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| Du Cange | |
|---|---|
| Name | Charles du Fresne, sieur du Cange |
| Caption | Portrait of Charles du Fresne |
| Birth date | 8 March 1610 |
| Birth place | Paris |
| Death date | 8 February 1688 |
| Death place | Paris |
| Occupation | Historian, philologist, jurist, lexicographer |
| Notable works | Glossarium mediæ et infimæ latinitatis; Glossarium ad scriptores mediae et infimae Latinitatis; Histoire de l'empereur Charles le Grand |
| Era | Early Modern period |
Du Cange Charles du Fresne, sieur du Cange was a 17th-century French historian, jurist, and philologist renowned for foundational works in medieval Latin lexicography and Byzantine studies. His glossaries and historical writings established reference standards for scholarship on medieval Latin, Byzantium, and feudalism. He served in judicial office while producing extensive editions and commentaries that influenced later scholars such as Edward Gibbon, Johann Georg Graevius, and Jacques-Joseph Champollion-Figeac.
Born in Paris into a family with roots in Normandy, he studied law at the University of Paris and was trained in the civil and canon law traditions of the Parlement of Paris. His early intellectual formation brought him into contact with collections at the Bibliothèque royale and with antiquarian circles centered on figures like Antoine Varillas and Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc. Exposure to manuscripts from repositories such as the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés and the Bibliothèque nationale de France shaped his philological interests alongside contemporaries including Pierre Daniel Huet and Jacques Sirmond.
Appointed a councillor at the Parlement of Paris, he combined juridical duties with antiquarian scholarship. His seminal publications include the Glossarium mediæ et infimæ latinitatis (first edition, 1678) and its expanded editions titled Glossarium ad scriptores mediae et infimae Latinitatis, which compiled medieval and late antique Latin vocabulary drawn from manuscripts, charters, and chronicles. He produced editions and studies on Byzantine and medieval figures, for example a history of Charlemagne and notes on works by Procopius and Anna Komnene. He corresponded with European intellectuals across networks that involved Leiden University scholars, Maurice de Saxe's milieu, and members of the Académie française, and his publications were used by editors at presses in Amsterdam and Paris.
His glossaries established systematic treatment of lexical change between classical Latin and medieval registers, improving interpretation of sources such as charters, capitularies, hagiographies, and legal documents. By collecting material from scribes and archives across Italy, France, Germany, and Balkans collections, he aided work on Byzantine texts and on primary sources used by historians of the Carolingian Empire, the Holy Roman Empire, and the Kingdom of France. His compilations supported philologists like Johann Christoph Gottsched and antiquaries including Edward Bernard. His analyses clarified terminology in treatises related to canon law, Roman law, and feudal records, influencing later editors of medieval chronicles such as Flodoard of Reims and Geoffrey of Monmouth.
He emphasized empirical collection and comparative readings of manuscripts, privileging documentary evidence from cathedral chapters, monastic libraries, and chancery rolls. His method combined paleographic attention to variant readings with cross-referencing to authors from Augustine of Hippo through late antique writers and southern European medievalists. He used a broad network of correspondents—librarians, notaries, and diplomats—to verify glosses and citations, reflecting practices later formalized by scholars at Oxford and Cambridge. Though he did not always apply controlled textual criticism by modern standards, his annotative practice and glossary entries aimed at reconciling lexical disparities across chronological strata, aiding historians working on sources like the Capitularies of Charlemagne.
Contemporaries and successive generations hailed his work as indispensable: his glossaries became reference tools for historians, editors, and translators across Europe. Figures from the Enlightenment—including Voltaire and Gibbon—consulted editions that used his lexical elucidations. The corpus he assembled informed 18th- and 19th-century philology in universities such as Leiden University, University of Padua, and University of Bologna, and his influence persisted into neo-medieval scholarship employed by 19th-century historians like Ferdinand Gregorovius and Jules Michelet. Later critiques from philologists of the 19th century, including those influenced by Karl Lachmann, questioned aspects of his critical method but affirmed the enduring utility of his manuscript-based compilations.
He married into a Parisian legal family and maintained residences in central Paris while managing estates in Normandy. His correspondence with European scholars and custodians of archives ensured the dissemination of his manuscripts and notes after his death in Paris in 1688. Members of his extended family included jurists and notaries active in provincial administrations; his private library was partly acquired by collectors and institutions, enriching holdings that would serve later researchers at the Bibliothèque nationale de France and private collections across Europe.
Category:French historians Category:17th-century French people Category:Philologists