RECUEIL DES HISTORIENS DES GAULES - From 1636 to 1649 André and François Duchesne had published a selection of sources relating to the history of France up to the reign of Philip IV the Fair (*Historiae Francorum scriptores coaetanei*, Paris). But their work, still of great utility for consultation, was incomplete in too many respects: the chancellor d’Aguesseau encouraged the publication of a far more extensive collection under the direction of Dom Martin Bouquet, a Benedictine of the Congregation of St. Maur.
Eight volumes in-folio were published, from 1737 to 1752, under the double title *Rerum Gallicarum et Franciarum scriptores* and *Recueil des historiens des Gaules et de la France* (Paris). The texts, edited with scrupulous care and accompanied by learned and appropriate notes, were arranged in strictly chronological order. To the contemporary sources of events were added fragments drawn from later writings that therefore do not have the same value from the standpoint of testimony. It follows that consultation of the *Recueil* must be strictly controlled by a thorough knowledge of the historical sources of each epoch. The work of Dom Bouquet has the advantage of being furnished with indexes compiled with the utmost conscientiousness. The chronological tables provide a valuable working tool for historians. After the death of Dom Bouquet, five volumes appeared from 1757 to 1786. The French Revolution interrupted the task that the Maurist Benedictines had undertaken. Under the auspices of the Institute, Dom Brial, who was a member of it, published five volumes from 1806 to 1822. Naudet, Daunou, Guigniaut, de Wailly, L. Delisle, and Ch. Jourdain continued the publication from 1833 to 1904, up to the year 1328. The work thus comprises a total of 24 volumes. At present the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres continues to publish slowly a new series, which includes a collection of lists of the benefices of the dioceses of France (10 vols., Paris 1903–46), of obituaries (6 vols., Paris 1902–30), and of financial documents (2 vols., Paris 1910–30).