Charles du Fresne, sieur du Cange
A 17th-century scholar whose painstaking dictionaries of medieval Latin and Greek became the bedrock for all modern study of the Middle Ages and Byzantium.
1610–1688 (age 78)·French philologist·Birthday: December 18
Biography
Born into a Parisian legal family in 1610, Charles du Fresne, sieur du Cange, seemed destined for a career in law. He served as a treasurer and held various official posts, but his true passion was the dusty manuscripts of a forgotten past. Following his early retirement, he dedicated his immense energy and fortune to a single, monumental task: deciphering the lost languages of medieval Europe. Working alone in his study, he compiled exhaustive glossaries that explained the Latin of the centuries after the Roman Empire and the Greek of the Byzantine world. His work was not mere list-making; it was an act of intellectual archaeology that resurrected entire civilizations from obscurity. For historians today, his name is synonymous with foundational scholarship, and his dictionaries remain indispensable tools, consulted by anyone seeking to understand the complex tapestry of the medieval world.
#1 When Charles Was Born
The biggest hits of 1610
Charles's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1610Born
1615Started school
1623Became a teenager
1626Could drive
1628Could vote
1631Turned 21
1640Turned 30
1650Turned 40
1660Turned 50
1670Turned 60
1680Turned 70
1688Died at 78
Key Achievements
- Authored the foundational 'Glossarium ad scriptores mediae et infimae latinitatis', a comprehensive dictionary of medieval Latin.
- Compiled the 'Glossarium ad scriptores mediae et infimae graecitatis', a pioneering lexicon of Byzantine Greek.
- His meticulous editorial work on Byzantine historians like John Zonaras provided critical editions for future scholars.
- His systematic approach to philology established new standards for historical lexicography and source criticism.
Did You Know?
He financed the publication of his massive dictionaries with his own personal wealth.
Despite his focus on ancient texts, he lived through and documented the contemporary Fronde civil wars in Paris.
The term 'du Cange' is often used as a shorthand reference for his medieval Latin dictionary itself.
He began his major philological work after retiring from his official posts at the age of 46.
“A single manuscript often holds more truth than a library of commentaries.”
