Guizot, Fran�ois Pierre Guillaume 1787-1874
French historian and politician

Born in N�mes, of Huguenot stock, he went to Paris in 1805 to study law, but soon drifted into literature, and in 1812 became Professor of Modern History at the Sorbonne. As a Liberal, he was deprived of his appointments in 1821, and in 1825 was prohibited from lecturing. With some friends he then published M�moires relatifs � l'histoire de France jusqu'au 13 si�cle (31 vols, 'Memoirs Concerning the History of France up to the 13th Century) and M�moires relatifs � la R�volution d'Angleterre (25 vols, 'Memoirs Concerning the English Revolution'), and edited translations of Shakespeare and Henry Hallam (1777-1859). Restored to his chair in 1828, he began his famous lectures, later published, on the history of civilization. Elected to the Chamber (1830), he became Minister of the Interior (1830), then Minister of Public Instruction (1832), establishing a system of primary education. In 1840 he went to London as ambassador, but was recalled to replace Louis Thiers as the king's chief adviser. He relapsed into reactionary methods of government which were partly responsible for the Revolution of 1848 and the fall of Louis Philippe, with whom he escaped to London. After the coup d'�tat of 1851 he devoted himself entirely to historical scholarship.