François Mignet
Encyclopedia
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
and historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
.
Biography
He was born in Aix-en-ProvenceAix-en-Provence
Aix , or Aix-en-Provence to distinguish it from other cities built over hot springs, is a city-commune in southern France, some north of Marseille. It is in the region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, in the département of Bouches-du-Rhône, of which it is a subprefecture. The population of Aix is...
(Bouches-du-Rhône
Bouches-du-Rhône
Bouches-du-Rhône is a department in the south of France named after the mouth of the Rhône River. It is the most populous department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Its INSEE and postal code is 13.-History of the department:...
), France. His father was a locksmith from the Vendée
Vendée
The Vendée is a department in the Pays-de-la-Loire region in west central France, on the Atlantic Ocean. The name Vendée is taken from the Vendée river which runs through the south-eastern part of the department.-History:...
, who enthusiastically accepted the principles of the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
and encouraged liberal ideas in his son. François had brilliant success at Avignon
Avignon
Avignon is a French commune in southeastern France in the départment of the Vaucluse bordered by the left bank of the Rhône river. Of the 94,787 inhabitants of the city on 1 January 2010, 12 000 live in the ancient town centre surrounded by its medieval ramparts.Often referred to as the...
in the lycée where he became professor in 1815. He returned to Aix to study law, and in 1818 was called to the bar, where his eloquence would have ensured his success had he not been more interested in the study of history. His abilities were shown in an Éloge de Charles VII, which was honored by the Académie de Nîmes in 1820, and a memoire
Memoire
-Personnel:* Tetsu – vocals, classic guitar on track 4* Mana – synth guitar, synth keyboard on track 1* Közi – synth guitar, synth keyboard on track 6* Yu~ki – bass* Kami – drums, percussion...
on Les Institutions de Saint Louis, which in 1821 was honored by the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres.
He then went to Paris, where he was soon joined by his friend and compatriot Adolphe Thiers
Adolphe Thiers
Marie Joseph Louis Adolphe Thiers was a French politician and historian. was a prime minister under King Louis-Philippe of France. Following the overthrow of the Second Empire he again came to prominence as the French leader who suppressed the revolutionary Paris Commune of 1871...
, the future president of the French Republic. He was introduced by Jacques-Antoine Manuel
Jacques-Antoine Manuel
Jacques-Antoine Manuel was a French lawyer, politician, and noted orator.-Biography:Jacques-Antoine Manuel was born in the hamlet of La Conchette, in Enchastrayes , near Barcelonette. His family included judges and attorneys who had established careers in the Ubaye Valley...
, formerly a member of the Convention, to the Liberal paper, Le Courrier français, where he became a member of the staff which carried on a fierce pen-and-ink warfare against the Restoration. He acquired his knowledge of the men and intrigues of the Napoleonic
Napoleon I of France
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
epoch from Talleyrand.
Mignet's Histoire de la révolution française (1824), in support of the Liberal cause, was an enlarged sketch, prepared in four months, in which more stress was laid on fundamental theories than on the facts. In 1830, he founded Le National
Le National (newspaper)
Le National was a French daily founded in 1830 by Adolphe Thiers, Armand Carrel, François-Auguste Mignet and the librarian-editor Auguste Sautelet, as the mouthpiece of the liberal opposition to the Second Restoration....
with Thiers and Armand Carrel
Armand Carrel
Armand Carrel was a French journalist and political writer.-Biography:Jean-Baptiste Nicolas Armand Carrel was born at Rouen. His father was a wealthy merchant, and he received a liberal education at the Lycée Pierre Corneille in Rouen. , afterwards attending the military school at St Cyr...
, and signed the journalists' protest against the July Ordinances
July Ordinances
July Ordinances, also known as the Four Ordinances of Saint-Cloud, were a series of decrees set forth by Charles X and Jules Armand de Polignac, the chief minister, in July 1830....
, however, he refused to profit from his party's victory. He was satisfied with the modest position of Director of the Archives at the Foreign Office, where he stayed till the revolution of 1848, when he was dismissed, and retired permanently into private life. He had been elected a member of the Académie des sciences morales et politiques, which was re-established in 1832, and, in 1837, was made the permanent secretary. He was elected a member of the Académie française
Académie française
L'Académie française , also called the French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. The Académie was officially established in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister to King Louis XIII. Suppressed in 1793 during the French Revolution,...
in 1836, and sought no further honours.
Mignet was well-known in fashionable circles where his witty conversation and pleasant manners made him a favourite. Most of his time was devoted to study and to his academic duties. Eulogies on his deceased fellow-members, the Academy reports on its work, and on the prizes awarded by it, which it was part of Mignet's duty as secretary to draw up, were thoroughly appreciated by connoisseurs, and were collected in Mignet's Notices et portraits.
He worked slowly and lingered over research. With the exception of his description of the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
, which was chiefly a political manifesto, all his early works refer to the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
. These include, De la féodalité, des institutions de Saint Louis et de l'influence de la législation de ce prince (1822); La Germanie au VIIIe et au IXe siècle, sa conversion au Christianisme, et son introduction dans la société civilisée de l'Europe occidentale (1834); Essai sur la formation territoriale et politique de la France depuis la fin du XIe siècle jusqu'à la fin du XVe (1836); all of which are rough sketches that mainly outline the subjects.
Mignet's most famous works are devoted to modern history. For many years, he immersed himself into history of the Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
, but only one part of his writings, dealing with the Reformation at Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
, was published. His Histoire de Marie Stuart (2 vols., 1851) made use of previously unpublished documents from the archives of Simancas
Simancas
Simancas is a town and municipality of central Spain, located in the province of Valladolid, part of the autonomous community of Castile and León...
. He devoted several volumes to a history of Spain, which had a well-deserved success, including, Charles Quint, son abdication, son séjour et sa mort au monastère de Yuste (1845); Antonio Perez et Philippe II. (1845); and Histoire de la rivalité de François Ier et de Charles Quint (1875).
At the same time, he was commissioned to publish the diplomatic acts relating to the War of the Spanish Succession
War of the Spanish Succession
The War of the Spanish Succession was fought among several European powers, including a divided Spain, over the possible unification of the Kingdoms of Spain and France under one Bourbon monarch. As France and Spain were among the most powerful states of Europe, such a unification would have...
for the Collection des documents inédits. Only four volumes of these Négotiations were published (1835–1842), and they do not go further than the Peace of Nijmwegen
Treaties of Nijmegen
The Treaties of Peace of Nijmegen were a series of treaties signed in the Dutch city of Nijmegen between August 1678 and December 1679...
; however, the introduction is celebrated, and Mignet reprinted it in his Mélanges historiques.
Mignet died in Paris at age 87.