the French language, out of a mixture of Gallo-Roman with Frankish elements. The second part of the Recueil is an anthology of 127 French poets living prior to 1300. Fauchet's theorising about language formation in the first book has been praised as ahead of its time, and throughout he demonstrates a profound knowledge of contemporary linguistic theory, as well as engaging with earlier and less frequently cited traditions of linguistic theory such as Dante's De vulgari eloquentia. The Recueil was much used in the following two centuries by literary historians and antiquarians curious about medieval French literature. During the Wars of Religion, as a member of the government of Henri III, Fauchet was forced to flee Paris in 1589 and could not return until 18 April 1594, now in the service of the new king, Henri IV. During this absence, Fauchet's Paris residence was sacked, resulting in the loss of his library: more than two thousand volumes, by his own account, many of which were manuscripts. Many medieval manuscripts once belonging to Fauchet now reside in the Bibliothèque nationale de France and the Bibllioteca Apostolica Vaticana in the Vatican, while some are scattered across Europe's libraries (Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève, Paris; the British Library; Berlin State Library; Dijon Public Library; National Library of Sweden; Burgerbibliothek of Berne; Biblioteca Ambrosiana) and still many others remain unaccounted for. The wars left Fauchet poor, and in 1599 he had to sell his office in the Cour des monnaies. Fauchet published most of his print works during this period, from 1599 to his death in 1602. Henri IV, said to have been amused with an epigram written by Fauchet, supposedly pensioned him with the title of historiographer of France, but there is no official record of this. He died in Paris. Fauchet has the reputation of being an impartial and scrupulously accurate writer, and in his works are to be found important facts not easily accessible elsewhere. His works taken together form a history of antiquities of Gaul and of Merovingian and Carolingian France (1579, 1599, 1601, 1602), of the dignities and magistrates of France (1600), of the origin of the French language and poetry (1581), and of the liberties of the Gallican church. A collected edition in a single massive volume was published in 1610. Fauchet read widely throughout his life among the key authors of Old and Middle French literature, including chroniclers and historians