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Which periods of French history did Leopold von Ranke study?

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Leopold Ranke — Leopold von Ranke Ranke, detail of an oil painting by J. Schrader, 1868; in the National-Galerie, Berlin

Leopold von Ranke primarily studied French history during the 16th and 17th centuries. This focus is most notably reflected in his work Französische Geschichte, vornehmlich im sechzehnten und siebzehnten Jahrhundert (published between 1852 and 1861), which examines the civil wars and the monarchy in France during that period.1

Additionally, his early work, Geschichte der romanischen und germanischen Völker von 1494 bis 1514, addressed the struggle between France and the Habsburgs for control of Italy, a conflict he identified as a pivotal phase that ushered in a new era of European history. While he also engaged with the political implications of the 1830 July Revolution in his contemporary writings, his major historical scholarship remained centered on the earlier centuries of the French state.21