Dear fellow members of the SSCLE,

We are saddened to inform our members of the passing of Professor Jean Richard, just two weeks short of his centenary. Professor Richard, Emeritus Professor at the University of Dijon, was a founding member of our society and its first president. He numbers among the great modern scholars of the crusades and his outstanding career as a medievalist included many other interests, among these as an eminent scholar of Burgundian history. He was a member of several learned societies, among them the Institut de France, the Académie des sciences, arts et belles-lettres de Dijon, the Société éduenne des lettres, sciences et arts, the Regional Association for the Conservation of Heritage of Burgundy, and the National Society of Antiquaries of France. He was recipient of numerous prestigious awards including those of Knight of Arts and Letters, 1991, Knight of Military Merit, 1963, officer of the Legion of Honor in 2000 and Grand Officer of Merit in 2004.

Professor Richard was known and respected by our members and by students of the crusades in general for his eminence as a scholar of the crusader period and the Latin East. He was author of several major studies in the field, and his classic work, Royaume latin de Jérusalem (Paris, Presses universitaires de France, 1953) remains today among the finest syntheses on the subject of Frankish history and society. He was a warm and kindly man and will be sorely missed by our society.

We send our deepest condolences to his family.

Adrian Boas
President
SSCLE