GAUTIER, Léon. - French medievalist, b. Le Havre 18 Aug. 1832, d. in Paris 25 Aug. 1897. In 1852 he entered the École des Chartes, where he later held the chair of palaeography for many years. In 1887 he was elected a member of the Académie des Inscriptions.
His principal activity was devoted to the study of medieval literature, contributing to the spread in France of ancient poems, especially the Chanson de Roland, whose edition (1872) became a classic. Among his best scholarly works are: Les épopées françaises (1865-68); La chevalerie (1884); and Histoire de la poésie liturgique au moyen-âge: les tropes (1886).
Bibl.: M. Bourcer, Un grand oublié: L. G., in Études, 1933, II, pp. 665-91.