Fustel de Coulanges, Numa Denis (1830-1889)

French historian. He asserted that the early institutions of France were less indebted to Teutonic than to Roman origin. His best-known work is La Cité antique (1864); others include Histoire des institutions politiques de l'ancienne France (1875-92) and La Gaule romaine et le royaume des Francs (1888-91).

He was born in Paris and was professor at Amiens, Paris, and Strasbourg; in 1870 he was appointed to the Ecole Normale, Paris, and afterwards became a professor at the Sorbonne.