DUCHESNE, André (Latin, Duchenius or Quercetanus) (1584-1640), a French geographer and historian, generally styled the father of French history, was born at Ile-Bouchard, in the province of Touraine, in May 1584. He was educated at Loudun and afterwards at Paris, where he studied under Julius Caesar Boulanger. From his earliest years he devoted himself to historical and geographical research, and his first work, Egregiarum seu Selectarum Lectionum et Antiquitatum Liber, dedicated to Boulanger, and published in his eighteenth year, displayed great erudition. He enjoyed the patronage of Cardinal Richelieu, a native of the same district with himself, through whose influence he was appointed historiographer and geographer to the king. He died in 1640, in consequence of having been run over by a carriage when on his way from Paris to his country house at Verrière. Duchesne’s works were very-numerous and varied, and some idea of his industry may be gathered from the fact that, in addition to what he published, he left behind him more than 100 folio volumes of manuscript extracts. Several of his larger works were continued by his only son Francois Duchesne (1616-1693), who succeeded him in the office of historiographer to the king. The principal works of Andre Duchesne are— Les Antiquités et Recherches de la Grandeur et Majeste des Rois de France. (Paris, 1608), Les Antiquités et Recherches des Villes, Châteaux, <kc., de toute la France (Paris, 1610), Histoire d' Angleterre, d' Écosse, et d'Irelande (Paris, 1614), Histoire des Papes jusqu'à Paul V. (Paris, 1619), Histoire des Rois, Ducs, et Comtes de Bourgogne (1634, 2 vols, fol.), Historiae Hormanorum Scriptores Antiqui (1619, fol.), and Historiae Francorum Scriptores (5 vols, fol., 1636-49). Besides these Duchesne ...