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.