[1][2] He was orphaned at the age of ten and raised by his maternal grandfather, Alfred Jeanroy.
[2] His paternal uncle, Léon-Honoré Labande, was a museum curator and archivist of the Prince's Palace of Monaco.
[2] Labande started his career as an archivist in Rome, Algiers, Florence, Toulon, and La Flèche.
[2] Labande started teaching medieval history at the University of Poitiers in 1947.
[2] Labande was the first scholar to offer a skeptical interpretation of Eleanor of Aquitaine, debunking the myth of her persona and researching primary sources about her life.