THIERRY, JACQUES-NICOLAS-AUGUSTIN. - French historian, b. in Blois on 10 May 1795, d. in Paris on 22 May 1856.
Having graduated from the École Normale in 1813, in 1814 he became secretary to Henri de Saint-Simon, with whom he dreamed of reorganizing Europe through a reform of minds and institutions, a federal system, a common parliament, and the adoption in each state of the English Constitution, deemed perfect. In 1817, Thierry resumed his independence after having collaborated further with the utopian philosopher-sociologist in *L’industrie*. Against the backdrop of the Enlightenment controversy, he then grafted a Romantic reevaluation of the past in service of a liberal political faith. Thus he rediscovered the infancy of the Third Estate and defended oppressed races; the first fruits of his immense researches would later be collected in *Dix ans d’études historiques*. In his *Histoire de la conquête de l’Angleterre par les Normands* (4 vols., 1824), the idea of racial opposition dominates; yet more vivid are the *Lettres sur l’histoire de France* (1827, partly published in 1818–19), which suggested certain motifs to Manzoni. Under the July Monarchy, which embodied many of his ideals, Thierry held several positions; compelled by lengthy illness, he returned to Paris for new research that gave him the opportunity to write *Essai sur l’histoire de la formation et du progrès du Tiers État* (1853). He spent his final years with Cristina Trivulzio, Princess of Belgiojoso, in Paris.
His brother, Simon-Dominique-Amédée, b. in Blois on 22 Aug. 1797, d. in Paris on 26 March 1873, was also a historian and politician. As a young man he distinguished himself as a brilliant journalist; in 1828 he published *Histoire des Gaulois*, his major historical work, which earned him a chair in history at the University of Besançon. His political views, which led to his suspension from teaching during the reign of Charles X, placed him in good standing after the Revolution of 1830. Thierry was appointed prefect of Vesoul, where he revealed sagacious administrative talents, and eight years later became a Councillor of State. Between 1840 and 1847 he published *Histoire de la Gaule sous l’administration romaine*, which won him election to the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences. A moderate liberal, he dissented from the “socialist” direction of the Revolution of 1848 yet applauded Napoleon III. He continued serenely to work and produce studies on Roman history, among which notable are *Histoire d’Attila, de ses fils et de ses successeurs jusqu’à l’établissement des Hongrois en Europe* (Paris 1850) and *Récits de l’histoire romaine au V[e] siècle* (1860); studies on the origins of Christianity including *St Jérôme, la société chrétienne à Rome et l’émigration romaine en Terre Sainte* (1867) and *St Jean Chrysostome* (1872). In 1860 he was created a senator by Napoleon; in 1868 he received the Grand Officer’s Cross of the Legion of Honour. He suffered greatly from the defeat at Sedan in 1870, seeing in it a refutation of his historical and political ideas. As a historiographer, Thierry is marked by imprecision in documentary criticism and a tendency to embellish events rather than penetrate their spiritual significance. He possessed a Romantic style and a temperament inclined toward temperate nationalism.