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JULES ETIENNE JOSEPH QUICHERAT (1814-...

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Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 748 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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JULES See also:

ETIENNE See also:JOSEPH See also:QUICHERAT (1814-1882)  , See also:French historian and archaeologist, was of Burgundian origin . His See also:father, a working See also:cabinet-maker, came from Paray le Monial to See also:Paris to support his large See also:family; See also:Quicherat was See also:born there on the 13th of See also:October 1814 . He was fifteen years younger than his See also:brother See also:Louis, a See also:great Latin See also:scholar and lexicographer, who survived him . Although very poor, he was admitted to the See also:college of Sainte-Barbe, where he received a thorough classical See also:education . He showed his gratitude to this See also:establishment by See also:writing its See also:history (Histoire de Sainte-Barbe, college, com- munaute, institution, 3 vols . 186o-1864) . At the end of his studies he hesitated for some See also:time before deciding what career he would follow, until See also:Michelet put an end to his indecision by inspiring him with a See also:taste for history . In 1835 Quicherat entered the Ecole See also:des Chartes; he See also:left two years later at the See also:head of the college . Once more inspired by the example of Michelet, who had just written an admirable See also:work on See also:Joan of Arc (q.v.), he published the See also:text of the two trials of Joan, adding much contemporary See also:evidence on her heroism in his Prods de condamnation et de rehabilitation de Jeanne d'Arc (s vols . 1841-1849), as well as See also:half a See also:volume of Apercus nouveaux sur l'histoire de Jeanne d'Arc, in which it seems that the last word has been said on important points . From the 15th See also:century he See also:drew other inspirations . He published See also:memoirs of the adventures of a brigand, Rodrigue de Villandrando (1844), which gradually See also:grew into a volume (1877), full of fresh See also:matter .

He wrote full See also:

biographies of two chroniclers of Louis XI., one very obscure, See also:Jean See also:Castel (in the Bibliotheque de l'Ecole des Chartes, 1840), the other, See also:Thomas See also:Basin, See also:bishop of See also:Lisieux, who was, on the contrary, a remark-able politician, See also:prelate and chronicler . Quicherat published the See also:works of the latter, most of which were now brought out for the first time (4 vols . 1855-1859) . In addition to these he wrote Fragments inedits de Georges See also:Chastellain (1842), Lettres, me-moires et autres documents relatifs d la guerre du bien public en 1465 (1843, in vol. ii. of Melanges historiques, See also:part of Documents inedits), &c . These works did not wholly occupy his time: in 1847 he inaugurated a course of archaeological lectures at the Ecole des Chartes, and in 1849 was appointed See also:professor of See also:diplomacy at the same college . His teaching had exceptionally See also:good results . Although he was not eloquent and had a nasal See also:voice, his hearers were loth to See also:miss any of his thoughtful teaching, which was unbiased and well expressed . Of his lectures the public saw only some articles on See also:special subjects which were distributed in a number of reviews . See also:Note should be made of a See also:short See also:treatise on La Formation francaise des anciens noms de lieu (1867); a memoir De l'See also:ogive et de l'See also:architecture See also:dice ogivale (185o), where he gives his theory on the use of See also:stone See also:arches—important for the history of religious architecture; an See also:article on L'See also:Age de la cathedrale de See also:Laon (1874), in which he fixed the exact date of the See also:birth of See also:Gothic architecture; Histoire du See also:costume en See also:France (1875; 2nd ed . 1877), which was first published in the See also:form of See also:anonymous articles in the Magasin pittoresque, and which the author wished to retain the See also:character of a popular work . Following the See also:advice of his See also:friends, he began to write out, towards the end of his See also:life, his lectures on See also:archaeology, but only the See also:introductory chapters, up to the Ilth century, were found among his papers . On the other See also:hand, the pupils trained by him circulated his principles throughout France, recognizing him as the founder of See also:national archaeology .

In one point he seems to have taken a false step; with a warmth and pertinacity worthy of a better cause he maintained the identity of See also:

Caesar's See also:Alesia with Alaise (See also:Doubs), and he died without becoming a convert to the See also:opinion, now universally accepted, that Alise Sainte-Reine (Cote d'or) is the See also:place where Vercingetorix capitulated . But even this See also:error benefited See also:science; some well directed excavations at Alaise brought many See also:Roman remains to See also:light, which were subsequently sent to enrich the museum at See also:Besancon . After 1871, his course of lectures on diplomacy having been given up, Quicherat, still professor of archaeology, was nominated director of the Ecole des Chartes . He filled this See also:post with the same See also:energy which he had shown in the many scientific commissions in which he had taken part . In 1878 he gave up his duties as professor, which then See also:fell to the most conspicuous of his pupils, See also:Robert de Lasteyrie . He died suddenly at Paris on the 8th of See also:April 1882, a short time after having corrected the proofs of Supplement aux temoignages contemporains de Jeanne d'Arc, published in the Revue historique . After his See also:death it was decided to bring out his hitherto unpublished papers (Melanges d'archeologie et d'histoire, vol. i., See also:Celtic, Roman and Gallo-Roman antiquities, ed . A . See also:Giry and Aug . Castan, 1885; vol. ii., Archeologie du moyen dge, ed .

End of Article: JULES ETIENNE JOSEPH QUICHERAT (1814-1882)
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