Febvre, Lucien

(1878-1956)

   historian

   Born in Nancy, Lucien Febvre was professor of history at the collège de France. The author of a noted thesis on Philip II and the Franche-Comté (1911), he would, with marc bloch, later be a founder of the Annales d'histoire économique et social (1929). In 1922, Febvre published La Terre et l'évolution humaine, in which he showed the connections between the studies of history and geography. This was followed by other works, including Un destin, Martin Luther (1928) and Le Problème de l'incroyance au XVIe siècle, la Religion de Rabelais (1942). Febvre's concept of history, known as the Annales school of historiography, is comprised of a synthesis of political, economic, social, religious, and cultural elements, along with the "mentalité" of its subjects. This thesis is best represented in Febvre's Combats pour l'histoire (1953). A prodigious scholar, Febvre directed the editing and writing of L'Encyclopédie française (1935).