Jacques Le Goff, one of the most influential medieval historians of modern times, died on Tuesday in a Paris hospital at the age of 90.

Over the course of his lengthy career in academia and public broadcasting, Le Goff has been credited with changing the way people looked at the Middle Ages, construing it as a period that laid the foundations for modern Western civilisation rather than a time of darkness.

He was a leading proponent of what has come to be known as “New History”—the shift in historical research from emphasis on political figures and events to mentality and anthropology.

Outside the world of academia, Le Goff hosted a weekly history programme on France Culture public radio and even acted as a historical advisor on films, including the 1986 adaption of Umberto Eco’s “The Name of the Rose,” which starred Sean Connery.