David Blondel (1591 – 6 April 1655) was a French

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

clergyman, historian and classical scholar.

Life

He was born at

Châlons-en-Champagne Châlons-en-Champagne () is a city in the Grand Est region of France. It is the capital of the Departments of France, department of Marne (department), Marne, despite being only a quarter the size of the city of Reims. Formerly called Châlons ...

. Ordained in 1614, he had positions as parish priest at

Houdan Houdan () is a commune of the Yvelines department west of Paris in the north of France. History The name has evolved from the Saxon "Hoding," meaning "settlement on the hill". Houdan is thought to have been inhabited since the 5th century. By ...

and

Roucy Roucy () is a small commune in the Aisne department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. Notable features of this town include the wide central plaza on which village fetes occur every summer. Population See also * Communes of the Aisne ...

. 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 the

university of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, ) is a public university, public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Established in 1632 by municipal authorities, it is the fourth-oldest academic institution in the Netherlan ...

. His students included

Francis Turretin Francis Turretin (also known as François Turrettini; 17 October 1623 – 28 September 1687) was a Genevan-Italian Reformed scholastic theologian.Johann Georg Graevius Johann Georg Graevius (originally ''Grava'' or ''Greffe''; Latin: Joannes/Johannes Georgius Graevius; 29 January 1632 – 11 January 1703) was a German classical scholar and critic. He was born in Naumburg, in the Electorate of Saxony. Life Graev ...

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 Israel Jonathan Irvine Israel (born 22 January 1946) is a British historian specialising in Dutch history, the Age of Enlightenment, Spinoza's Philosophy and European Jews. Israel was appointed as Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the School of Historic ...

writes:

...the real work of discrediting and disposing of the '' Oracula Sibyllina'', Chaldean chronicles, and
Orphic hymns The ''Orphic Hymns'' are a collection of eighty-seven ancient Greek hymns addressed to various deities, which were attributed in antiquity to the mythical poet Orpheus. They were composed in Asia Minor (located in modern-day Turkey), most likel ...
, ... seemingly only began, as
Diderot Denis Diderot (; ; 5 October 171331 July 1784) was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer, best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a prominent figure during t ...
noted in 1751, in the 1650s when the Huguenot scholar David Blondel ... published his treatise on the ''Oracula'' in Amsterdam.

In his dissertation on

Pope Joan Pope Joan (''Ioannes Anglicus'', 855–857) is a woman who purportedly reigned as popess (female pope) for two years during the Middle Ages. Her story first appeared in chronicles in the 13th century and subsequently spread throughout Europe. ...

(1647), he came to the conclusion, now generally accepted, that the story is a myth.

Edward Gibbon Edward Gibbon (; 8 May 173716 January 1794) was an English essayist, historian, and politician. His most important work, ''The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'', published in six volumes between 1776 and 1789, is known for ...

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'', sometimes shortened to ''Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'', is a six-volume work by the English historian Edward Gibbon. The six volumes cover, from 98 to 1590, the peak of the Ro ...

'':

She was annihilated by two learned protestants, Blondel and Bayle ../blockquote> 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 François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778), known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' Voltaire (, ; ), was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, philosopher (''philosophe''), satirist, and historian. Famous for his wit ...
, writing in his ''
Dictionnaire Philosophique The (''Philosophical Dictionary'') is an encyclopedic dictionary published by the Enlightenment thinker Voltaire in 1764. The alphabetically arranged articles often criticize the Roman Catholic Church, Judaism, Islam, and other institutions. ...
''. Blondel tracked down sources actually used by the
Pseudo-Isidore Pseudo-Isidore is the conventional name for the unknown Carolingian-era author (or authors) behind an extensive corpus of influential forgeries. Pseudo-Isidore's main object was to provide accused bishops with an array of legal protections amou ...
. 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 (Chiflet) (Besançon, 1588–1660) was a physician, jurist, antiquarian and archaeologist originally from the County of Burgundy (now in France). Life He visited Paris and Montpellier, and travelled in Italy and Germany. ...
, 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 Irenicism in Christian theology refers to attempts to unify Christian apologetical systems by using reason as an essential attribute. The word is derived from the Greek word ''ειρήνη (eirene)'' meaning peace. It is a concept related to a com ...
.''Actes authentiques des eglises reformées de France, Germanie, Grande Bretaigne, Pologne,Hongrie, Païs Bas, &c. touchant la paix & charité fraternelle, Amsterdam 1655''

References

Sources
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External links
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Schaff article
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Blondel, David 1591 births 1655 deaths People from Châlons-en-Champagne French Calvinist and Reformed ministers French Calvinist and Reformed theologians Huguenots French historiographers 17th-century Calvinist and Reformed theologians 17th-century French theologians