TILLEMONT, SEBASTIAN LE NAIN DE, the well-known ecclesiastical historian, was born at Paris, Nov. 30, 1637. His father was Jean le Nam, who held the office of Maitre des Requetes, the title, De Tillemont, by which the historian is commonly known, derived from a small estate near Vincennes, which belonged to his family. He was edu cated at Port Royal, where he early imbibed those serious and rigorous views of the• spiritual life which characterized the members of that celebrated society. His theologi cal studies were marked from the first by a spirit of inquiry into the writings of the• fathers; and he is said to have begun as a student those analyses of the works of the fathers, especially of the apostolic fathers, which form the staple of the early volumes of his history. Naturally of a timidly scrupulous disposition, he hesitated long about the choice of a profession; but after various changes of life, he at last received sub deacon's orders in 1672, being then 35. He deferred his ordination as deacon- till the end of 1673; nor was it till 1676 that he was ordained a priest, mainly at the persuasion of his friend, Le Maistre de Sacy, who had long been his spiritual adviser, and with whose attachment to the Jansenistic principles he sympathized at least to a certain extent. In 1679, Tillemont took up his residence at his family estate of Tillemont, where he re sided till 1681. In that year he made a visit to Holland and the low countries, for the purpose of visiting Arnauld and the other Jansenist refugees. He was induced, in the following year, to undertake a parochial charge—that of St. Lambert; but he held it only for a short time.
During these years, he had steadily pursued the historical studies which he had com menced almost during his school-days; and he had now prepared the first portion of his long-projected work on the history of the church. He was induced, on the very eve of printing, to change the plan of the work. In order to avoid the opposition of the• censor, to whom, as a theological work, it would have been necessary to submit it in its first form, and whose suspicions were aroused by the known 'association of Tillemont with the Jansenist party, Tillemont separated from the church history the history of the emperors, which he was enabled to print as a distinct work, without referring it to the censorship, under the title Histoire des Empereurs (6 vols. 4to, 1690). The success of this
work disarmed the opposition of the church authorities. The hostile censor was replaced by a less exacting one; and eventually, in 1693, the first volume of the church history appeared under the title Memoires pour servir Htstoire Eeelesiastique des six Premiers Sieeles (16 vols. 4to). Neither of these works, however, was completed during the author's lifetime. Qnly 4 out of the 6 volumes of the Emperors, and 4 out of the 16 of the Histoire Ecelesiastique, were printed under his own care. The remaining volumes were completed. by him, but did not appear till after his death. The Emperors comprises all the reigns from Augustus to Anastasius (518); the Histoire Eceasiastique comes down to about the same period. The plan of both is very much the same, being in great part a compilation. of the original writers, as far as possible in their own words, but arranged with great. skill and judgment, and linked together by such explanations and such a chain of ear rative (within brackets) as is necessary to render them intelligible, and to carry on the course of events in a connected recital. Both these works have maintained, even to this day, their reputation for learning and impartiality; and even in the acrimonious contest of the 17th c., there was but little impeachment of Tillemont's orthodoxy, so far as the histories are concerned. His other writings, left in manuscript, were for the most part used as materials by later compilers Some of his letters have been appended to his Life, published by his friend Tronchet, canon of Laval (Cologne, 1711). Tillemont died at Paris, Jan. 10, 1693, having just entered upon his 61st year. The extent and accuracy of his erudition are still freely acknowledged, and his authorities have supplied the materials of most of the church histories compiled since his time.