François-Louis Ganshof
Encyclopedia
François-Louis Ganshof was a Belgian
medievalist. After studies at the Athénée Royal, he came to the University of Ghent
, where he came under the influence of Henri Pirenne
. After studies with Ferdinand Lot
, he practiced law for a period, before returning to the University of Ghent. Here he succeeded Pirenne in 1930 as professor of medieval history, after Pirenne left the university as a result of the enforcement of Dutch
as language of instruction. He remained there until his retirement in 1961.
Ganshof's work was primarily on Flanders
in the Carolingian
period. His best known book is Qu'est-ce que la féodalité? (1947). Here he defines feudalism
narrowly, in simple legal and military terms. Feudalism, in Ganshof's view, existed only within the nobility. This contrasts with the later ideas of Marc Bloch
, where feudalism encompasses society as a whole
, and those of Susan Reynolds
, questioning the concept of feudalism in itself.
Though Ganshof's definition is not always accepted today, this book was not his only work. He contributed greatly to his field, mostly through articles. Among the few books he published were Les Destinées de l'Empire en occident de 395 à 888 (1928) and Flandre sous les premiers comtes (1943). In 1946 he received the Francqui Prize
for Human Sciences.
Ganshof was renowned as the greatest European expert on the Frankish kingdoms, particularly under the Carolingian dynasty; he never wrote the definitive biography of Charlemagne that everyone expected of him, but his contributions to Frankish history continue to be fundamental. The best English-language introduction to this (very major) aspect of his work is in F.L. Ganshof, The Carolingians and the Frankish Monarchy. Studies in Carolingian History, tr. Janet Sondheimer (London: Longman, 1971). This collection of major articles ends with an exhaustive bibliography of Ganshof's writings on Merovingian and Carolingian history down to 1970.
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
medievalist. After studies at the Athénée Royal, he came to the University of Ghent
Ghent University
Ghent University is a Dutch-speaking public university located in Ghent, Belgium. It is one of the larger Flemish universities, consisting of 32,000 students and 7,100 staff members. The current rector is Paul Van Cauwenberge.It was established in 1817 by King William I of the Netherlands...
, where he came under the influence of Henri Pirenne
Henri Pirenne
Henri Pirenne was a Belgian historian. A medievalist of Walloon descent, he wrote a multivolume history of Belgium in French and became a national hero....
. After studies with Ferdinand Lot
Ferdinand Lot
Ferdinand Victor Henri Lot was a French historian and medievalist....
, he practiced law for a period, before returning to the University of Ghent. Here he succeeded Pirenne in 1930 as professor of medieval history, after Pirenne left the university as a result of the enforcement of Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
as language of instruction. He remained there until his retirement in 1961.
Ganshof's work was primarily on Flanders
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
in the Carolingian
Carolingian
The Carolingian dynasty was a Frankish noble family with origins in the Arnulfing and Pippinid clans of the 7th century AD. The name "Carolingian", Medieval Latin karolingi, an altered form of an unattested Old High German *karling, kerling The Carolingian dynasty (known variously as the...
period. His best known book is Qu'est-ce que la féodalité? (1947). Here he defines feudalism
Feudalism
Feudalism was a set of legal and military customs in medieval Europe that flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries, which, broadly defined, was a system for ordering society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour.Although derived from the...
narrowly, in simple legal and military terms. Feudalism, in Ganshof's view, existed only within the nobility. This contrasts with the later ideas of Marc Bloch
Marc Bloch
Marc Léopold Benjamin Bloch was a French historian who cofounded the highly influential Annales School of French social history. Bloch was a quintessential modernist. An assimilated Alsatian Jew from an academic family in Paris, he was deeply affected in his youth by the Dreyfus Affair...
, where feudalism encompasses society as a whole
Manorialism
Manorialism, an essential element of feudal society, was the organizing principle of rural economy that originated in the villa system of the Late Roman Empire, was widely practiced in medieval western and parts of central Europe, and was slowly replaced by the advent of a money-based market...
