DIEHL, CHARLES. - Byzantinist, b. at Strasbourg on 4 July 1859, d. at Paris on 2 Nov. 1944. He was professor at the Sorbonne and a member of the Institut de France. D. continued the learned tradition of French Byzantinists, which began in the 17th and 18th centuries with Fr. Ph. Labbe, Du Cange, Le Quien, and Lebeau; it continued in the 19th century with A. Rambaud, L. G. Schlumberger, and D. himself, who gave it new impetus.
His most important writings are: Etudes sur l'administration byzantine dans l'exarchat de Ravenne (Paris 1888); L'Afrique byzantine (ibid. 1896), followed by the more notable work, inasmuch as it characterizes what Byzantine civilization was to be in its fundamental elements: Justinien et la civilisation byzantine au VIe siècle (ibid. 1901); followed by: Etudes 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 the effective work of synthesis: Byzance, grandeur et décadence (ibid. 1919). Also to be noted is a volume on the history of Venice: Une république patricienne (ibid. 1915). His school was a fruitful nursery of learned Byzantinists.