ARBOIS DE JUBAINVILLE

arbois de jubainville, marie henri d' (1827-1910), french historian and philologist, was born at nancy on the 5th of december 1827. in 1851 he left the ecole des chartes with the degree of palaeographic archivist. he was placed in control of the departmental archives of aube, and remained in that position until 1880, when he retired on a pension. he published several volumes of inventorial abstracts, a _repertoire archeologique du departement_ in 1861; a valuable _histoire des ducs et comtes de champagne depuis le vi^e siecle jusqu'a la fin du xi^e_, which was published between 1859 and 1869 (8 vols.), and in 1880 an instructive monograph upon _les intendants de champagne_. but already he had become attracted towards the study of the most ancient inhabitants of gaul; in 1870 he brought out an _etude sur la declinaison des noms propres dans la langue franque a l'epoque merovingienne_; and in 1877 a learned work upon _les premiers habitants de l'europe_ (2nd edition in 2 vols. 1889 and 1894). next he concentrated his efforts upon the field of celtic languages, literature and law, in which he soon became an authority. appointed in 1882 to the newly founded professorial chair of celtic at the college de france, he began the _cours de litterature celtique_ which in 1908 extended to twelve volumes. for this he himself edited the following works: _introduction a l'etude de la litterature celtique_ (1883); _l'epopee celtique en irlande_ (1892); _etudes sur le droit celtique_ (1895); and _les principaux auteurs de l'antiquite a consulter sur l'histoire des celtes_ (1902). he was among the first in france to enter upon the study of the most ancient monuments of irish literature with a solid philological preparation and without empty prejudices. we owe to him also _les celtes depuis les temps les plus recules jusqu'a l'an 100 avant noire ere_ (1904), and a study of comparative law in _la famille celtique_ (1905). numerous detailed studies upon the gaulish names of persons and places took synthetic form in the _recherches sur l'origine de la propriete fonciere_ (1890), which illumined one of the most interesting aspects of the roman occupation of gaul. _the recueil de memoires concernant la litterature et l'histoire celtiques_, made by the most notable among his disciples on the occasion of his seventy-eighth birthday (1906), was a well-deserved tribute to his persevering and fruitful industry. he died in february 1910. (c. b.*)