Protestant Exiles from France/Volume 2 - Book Third - Chapter 12 - Section XIII

by David Carnegie Andrew Agnew

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Lussan.

Among “Oxford Writers,” arranged “under their respective colleges,” who were alive in 1695, Anthony has noticed “John Henry Lusan, son of Henry.” The true surname is Lussan.^[1] Among the naturalizations on 4th April 1685, we find “John Henry Lussan” (see List xi.) The grandparents of this refugee were Jean de Lussan, apothecary at Orthez, and Jeanne de la Place, his wife. The father was Henri de Lussan of Paris, apothecary to the king for the Artillery, who married in 1653, Jeanne, daughter of the recently deceased Charenton pasteur, Edme Aubertin. The refugee, “born within the city of Paris, left his native country upon account of religion.” He obtained admission to Oxford University as a poor student or servitor in Pembroke College, “in 1687, aged seventeen years or more” (says Anthony a Wood; I conjecture that the year was 1684); he afterwards became a clerk of All-Soul’s College. He took the degree of B.A.; the dates are in some confusion; but perhaps it was in 1687 that he took his degree. As B.A. he was made Chaplain of New College; he obtained leave of absence to become tutor to a young Welsh gentleman of the name of Morgan. As a writer, he is known only by his translation of Abbadie’s great work on the Christian religion. This translation was published in London in 1694, dedicated to Dr. Henry Beeston, Warden of New College, Oxford. From the title-page we are unable to learn whether the refugee changed the spelling of his name; the title is, “A Vindication of the Truth of Christian Religion against the objections of all modern opposers, &c, &c, Render’d into English by H. L.” He is again met with in the year 1704, as the translator of Abbadis on the Divinity of Jesus Christ, published in London.

1. The surname had a local or territorial origin. Gabriel d’Audibert, Seigneur de Lussan, was an efficient military officer among the Huguenots between 1562 and 1595. There was a chateau of Lussan. The family was connected by marriage with the families of Barjac, Du Roure, and Vignolles. The head of the Du Roures, whose Christian name was Samson, had no son; but his daughter Madelaine was the wife of Charles d’Audibert de Lussan. Another daughter, Marthe, was married in 1684 to Charles de Vignolles, Seigneur de Prades.