Ampère, Jean-Jacques

(1800-1864)

   writer, historian

   The son of André-Marié Ampère, Jean-Jacques Ampère was an enthusiastic and creative scholar, interested above all in the literature of northern Europe (eddas, sagas, nibelungen). Born in lyon and educated in paris, in 1827 he made the first of many visits to the Scandinavian countries, where he studied lore and poetry and folksongs, comparing them to Norse mythology. Professor at the collège de France (1833-64), he published the Histoire littéraire de la France avant le XlIe siècle (1830) and the Introduction à l'histoire de la littérature française au Moyen-Age (1841). After several lengthy trips abroad, he dedicated himself to his Histoire romaine à Rome (1858), followed by L'Empire romain à Rome (posthumous, 1867). Jean-Jacques Ampère also left an interesting correspondence with Mme jeanne récamier. He was elected to the académie FRANÇAISE in 1848.