MARTIN, BON LOUIS HENRI (1810-1883)

This article appears in Volume V17, Page 794 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: MAR-MEC

MARTIN, BON LOUIS HENRI (1810-1883) , French historian, was born on the loth of February 1810 at St Quentin (Aisne), where his father was a judge. Trained as a notary, he followed this profession for some time but having achieved success with an historical romance, Wolfthurm (183o), he applied himself to historical research. Becoming associated with Paul Lacroix (" le Bibliophile Jacob "), he planned with him a history of France, to consist of excerpts from the

chief

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

chroniclers and historians, with

original

ORIGINAL

matter filling up gaps in the continuity. The first volume, which appeared in 1833, encouraged the author to make the

work

WORK

his own, and his Histoire de France, in fifteen volumes (18331836), was the result. This magnum

opus

OPUS ('O7rois)

, rewritten and further elaborated (4th ed., 16 vols. and index, 18611865) gained for the author in 1856 the first prize of the

Academy

ACADEMY, GREEK
ACADEMY, ROYAL

, and in 1869 the grand biennial prize of 20,000 francs. A popular abridgment in seven volumes was published in 1867. This, together with the continuation, Histoire de France depuis 1789 jusqu'd nos jours (6 vols. 18781883), gives a complete history of France, and superseded Sismondi's Histoire des Francais.
This

work

WORK

is in parts defective; Martin's descriptions of the Gauls are based rather on romance than on history, and in this respect he was too much under the influence of Jean Reynaud and his cosmogonic philosophy. However he gave a

great

GREAT

impetus to Celtic and anthropological studies. His knowledge of the mddile ages is inadequate, and his criticisms are not discriminating. As a free-thinking republican, his prejudices often biassed his judgment on the political and religious history of the ancien regime. The last six volumes, devoted to the 17th and 18th centuries, are superior to the earlier ones. Martin sat in the assemblee nationale as

deputy

DEPUTY (through the Fr. from a Late Lat. use of deputare, to cut off, allot; putare having the original sense of to trim, prune)

for Aisne in 1871,
and was elected life senator in 1878, but he left no mark as a politician. He died in Paris on the 14th of December 1883. Among his

minor

works may be mentioned:De la France, de
son genie et de ses destinies (1847); Daniel Manin (186o), La Russie et l'Europe (1866) ; Etudes d'archeologie celtique (1872) ; Les

Napoleon

NAPOLEON

et les frontieres de la France (1874). See his

biography

BIOGRAPHY (from the Gr. (3ios, life, and yp&4 , writing)

by Gabriel Hanotaux, Henri Martin; sa vie,_ ses oeuvres, son temps (1885).

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