DIEHL, CHARLES. – Byzantinist, born in Strasbourg on 4 July 1859, died in Paris on 2 Nov. 1944. He was professor at the Sorbonne and a member of the Institut de France. D. continued the traditional scholarship of French Byzantinists that began in the 17th and 18th centuries with Fr. Ph. Labbe, Du Cange, Le Quien, and Lebeau; and was carried forward in the 19th century by A. Rambaud, L. G. Schlumberger, and D. himself, who gave it fresh impetus.
His most important works include: *Etudes sur l'administration byzantine dans l'exarchat de Ravenne* (Paris 1888); *L'Afrique byzantine* (ibid. 1896), followed by his most notable work, which sets out the fundamental elements of Byzantine civilization: *Justinian et la civilisation byzantine au VIe siècle* (ibid. 1901); *Regions byzantines* (ibid. 1905); *Figures byzantines* (ibid. 1906–1908, two series); *Manuel d'art byzantin* (ibid. 1910, 2nd ed. ibid. 1915), an indispensable working tool; *Histoire de l'empire byzantin* (ibid. 1919); and finally his effective synthesis: *Byzance, grandeur et décadence* (ibid. 1919). Also worthy of note is his volume on Venetian history: *Une république patricienne* (ibid. 1915). His school became a fruitful nursery of learned Byzantinists.