Paul Henri Mallet

Paul Henri Mallet (20 August 1730 – 8 February 1807) was a Genevan writer and historian. He is best known for his Introduction to the History of Denmark, first translated into English by Thomas Percy as Northern Antiquities, which included the first translation into French of the medieval Edda.

Life He was born and educated in Geneva, where he earned a law degree, the license de droit, in 1751. He became tutor in the family of the count of Calenberg in Lower Saxony. In 1752 he was appointed professor of belles lettres to the academy at Copenhagen and held the position through 1760. A translation into English, with notes and preface, by Bishop Thomas Percy, was issued in 1770 under the title of Northern Antiquities (republished with additions in 1847). and thence to England, where he was presented at court and commissioned to write the history of the House of Brunswick. He had previously received similar commission from the landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel) for the reparation of a history of the House of Hesse, and both works were completed in 1785.

The quietness of a literary life was rudely broken by the French Revolution, to which he was openly hostile. His leanings to the unpopular side were so obnoxious to his fellow-citizens that he was obliged to quit his native country in 1792, and remained in exile till 1801. He died 8 February 1807 at Geneva.

Works A memoir of his life and writings, by Sismondi, was published at Geneva in 1807. Besides the Introduction to the History of Denmark, his principal works are: Histoire du Danemarch (3 vols., Copenhagen, 1758–1777) Histoire de la maison de Hesse (4 vols., 1767–1785) Histoire de la maison de Brunswick (4 vols., 1767–1785) Histoire de la maison et des etats du Mecklenbourg (1796) Histoire des Suisses ou Helvetiens (4 vols., Geneva, 1803) (mainly an abridgment of Johannes von Müller's great history) Histoire de la ligue hanseatique (1805).