, and those of Susan Reynolds
Susan Reynolds
Susan Reynolds is a British medieval historian whose 1994 book Fiefs and Vassals: the Medieval Evidence Reinterpreted was part of the attack on the concept of feudalism as classically portrayed by previous historians such as François-Louis Ganshof and Marc Bloch.She believes that the technical...
, questioning the concept of feudalism in itself.
Though Ganshof's definition is not always accepted today, this book was not his only work. He contributed greatly to his field, mostly through articles. Among the few books he published were Les Destinées de l'Empire en occident de 395 à 888 (1928) and Flandre sous les premiers comtes (1943). In 1946 he received the Francqui Prize
Francqui Prize
The Francqui Prize is a prestigious Belgian scholarly and scientific prize, awarded each year since 1933 by the Francqui Foundation in recognition of the achievements of a young Belgian scholar or scientist...
for Human Sciences.
Ganshof was renowned as the greatest European expert on the Frankish kingdoms, particularly under the Carolingian dynasty; he never wrote the definitive biography of Charlemagne that everyone expected of him, but his contributions to Frankish history continue to be fundamental. The best English-language introduction to this (very major) aspect of his work is in F.L. Ganshof, The Carolingians and the Frankish Monarchy. Studies in Carolingian History, tr. Janet Sondheimer (London: Longman, 1971). This collection of major articles ends with an exhaustive bibliography of Ganshof's writings on Merovingian and Carolingian history down to 1970.
Selected works
- 1926. Étude sur les ministeriales en Flandrie et en Lotharingie. Brussels.
- 1928 (with Ferdinand LotFerdinand LotFerdinand Victor Henri Lot was a French historian and medievalist....
and Christian Pfister). Les Destinées de l'Empire en occident de 395 à 888. In Histoire du Moyen Âge. - 1937. "Die mittelalterlichen Städte Flanderns und Brabants." Forschungen und Fortschritte 13. 170-2.
- 1937. De staatsinstellingen van Vlaanderen en Brabant.
- 1938. "Die Rechtsprechung des gräflichen Hofgerichtes in Flandern vor der Mitte des 13. Jahrhunderts." Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte. Germanist. Abt. 58 = Festschrift Ulrich Stutz zum siebzigsten Geburtstag. 163-77.
- 1938. "Die mittelalterlichen Städte Flanderns und Brabants." Forschungen und Fortschritte 13. 170-2.
- 1938. "The Mediaeval Cities of Flanders and Brabant." Research and progress 4.2. 62-6.
- 1941. Voorstel tot voorbereiding en uitgave van een Historisch Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Rechtstaal. Met een verslag door E.I. Strubbe. Mededelingen van de Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie voor wetenschappen, letteren en schone kunsten van België. Kl. der letteren (henceforward abbreviated to Mededelingen) 3.3. Brussels.
- 1941. Over stadsontwikkeling tusschen Loire en Rijn gedurende de Middeleeuwen. Antwerpen. 2nd ed.: Antwerp, 1944.
- 1941. Pages d’histoire. Brussels.
- 1943. Étude sur le développement des villes entre Loire et Rhin au Moyen Âge. Paris.
- 1943. Flandre sous les premiers comtes. Brussels.
- 1944. Qu'est-ce que la féodalité. Translated into English as Feudalism by Philip GriersonPhilip GriersonPhilip Grierson, FBA was a British historian and numismatist, emeritus professor of numismatics at Cambridge University and a fellow of Gonville and Caius College for over seventy years...
, foreword by F.M. Stenton. 1st ed.: New York and London, 1952; 2nd ed: 1961; 3d ed: 1976. - 1944. Vlaanderen onder de eerste graven. Antwerp.
- 1946-7. Geschiedenis van de Middeleeuwsche instellingen: de instellingen van West-Europa. Ghent.
- 1948. Het falen van Karel de Grote. Utrecht.
