The internationally renowned historian and medieval specialist Georges Duby was a member of the French Academy and a Professor at the Collège de France.

“I have undertaken to talk, soberly and informally, of my profession — or, rather, of our profession and of the trajectory that we historians have followed, for we have advanced together, at the same pace, and in the company of other social scientists. In effect, not many researchers working in these fields are willing to venture forth alone into the unknown. Yet, sometimes, without their knowledge, others stake out at the same time. The same wind pushes us along, and we usually sail as one. Consequently, this is not just my own story, but that of the French historical school during the past half century.” Georges Duby

• Georges Duby was one of the leading members of the French school of historiography (also known as the New History) that came out of the Annales. It emphasised the history of ideas and the study of the conditions of life over an extended period of time.