PERONNE

      revealing a rich picture of this ancient town in Picardy, apparently assembled by members of the families of Dehaussy de Robecourt and Eudel, lawyers and administrators, and chosen to illustrate various aspects of life there and in the wider Bailliage of Peronne. The oldest are three leaves from the town!s records of 1460-1463, one concerned with placing a patient in the town!s leper hospital. 18th c. legal memoranda include a detailed inventory for probate and sale, with valuations, prices realised, buyers and their occupations; the case of a farmer against his son-in-law for theft of crops and equipment with violence; an order against a notary to maintain his natural son; applications to farm certain lands belonging to the Town!s hospital; a tax case, and a will. Other documents show how public office was regarded as a chattel that could be bequeathed, on suitable payments to the revenue, and how the government charged the holder for an increase in the office!s value. The pedigree of the new Marquis de Feuquieres includes an ancestor killed at Agincourt. On the eve of the revolution, the Three Estates are summoned to prepare their grievances and elect deputies to assemble at Versailles; the Jacobin Club of Paris sends a circular letter protesting at a move by Talleyrand and others, which had particular consequences for the clergy at Peronne; and Dehaussy has to get a 4-side identity document. The revolution also brought in equal inheritance by children. In family letters, M. Eudel describes how his attempt to help his brother-in-law to get round the new rule, and exactions by a revolutionary tribunal, all but caused his ruin. Other pieces include a travelling dentist!s advertisement (c. 1780), the setting up of a vaccination committee (1804), and a call-up notice to defend the town in 1870. Altogether the many names and family relations, and the legal and economic details, are a valuable source for the local historian, and may be followed up in Jules Dournel, Histoire General de Peronne (1879) and Les Mayeurs de Peronne: leurs familles et leurs descendants (1896), also Abbe Paul de Cagny, Histoire de l!Arrondissement de Peronne, 2 vols., 1869, which has a note on the measures of Peronne that occur in these documents. Together 30 items or groups of items, about 176 sides in various sizes, with a checklist, 1460 - 1895, CHECKLIST#11;1. 3 leaves from the minutes of the Mayor and Jures (sworn men, echevins) of Peronne:#11;1(a) Tuesday 8th July 1460. Present: Jean Pestel, licencie en droit, mayor (side 1, line 6). On proof that Jean de Cremollu, freeman of the town, son of Fursy, has contracted leprosy, he is assigned to the care of the brothers at the Maison de Sante, and is taken there the same day, accompanied by some friends via the barrier at the Porte Robin.#11;Jean Pestel, mayor 1458-1460, 1463-1465 and 1467-1470, led important negotiations with Louis XI, particularly in 1477 when the Somme towns, so long claimed by, or rented from, Burgundy, became indisputably French. Mentioned also: Simon de Herleville, prebend and chaplain at St Leduc (side 2, line 7).#11;1(b) Thursday 16th December 1462. #11;Present: Jean Desconchy, licencie en lois et en droit, mayor (side 3 line 16), and several named jures, including Roger le Boulanger, who also appears (side 4, line 8) in connection with some corn belonging to the town (side 4 line 6). #11;1(c) Tuesday 21st June 1463.#11;Present: Jean Desconchy, mayor (side 5, line 3), and several named jures. Actions taken following various requests.#11;Together 6 sides 12! x 8!!, 8th July 1460 - 21st June 1463, sides 5 & 6 have a tear mended with old paper without loss, also about ten lines lack a few letters at beginning or end.#11;Desconchy or de Conchy was elected mayor 12 times between 1450 and 1478.#11;2. Single leaf from the arrangements for the Sieur d!Happencourt to pay over certain rents to the damoiselles Marcelet and Dodaucourt (their married names) and their husbands, totalling 2397 livres 10s 4d, the first payment to be on 4th January 1646, and emphasising that the husbands will not be involved in the management of the properties. 