Charles Ancillon

Born in Metz on July 28, 1659, into a prominent Protestant family, he studied law at Marburg, Geneva, and Paris and was called to the bar. After the pressures that followed the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, his family became part of the Huguenot exile community, and he went on to build his career in Berlin.

In Brandenburg-Prussia, he served in important legal and public roles and became a spokesman for French Protestant refugees. He is especially remembered for writing about the settlement of those refugees in the lands of the Elector of Brandenburg, helping preserve a firsthand account of exile, migration, and community-building.

Alongside his public service, he wrote historical and legal works, giving his books a mix of practical knowledge and intellectual curiosity. He died in Berlin on July 5, 1715, leaving behind a record of how refugee scholars and officials shaped the cultural life of early modern Europe.