David Blondel
Encyclopedia
David Blondel was a French
Protestant clergyman, historian and classical scholar.
. Ordained in 1614, he had positions as parish priest at Houdan
and Roucy
. After 1644, he was relieved of duties, and supported free to study full time.
In 1650 he succeeded GJ Vossius
in the professorship of history at Amsterdam. His students included Francis Turretin
, and Johann Georg Graevius
.
writes:
In his dissertation on Pope Joan
(1647), he came to the conclusion, now generally accepted, that the story is a myth. Edward Gibbon
wrote this in The History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire
:
Indignation against him on account of this book came from Protestant polemicists.
His 1628 book against Francisco Torres
conclusively demonstrated that the Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals were a very learned forgery. This work was praised by Voltaire
, writing in his Dictionnaire Philosophique
. Blondel tracked down sources actually used by the Pseudo-Isidore
. Later scholarship has sustained his conclusions.
In a work written as he was going blind, he struck back against Jean-Jacques Chifflet
, who had written in favour of the Spanish royal family's genealogical claims, over those of the French kings. In 1655 he produced an anthology of extracts arguing for Protestant eirenicism
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
Protestant clergyman, historian and classical scholar.
Life
He was born at Châlons-en-ChampagneChâlons-en-Champagne
Châlons-en-Champagne is a city in France. It is the capital of both the department of Marne and the region of Champagne-Ardenne, despite being only a quarter the size of the city of Reims....
. Ordained in 1614, he had positions as parish priest at Houdan
Houdan
Houdan is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France.-Geography:Houdan is west of Paris in the Yvelines département. It is linked by SNCF Alençon and Paris .-History:...
and Roucy
Roucy
Roucy is a commune in the Aisne department in Picardy in northern France....
. After 1644, he was relieved of duties, and supported free to study full time.
In 1650 he succeeded GJ Vossius
Gerhard Johann Vossius
thumb|180px|Gerrit Johan VossiusGerrit Janszoon Vos , often known by his Latin name Gerardus Vossius, was a Dutch classical scholar and theologian.-Life:...
in the professorship of history at Amsterdam. His students included Francis Turretin
Francis Turretin
Francis Turretin was a Swiss-Italian Protestant theologian.Turretin is especially known as a zealous opponent of the theology of the Academy of Saumur , as an earnest defender of the Calvinistic orthodoxy represented by the Synod of Dort, and as one of the authors of the Helvetic...
, and Johann Georg Graevius
Johann Georg Graevius
Johann Georg Graevius was a German classical scholar and critic. He was born at Naumburg....
.
Works
His works were very numerous. In some of them he took a strong critical line with mythological and counterfeit material current as fact in the early modern period. This brought him the admiration of major Enlightenment intellectuals. Jonathan IsraelJonathan Israel
Professor Jonathan Irvine Israel is a British writer on Dutch history, the Age of Enlightenment and European Jewry. Israel was appointed the Modern European History Professor in the School of Historical Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton Township, New Jersey, U.S...
writes:
In his dissertation on Pope Joan
Pope Joan
Pope Joan is a legendary female Pope who, it is purported, reigned for a few years some time in the Middle Ages. The story first appeared in the writings of 13th-century chroniclers, and subsequently spread through Europe...
(1647), he came to the conclusion, now generally accepted, that the story is a myth. Edward Gibbon
Edward Gibbon
Edward Gibbon was an English historian and Member of Parliament...
wrote this in The History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire is a non-fiction history book written by English historian Edward Gibbon and published in six volumes. Volume I was published in 1776, and went through six printings. Volumes II and III were published in 1781; volumes IV, V, VI in 1788–89...
:
Indignation against him on account of this book came from Protestant polemicists.
His 1628 book against Francisco Torres
Turrianus
Francisco Torres known as Turrianus , was a Spanish Jesuit Hellenist and polemicist.He was born in Herrera, Palencia, the nephew of Dr. Torres, Bishop of the Canaries. He studied at Salamanca and lived in Rome with Cardinal Salviati and Seripando.In 1562 Pope Pius IV sent him to the Council of...
conclusively demonstrated that the Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals were a very learned forgery. This work was praised by Voltaire
Voltaire
François-Marie Arouet , better known by the pen name Voltaire , was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit and for his advocacy of civil liberties, including freedom of religion, free trade and separation of church and state...
, writing in his Dictionnaire Philosophique
Dictionnaire philosophique
The Dictionnaire philosophique is an encyclopedic dictionary published by Voltaire in 1764. The alphabetically arranged articles often criticize the Roman Catholic Church and other institutions. The first edition, released in June of 1764, went by the name of Dictionnaire Philosphique Portatif. It...
. Blondel tracked down sources actually used by the Pseudo-Isidore
Pseudo-Isidore
Pseudo-Isidore is the pseudonym given to the scholar or group of scholars responsible for the Pseudo-Isidorean Decretals, the most extensive and influential set of forgeries found in medieval Canon law. The authors were a group of Frankish clerics writing in the second quarter of the ninth century...
. Later scholarship has sustained his conclusions.
In a work written as he was going blind, he struck back against Jean-Jacques Chifflet
Jean-Jacques Chifflet
Jean-Jacques Chifflet was a French physician, antiquary and archaeologist.-Life:He visited Paris and Montpellier, and travelled in Italy and Germany. He acted as court physician to Philip IV of Spain...
, who had written in favour of the Spanish royal family's genealogical claims, over those of the French kings. In 1655 he produced an anthology of extracts arguing for Protestant eirenicism