of view[1][57]
Michel Vovelle (1933–2018), social and cultural history of 18th and 19th c. France; key in the historiographical turn away from the Annales paradigm of the longue durée towards history of mentalités and microhistory[58]
^All entries in the list are linked, and most are available in English Wikipedia. Entries which are only available in French Wikipedia may be accessed from the superscript '[fr]' attached to the name.