Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, BnF
Owner Id00015143
TypeCorporate body
Biographical dates - Period of existence1368-
Other InformationENG: The Royal Library was founded at the Louvre Palace by Charles V in 1368.
Charles had received a collection of manuscripts from his predecessor, John II, and transferred them to the Louvre from the Palais de la Cité. The first librarian of record was Claude Mallet, the king's valet de chambre, who made a sort of catalogue, Inventoire des Livres du Roy nostre Seigneur estans au Chastel du Louvre. Jean Blanchet made another list in 1380 and Jean de Bégue one in 1411 and another in 1424. Charles V was a patron of learning and encouraged the making and collection of books.
The library opened to the public in 1692, under the administration of Abbé Louvois, Minister Louvois's son.
The library's collections swelled to over 300,000 volumes during the radical phase of the French Revolution when the private libraries of aristocrats and clergy were seized. After the establishment of the French First Republic in September 1792, "the Assembly declared the Bibliotheque du Roi to be national property and the institution was renamed the Bibliothèque Nationale. After four centuries of control by the Crown, this great library now became the property of the French people.
A new administrative organization was established. Napoleon took great interest in the library and among other things issued an order that all books in provincial libraries not possessed by the Bibliothèque Nationale should be forwarded to it, subject to replacement by exchanges of equal value from the duplicate collections, making it possible, as Napoleon said, to find a copy of any book in France in the National Library. Napoleon furthermore increased the collections by spoil from his conquests. A considerable number of these books was restored after his downfall.
FR: Appelée librairie puis bibliothèque du roi sous l'Ancien Régime, elle devient bibliothèque de la Nation en 1790, avant de devenir, au fil des changements de régime, bibliothèque Impériale puis Royale puis Nationale en 1849, à nouveau Impériale et définitivement Nationale en 1871.
Bod-inc: see Simone Balayé, La Bibliothèque nationale: des origines à 1800, Histoire des idées et critique littéraire, 262 (Geneva, 1988).
Variant NamesParis, Bibliothèque Impériale
Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale
Paris, Bibliothèque du Roi
Activity
Start (year)1368
End (year)1871
MARC Area Codee-fr
Profession / Type of InstitutionLibrary
CharacterisationRoyalty
Activity
Start (year)1871
MARC Area Codee-fr
Profession / Type of InstitutionLibrary
CharacterisationNo characterisation/lay
Last Edit2019-02-07 07:10:14