Marc Fumaroli, a leading French historian, public intellectual and defender of the French language and culture against American influence and what he called “globish English,” died on June 24 in Paris. He was 88.

His death was announced by the Académie Française, the official council of guardians of the French language, and the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, a learned society devoted to the humanities. Mr. Fumaroli was a member of both.

As a historian, Mr. Fumaroli specialized in 17th-century France during the reigns of Louis XIII and Louis XIV, with an emphasis on rhetoric and literature from that period. He was the author of about 30 books... [+]