Jaques II De la Fontaine (1549-1633)
1549--1633 (man)
Birth: abt. 1549 in Rochelle, Maine, France
Death: 1633 in Rochelle, Maine, France
During the attack and murder of the parents and elder brother Jacques son led his younger siblings to Rochelle, a protestant stronghold on the coast, where a shoemaker took them in.
Jaques was taught how to mend and make shoes, by the shoemaker. He was able to support himself, and his siblings on his meager wages, but soon was able to establish his own business, in which he prosperred. He married in the early part of 1603 and his first son Jacques III was born the same year.
When he died in 1633 he left his family 9000 livres, which was considered a sizable fortune. He was born about 1547 or 1549.
First wife unknown. She died in Rochelle, France. After his wife's untimely death, Jacques remarried. His wife, apparently in order to inherit his fortune, tried to poison him. Prompt medical attention saved his life. In spite of Jacques' efforts to hush up the poison attempt, his wife was tried and condemned to death by hanging. Upon learning that King Henry IV was visiting at la Rochelle, Jacques applied to him for a pardon for his wife.King Henry IV "wanting to judge from the man's appearance whether there was an excuse for the wife's act", demanded that Jacques appear before him. When he saw him, he shouted, "Let her be hanged, let her be hanged. He is the handsomest man in my Kingdom". (Compiled from "Memoirs of a Huguenot Family", Chart of the Fontaine and Maury Families," and other sources. A partial list of the Descendants of John De La Fontaine. Historical Memoranda Of The Family In France, England and Ireland from "The Missouri Fountains And Their Descendants" written by Vida Leola Vance 1967. (Pages 6-7))
Religious and historical background :
Beginning in the early 16th century, the Protestant Movement, influenced by Calvin and Martin Luther, spread rapidly throughout western Europe. France, a predominantly Catholic nation, was also heavily influenced by this movement. Initially, Francis I, the King of France, granted religious and political toleration to this group of religious dissenters because it was both politically and economically expedient. But at this time, France and Spain were the traditional bastions of Catholic influence in western Europe.
As a result, Francis reversed his policy of religious toleration and engaged in a policy of harassment and violent persecution beginning in 1534 when Francis outlawed the Protestant faith in France.
These persecutions had a severe backlash which thrust France into a bloody civil war of Protestants vs. Catholics. The persecutions and bloodshed only added fuel to the Protestant movement and its resolve to survive as an underground movement which continued under all four of Francis’ Catholic successors. Gradually, the movement gained enough strength to re-surface and directly challenge the Catholic influence beginning with a 30-year long civil war beginning in 1562. The low point of this violence occurred with the slaughter of thousands of Protestant men, women, and children during the infamous Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre (1572).
By the very late 16th century, the Huguenots would receive a temporary reprieve when Henry of Navarre, a Protestant, ascended the French throne because the last French king failed to produce a male heir. In 1598, Henry granted religious toleration to the Huguenots in the Edict of Nantes. But this reprieve was extremely short-lived. Henry was assassinated in 1610 by Catholic nobles who brought in another heir, Louis XIII (1610-1643), another Catholic.
(see http://www.fontainemaurysociety.org/hughistory.html)
Backgrund of La Rochelle, a protestant city:
The town, accustomed to independance, welcomed naturally the new ideas of the reform. The citizens opted for the reforming cause on the night of the 9th january 1568 as the same protestant coup d'Etat. The city won for itself the status of a free town from 1590 to 1620 flourished both economically and culturally.
(see http://www.larochelle-tourisme.com/index.php?id_site=2&id_page=149)
Barn:
JACQUES III DE LA FOUNTAINE, b. 1603; d. 1666.
CHILD (daughter) DE LA FONTAINE, m. X BOUQUET.
CHILD( son or daughter?) DE LA FONTAINE, m. X REAUD. | |
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