Charles-Victor Langlois

Charles-Victor Langlois was a French medievalist, archivist, and university professor known for scholarship on historical method and medieval France. He taught at the Sorbonne, directed the Archives Nationales, and collaborated with Charles Seignobos on Introduction to the Study of History. The University of Chicago Press issued The historic role of France among the nations in 1905 after an address connected with the university. In this compact work, Langlois considers France’s place in European political and cultural history from the perspective of a professional historian trained in documentary criticism. The subject complements his more specialized studies of medieval institutions, royal government, and historical sources, while addressing a broader international audience. Bibliographic authorities also associate the work with a University of Chicago address and preserve a longer subtitle describing the occasion. The historic role of France among the nations therefore sits between public lecture and historical essay, bringing Langlois’s academic perspective to a large national theme.