Rene Aubert Vertot

Rene-Aubert Vertot (25 November 1655, Bennetot, Normandy – 15 June 1735, Paris) was a French historian.

He was for some time a pupil of the Jesuit Fathers seminary at Rouen, which he left at the end of two years to enter the Capuchin Order. His health was greatly impaired by his austerities there, and his family, alarmed, obtained permission for him to join the Premonstratensian Canons. Afterwards he was appointed pastor to several small parishes in Normandy. In 1690, at the suggestion of Fontenelle and the Abbe de Saint-Pierre, he wrote his Histoire de la conjuration de Portugal. The book was received with favour, and in 1695 appeared the Histoire des revolutions de Suede (History of the Swedish revolutions). In 1703 Vertot was made a member of the Academie des inscriptions. Besides contributions to the Memoires of the Academie and other minor works, he wrote the Revolutions romains (1719) and Histoire des chevaliers hospitaliers de Saint-Jean de Jerusalem (History of the Knights Hospitallers). It is related, in connection with the latter, that in answer to an offer of additional data, he said, "Mon siege est fait" ("My siege is finished"), a phrase construed by some of his critics as an expression of his disregard for historical accuracy. Another interpretation of the comment is that he simply wished to get rid of an intruder who was trying to force upon him documents whose authenticity was very doubtful.