2 sides vellum, 11!! x 7!!, [1645].#11;3. Group of 4 receipts for payment to the Revenue, by Conseillers-Secretaires du Roi, of successive increases in the value of their office, to be matched by an increase in salary from named taxes. The payment for 1698 is by J.-B. de la Feuille, the later ones by J.-B. Morgan. In 1698 la Feuille paid 12866 livres 13s 4d, borrowed from several men and women named on the document. Three are countersigned by Controleurs des Finances Louis Phelypeaux, Comte de Pontchartrain (1698), and Philibert Orry, Comte de Vignory (1731, 1745: he brought France!s road system to a high state of repair, and instituted the Paris Salon). Vellum, printed with manuscript additions, 8 sides folio or larger, Paris or Versailles, 1698, 1715, 1731 and 1745.#11;These legal posts in the Treasury were highly sought after and could be inherited or acquired from a predecessor on paying a !survivance! of 1500 livres to the revenue. #11;4. Group of documents transferring J.-B. Morgan!s office (see above) to Jean-Joseph Laborde.#11;(a) Power of attorney to make the transfer, signed by Morgan, Paris, 17th September 1756.#11;(b) Receipt by the treasurer of the Company of Conseillers-Secretaires for 1350 livres paid by Laborde (1200 membership, 150 to the Hopital General et Enfants Trouves), oblong folio, printed with manuscript additions, Paris, 1st December 1756.#11;(c) Receipt by the revenue for 1500 livres paid by Laborde for the right to pass on his office, vellum, oblong folio, Versailles, 11th December 1756.#11;(d) Right of Laborde to pass on his office, with many interesting details, Versailles, large folded vellum, 20th December 1756.#11;(e) Right of Laborde to practice as Conseiller-Secretaire at Bayonne, signed by the Mayor!s clerk, 2 sides folio, 17th April 1758.#11;The document mentions that Laborde, !born in Spain on the frontier!, had been naturalized French in 1749.#11;In two !liasses! with contemporary cover sheets, the items defective at the top, about a quarter of (d) is missing. [The second liasse also mentions Laborde!s actual !provisions! or letter of appointment with three endorsements, not present].#11;Together 6 sides, 1756-1758.#11;5. 2 Summonses to the Sieur [Dehaussy] de Robecourt, at the request of J.-B. Amelot, Receiver of Taxes, to appear before the Intendant at Arras the following Thursday, to account for capitations unpaid by (1) Sieur Devillers and (2) Sieurs Mallemain, Dournel and Maillart, which they say are in Robecourt!s hands, plus 2s per livre for costs, Amelot will !press his advantage! whether Robecourt is !present or absent!, signed by huissier Perceval, together 4 sides 7!! x 6!!, [Arras], Saturday 6th July 1709.#11;6. 6 sets of receipts and expenditure (four in summary form) for the Bailliage of Peronne in the neat hand of Fursy Jean Dehaussy (appointed Treasurer in May 1708), with clear introductions and explanations of overdue items, arranged under the headings of Augmentation de Gages (central funding), from 1710 to 21 March 1716 (2 sides), the rest, from 1708 to 29th November 1712, concern the office of Lieutenant-General d!Epee (held by the Sieur Eudel), the Augmentation de Gages, the office of Treasurer of the Common Purse, the dispute with the Count of Toulouse, and the Common Purse itself. These last two are particularly interesting. The dispute with Toulouse, son of Louis XIV and Admiral of France, was funded by Eudel (600 livres) and the Damoiselle Eleonnorre Eudel, widow of Charles Fournier (500 livres). Expenses include legal fees and sending the town!s charters to Paris. In the days when people paid to hold public office, the Purse received sums ranging from 6 livres for installing a huissier to 112 for a councillor such as Dehaussy, with 162 for the Lieutenant. Payments were made to the locksmith, fuel merchant, woodworker and plasterer for the Council Chamber. Other costs include printing, church services, and an express messenger to Amiens over their dispute with the Intendant. Each account is signed by Eudel, Dehaussy and the other seven councillors, to be retained by Dehaussy. Together 26 sides 11!! x 7!! including cover sheet, Peronne, 21 March 1716 and 29th November 1712.