Antoine Varillas (1624 – 9 June 1696) was a French
historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...
, best known for his history of
heresy
Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religi ...
.
Life
He was born in
Guéret
Guéret (; Occitan: ''Garait'') is a commune and the prefecture of the Creuse department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in central France.
Geography
Guéret is a light industrial town, the largest in the department, with a big woodland a ...
and made a troubled way as a man of letters in Paris. He worked as a historian for
Gaston, Duke of Orléans. Through an introduction from
Pierre Dupuy, he was able to have library access, leading to work on manuscripts for
Jean-Baptiste Colbert. Colbert, however, was dissatisfied with his work and replaced him. Varillas enjoyed support from
Pierre Huet but became a marginal figure.
[http://www.histoire-gueret.fr/index.php?2007/11/03/143-antoine-varillas-1624-1696]
Works
His writings attracted a great deal of interest amongst his contemporaries; serious if partisan criticisms of the
historical method
Historical method is the collection of techniques and guidelines that historians use to research and write histories of the past. Secondary sources, primary sources and material evidence such as that derived from archaeology may all be drawn ...
of his earlier work led to his losing his reputation as a scholar. His works included:
*''Histoire de l'heresie de Viclef, Iean Hus, et Jerome de Prague: avec celle des guerres de Bohéme qui en ont esté les suites'';
*''Histoire de Louis Onze''; and
*''Histoire des révolutions arrivées dans l'Europe''.
Notes
1624 births
1696 deaths
People from Guéret
17th-century French historians
French male non-fiction writers
17th-century French male writers
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