Marc Bloch

Marc Bloch (1886–1944) was a French medieval historian and co-founder of the Annales School. His work joined social and economic history with comparative methods and close attention to how people understood their world.

Annales School: A historical movement founded in France that emphasized long-term social structures and interdisciplinary research. Bloch co-founded the movement and helped define its approach to historical evidence.
The Royal Touch: Marc Bloch’s study of the belief that French and English kings could cure scrofula by touch. This book traces how a political ritual became a durable collective belief.
Lucien Febvre: A French historian who co-founded the Annales School with Marc Bloch. Their collaboration established the journal and intellectual program that became Annales history.
École Normale Supérieure: A French higher-education institution that trains scholars, teachers, and public intellectuals. Bloch studied there before building his academic career as a medievalist.
Longue durée: A historical perspective that studies slow-changing structures across extended periods. Bloch’s focus on enduring institutions and social patterns helped shape this Annales approach.
Historical method: The principles and procedures historians use to investigate and interpret the past. Bloch made explicit how historians should question evidence and construct explanations.
Feudal Society: Marc Bloch’s comparative study of the institutions and social relations of medieval European feudalism. It applies his comparative approach to land, lordship, and bonds between people.
Henri Berr: A French philosopher and historian who promoted interdisciplinary historical synthesis. His journal and intellectual network helped prepare the ground for Bloch and Febvre’s project.
University of Strasbourg: A public research university in Strasbourg, France, with roots in the city’s earlier university. Bloch and Febvre taught there when they founded the journal Annales in 1929.
Historiography: The study of how history has been written, interpreted, and debated. Bloch’s methodological writings remain central to discussions of what historians can know.

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