Philippe Contamine, born 7 May 1932 in Metz

Metz

Metz is a city in the northeast of France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers.Metz is the capital of the Lorraine region and prefecture of the Moselle department. Located near the tripoint along the junction of France, Germany, and Luxembourg, Metz forms a central place...

, is a French historian of the Middle Ages

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

 who specialises in military history and the history of the nobility.

Contamine is a past president of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres

Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres

The Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres is a French learned society devoted to the humanities, founded in February 1663 as one of the five academies of the Institut de France.-History:...

, the Société de l'histoire de France

Société de l'histoire de France

The Société de l'histoire de France was established on 21 December 1833 at the instigation of the French minister of Public Instruction, François Guizot, in order to contribute to the renewal of historical scholarship fuelled by a widespread interest in national history, typical of the Romantic...

, and the Societé des Antiquaires de France

Societé des Antiquaires de France

The Société des Antiquaires de France is a Parisian historical and archaeological society, founded in 1804 under the name of the Académie celtique...

. He taught at the Université de Nancy, the Université de Paris X at Nanterre

Nanterre

Nanterre is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located west of the center of Paris.Nanterre is the capital of the Hauts-de-Seine department as well as the seat of the Arrondissement of Nanterre....

 and Université de Paris IV (Paris-Sorbonne). He is a chevalier of the Légion d’Honneur and a fellow of the Royal Historical Society

Royal Historical Society

The Royal Historical Society was founded in 1868. The premier society in the United Kingdom which promotes and defends the scholarly study of the past, it is based at University College London...

.

Select bibliography

• Guerre, État et société à la fin du Moyen Âge. Études sur les armées des rois de France, 1337-1494 (doctoral thesis, 1972)
• La Guerre au Moyen-Âge (1980)
• La noblesse au royaume de France, de Philippe le Bel à Louis XII (1997)
• Histoire de la France politique. I, Le Moyen Âge, 481-1514, le roi, l'Église, les grands, le peuple (2002)
• La France et l'Angleterre pendant la guerre de Cent Ans, Hachette, 1982.