PÉRONNE

on the Somme, 30 miles east of Amiens) Interesting and varied Archive of papers in French,

      - revealing a rich picture of this ancient town in Picardy, apparently assembled by members of the families of Dehaussy de Robécourt and Eudel, lawyers and administrators, and chosen to illustrate various aspects of life there and in the wider Bailliage of Péronne. 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 Feuquières 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 Péronne; 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 Général de Péronne (1879) and Les Mayeurs de Péronne: leurs familles et leurs descendants (1896), also Abbé Paul de Cagny, Histoire de l’Arrondissement de Péronne, 2 vols., 1869, which has a note on the measures of Péronne that occur in these documents. Together 30 items or groups of items, about 176 sides in various sizes, with a checklist, 1460 - 1895, CHECKLIST 1. 3 leaves from the minutes of the Mayor and Jurés (sworn men, échevins) of Péronne: 1(a) Tuesday 8th July 1460. Present: Jean Pestel, licencié 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 Santé, and is taken there the same day, accompanied by some friends via the barrier at the Porte Robin. 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). 1(b) Thursday 16th December 1462. Present: Jean Desconchy, licencié en lois et en droit, mayor (side 3 line 16), and several named jurés, including Roger le Boulanger, who also appears (side 4, line 8) in connection with some corn belonging to the town (side 4 line 6). 1(c) Tuesday 21st June 1463. Present: Jean Desconchy, mayor (side 5, line 3), and several named jurés. Actions taken following various requests. Together 6 sides 12" x 8¾", 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. Desconchy or de Conchy was elected mayor 12 times between 1450 and 1478. 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 [Attributes: Soft Cover]