1. Benjamin, was horn at Carentan in 1580, and during fifty-one years was pastor of the church which his lather had held at Carentan. He attended, as provincial deputy, nearly all the synods of the Prot- estant churches of France held during his lifetime. He presided over the assembly held at Roehelle in 1622, which decided on resisting the king. He also signed the project of defence under the title of " Mode- rateur Ajoint," and went to England to solicit aid. On the termination of hostilities, Basnage returned to France, and was appointed deputy to the synod at Charenton, 1623. The zeal with which he maintained the reformed religion rendered him an object of in- creasing suspicion to the court. The king, by a de- cree, forbade him to take part in the synod of Charen- tuii in 1631. This synod made remonstrances against this decree so forcibly that the court yielded, and Bas- nage was admitted to the synod, in which he exercised great influence. He was elected president of the na- tional synod at Aleneon in 1G37. He died in 1652. His principal work was a treatise on the Church (De rested visible et invisible d I'J'g'ise, etc., Eochelle, 1G12, 8vo). He left imperfect a work against the worship of the Virgin.
2. Antoine, eldest son of Benjamin, was born in Kilo, lie was minister at Bayeux, and during the renewed persecutions of the Protestants he was, at the age of sixty-live, placed in the prison of Havre de Grace ; but his firmness remained unshaken. After the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, he escaped to Holland in L685, and died in 1691 at Zutphen, in which place be had held a pastoral charge.
3. Samuel (de Flottemanville), son of Antoine, was born at Bayeux in 1638. He preached at first in his native place, but escaped with his father to Holland in 1685. He died a preacher at Zutphen in 1721. His principal works were — L'Jiistoire <!'■ la Religion des
■ | Rotterdam, 1690, 2 vols, fob', repub- lished 1699) : /'- Rebus Sacris </ Ecclesiasticis exer- ico-critica (Traject. 1692, 1717, 4to): — Pol i , ,,./;, clesiasticiannorum DCXLVa C(tsare "<l Phocam (Rotterdam, 1706, 3 vols, folio). Both these w..rk~ contain masterly criticisms on Baro- nius.
4. Ja< qi i -, de Beauval, eldest son of Henri, was born at Roui ii. August 8th, 1';,.::. lb- was early sent to study at ."vminur under l.e l'evrc; theiier he went
i and Sedan, where his master was the cele- brated Jurieu. In 1676 he became a minister, and married in 1684 a daughter of Pierre Dumoulin. Upon the revocation of the Edid of Nantes he went to Rot- terdam, and in 1691 he was appointed a minister at the
Volt ,ire declared him fit to be minister of
state for the kingdom. He died December 22d, 1723. His principal works are — 1. Histoire de VEglise depuis Jesus-Christ jusqu'a present (Rotterdam, 1699, 2 vols, fol.), a work in high repute :— 2. Histoire de la Religion des Eglises Reformees (ibid. 1690, 2 vols. 4to). These two works were published, together with great addi- tions and alterations, at Rotterdam, 1721, 5 vols. 8vo ; and with still greater augmentations in 1725, in 2 vols. 4to. The latter work is a reply to Bossuefs Varia- tions:— 3. Histoire des Juifs depids Jesus-Christ jusqiC 'a present (1706, 5 vols. 12mo, and 171G, in 15 vols. 12mo), a work of vast learning and research, which the Abbe Dupin reprinted anonymously at Paris, with great al- terations and mutilations. This caused Basnage to publish a work in vindication of his claim to the his- tory. There is an English translation by Taylor (Lond. 1708, fol.) made from the first edition : — 4. An? tiqui/es Judalques (as a supplement to the treatise of Cuneus) (1713, 2 vols. 8vo) : — 5. Dissertation historique sur les Duels et les Ordres de Chevalerie, a curious work, reprinted with the Histoire des Ordres de Chevalerie (1720, 8vo, 4 vols.):— G. La Communion Sainie (1C68, in 18mo). A seventh edition was published in 1708, with the addition of a book on the duties of those who do not communicate. This work was so much liked by others besides Protestants that it was printed at Rouen and Brussels, and used by Eomanists: — 7. His- toire de VAncien et du Kouveau Testament (Amst. 1705, 2 vols, fol.) ; often reprinted, and recommended by the Abbe Lenglet to readers of the Roman Communion. Basnage also reprinted in 1727 the great collection of Canisius, entitled Thesaurus Monumentorum Ecclesiasti- corum et Historicorum, and he wrote various other minor works. — Biog. Univ. iii, 493 ; Landon, Eccl. Diet, ii, 77.
5. Heniu (de Beaural), brother of Jacques, was born at Rouen, August 7, 1656, and followed the profes- sion of his father. On the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1687 he took refuse in Holland, and died there, March 29, 1710, aged 54 years. He wrote Traite de la Tolerance des Religions (1G84, 12mo), and edited E Histoire des Ouvrages des Savans, a widely-circulated journal, which was commenced in September, 1687, as a continuation of Bayle's Kourelles de la Republique eles Letlres, and terminated in June, 1709 ; it consists of 24 vols. 12mo. Basnage published in 1701 an im- proved edition of Furetiure*s Dieticnarg ; the Diction- naire de Trevoux (1704) is partly a reprint of this work, without mention of the name of either Furetiere or Basnage. — Hoefer, Biog. Generale, iv, 687-690.