ANQUETIL

anquetil, louis pierre (1723-1808), french historian, was born in paris, on the 21st of february 1723. he entered the congregation of sainte-genevieve, where he took holy orders and became professor of theology and literature. later, he became director of the seminary at reims, where he wrote his _histoire civile et politique de reims_ (3 vols., 1756-1757), perhaps his best work. he was then director of the college of senlis, where he composed his _esprit de la ligue ou histoire politique des troubles de la fronde pendant le xvi^e et le xvii^e siecles_ (1767). during the reign of terror he was imprisoned at st lazare; there he began his _precis de l'histoire universelle_, afterwards published in nine volumes. on the establishment of the national institute he was elected a member of the second group (moral and political sciences), and was soon afterwards employed in the office of the ministry of foreign affairs, profiting by his experience to write his _motifs des guerres et des traites de paix sous louis xiv., louis