François-Louis Ganshof, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

    

François-Louis Ganshof

Belgian medievalist

Date of Birth: 14-Mar-1895

Place of Birth: Bruges, Flemish Region, Belgium

Date of Death: 26-Jul-1980

Profession: military officer, historian, university teacher, medievalist

Nationality: Belgium

Zodiac Sign: Pisces


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About François-Louis Ganshof

  • François-Louis Ganshof (14 March 1895, Bruges – 26 July 1980, Brussels) 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.

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