#11;7. Group of 5 documents about applications by husbandmen (!laboureurs!) to work portions of the 151 journaux 28 verges at Forest, Maurepas parish, belonging to the Hotel Dieu (hospital) of Peronne. With interesting details of the sizes, boundaries, rent offered in kind (measured in septiers of corn per journal per year) and money, plus a single payment as !pot de vin!, and of the discussions before the Mayor and Echevins leading to the successful application, with the applicants! and mayors! signatures, that of 16th June 1721 also records the announcements at Maurepas of the forthcoming auction. On 14 January 1732 there is a joint application by several families.#11;A journal of 100 square verges, Peronne measure, is about a British acre. A septier is 12 bushels, probably about 150 litres. Agreements were for nine years, and the new tenant had to repay the previous for seed and labour in the current season.#11;With many names, including surnames Lente (Lante), Thuilly, Le Dez, Colombier, Desfresnes, Boquart, Lecombe, Machoire, Berthot, Lanne, Hubert, Foucquet, Pillot and Tattegrain. 22 sides 10! x 7!!, Peronne, 5th July 1717, 26th April 1720, 16th June 1721, 14th January 1732, and 23rd May 1732.#11;8. Autograph note signed !Nogar!, asking the addressee !to remove from my inventory Marie Filieu wife of Louis Grain for the complete bed which he had bought in her name!, 1 side 7!! x 5!, Peronne, 7th July 1724.#11;9. Inventory of the belongings of Francois Vallincourt, merchant of Peronne !at the sign of St Martin!, deceased, with the estimates of their value and the prices at which they were sold, with the buyers! names and occupations. At the end is a detailed account of credits and debits on the estate. Drawn up by Nicolas Rousseau, Greffier, at the request of Robert Vallincourt & Thomas Hocquet, 32 sides 10! x 7!!, beginning on 30 August 1732. Somewhat worn with occasional loss.#11;With a multitude of local names. The prices realised are consistently a good deal higher than the estimates, for example (side 3, no. 14) !Item an old sabre with two poor swords, a powder horn and several pipes estimated at 20 sols sold and delivered for 33 sols to the said Grain!, other items were sometimes bought by the family, such as !a little musket! to Robert for 3 livres (no. 19).#11;10. Extract from the Register of Cases of the Election of Peronne, the Procureur du Roi against certain named defenders over taxes, recording the judgement on 28th November 1732, with further matters dated 1st December 1732 and 12th October 1733, signed by huissier Augustin Lacourt, 2 sides 9!! x 7!!, 1732-1733.#11;11. 2 bookplates from different plates but with the same coat of arms, one with the name in manuscript of Francois-de-Paul Barthelemi Jean Dehaussy, the other of M. B. Dehaussy de Robecourt (n.d.), 2 sides engraved surface 3!! x 3!!, 1750 and n.d.#11;12. Printed copy of Louis XV!s grant of the rank of Marquis and freedom from taxes to Antoine-Constant de Hamel-Bellanglise [Bellenglise], currently the last representative of Lupart, Sieur de Hamel & Bellenglise, Chatelain of Peronne in 1210, recalling the military services of his relations in the elder branches, now extinct, including Jean, killed at Agincourt, and his own, his father!s and his uncle!s, with two sons mousquetaires in the Garde ordinaire, woodblock pictorial heading and initial L, both with the arms of France, 3 sides 12!! x 8!, Versailles, November 1759, edges a little crumpled, short tears in folds without loss.#11;With much genealogical information.#11;13. Travelling Dentist!s advertisement, by !le Sieur Cazenove de la Faculte de Montpellier!, with a long list of preparations and cosmetics, on the back is a manuscript note addressed to the notaires and others of the Bailliage of Peronne ending !sentence given the 23rd!, right margin defective (words easily supplied, but affecting note on verso), printed, 1 side 7! x 8!, n.p., n.d., c. 1770.