Isaac de Beausobre (8 March 1659 – 5 June 1738) was a French

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

churchman, now best known for his two-volume history of

Manichaeism Manichaeism (; in New Persian ; ) is a former major religionR. van den Broek, Wouter J. Hanegraaff ''Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times''SUNY Press, 1998 p. 37 founded in the 3rd century AD by the Parthian Empire, Parthian ...

, ''Histoire Critique de Manichée et du Manichéisme'' .

Life

Beausobre was born at

Niort Niort (; Poitevin: ''Niàu''; oc, Niòrt; la, Novioritum) is a commune in the Deux-Sèvres department, western France. It is the prefecture of Deux-Sèvres. The population of Niort is 58,707 (2017) and more than 177,000 people live in the u ...

Deux-Sèvres Deux-Sèvres () is a French department. ''Deux-Sèvres'' literally means "two Sèvres": the Sèvre Nantaise and the Sèvre Niortaise are two rivers which have their sources in the department. It had a population of 374,878 in 2019.

. After studying theology at the Protestant

Academy of Saumur The Academy of Saumur (french: Académie de Saumur) was a Huguenot university at Saumur in western France. It existed from 1593, when it was founded by Philippe de Mornay, until shortly after 1685, when Louis XIV decided on the revocation of the E ...

, he was ordained at the age of twenty-two, becoming pastor at

Châtillon-sur-Indre Châtillon-sur-Indre (, literally ''Châtillon on Indre'') is a commune in the Indre department, central France. Population See also *Communes of the Indre department The following is a list of the 241 communes of the Indre department of F ...

. After the revocation of the

edict of Nantes The Edict of Nantes () was signed in April 1598 by King Henry IV and granted the Calvinist Protestants of France, also known as Huguenots, substantial rights in the nation, which was in essence completely Catholic. In the edict, Henry aimed pr ...

he fled to

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

(November 1685), and in 1686 was appointed chaplain in Oranienbaum to the princess of

Anhalt-Dessau Anhalt-Dessau was a principality of the Holy Roman Empire and later a duchy of the German Confederation. Ruled by the House of Ascania, it was created in 1396 following the partition of the Principality of Anhalt-Zerbst, and finally merged into th ...

, Henrietta Catherine of Orange-Nassau. In 1693, on the death of

John George II, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau John George II (17 November 1627 – 7 August 1693) was a German prince of the House of Ascania and ruler of the principality of Anhalt-Dessau from 1660 to 1693. A member of the Fruitbearing Society, he also served as a field marshal of Brandenbu ...

, he went to Berlin and became a court preacher, and in 1695 pastor for the French church at

Friedrichswerder Church Friedrichswerder Church (german: Friedrichswerdersche Kirche, french: Temple du Werder) was the first Neo-Gothic church built in Berlin, Germany. It was designed by an architect better known for his Neoclassical architecture, Karl Friedrich Schink ...

. He became court preacher, counsellor of the French Reformed

Consistory Consistory is the anglicized form of the consistorium, a council of the closest advisors of the Roman emperors. It can also refer to: *A papal consistory, a formal meeting of the Sacred College of Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church *Consistory ...

, director of the Maison française, a hospice for French people, inspector of the French gymnasium and

superintendent Superintendent may refer to: *Superintendent (police), Superintendent of Police (SP), or Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), a police rank *Prison warden or Superintendent, a prison administrator *Superintendent (ecclesiastical), a church exec ...

of all the French churches in

Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a states of Germany, state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an ar ...

. He had strong sense with profound erudition, was one of the best writers of his time and an excellent preacher.

Family

Beausobre was married twice. By his first wife he had a son, Charles Louis de Beausobre (1690–1753), who became a pastor and theologian, and a member of the

Prussian Academy of Sciences The Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences (german: Königlich-Preußische Akademie der Wissenschaften) was an academy established in Berlin, Germany on 11 July 1700, four years after the Prussian Academy of Arts, or "Arts Academy," to which "Berlin ...

in Berlin. By his second wife, Charlotte Schwarz, he had another son,

Louis de Beausobre Louis Isaac de Beausobre (19 August 1730 – 3 December 1783) was a German philosopher and political economist of French Huguenot descent. He was born in Berlin, the son of the French Protestant churchman and ecclesiastical historian Isaac de Beau ...

(1730–1783), who became a philosopher and political economist, and also a member of the Academy of Sciences.

Bibliography

*
2 (1739)

References

;Attribution

External links

; Biographical Sketch
"Isaac De Beausobre Revisited: The Birth of Manichean Studies"
by

Guy Stroumsa Guy Gedalyah Stroumsa (born 27 July 1948) is an Israeli scholar of religion. He is Martin Buber Professor Emeritus of Comparative Religion at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Emeritus Professor of the Study of the Abrahamic Religions at the ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beausobre 1659 births 1738 deaths Huguenots People from Niort French Calvinist and Reformed ministers Members of the Prussian Academy of Sciences