René-Aubert Vertot was a French historian.

He was for some time a pupil of the Jesuit Fathers seminary

Seminary

A seminary, theological college, or divinity school is an institution of secondary or post-secondary education for educating students in theology, generally to prepare them for ordination as clergy or for other ministry...

 at Rouen

Rouen

Rouen , in northern France on the River Seine, is the capital of the Haute-Normandie region and the historic capital city of Normandy. Once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe , it was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy in the Middle Ages...

, which he left at the end of two years to enter the Capuchin Order. His health was greatly impaired by his austerities there, and his family, alarmed, obtained permission for him to join the Premonstratensian

Premonstratensian

The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré, also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines, or in Britain and Ireland as the White Canons , are a Catholic religious order of canons regular founded at Prémontré near Laon in 1120 by Saint Norbert, who later became Archbishop of Magdeburg...

 Canons. Afterwards he was appointed pastor to several small parishes in Normandy. In 1690, at the suggestion of Fontenelle

Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle

Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle , also called Bernard Le Bouyer de Fontenelle, was a French author.Fontenelle was born in Rouen, France and died in Paris just one month before his 100th birthday. His mother was the sister of great French dramatists Pierre and Thomas Corneille...

 and the Abbé de Saint-Pierre

Charles-Irénée Castel de Saint-Pierre

Charles-Irénée Castel, abbé de Saint-Pierre was an influential French writer and radical. After Georg von Podiebrad in his Tractatus, he was, perhaps, one of the first to propose an international organisation responsible for maintaining peace.-Life:Saint-Pierre was born at the château de...

, he wrote his Histoire de la conjuration de Portugal. The book was received with favour, and in 1695 appeared the Histoire des révolutions de Suède (History of the Swedish revolutions). In 1703 Vertot was made a member of the Académie des inscriptions

Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres

The Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres is a French learned society devoted to the humanities, founded in February 1663 as one of the five academies of the Institut de France.-History:...

. Besides contributions to the Mémoires of the Académie and other minor works, he wrote the Révolutions romains (1719) and Histoire des chevaliers hospitaliers de Saint-Jean de Jérusalem (History of the Knights Hospitallers). It is related, in connection with the latter, that in answer to an offer of additional data, he said, "Mon siège est fait" ("My siege is finished"), a phrase construed by some of his critics as an expression of his disregard for historical accuracy. Another interpretation of the comment is that he simply wished to get rid of an intruder who was trying to force upon him documents whose authenticity was very doubtful.