The Reformation in England, Volume 2 of 2 by Jean-Henri Merle d'Aubigné

The Reformation in England, Volume 2 of 2 by Jean-Henri Merle d

The theological faculty at the time had adopted Socinian (Unitarian) views such as had been expressed historically in the Racovian Catechism, 1605, and they had been greatly influenced by the Enlightenment’s emphasis on reason and its opposition to the supernatural interpretation of Scripture. After he completed the required curriculum in letters and philosophy, he studied theology. Merle D’Aubigné was educated in the Academy of Geneva which had been founded in 1559 through the influence of John Calvin. It is a complicated family tree, but it is recounted here to show both the Huguenot and intellectual heritage of young D’Aubigné.

His son Amie Robert Merle D’Aubigné, born 1755, was the father of J. As was sometimes practiced in the day, François Merle added the D’Aubigné to his name to become François Merle D’Aubigné. Theodore had published Universal History of the Late Sixteenth Century, which was condemned by Louis XIII, many copies were confiscated, and then publicly burned. Elizabeth’s paternal ancestors were descended from Theodore Agrippa D’Aubigné who was a Calvinist that left France in 1620. John Lewis’s son, François Merle, married Elizabeth, the daughter of a Protestant nobleman named George D’Aubigné who lived in Geneva. Around the time of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes by Louis XIV in 1685, John Lewis Merle fled France to Lausanne, Switzerland, seeking religious freedom as did many other Huguenots. Jean Henri was descended on his father’s side from his great-grandfather, John Lewis Merle. Les Eaux-Vives is currently an area within the city limits of Geneva. Jean Henri Merle D’Aubigné was born Augin Les Eaux-Vives (Living Water) Switzerland, which is located on the south-western end of Lac Léman (Lake Geneva) at the mouth of the Rhone River.

How many historians today would delight to leave a legacy of a half-million books sold in two different languages? According to his biography in McClintock and Strong published in 1890, the sales of his five-volume history had numbered over 200,000 in France and more than 300,000 in Great Britain and the United States. The set enjoyed great success, however, D’Aubigné was not fully satisfied with the five volumes and reviewers had been critical of some of his content, so he picked up his pen again to write a more scholarly and lengthier version in eight volumes with the English title History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin, which was published in both French and English, 1863-1878. The first of five volumes appeared in French in 1835 with the last one released in 1853, and the English translations were published, 1846-1853, under the title History of the Reformation of the Sixteenth Century. For anyone familiar with books published about the history of the Reformation the mention of D’Aubigné is likely to be associated with his historical studies of the era.

The Reformation in England, Volume 2 of 2 by Jean-Henri Merle d'Aubigné