A renowned medievalist, Jean Favier devoted his career to history and archival documents. After graduating from the École nationale des chartes as an archivist-palaeographer in 1956, he made his mark with his thesis on Philippe le Bel: Enguerrand de Marigny, which became a literary success a few decades later.
Appointed a member of the École française de Rome, a French institute for research in history, archaeology and the humanities and social sciences, he was curator of the French national archives from 1958 to 1961. He then embarked on an academic career, which led him from Rennes to the Sorbonne, where he taught medieval palaeography until 1997.
From the French Archives to the BNF
He also held important roles in the French cultural administration. In 1975, he became the Director General of the French Archives, a position he held for 19 years. During his time, he introduced new archive laws, built new archive buildings, and engaged in international efforts, greatly modernising the sector. At the end of this mandate, he became the first president of the National Library of France in 1994.
From 1992 to 1995, he edited a six-volume history of France and wrote the second volume, Le Temps des principautés (The Age of Principalities). In 1993, he published a Dictionnaire de la France médiévale (Dictionary of Medieval France). This fruit of fifteen years’ labour reveals ten centuries of French history in just under a thousand pages.
A man committed to history on all fronts
Known to the public as the host of the France Inter television programme, Question pour l’histoire (A Question for History), he was also a director of TF1 between 1984 and 1987. Alongside these prestigious roles, he was Chairman of the French Association for National Celebrations from 1979 to 1998, and then of the High Committee for National Celebrations from 2008 to 2012. He was also a member of the Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres, Chairman of the French Commission for UNESCO, and a member of the Le Siècle (The Century) club. In addition, he directed the Revue Historique (Historical Review) from 1973 to 1997.
“He is one of those lucid, courageous historians. An enemy of prejudice who has renewed our perception of an era as exciting and fertile as it was troubled,” acknowledged the French Minister of Culture, Aurélie Filippetti, during this illustrious figure’s last visit to France.
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