#11;14. Order by the Parlement of Paris in the case of the Appeal by Augustin Francois De L!Estrees, notary of Peronne, living at Fins, against sentence at Peronne of 22 March 1771 (whereby he was ordered to pay maintenance to Margueritte Mire for their natural son Adrien Joseph Louis De L!Estrees), that both parties be !put out of court!, in view of a !transaction! on 15th April 1771 between De L!Estrees! lawyer, Jean Marie Louis Ballu (who had power of attorney) and Margueritte Mire, agreeing sums of 250 livres on top of 250 livres already awarded, plus 25 livres every six months for 10 years, and her costs. The transaction, here copied in full, provided that either party might appeal against the original sentence, and in fact De L!Estrees had already so appealed on 26th March 1771. Margueritte Mire took the opportunity to apply for a larger sum, but on 1st July 1772 the Parlement ruled that the transaction must stand. #11;With notes by and signature of Dehaussy de Robecourt. 3 sides 11!! x 7!!, this copy c. 1772.#11;15. Long account by Dehaussy de Robecourt, of the attempts by Augustin Gruzon, !mulquinier! at Gueudecourt on land belonging to the Collegiate Church of St Fursy at Peronne, to obtain redress against his son-in-law Guillaume Cartel senior, daughter Marie Claire, and grandsons Guillaume junior (a farrier), Jean Jacques, and Honore Cartel, for acts going back to 1772, culminating in the theft with violence of crops, horses and plough in 1773. The case was transferred to the Crown at Peronne, where there were suitable prisons, at the request of the procureur of the jurisdiction of St Fursy. The Cartels suffered two heavy civil awards on 19th March 1774 (side 2, lines 4 & 7), followed by criminal sentences of banishment (2nd January 1775) from the Bailliage for six years. However, Guillaume senior simply went back to Gueudecourt.#11;In the hand of Dehaussy de Robecourt, who took over the case for the Crown, with two copy records in another hand (sides 1-3) dealing with Guillaume!s breach of the ban. 4 sides 9!! x 7! and 2 sides 9!! x 6!!, (Peronne), c. 1775.#11;With many names of witnesses, their occupations and ages.#11;16. 2 letters signed !Eudel! to Dehaussy de Robecourt, Avocat du Roi to the Bailliage of Peronne, the first about property in which they have a joint interest, he had well expected lower returns given the fall in the price of wheat last November, urging a quick sale of the property at Mortencourt, and asking him to send M. Preville in Paris 800 livres to be converted into a !rescription! on the dues on tobacco at Quimper, with detailed notes by Dehaussy on the actions he has taken, he has a buyer in mind for Mortencourt at a higher price, 2 sides 9!! x 7!!, from Pont au Buis (Finistere), postmarked !Quimper!, 7th May 1775, in the second he thanks him for news of their relations at Peronne, his elder two sons are at home learning mathematics and drawing, one preparing for !notre partie! (probably the customs service), the other to be a naval engineer, and suggesting a way of getting money transferred to him from Peronne, 2 sides 8!! x 6!! and conjugate address leaf, Rouen, 14th February, 1788.#11;17. Copy of the will of Jean Antoine Choquet, Seigneur de Courcelette, of rue des Chanoines, Peronne, dated 6th June 1768, with the codicil as dictated on 19th May 1777 to notary Louis Antoine Nicolas Vinchon, which added his cousins M. Dehaussy de Robecourt and Mme. Ducauroy in place of their late father and father!s brother, the copy made by and signed !Dehaussy!, 4 sides 10! x 6!!, Peronne, 14th June 1777.#11;The will provides generously for three domestic servants as well as the wife.#11;18. Licence for Theodore Blanchart, born 1758, to practise surgery at Marchelepot near Peronne, 16th November 1784, issued and signed by Daniel Jean Francois Brehou, lieutenant of the !premier chirurgien du Roy!, with an impressive list of Blanchart!s certificates in all branches of medicine, verified and signed on 18th Messidor An XI (7th July 1803) by sousprefet Malafolie, vellum, 2 sides 9!! x 14!!, Peronne, 16th November 1784, soiled on verso but can mostly be made out.