Question: what is the meaning of source for historians

title: Historian
text: In his main work Histoire de France , French historian Jules Michelet coined the term Renaissance ( meaning `` Re-birth '' in French language ) , as a period in Europe 's cultural history that represented a break from the Middle Ages , creating a modern understanding of humanity and its place in the world . The nineteen volume work covered French history from Charlemagne to the outbreak of the Revolution . Michelet was one of the first historians to shift the emphasis of history to the common people , rather than the leaders and institutions of the country . Another important French historian of the period was Hippolyte Taine . He was the chief theoretical influence of French naturalism , a major proponent of sociological positivism and one of the first practitioners of historicist criticism . Literary historicism as a critical movement has been said to originate with him .