Background
He was son of the scholar Christophe Justel.
He was son of the scholar Christophe Justel.
He is known also as Henry Justel and Henricus Justellus. He acted as a secretary to Louis XIV. He emigrated to England, where he became a royal librarian at Saint James"s Palace, continuing to serve under William III.
As a well-connected intellectual and savant, he corresponded with John Locke, with Robert Boyle, Edmond Halley and Henry Oldenburg of the Royal Society, and with Gottfried Leibniz and Antoine Arnauld. He knew John Evelyn also, and appears in his Diary.
He knew Melchisédech Thévenot, the traveller and like-minded friend, and made a Recueil or collection of travels.
He also ran a small "academy", or intellectual club These connections included Catholic churchmen, such as Daniel Huet and Richard Simon.
Royal Society]
He was one of the central members of the République des Lettres, as his friend Pierre Bayle called it, of the later seventeenth century.
