Antoine-Noé Polier de Bottens (17 December 1713 – 9 August 1783) was an 18th-century Swiss Protestant theologian.

Biography

Antoine-Noé Polier de Bottens descended from a noble family from the French

Rouergue Rouergue (; ) is a former province of France, corresponding roughly with the modern department of Aveyron. Its historical capital is Rodez. It is bounded on the north by Auvergne, on the south and southwest by Languedoc, on the east by Gévaudan ...

that they left for Switzerland in the 16th century to escape persecution as

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

s and not have to abjure their Protestant faith. The first known member of this family was Jean Polier, who died in 1602 after being Secretary of the Embassy of France in Geneva, a family which included scholars, professors and officers who served with distinction in the armies of most major powers. He was the son of Jean Jacques de Polier de Bottens (1670-1747),

knight banneret A knight banneret, sometimes known simply as banneret, was a medieval knight ("a commoner of rank") who led a company of troops during time of war under his own banner (which was square-shaped, in contrast to the tapering standard or the penn ...

of Lausanne and his wife Salomée Jeanne Elisabeth Quisard (ca. 1670–1735).Genealogie der Familie
/ref> He first began to study theology in Lausanne then, in order to complete his studies, moved to

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince o ...

, where he obtained a doctorate in 1739. Back in his home country, de Polier took over a parish in the city of Lausanne. From 1743 he was third, 1754 second, and 1765 first pastor in Lausanne, ''Seigneur de Bottens, ministre du Saint-Évangile, 1er pasteur des Églises de Lausanne''. In 1759, he was head of the "Séminaire protestant français de Lausanne", and then in 1766 advanced as dean of the chapter. Through an extensive correspondence with

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his ...

during the period 1753–1759, he was encouraged by the famous thinker to have his writings published by Marc-Michel Bousquet's (1696–1762) publishing company. In the realm of his competences, de Polier wrote at least nine but unauthorized articles for the ''

Encyclopédie ''Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers'' (English: ''Encyclopedia, or a Systematic Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts, and Crafts''), better known as ''Encyclopédie'', was a general encyclopedia publis ...

'' by

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 ''Encyclopédie'' along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a prominen ...

and

D'Alembert Jean-Baptiste le Rond d'Alembert (; ; 16 November 1717 – 29 October 1783) was a French mathematician, mechanician, physicist, philosopher, and music theorist. Until 1759 he was, together with Denis Diderot, a co-editor of the ''Encyclopédie ...

: Kijovn, Liturgie, Logomachie, Magicien, Magie, Malachbelus, Mânes, Maosim and Messie. Voltaire adopted these articles for 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. T ...

'' (1764), but modified extensively passages when they put in question beliefs on a literal interpretation of Scriptures. On April 13, 1744, he married Elisabeth Antoinette Susanne de Lagier-Pluvianes (1722-1769). Both had five daughters and four sons.

Works (selection)

* ''La Sainte Ecriture de l'Ancien Testament.'' 6 vol. (1764–1766) * ''Dissertatio philologica qua disquiritur de puritate dialecti arabicae, comparate cum puritate dialecti hebraeae in relatione ad antediluvianam linguam, quam sub praesidio D. Alberti Schultens.'' Lugduni in Batavis: apud J. Luzac, (1739)

References

Sources

Pierre Larousse Pierre Athanase Larousse (23 October 18173 January 1875) was a French grammarian, lexicographer and encyclopaedist. He published many of the outstanding educational and reference works of 19th-century France, including the 15-volume ''Grand dict ...

, ''Grand Dictionnaire universel du XIXe'', vol. 12, Paris, Administration du grand Dictionnaire universel, 1866.

Bibliography

* F.-A. Forel (Hrsg.): ''Les souvenirs de jeunesse d'Antoine de Polier de Bottens.'' In RHV, (1911) pp. 117–128, 142–148, 171–181, 237–249 * Raymond Naves: ''Voltaire et l´Encyclopédie.'' Paris (1938) pp. 23–33; 43; 141–148; 185–194

External links

Polier de Bottens, Antoine Noé (1713 - 1783)

Consortium of European Research Libraries The Consortium of European Research Libraries (CERL) is a consortium of research libraries, primarily in Europe, that facilitates access to historians with an interest in the history of the book by providing online resources. The organisation also ...

Polier, Jean-Antoine-Noé (de Bottens)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Polier de Bottens, Antoine-Noe 18th-century Swiss people Swiss Protestant ministers 18th-century Calvinist and Reformed theologians Contributors to the Encyclopédie (1751–1772) People from Lausanne 1713 births 1783 deaths