Basnage was Pastor in Rouen; he was exiled in Holland after revocation of Edict of Nantes (1685)and aided diplomatically in arranging the Triple Alliance at The Hague (1717).

A work, incorporating Basnage’s earlier Histoire de la religion des églises réformées (1690), in which he argued against Bossuet’s attack on Protestantism in Histoire des variations des églises protestantes (1688).

Basnage was a French Protestant theologian and historian who was exiled to Holland after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685). From 1715 he helped in the negotiations which lead to the treaty of the triple alliance of 1717.

Basnage was a close friend of Bayle. Like Bayle, Basnage sought to defend Spinoza. In writing the Histoire Basnage spoke to people who knew Spinoza, including a rabbi, probably Isaac Aboab, who had read out Spinoza’s excommunication sentence in 1656. An English translation appeared in 1708

Written after Basnage was appointed Dutch historiographer.

Basnage wrote the Instructions after accepting to help the French government to deal with the prospect of a Protestant revolt. Basnage was never able, though, to use his influence with the government to obtain relief for the Protestants.