Michaud, Joseph François

Michaud, Joseph François

(zhôzĕf` fräNswä` mēshō`), 1767–1839, French journalist and historian. Under the Directory he was deported for advocating the restoration of the Bourbons. On his return (1799) to France he wrote a History of the Crusades (tr., 3 vol., 1852; repr. 1972), still widely read. He was chief editor of the Biographie universelle (52 vol., 1811–28; rev. ed., 45 vol., 1853–66), a biographical reference work.