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What do we mean by “erudition”? What is a “scholar” or a “learned” person? Many stereotypes are attached both to what must be considered, first of all, as a “study method,” and to those who practice it. Limiting ourselves to the case of France, we shall examine how this method was applied during the Renaissance and the classical era, and was then called into question during the Age of Enlightenment. During the nineteenth century, erudition became the handmaiden of literary and historical studies; at present, there are new questions that give a clearer picture of its uses and a better understanding of the issues that are at stake.