Luchaire, Achille

Luchaire, Achille (äshēl` lüshĕr`), 1846–1908, French historian. He edited, in collaboration with Berthold Zeller, L'Histoire de France racontée par les contemporains (65 vol., 1880–90), a collection of excerpts from original sources. His Histoire des institutions monarchiques de la France sous les premiers Capétiens (2d ed., 2 vol., 1891), Manuel des institutions françaises: Période des Capétiens directs (1892), Les Communes françaises à l'époque des Capétiens directs (rev. ed. 1890), and Social France at the Time of Philip Augustus (1909, tr. 1912, repr. 1970) are authoritative studies of medieval France under the Capetians and are written in a style noted for its lucidity.