JOHN, native of Angiers, one of the ablest men in France in the 16th century, famous for his Method of History, his Republic, and other works. He was in great favour with Henry III. who imprisoned John de Serre for writing an injurious piece against Bodin, and forbade him upon pain of death to publish it. But his favour was not of long continuance. The duke of Alençon, however, gave him several employments; and carried him to England with him as one of his counsellors, where he had the pleasure and glory to see his books de Republica read publicly in the university of Cambridge, having been translated into Latin by the English. He had written them in French. In the Ragguglio of Boccalini he is condemned as an atheist to the fire, for having said in his books that liberty of conscience ought to be granted to sectaries. He declared himself pretty freely against those who asserted that the authority of monarchs is unlimited; but yet he displeased the republicans. Upon the death of the duke of Alençon, Bodin retired to Laon, where he married. He had an office in the presidial of this city; and in Charles IX.'s time he was the king's solicitor, with a commission for the forests of Normandy. He died of the plague at Laon, in 1596.