Francisque Xavier Michel (January 18, 1809 - May 18, 1887), a French antiquary, was born in Lyons.

He became known for his editions of French works of the Middle Ages, and the French Government, recognizing their value, sent him to England (1833) and Scotland (1837) to continue his research there. In 1839 he was appointed professor of foreign literature in the Faculté des lettres at the University of Bordeaux . Between 1834 and 1842 he published editions of many works written between the eleventh and fourteenth centuries in French, English, and Saxon, including the Roman de la rose and the Chanson de Roland. Subsequently he published French translations of Goldsmith, Sterne , Shakespeare, and Tennyson.

His original works include:

• Histoire des races maudites de la France et de l'Espagne (1847)
• Recherches sur le commerce pendant le moyen âge (1852-1854)
• Les Ecossais en France et les français en Ecosse (1862)
• Etudes de philologie comparée sur l'argot (1856)
• Le Pays basque (1857)
• Histoire du commerce et de la navigation a Bordeaux (1867-1871)
• in conjunction with Edouard Fournier, Histoire des hôtelleries, cabarets, hotels garnis (1851-1854)

Reference

• This entry incorporates public domain text originally from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.