Diehl, Charles

DIEHL, CHARLES. - Byzantinist, b. at Strasbourg on July 4, 1859, d. at Paris on Nov. 2, 1944. He was a professor at the Sorbonne and a member of the Institut de France. D. continued the learned tradition of French Byzantinists that 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 a new impetus.

His most important writings are: Etudes sur l'administration byzantine dans l'exarchat de Ravenne (Paris 1888); L'Afrique byzantine (ibid. 1896), which was followed by the most remarkable work, in that it characterizes what would be, in its fundamental elements, Byzantine civilization: Justinien et la civilisation byzantine au VIe siècle (ibid. 1901); there follow: 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 remembered is a volume on the history of Venice: Une république patricienne (ibid. 1915). His school was a fertile seedbed of learned Byzantinists.

Luigi Maria Catteruccia