Ancillon studied law at Marburg, Geneva and Paris, where he was called to the bar. At the request of the Huguenots at Metz, he pleaded its cause at the court of King Louis XIV, urging that it should be excepted in the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, but his efforts were unsuccessful, and he joined his father in Berlin. He was at once appointed by Elector Frederick III "juge et directeur de colonie de Berlin." He also became the first headmaster of Französisches Gymnasium Berlin. Before this, he had published several works on the revocation of the Edict of Nantes and its consequences, but his literary capacity was mediocre, his style stiff and cold, and it was his personal character rather than his reputation as a writer that earned him the confidence of the elector.
Ancillon studied law at Marburg, Geneva and Paris, where he was called to the bar. At the request of the Huguenots at Metz, he pleaded its cause at the court of King Louis XIV, urging that it should be excepted in the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, but his efforts were unsuccessful, and he joined his father in Berlin. He was at once appointed by Elector Frederick III "juge et directeur de colonie de Berlin" He also became the first headmaster of Französisches Gymnasium Berlin. Before this, he had published several works on the revocation of the Edict of Nantes and its consequences, but his literary capacity was mediocre, his style stiff and cold, and it was his personal character rather than his reputation as a writer that earned him the confidence of the elector.