René Grousset

René Grousset (5 September 1885 – 12 September 1952) was a French historian, curator of both the Cernuschi and Guimet Museums in Paris, and a member of the prestigious Académie française. He wrote several major works on Asiatic and Oriental civilizations, with his two most important works being History of the Crusades (1934-1936) and The Empire of the Steppes, a History of Central Asia (1939), both of which were considered standard references on the subject.

Biography

Grousset was born in Aubais, Gard in 1885. Having graduated from the University of Montpellier with a degree in history, he began his distinguished career soon afterward. He served in the French army during World War I. In 1925, Grousset was appointed adjunct conservator of the Musée Guimet in Paris and secretary of the Journal asiatique. By 1930 he had published five major works on Asiatic and Oriental civilizations. In 1933 he was appointed director of the Cernuschi Museum in Paris and curator of its Asiatic art collections. He wrote a major work on the Chinese buddhist medieval pilgrim Xuanzang, particularly emphasising the importance of his visit to the northern Indian Buddhist university of Nalanda.

Before the outbreak of World War II, Grousset had published his two most important works, Histoire des Croisades (1934-1936) and L'Empire des Steppes (1939). Dismissed from his museum posts by the Vichy government, he continued his research privately and published three volumes on China and the Mongols during the war. Following the liberation of France, he resumed his curatorship of the Cernuschi Museum and in addition was appointed curator of the Guimet Museum. In 1946, Grousset was made a member of the Académie française. Between 1946 and 1949, he published four final works, concentrating on Asia Minor and the Near East.

In 1952, Grousset died at the age of 67 in Paris.

Works

1922 - Histoire de l'Asie [1], 4 vol., Paris: G. Crès & cie. OCLC 4594662

1923 - Histoire de la philosophie orientale

1924 - Le réveil de l'Asie

1926 - L'épopée des Croisades

1928 - La Grèce et l'Orient, des guerres médiques à la conquête romaine

1929 - Histoire de l'Extrême-Orient

1929 - Sur les traces de Bouddha, tableau du VIIe siècle bouddhique

(English) In the Footsteps of the Buddha. JA Underwood (trans) Orion Press. New York (1971)

1929-1930 - Les civilisations de l'Orient, 4 vol.

1931 - Les philosophies indiennes

1934-1936 - Histoire des Croisades et du royaume franc de Jérusalem [2], 3 vol. Paris: Plon. OCLC 37267632

1936 - L'art de l'Extrême Orient : paysages, fleurs, animaux

1937 - De Venise à Pékin au XIVe siècle : Odoric de Pordenone (with H. Demoulin-Bernard)

1939 - Les sculptures des Indes et de la Chine

1939 - L'empire des steppes : Attila, Gengis-Khan, Tamerlan [3] Paris: Editions Payot. OCLC 220712631

(English) The Empire of the Steppes. [4] (tr., Naomi Walford). New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. (1970) ISBN 978-0-8135-1304-1; OCLC 90972.

1941 - L'empire mongol

1941 - L'Asie orientale, des origines au XVe siècle (with J. Auboyer et J. Buhot)

1942 - Histoire de Chine

1944 - Le conquérant du monde : vie de Gengis-Khan

1945 - L'Europe orientale de 1081 à 1453 (with C. DIehl, R. Guilland et L. Oeconomos)

1946 - L'empire du Levant : histoire de la question d'Orient

1946 - Bilan de l'histoire

1947 - Histoire de l'Arménie des origines à 1071 [5] Paris: Payot. OCLC 3084562

1948 - De la Grèce à la Chine

1949 - Figures de proue

1950 - Les premières civilisations (collective work)

1950 - De l'Inde au Cambodge et à Java (with J. Auboyer)

1951 - De la Chine au Japon