#11;19. Autograph note signed !Dehaussy de Robecourt! to notary Le Febvre jeune, in Paris, asking him to pay Mlle de la Roque Coursel 17 livres 13s 3d, being part of the 20 livres interest p.a. due from a shoemaker in Peronne, explaining the deductions and saying how to find her, the writer will reimburse Le Febvre out of his present month!s salary, 1 side 4!! x 6!, n.p., 8th January 1788.#11;20. Ordonnance of Antoine-Adolphe de Seiglieres, Marquis de Feuquieres, as Bailli of Peronne, Montdidier & Roye, summoning the Three Estates of Clergy, Nobles and Commoners within the bailliage to assemble at Peronne on the 16th March 1789, the third estate to a preliminary assembly on the 9th March in order to reduce all their complaints to a single !cahier!, and to elect a quarter of their number to attend on the 16th, so as to debate and record !the needs of the State, the reform of abuses, the establishment of a fixed and lasting order in all parts of the administration, the general prosperity of the realm, and the good of each and every subject of the King!, with the aim of producing a single cahier, or at least one for each estate, and then to elect 2 clergy, 2 nobles and 4 commoners as deputies to the forthcoming assembly at Versailles, 8 sides 4to., printed at St Quentin, 21st February 1789.#11;The first summoning since 1612 of the Three Estates, on the eve of the Revolution. Many politicians (including Talleyrand, Bishop of Autun) rose to prominence by presenting their local cahiers at Versailles. This copy is signed !Ballu de Mont-joie!, (Mayor, 1790), as Greffier (chief clerk) of the bailliage.#11;21. Circular letter of the Jacobin Club of Paris to its network all over France, protesting at the action of certain !petitioners! (including Talleyrand, see p. 3) who have called for the royal veto against the lawful decree of the National Assembly, which had been designed !to put an end to the religious troubles!, and fearing civil war if the wish of the Assembly under the monarch can be overturned so lightly. At the end are the names !Max. Isnard, depute a l!Assemble nationale, president! and other Jacobins, and a note that !this extract! is to be appended to !M. Robespierre!s address!. Apparently the Assembly had simply wished to restrain certain independent-minded priests by an oath of loyalty, while the petitioners wanted them exiled. Printed, 10 sides 8vo, Paris, [December] 1791.#11;At Peronne the parish clergy took the oath to the new Constitution on 23 January 1791 but most retracted the following March. As a result the parish churches were closed and the congregations became attached to the former collegiate church of St Fursy.#11;22. Certificate of residence and identity, with physical appearance, of Jean de Dieu Barthelemi Dehaussy, born 29th November 1728, who has always lived in the Place du Marche aux Herbes at Peronne, with the names and occupations of nine prominent citizens who have vouched for him, signed Charlard by the secretary of the Canton of Peronne, his signature confirmed by Cadot, 4 sides 7!! x 9!!, 23rd Fructidor An V (9th September 1797), wear in upper portion touching three letters.#11;23. Document setting up a Central Vaccination Committee for the arrondissement of Peronne, who will in turn set up local committees in each canton, naming the members headed by Dehaussy-Robecourt (president of the tribunal), Rabache Duquenoy, Mayor, the administrators of the hospital, councillors, lawyers, the local schoolmaster and the cure, !neglecting nothing to support the fatherly view of the Government ... the good of humanity and the increase of the populaton!, signed by sousprefet Malafolie, 2 sides 13! x 9!, Peronne, 16th Thermidor An XII (4th August 1804), a little worn at top without loss.#11;24. Specification, unsigned, for a caleche (open carriage), addressed to master coachmaker Raffard, rue St. Florentin, Paris, new or second hand, to seat four comfortably, with leather curtains, lanterns, !a fine varnish! in green, yellow or cerise, to clear at least 54 inches above the wheels, with a !vache! (luggage boot) which must weigh at most 28 or 30 pounds, for which !a little trunk! could be made, !a good town and country Berlin! would suit if no caleche can be found, 2 sides 8!! x 6!!, n.p., August 1812.