LOUIS PROSPER

See also:

• LOUIS PROSPER GACHARD (1800-1885)

GACHARD (1800-1885)  , Belgian man of letters, was born in Paris on the 12th of March i800 . He entered the administration of the royal archives in 1826, and was appointed director-general, a post which he held for fifty-five years . During this long period he reorganized the service, added to the records by copies taken in other European collections, travelled for purposes of study, and carried on a wide correspondence with other keepers of records, and with historical scholars . He also edited and published many valuable collections of state papers; a full list of his various publications was printed in the Annuaire de l'academie royale de Belgique by Ch . Piot in 1888, pp . 220-236 . It includes 246 entries . He was the author of several historical writings, of which the best known are Don Carlos et Philippe II (1867), Etudes et notices historiques concernant l'histoire des Pays-Bas (1863), Histoire de la Belgique au commencement du X VIII° siecle (188o), Histoire politique et diplomatique de P . P . Rubens (1897), all published at Brussels . His chief editorial works are the Actes des 'tats generaux des Pays-Bas 1S76-1585 (Brussels, 1861-1866), Collection de documents inedits concernant l'histoirede la Belgique (Brussels, 1833-1835), and the Relations des ambassadeurs Venitiens sur Chafles V et Philippe II (Brussels, 1855) . Gachard died in Brussels on the 24th of December 1885 .