Jean Richard passed away on January 25 in Dijon. Born on February 7, 1921, he should soon have celebrated his hundredth birthday. Received at the National School of Charters, he obtained the title of archivist-paleographer. At the same time, he obtained a degree in history from the Sorbonne. From that time on, he devoted his research to both the history of Burgundy and that of the Crusades. He moved to Dijon in 1943, where he was deputy archivist of the Côte d’Or. At the Departmental Archives, he classifies documents from the Cîteaux abbey. He prepared, alongside his professional work, a state thesis, defended in 1954. In 1955, he was appointed professor at the Faculty of Letters of Dijon, where he remained until his retirement.
“His courses on the history of Burgundy in the Middle Ages, and on the Crusades, fascinate his students, many of whom will remember them. Very accessible and welcoming, he guides and advises them in their research work. Reluctantly, he was elected, at the beginning of 1968, dean of the Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences, the last to hold this position and to receive the honorary position. Since then, he is still called “the dean”. In 1968, it was no easy task. It is he who chairs the constitutive assembly of the new university within the framework of the Edgar Faure reform ”, details his son Hugues Richard.
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A very active researcher
A teacher, Jean Richard is also a very active and fruitful researcher. He takes part in numerous congresses and colloquiums, gives conferences in France and abroad. He has written 938 books and articles and nearly 13,000 pages. He is notably the author of a life of Saint Louis and a History of the Crusades (Fayard). He directed the historical review Annals of Burgundy. In 1987, he became a member of the Institut de France, elected to the Académie des inscriptions et belles lettres. In October 2020, he received his Mixtures at the Academy of Sciences, Arts and Belles Letters of Dijon. A work that pays homage to him.
Pierre Bodineau had him as a teacher during his studies at the University of Burgundy. “Jean Richard was my professor of medieval history and paleography (study of ancient handwritten writings, editor’s note)”, he explains. He remembers: “His classes were full of humor, he had a very educational method to interest the students”. Hannelore Pepke also knew him well since Jean Richard was his thesis supervisor. She speaks of him as an “old-fashioned scholar”: “He was someone of great intellectual curiosity and great kindness”.
Married to one of his classmates from the École des Chartes, he had five children, seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. “He was a man of great uprightness, simple and generous”, describes Hugues Richard.
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