Presentation

Born on June 1, 1902 in Nainville les Roches (Seine et Oise). Died on May 4, 1986.

Education and professional career

  • Secondary studies at Lycée Hoche, Versailles, continued in 1919-1921 at Lycée Louis Le Grand, Paris.
  • 1921-1924: Student at the École normale supérieure
  • 1924: Agrégé des Lettres
  • 1925: Reserve military service
  • 1925-1928: Member of the École française de Rome (extended for a third year)
    Two excavation missions in Algeria: 1926 in Bélezma, 1928 in Bône
  • 1928-1929: After a year's lectureship at Strasbourg's Lycée Kléber, he was appointed to replace André Piganiol in Roman history at Strasbourg's Faculté des Lettres; he remained in this position (as Senior Lecturer) until the war
  • 1929-1946: seconded by the Services des Œuvres to teach (history) at the recently founded faculty in São Paulo, Brazil, remaining in this position until 1945; repatriated and reinstalled in Strasbourg in 1946
  • 1946-1955: Regular lectures at the same Faculty
  • 1955: Doctoral thesis defended at Paris Sorbonne, immediately awarded tenure in Strasbourg
  • 1955-1972: Candidate for the Collège de France, to succeed André Piganiol, elected and appointed

Awards and distinctions

  • 1961: Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur
  • Corresponding member of the Mainz Academy of Sciences and Letters, nominated by Professor Joseph Vogt (Tübingen)