Paul Riant
Paul Edouard Didier Riant (7 August 1836, Paris – 17 December 1888, Château La Vorpillière in Massongex) was a French historian and scientific editor specializing in the Crusades. He exercised a great activity of scientific editor of primary sources related to the Crusades and the Latin States of the East. He created and chaired the Société de l'Orient Latin, as well as its official journal, the Revue de l'Orient latin, which continued to publish new issues until 1911. As a historian, he made a significant contribution to the study of the Northern Crusades, particularly those in the Scandinavian region. Biography Paul Riant was the son of Didier-Nicolas Riant (1790–1864), municipal councillor of Paris and general councillor of the Seine, and Joséphine Anne Françoise Fayard de Bourdeille (1809–1881). Riant had two half-brothers, Charles and Théodore, born from his father's first marriage to Louise Mignon (1795–1833). Riant studied at the Jesuit college of Vaugirard in the 15th Arrondissement of Paris. In 1859, he undertook a study trip to Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland, and a second trip in 1862. In 1865, he earned his doctorate in philosophy at La Sorbonne, presenting a thesis Expeditions and pilgrimages of the Scandinavians to the Holy