Jacques Le Goff

Jacques Le Goff (born 1 January 1924 in Toulon) is a prolific French historian specializing in the Middle Ages, particularly the 12th and 13th centuries.

Le Goff champions the Annales School movement, which emphasizes long-term trends over the topics of politics, diplomacy, and war that dominated 19th century historical research. From 1972 to 1977, he was the head of the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS). He was a leading figure of New History, related to cultural history. Le Goff argues that the Middle Ages formed a civilization of its own, distinct from both the Greco-Roman antiquity and the modern world.