D'Aubigné, JEAN-HENRI MERLE

D'Aubigné, JEAN-HENRI MERLE, a popular ecclesiastical historian, was born at Eaux-Vives, near Geneva in Switzerland, 16th August 1794, studied there and at Berlin—under Neander—and in 1818 became pastor of the French Protestant Church in Hamburg. In 1823 he was appointed court-preacher at Brussels; but after the revolution of 1830, he declined the post of tutor to the Prince of Orange, and returning to Geneva, took part in the institution of the new evangelical church, and filled the chair of Church History in its theological seminary until his sudden death, in the night of October 20-1, 1872. With the exception of some visits to England and Scotland, where he had numerous readers and admirers, and where he received the degree of D.C.L. from Oxford and the freedom of the city of Edinburgh, he remained constantly at Geneva. The work which has given him a widespread reputation is his Histoire de la Réformation au Seizième Siècle (1835-53); it has been translated into most European tongues, and has attracted more notice abroad than at home; it is written with a devout, fervid sympathy that is often eloquent, although the narrative is too graphic to be everywhere exact. Its popularity has been immense. Among his other writings are Germany, England, and Scotland (Lond. 1848); a vindication of Cromwell (1848); Trois Siècles de Lutte en Écosse (1849); and Histoire de la Réformation en Europe au Temps de Calvin (1862-78).