Martin Bouquet
Martin Bouquet (1685–1754) was a French Benedictine monk and historian of the Congregation of St.-Maur. His main achievement was Rerum Gallicarum et Francicarum Scriptores, a collection of French historians from the earliest times up to the year 987.
Bouquet was born in Amiens. As a boy he wanted to be a priest, but he chose the Benedictine life instead. He took vows in 1706 at St Faron in Meaux and soon became the librarian at the strong St.-Germain-des-Prés monastery, which had a huge collection of books and manuscripts. He was skilled in ancient Greek and helped Bernard de Montfaucon edit the writings of John Chrysostom. He was also working on a new edition of Josephus, but sent his material to Sigebert Haverkamp, who used it in his edition.
His greatest work, Rerum Gallicarum et Francicarum Scriptores, built on earlier efforts to gather French sources, such as those by Pithou and Duchesne. In 1717, the chancellor D’Aguesseau asked the Benedictines to plan a new edition, with Martène and LeLong helping. After Martène died, Bouquet and the Congregation of St.-Maur took over the project. He began a fresh edition and had the first two volumes ready in 1729, but publication was slow. He faced church discipline and was briefly banished for refusing to sign a formula demanded by Cardinal De Bissy; he was later recalled to continue the work.
From 1738 to 1752, Bouquet published eight volumes. He died at the Blancs-Manteaux monastery in Paris before the ninth volume was finished. The remaining volumes were completed by other monks and the Académie des Inscriptions, with the project finally ending in 1876. A later edition by Leopold Delisle reached 24 volumes.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 03:43 (CET).