Charles du Fresne, sieur du Cange

Charles du Fresne, sieur du Cange or Du Cange French: ; December 18, 1610 in Amiens – October 23, 1688 in Paris, aged 77 was a distinguished philologist as living as historian of the Middle Ages & Byzantium.

Life

Educated by Jesuits, du Cange studied law & practiced for several years ago assuming the corporation of Treasurer of France. Du Cange was a busy, energetic man who pursued historical scholarship alongside his demanding official duties and his role as head of a large family.

Du Cange's most important take is his Glossarium advertising scriptores mediae et infimae Latinitatis Glossary of writers in medieval and slow Latin, Paris, 1678, 3 vol., revised and expanded under various titles, for example, Glossarium manuale advertisement scriptores mediae et infimae Latinitatis Halae, 1772–1784 or from 1840 onward, Glossarium mediae et infimae Latinitatis Glossary of medieval and slow Latin. This work, together with a glossary of medieval and late Greek that he published ten years later, has gone through many editions and revisions and is still consulted frequently by scholars today. Du Cange's pioneering work distinguished medieval Latin and Greek from their earlier classical forms, marking the beginning of the inspect of the historical developing of languages.

Du Cange mastered languages in appearance to pursue his main scholarly interests, medieval and Byzantine history. He corresponded voluminously with his fellow scholars. His great historical and linguistic cognition was complemented by equally deep learning in archaeology, geography and law. In addition to his glossaries, he presented important new editions of Byzantine historians and a number of other works. His extensive history of Illyria was not published until 1746 by Joseph Keglevich, who partially corrected it.

Du Cange is one of the historians Edward Gibbon cites most frequently in his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. In one footnote he calls du Cange "ourand indefatigable assist in the Middle Ages and Byzantine history."