MAURY

maury, louis ferdinand alfred (1817-1892), french scholar, was born at meaux on the 23rd of march 1817. in 1836, having completed his education, he entered the bibliotheque nationale, and afterwards the bibliotheque de l'institut (1844), where he devoted himself to the study of archaeology, ancient and modern languages, medicine and law. gifted with a great capacity for work, a remarkable memory and an unbiassed and critical mind, he produced without great effort a number of learned pamphlets and books on the most varied subjects. he rendered great service to the academie des inscriptions et belles lettres, of which he had been elected a member in 1857. napoleon iii. employed him in research work connected with the _histoire de cesar_, and he was rewarded, proportionately to his active, if modest, part in this work, with the positions of librarian of the tuileries (1860), professor at the college of france (1862) and director-general of the archives (1868). it was not, however, to the imperial favour that he owed these high positions. he used his influence for the advancement of science and higher education, and with victor duruy was one of the founders of the ecole des hautes etudes. he died at paris four years after his retirement from the last post, on the 11th of february 1892. bibliography.--his works are numerous: _les fees au moyen age_ and _histoire des legendes pieuses au moyen age_; two books filled with ingenious ideas, which were published in 1843, and reprinted after the death of the author, with numerous additions under the title _croyances et legendes du moyen age_ (1896); _histoire des grandes forets de la gaule et de l'ancienne france_ (1850, a 3rd ed. revised appeared in 1867 under the title _les forets de la gaule et de l'ancienne france); la terre et l'homme_, a general historical sketch of geology, geography and ethnology, being the introduction to the _histoire universelle_, by victor duruy (1854); _histoire des religions de la_ _grece antique_, (3 vols., 1857-1859); _la magie et l'astrologie dans l'antiquite et dans le moyen age_ (1863); _histoire de l'ancienne academie des sciences_ (1864); _histoire de l'academie des inscriptions et belles lettres_ (1865); a learned paper on the reports of french archaeology, written on the occasion of the universal exhibition (1867); a number of articles in the _encyclopedie moderne_ (1846-1851), in michaud's _biographie universelle_ (1858 and seq.), in the _journal des savants_ in the _revue des deux mondes_ (1873, 1877, 1879-1880, &c.). a detailed bibliography of his works has been placed by auguste longnon at the beginning of the volume _les croyances et legendes du moyen age_.