Jacques Le Goff

Jacques Le Goff, one of the foremost representatives of the "New History" school, was born in 1924 in Toulon. A graduate of the Ecole Normale Superieure and an agrégé in history, he became the director of studies in 1962 and from 1972 to 1975 served as the president of the VIth section of the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, which was founded a few years earlier by Fernand Braudel. From 1975 to 1977, he was the president of the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales), which succeeded the VIth section. His involvement with this institution marked his desire to renew medieval history with the help of social sciences. This orientation is evident in his work "La Civilisation de l'Occident médiéval" (1964), which created and popularized a new perspective on the Middle Ages, more complex yet simultaneously more appealing. Since 1969, he was a member of the editorial board of the journal "Annales." Le Goff's contribution to medieval history encompasses two aspects. First, he established a social history of the medieval city. Marc Bloch was the first to propose replacing the official and institutional history of feudalism with a social approach, followed by two generations of specialists (George Duby, Robert Fossier, Pierre Toubert). However, their research mainly concerned rural history. Le Goff was the first to build a social history of the city, and with his book "Les Intellectuels au Moyen Age" (1957), he opened new fields of research. Le Goff's interest in the city is also evidenced by his works "L'Histoire de la France urbaine" (in collaboration with Georges Duby, 1980) and "L'Homme médiéval" (1989). Second, Le Goff made decisive contributions to a history of medieval mentalities, utilizing the contributions of anthropology, linking previously distinct fields such as theology with commercial and craft activities ("La Naissance du purgatoire," 1981, "La Bourse et la vie," 1986) and using sources seemingly marginal or minor: literature, legends, sermons, images, rituals ("Pour un autre Moyen Age," 1977, "L'Imaginaire médiéval," 1985). Simultaneously, Le Goff also engaged with historiography: "Faire de l'Histoire" with Nora (1974), "La Nouvelle Histoire" with Chartier and Revel (1978), "Histoire et Mémoire" (1988). His books published in Greek include: "Heroes and Wonders of the Middle Ages" (Kedros), "The Purse and Life" (Kedros), "The Most Beautiful History of Love" (Kritiki), "Intellectuals in the Middle Ages" (Kedros), "History and Memory" (Nefeli), "Europe" (Ellinika Grammata), "For Another Middle Ages" (Ellinika Grammata), "The Civilization of the Medieval West" (Vanias), "Was Europe Born in the Middle Ages?" (Polis), as well as the books "The Genesis of Modern Science in Europe" (Ellinika Grammata) and "The Work of History" (Kedros-Rappa), which he edited. He passed away in Paris on April 1, 2014, at the age of 90. (photo: Matthias Zolle)