I.

Introduction

Pierre Bayle (1647-1706), French philosopher, religious polemicist, critic, and scholar. He was the author of the most widely read work of the 18th century, the Dictionnaire historique et critique (Historical and Critical Dictionary). Whether in the way Bayle intended or not, this work provided many of the arguments driving philosophical and political thought over the next century, with the result that Bayle eventually became known as the “arsenal of the Enlightenment”.