Jacques Basnage
Jacques Beauval | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 8 August 1653 |
| Died | 22 December 1723(aged 70) |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Parent | Henri Franquesnay |
Jacques Basnage De Beauval(8 August 1653 – 22 December 1723) was a celebrated French Protestant divine, preacher, linguist, writer and man of affairs. He wrote aHistory of the Reformed Churchesand onJewish Antiquities.
Biography
[edit]Jacques Basnage was born atRoueninNormandy,the eldest son of the eminent lawyerHenri Basnage de Franquesnay.He studied classical languages atSaumurand afterwardstheologyatGeneva.He was pastor at Rouen from 1676 till 1685, when, on the revocation of theedict of Nantes,he obtained leave of the king to retire to Holland. He settled atRotterdamas a minister pensionary till 1691, when he was chosen pastor of the Walloon church.[1]
In 1709, the grand pensionaryAnthonie Heinsiussecured his election as one of the pastors of the Walloon church atThe Hague,intending to employ him mainly in civil affairs. Accordingly, he was engaged in a secret negotiation withMarshal d'Uxelles,plenipotentiary of France at thecongress of Utrecht.He was then entrusted with several further important commissions.[1]
In 1716, Dubois, who was at The Hague at the instance of the regent Orleans, for the purpose of negotiating theTriple Alliance between France, Great Britain and Holland,sought the advice of Basnage, who, in spite of the fact that he had failed to receive permission to return to France on a short visit the year before, did his best to further the negotiations. The French government also turned to him for help in view of the threatened rising in theCevennes.[1]
Basnage had welcomed the revival of the Protestant church by the zeal ofAntoine Court.He assured the regent that no danger of active resistance was to be feared from it. True to the principles ofCalvin,he denounced the rebellion of theCamisardsin hisInstructions pastorales aux Réformés de France sur l'obéissance due aux souverains(1720), which was printed by order of the court and scattered broadcast in the south of France.[1]
Works
[edit]His works include several dogmatic and polemical treatises, but the most important are the historical. Of these may be mentionedHistoire de la religion des églises reformées(Rotterdam, 1690), theHistoire de l'église depuis Jésus-Christ jusqu'à présent(ib. 1699)—both of them written from the point of view of Protestant polemics—and, of greater scientific value, theHistoire des Juifs(Rotterdam, 1706, Eng. trans. 1708) and theAntiquités judaiques ou remarques critiques sur la république des Hébreux(1713). He also wrote short explanatory introductions and notes to a collection of copper-plate engravings, much valued by connoisseurs, calledHistoires du Vieux et du Nouveau Testament, représentées par des figures gravées en taille-douce par R. de Hooge(Amsterdam, 1704).[1]
He was elected aFellow of the Royal Societyin 1697.[2]
References
[edit]- ^abcdeOne or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Chisholm, Hugh,ed. (1911). "Basnage, Jacques".Encyclopædia Britannica.Vol. 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 484.
- ^"Library and Archive Catalogue".Royal Society.Retrieved2012-03-14.[permanent dead link]
External links
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