#11;25. Letter to the Mayor of Peronne from the Colonel Commandant of the Departement of the Somme, requesting a passport for Lieutenant Francisco Torregrosa, Spanish prisoner of war, who has been given permission to visit Chalons sur Marne, 1 side 9!! x 7!!, Amiens, 24th November 1812, v-shaped tear in top holding without loss.#11;26. Group of 3 letters from Joseph Theodore Eudel, (d. 1850, Director of Customs, Cherbourg), to his nephew, son of his sister Mme Arbellot, about advancing the nephew!s career, Arbellot has been a !verificateur! in the customs at Bremen and is now with the same rank at head office in Paris, commiserating over his misfortunes, however with conscription continuing new vacancies may occur (16th December 1813), he urges Arbellot to see M. De la Pierre in Paris to whom Eudel has proposed 6 new posts in Manche and Calvados, and to act !with spirit, moderation & address! (25th January 1814), congratulating him on settling in at Calais, talking of his daughter Zoe!s marriage to Michel Cousin Despreaux, a rich businessman !d!un caractere precieux pour une femme!, regretting the coolness between !my brother and your Father and Mother!, urging Arbellot to do anything he can to overcome it, also to improve certain turns of phrase which can be out of place in a family, and reassuring him !that all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds! (28th January 1823), together 6 sides 4to or 8vo and address leaves, 1813-1823.#11;27. Autograph copy letter signed !Eudel! in the same hand as those of 1775 and 1788 above, but much shakier, to his brothers, saying he has wanted for many years to explain his own reduced circumstances and the terms of his own will. His brother-in-law Arbellot had been the main beneficiary of Arbellot senior!s will, as was allowed by local custom. When the revolution decreed that all children should share equally, with retrospective effect, the husbands of Arbellot!s three married sisters began to threaten him, so Arbellot followed his late father!s advice and put his estate of La Gasnes in Eudel!s name, with Eudel leaving it in his will back to Arbellot or his heirs. Both had other troubles over this period. Eudel was forced to lend 30,000 francs by a revolutionary court at Limoges, lost his official position almost as soon as he had bought it, made to overstock with tobacco, and the assignats from the sale of his house in Peronne were now worthless. He has in fact survived only with help from Arbellot and one of his sisters. !If you had been in my place, you would have done the same!. 4 sides 9!! x 7!!, Bellac, Haute-Vienne, 17th July 1817.#11;28. Leaf from the mayor!s register of births, describing two foundlings left at the hospital, a boy apparently new-born, and a girl about a month old, and the clothes in which they were found, signed !Seret! from the hospital, also !Ed. Herein!, mayor, who registered them as !Alexandre Damase! and !Sophie Constance!, with on the verso two further registrations (one incomplete at end), of children born the previous day, 2 sides 9!! x 7!, Peronne, n.d. and 12th-14th December 1820, defective in inner margin with loss of several words.#11;29. Printed leaflet from the Council for the Recensement [list of those liable for service] of the National Guard of Peronne, saying the recipient should consult the list (name not filled in), Peronne, 1 side 8!! x 5!!, 22nd August 1870.#11;Peronne was besieged and heavily bombarded from 27th December 1870 - 9th January 1871.#11;30. Document signed by A. Quantin as publisher of the illustrated monthly Le Monde Moderne, stating the right of Paul Eudel, who has received 250 francs for the text and music of Une Nuit Blanche, to publish or translate it after 6 months, lithographed with manuscript additions, 10!! x 8!!, Paris, 31st May 1895, margins a little crumpled and torn, touching signature without loss.