An antiquarian and philologist, Sainte-Palaye was born in Auxerre and was privately educated. After a short period in the diplomatic service (1725-1726), he devoted himself completely to literature. He published some studies on the classics, but his most important work is on French antiquities. Sainte-Palaye wrote a glossary of Old French, became a collector of texts and was the author of some of the first research in medieval historiography. His unpublished Dictionnaire des antiquités françaises comprised 40 volumes.