ANCILLON, CHARLES (1659--1715), one of a distinguished family
of French Protestants, was born on the 28th of July 1659, at
Metz. His father, David Ancillon (1617-1692), was obliged
to leave
France on the revocation of the [Edict of Nantes]
?,
and became pastor of the French Protestant community in
Berlin. Charles Ancillon studied law at Marburg, Geneva, and
Paris, where he was called to the bar. At the request of the
Huguenots at Metz, he pleaded its cause at the court of Louis
XIV, urging that it should be excepted in the revocation of
the edict of Nantes, but his efforts were unsuccessful, and
he joined his father in Berlin. He was at once appointed
by the elector Frederick "juge et directeur de colonic
de Berlin." He had before this published several works on
the revocation of the edict of Nantes and its consequences,
but his literary capacity was mediocre, his style stiff and
cold, and it was his personal character rather than his
reputation as a writer that earned him the confidence of the
elector. In 1687 he was appointed head of the so-called
Academie des nobles, the principal educational establishment
of the state; later on, as councillor of embassy, he took
part in the negotiations which led to the assumption of
the title of king by the elector. In 1699 he succeeded
Pufendorf as historiographer to the elector, and the same
year replaced his uncle Joseph Ancillon as judge of all the
French refugees in Brandenburg. He died on the 5th of July
1715. Ancillon's chief claim to remembrance is the work
that he did for education in Prussia, and the share he took,
in co-operation with Leibnitz, in founding the Academy of
Berlin. Of his fairly numerous works the only one still
of value is the ''Histoire de l'etablissement des Francais
refugies dans les etats de Brandebourg'' (Berlin, 1690).
Initial text from 1911 encyclopedia -- Please update as needed