Société Française des Amis de Saint-Jacques de Compostelle La plus ancienne de toutes les associations jacquaires – depuis 1950

Jean Babelon

Jean Babelon, born in Paris on January 19, 1889 and died in Paris on April 20, 1978, was a French librarian, historian and numismatist.
He studied at the École nationale des chartes, graduating in 1910 as an archivist and paleographer. On graduating from the École nationale des chartes, he was appointed to the Institut des hautes études hispaniques in Madrid.

He then joined the Cabinet des Médailles at the Bibliothèque Nationale, then run by his father. He spent his entire career there, heading the department from 1937 to 1961.

In addition to the Société de l’École des Chartes, he was president of the Société nationale des antiquaires de France, the Association des bibliothécaires français and the Société française de numismatique, to which he breathed new life and which organized the first International Numismatic Congress in 1953. He also taught at the École du Louvre and served for many years on the Commission supérieure des monuments historiques. A laureate of the Académie française, the Académie des inscriptions and the Académie des beaux-arts, Officer of the Légion d’honneur, Commander of the Palmes académiques and the Ordre des Arts et Lettres and of the Order of Isabella the Catholic, Jean Babelon was undoubtedly a man of lively intelligence, inquisitive curiosity and fine character.
He is the author of an extensive body of scholarly work, mainly in the fields of numismatics and Spanish art and literature.