Daillon of France

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Renia

Daillon of France

Legg inn av Renia » 02 apr 2006 16:23:06

I posted this before with reference to the meanings of family and
kinship in France. However, there is quite a bit of genealogical
information here for anyone interested in this family.

Re-post.

All this talk of kinfolk has sent me to my copy of Flandrin's "Families
in Former Times" which sheds a little light on medieval French kinship.
Flandrin is quoting Montaigne in his "Essays", in the chapter entitled
"Of names":

QUOTE
It is a wretched custom, and with most injurious consequences in our
land of France, to call each person by the name of his estate, and it is
the usage that most leads to confusion between different races. The
younger son of a good house, having had as his appanage a piece of land
under tha neme of which he has been known and honoured, cannot
honourable abandon it; ten years after his death, the land passes into
the hands of a stranger, who follows the same usage: you may well guess
how confused we become when we try to ascertain the origin of these men."
ENDQUOTE

(By 'race', Flandrin has already explained that this was used to mean a
patronymic surname. Henri II had used it with regard to a maid of honour
of Catherine de Medici, but it was not customary at the time.)

Flandrin also quotes Brantome in a genealogical passage to illustrate
how the different terms were used:

QUOTE
Monsieur le Comte du Lude of today is the son of that gallant Guy de
Daillon, whose father and my mother were first cousins, both being
descended from Louise de Daillon, known as the Seneschalle of Poictou,
my grandmother, who as the aunt of M. du Lude, first cousin of my
aforesaid mother ... From the said M. du Lude, Guy de Daillon, and
Madame du Lude, of the house of La Fayette, there issued the present M.
du Lude and three daughters ... M. du Lude (Jean de Daillon) had several
sons and daughters. The sons were Messieurs des Chastelliers..., de
Sarterre and de Briancon, who died without issue. The daughters were
Mademoiselle du Lude, who died unmarried at Court, Madame la Marechale
de Matignon, whose son was Monsieur le Comte de Torigny, married to a
daughter of Longueville, and the third daughter was married to Monsieur
de Ruffec, Governor of the Angoumois, and their sons were the Messieurs
de Ruffec of today, who are four male offspring ...
ENDQUOTE

The 'race' explains Flandrin, was the patronymic or family name,
Daillon, used in most instances, above. But the name of the 'paternal
house' was used for the unmarried daughters, such as Mademoiselle du
Lude, and in denoting the 'public matrimonial alliance' between houses:
Madame du Lude of the house of La Fayette, and Monsieur le Comte de
Torigny married to a daughter of Longueville. In other words, says
Flandrin, "the sons used this name only during their childhood . . .
When they grew older, the eldest son oonce again took the name of the
paternal house, whereas the younger sons customarily took the names of
their estates: thus, one speaks of the 'Messieurs des Chastelliers...,
de Sarterr and de Briancon'. All three continued to belong to the 'race'
of the Daillons, but they no longer belonged to the 'du Lude house'."

This custom also existed in Spain and the higher nobility of certain
other countries, according to Montaigne. It was also in use among the
poorest peasants in many parts of the south-west, says Flandrin.
Flandrin quotes Pierre de Lancre from the beginning of the 17th century:

QUOTE
the most beggarly men and women in the villages style themselves lord or
lady of such-and-such a house, and these are the houses that each one
has in his village, even though they be no more than pigsties ... to
such an extent that they usually abondon their 'cognomen' and the name
of their families, and the women even abandon the name of their
husbands, to take the names of their houses...
ENDQUOTE

Quite a minefield for French genealogists, it appears.

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