Pierre Bayle

Pierre Bayle was a French philosopher and writer best known for his seminal work the Historical and Critical Dictionary, published beginning in 1697.

Bayle was born at CarlaleComte , near Pamiers, Arige, France. He was educated by his father, a Calvinist minister, and at an academy at Puylaurens. He afterwards entered a Jesuit college at Toulouse, and became a Roman Catholic a month later . After seventeen months, he returned to Calvinism and fled to Geneva.

Source: Wikipedia