Jacques Le Goff on the Perils of Periodization

TODAY IN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY: Le Goff on the Perils of Periodization

Thursday 01 January 2026 is the 102nd anniversary of the birth of Jacques Le Goff (01 January 1924 – 01 April 2014), who was born in Toulon on this date in 1924.

Le Goff was a medievalist who was educated in the milieu of the Annales school and continued to develop many of the distinctive approaches of the school, although he renamed his own efforts “the new history” (“nouvelle histoire”), while others called it “total history.” Le Goff argued for a “long” Middle Ages extending up through the middle of the eighteenth century. I consider his case for a “long” Middle Ages in the context of his final book, Must We Divide History Into Periods?

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