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GIRY (JEAN MARIE JOSEPH), ARTHUR (184...

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 51 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GIRY (See also:JEAN See also:MARIE See also:JOSEPH), See also:ARTHUR (1848-1899)  , See also:French historian, was See also:born at Trevoux (See also:Ain) on the 29th of See also:February 1848 . After rapidly completing his classical studies at the lycee at See also:Chartres, he spent some See also:time in the administrative service and in journalism . He then entered the Ecole See also:des Chartes, where, under the See also:influence of J . See also:Quicherat, he See also:developed a strong inclination to the study of the See also:middle ages . The lectures at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes, which he attended from its See also:foundation in 1868, revealed his true See also:bent; and henceforth he devoted himself almost entirely to scholarship . He began modestly by the study of the municipal charters of St Omer . Having been appointed assistant lecturer and afterwards full lecturer at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes, it was to the See also:town of St Omer that he devoted his first lectures and his first important See also:work, Histoire de la ville de See also:Saint-Omer et de ses institutions jusqu'au XI V' siecle (1877) . He, however, soon realized that the charters of one town can only be understood by comparing them with those of other towns, and he was gradually led to continue the work which Augustin See also:Thierry had broadly outlined in his studies on the Tiers Etat . A See also:minute knowledge of printed books and a methodical examination of departmental and•communal archives furnished him with material for a See also:long course of successful lectures, which gave rise to some important See also:works on municipal See also:history and led to a See also:great revival of See also:interest in the origins and significance of the See also:urban communities in See also:France . See also:Giry himself published See also:Les Etablissementsde See also:Rouen (1883-1885), a study, based on very minute researches, of the See also:charter granted to the See also:capital of See also:Normandy by See also:Henry II., See also:king of See also:England, and of the See also:diffusion of- similar charters throughout the French dominions of the Plantagenets; a collection of Documents sur les relations de La royaute avec les villes de France de 1z8o a 1314 (1885); and Etude sur les origines de la See also:commune de Saint-Quentin (1887) . About this time See also:personal considerations induced Giry to devote the greater See also:part of his activity to the study of See also:diplomatic, which had been much neglected at the Ecole des Chartes, but had made great strides in See also:Germany . As assistant (1883) and successor (1885) to See also:Louis de Mas Latrie, Giry restored the study of diplomatic, which had been founded in France by Dom See also:Jean See also:Mabillon, to its legitimate importance .

In 1894 he published his See also:

Manuel de diplomatique, a See also:monument of lucid and well-arranged erudition, which contained the fruits of his long experience of archives, See also:original documents and textual See also:criticism; and his pupils, especially those at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes, soon caught his See also:enthusiasm . With their collaboration he under-took the preparation of an See also:inventory and, subsequently, of a See also:critical edition of the Carolingian diplomas . By arrangement with E . Muhlbacher and the editors of the Monumenta Germaniae historica, this part of the See also:joint work was reserved for Giry . Simultaneously with this work he carried on the publication of the See also:annals of the Carolingian See also:epoch on the See also:model of the See also:German Jahrbucher, reserving for himself the reign of See also:Charles the Bald . Of this See also:series his pupils produced in his lifetime Les Derniers Carolingiens (by F . See also:Lot, 1891), Eudes, See also:comte de See also:Paris at roi de France (by E . See also:Favre, 1893), and Charles le See also:Simple (by Eckel, 1899) . The See also:biographies of Louis IV. and See also:Hugh See also:Capet and the history of, the See also:kingdom of See also:Provence were not published until after his See also:death, and his own unfinished history of Charles the Bald was See also:left to be completed by his pupils . The preliminary work on the Carolingian diplomas involved such lengthy and costly researches that the See also:Academic des See also:Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres took over the expenses after Giry's death . In the midst of these multifarious labours Giry found time for extensive archaeological researches, and made a See also:special study of the See also:medieval See also:treatises dealing with the technical processes employed in the arts and See also:industries . He prepared a new edition of the See also:monk See also:Theophilus's celebrated See also:treatise, Diversarum artium schedula, and for several years devoted his Saturday mornings to laboratory See also:research with the chemist Aime See also:Girard at the See also:Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers, the results of which were utilized by Marcellin See also:Berthelot in the first See also:volume (1894) of his Chimie au moyen See also:age .

Giry took an energetic part in the Collection de textes relatifs a l'histoire du moyen age, which was due in great measure to his initiative . He was appointed director of the See also:

section of French history in La Grande Encyclopedie, and contributed more than a See also:hundred articles, many of which, e.g . " Archives " and " Diplomatique," were original works . In collaboration with his See also:pupil See also:Andre See also:Reville, he wrote the chapters on " L'Emancipation des villes, les communes et les bourgeoisies " and " Le See also:Commerce et l'industrie au moyen age " for the Histoire generale of See also:Lavisse and See also:Rambaud . Giry took a keen interest in politics, joining the republican party and See also:writing numerous articles in the republican See also:newspapers, mainly on See also:historical subjects . He was intensely interested in the See also:Dreyfus See also:case, but his robust constitution was undermined by the anxieties and disappointments occasioned by the See also:Zola trial and the See also:Rennes See also:court-See also:martial, and he died in Paris on the 13th of See also:November 1899 . For details of Giry's See also:life and works see the funeral orations published in the Bibliotheque de l'Ecole des Charles, and afterwards in a pamphlet (1899) . See also the See also:biography by See also:Ferdinand Lot in the Annuaire de l'Ecole des Hautes Etudes for 1901; and the bibliography of his works by Henry See also:Maistre in the Correspondance historique at archeologique (1899 and 1900) .

End of Article: GIRY (JEAN MARIE JOSEPH), ARTHUR (1848-1899)
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