BLONDEL, David, a Protestant clergyman, distinguished by his proficiency in ecclesiastical and civil history, was born at Chalons-sur-Marne in 1591, and died in 1665. In 1650 he succeeded G. J. Vossius in the professorship of history at Amsterdam. His works were very numerous, and were remarkable even at that period for obscurity of style. The most celebrated of them was the dissertation on Pope Joan, in which he came to the conclusion that the whole story was a mere myth. Considerable Protestant indignation was excited against him on account of this book.