Étienne Baluze (1630-1718)

Born in 1630 at Tulle, France, from a noted family of jurists, Étienne Baluze was educated at the Jesuit school in that town before studying ecclesiastical history and canon law at the Collège St Martial at Toulouse. He loved historical research and adopted a critical approach based on the rigorous use of primary sources, which distinguished him from many of his contemporaries and made his name known. In 1654, he became secretary to Pierre de Marca, the Archbishop of Toulouse, who was himself a noted historian and scholar, and Baluze helped the Archbishop with his research until he died in 1662.

In 1667, Baluze was employed by Jean-Baptiste Colbert as librarian, and he held that post first with Colbert and then with his son, the Marquis of Seignelay, until 1700. During that time, Baluze greatly expanded and enriched Colbert’s collection of books, but also produced a number of scholarly works on both civil and ecclesiastical history, including editions of several important figures in the early history of the French church. As well as caring for Colbert’s library, Baluze also built a collection of his own of around 1,100 printed volumes as well as a large number of manuscripts, charters and other documents.

From 1695, Baluze also had the patronage of the Cardinal de Bouillon and assisted him as he attempted to prove his family’s descent from the counts of Auvergne. Unfortunately, the case depended on a number of documents which were recent forgeries and in 1704, a royal court decided that the perpetrators were indeed guilty of forgery. When Baluze published a further work in 1708 in which he persisted in asserting their authenticity, he was forced to resign his chair in canon law at the Collège Royal and exiled from Paris. Baluze eventually returned to Paris in 1713, where he died in 1718.