- 1949. The imperial coronation of CharlemagneCharlemagneCharlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
: theories and facts. Lecture on the David Murray Foundation 16. Glasgow. - 1951. Encyclopaedie van de geschiedenis: middeleeuwen. Ghent.
- 1953. Le moyen âge. Histoire des relations internationales 1. Paris.
- 1953. Over het idee van het Keizerschap bij Lodewijk de Vrome tijdens het eerste deel van zijn regering. Mededelingen 15.9. Brussels.
- 1956. Het statuut van de vreemdeling in het Frankische Rijk. Mededelingen 18.3. Brussels.
- 1957. "Einwohnergenossenschaft und Graf in den flandrischen Städten während des 12. Jahrhunderts." Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte. Germanist. Abt. 74. 98-118.
- 1958. Het tolwezen in het Frankisch rijk onder de Merowingen. Mededelingen 20.4. Brussels.
- 1959. Het tolwezen in het Frankisch rijk onder de Karolingen. Mededelingen 21.1. Brussels.
- 1960. De internationale betrekkingen van het Frankisch rijk onder de Merowingen. Mededelingen 22.4. Brussels.
- 1961. Was ist das Lehnswesen?, tr. from the French by Ruth and Dieter Groh. Darmstadt.
- 1961. Was waren die Kapitularien? (with Birgit Franz), tr. Willem A. Eckhardt. Weimar.
- 1963. De internationale betrekkingen van het Frankisch rijk onder de Karolingen. Mededelingen 25.2. Brussels.
- 1963. Het "Iudicium crucis" in het frankisch Recht. Mededelingen 25.5. Brussels.
- 1965. Een kijk op de verhoudingen tussen normatieve beschikkingen en levend recht in het Karolingische rijk. Mededelingen 27.2. Brussels.
- 1965. "Note sur une charte de Thierry d’Alsace, comte de Flandre, intéressant la propriété foncière à Saint-Omer." Festschrift für Hektor Ammann. Wiesbaden. 84-96. Reproduced as monograph: Studia historica Gandensia 36. Ghent.
- 1966. Een historicus uit de VIe eeuw: Gregorius van ToursGregory of ToursSaint Gregory of Tours was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours, which made him a leading prelate of Gaul. He was born Georgius Florentius, later adding the name Gregorius in honour of his maternal great-grandfather...
. Mededelingen 28.5. Brussels. - 1966. "Note sur une charte de Baudouin V, comte de Flandre, pour Saint-Pierre de Lille." In Mélanges René Crozet. Vol 1. Poitiers. 293-306. Reproduced as monograph: Studia historica Gandensia 37. Ghent.
- 1967. Een kijk op het regeringsbeleid van Lodewijk de Vrome tijdens de Jaren 814 tot 830. Mededelingen 29.2. Brussels.
- 1967. "Note sur la preuve dans la procédure en cas de flagrant délit en droit franc." In Miscellanea mediaevalia in memoriam Jan Frederik Niermeyer. Groningen. 9-16. Reproduced as monograph: Studia historica Gandensia 77. Ghent.
- 1968. Frankish Institutions under Charlemagne. Translated from the French by Bryce and Mary Lyon. Providence (Rhode Island), 1968.
- 1969. Bekentenis en foltering in het Frankisch Recht. Amsterdam.
- 1970. Een historicus uit de VIIe eeuw: Fredegarius. Mededelingen 32.5. Brussels.
- 1971. The Carolingians and the Frankish monarchy. Studies in Carolingian history
- 1971. Een historicus uit de IXe eeuw: Nithard. Mededelingen 33.3. Brussels.
- 1972. Aantekeningen over het grondbezit van de Sint-Bertijnsabdij en in het bijzonder over haar domein te Poperinge tijdens de IXe eeuw. Mededelingen 34.1. Brussels.
- 1972. "Stämme als "Träger des Reiches?" Zu Walther Kienasts Studien über die französischen Volksstämme des Frühmittelalters." Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte. Germanist. Abt. 89. 147-60.
- 1975. Le polyptyque de l’abbaye de Saint-Bertin, 844-859.