Family of ANTOINE * DE L'AIGLE - Lord de la Montagne First Generation 1. ANTOINE * DE L'AIGLE Lord de la Montagne was born about 1450. History of Saintonge The name of Saintonge comes from Latin Santonia, which was used to designate the area inhabited by the tribe of Santones. Their capital city, Mediolanum Santonum, now Saintes, was an important city in the Roman times. The amphitheater and the votive arch, built on the bridge over the river Charente in year 19 by Caius Julius Rufus as a tribute to Germanicus, Tiber and Drusus, are the most important remains of the Roman city. The city was still important when the Roman Empire collapsed, and was celebrated by the local poet Ausonius (c. 310 - c. 395), appointed count and consul by emperor Gratian. In the Middle Ages, Saintonge had no specific administrative status. The area was divided in small domains for which the count of Poitou and the duke of Aquitaine competed. In the XIII-XIVth centuries, the north of Saintonge was part of the Capetian royal domain, whereas the south was part of the Plantagenet Anglo-Normand kingdom. In 1204, Saintonge was among John Lackland's domains which were confiscated by king of France Phillipe-Auguste, who could keep only the Upper Saintonge. In 1259, Louis IX (St. Louis) ceded to king of England Henry III the duchy of Guyenne, which included Saintonge. In 1360, by the treaty of Brétigny, Saintonge was incorporated with Aquitaine, Aunis and Angoumois to the kingdom of England. Reconquered by constable Duguesclin in 1371, Saintonge was definitively incorporated to the kingdom of France by Charles V in 1375. Description of the flag of Saintonge The banner of arms of Saintonge is (GASO): D'azur à la mitre d'argent accompagnée de trois fleurs de lys d'or In English (Brian Timms): Azure a bishop's mitre argent between three fleurs de lys or two in chief and one in base The mitre refers to St. Eutrope, first bishop of Saintes and apostle of Saintonge, martyrized in the IIIrd century. Saintes was later an important stopping place on the pilgrim road to Santiago. In 1047, Agnès de Bourgogne, the wife of Geoffroy Martel, count of Anjou and suzereign of Saintes, funded the St. Mary's abbey, aka abbaye aux dames. This Benedcitine abbey was ruled by members of the French noble families, who were given the title of Madame de Saintes. The St. Eutrope's church, built in the XIth century, was made of two superposed churchs, the upper church being for the monks and the lower church the parish church. King of France Louis XI revered the saint as Monsieur de Saint-Eutrope, because he had cured his dropsy, and offered a new bell tower to the church. CASTLE DE L'AIGLE, built 1026. Restored as Chateau de l'Aigle about 1439. Rebuilt about 1660 . One wing suffered damage from enemy action during World War II (1943) and that portion was restored. Fulbert de Beine had the first charter; found eagle's nest in oak, hence the name. (notes from back of photo) THE EARLY DE L'AIGLES: DOCUMENT: According to a letter written by M. Robert Breuillard, March 31, 1995, who had journeyed in February of that same year to Charente and the Charente-Maritime provinces, the original SEIGNEURIES of the De l'Aigle family: "The fief of "La Montagne" is located in Saint-Ciers-Champagne, a little town in the Charente-Maritime province. 3 March 2007 Page 1 It was a fortified farm. It is still existing and used, but very badly kept up and filthy. I came to the waterlogged farmyard by car, the rain had been falling continously for two months, and when I got (out) I sank ankle deep into a mixture of ground and cow dung. ..... "I also went to Berneuil (Berneuil-en-Barbezieux), a little town in Charente, where the fief of "La Grange" or "Les Granges" was situated, this was the property of Jean De l'Aigle, second brother of Jacques, our ancestor, who settled in Haute Marne and became lord of Champ-Gerbault. "Jean and his descendants have been living there from roughly 1600 to about 1770. It has been impossible to find the place, the city hall was closed, and the residents were barrricaded in their houses to protect themselves against the torrential rain. The only fine place I saw is Meux castle, which was the residence of the lord of Meux allied to the De l'Aigle family during the 15th Century. Unfortunately, it can be visited during the summer months only." * ROBERT BREUILLARD was kind enough to correspond with the family, and to do research in France. He was a descendant, and stated that they (he) kept up four family grave sites in France. There are more quotes regarding his correspondence in later entries. --------------------------- NOTES ON CHARENTE-MARITIME: The department of the Charente-Maritime has a frontage of almost 200 km on the Atlantic coast. Most of the department makes up of successions of hills and valleys, modelled on the synclinal one of Holy and the anticline of Fonzac. The Champagnes extend from the estuary of the Gironde towards the east, the Netherlands of the valleys of Charente, the country of Matha. The moor saintongeaise, wooded and cut marshy small valleys, occupies the south of the territory. The littoral charentais, whose islands of Oléron, D and Aix constitute the projections, is made of a succession of "convexities" and "depressions": wet "and desiccated marshes"; broad basins of the estuary of Charente, Seudre and the peninsula of Arvert, marsh in the course of draining of the estuary of the Gironde. The economy of the area was from time immemorial confused with the exploitation of the natural resources: agriculture and products of the sea. The vine of Champagnes is devoted exclusively to the development of the cognac, famous as of the 16th century. NOTES ON BERNEUIL: Sup. 1,629 hect. 93 ares; pop. 961 hab. - Occupied by chalk white. - Altit. 146m With Berneuil. ( H. Coquand , 1862). - 788 hab ( Adolphe Joanne , 1883). ---------------------------------------------- Bernolium 1271 (Cart. Barb.). * Brennoialos , "clairièrede Brennus", Gallic name, V Dauzat, 99. "- ialo -" is a term of place name meaning "discovered space", "clearing". ( Jean Talbert , 1928) V. Biblio ---------------------------------------------- - Very beautiful church of XII E century. ---------------------------------------------- As I understand it, Guillaume de l'Aigle who was Knight Templar was in the 1200's... I think. This Guillaume de l'Aigle is mentioned in the year 1400, and guess who he's with.... the Lorraines. The passage, with its rough translation, reads: http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://jonvelle.free.fr/histoire2.htm&sa=X&oi=translate&resn um=6&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3D%2522Guillaume%2Bde%2Bl%2527Aigle%2522%26hl%3Den%26lr%3 D%26sa%3DG Ten years later, the lords of Trémouille were in front of Nicopolis, against Bajazet, with the elite of the nobility of France and Burgundy. Betrayed by the escape of the Hungarians, crushed by the number, these valiant knights all knights succumbed almost, after three hours of a desperate fight. Number of deaths were Guillaume of Trémouille, Pierre his son, Guillaume de Vergy, lord of the Port-on-Saone, Morey, etc, and the Jean brave man of Vienna, which one found on a heap of corpses Turkish, still étreignant, in its arms roidis by death, the standard of Notre-Dame de France (1396). The count of Nevers, the lord de Jonvelle and twenty-two other knights, fallen sharp between the hands from the winner, were freed with the help of a ransom of two hundred and thousand ducats. They took by sea the way of France; but Guy of Trémouille succumbed in the island of Rhodes (1397). Philippe the Bold one cried it between all, and about the year 1400, it sent to seek its mortal remains, by Guillaume of the Eagle, one of its chamberlains (1) Undoubtedly the duke, according to expressed intentions' of its will, made it place in its own tomb, 3 March 2007 Family of ANTOINE * DE L'AIGLE Lord de la Montagne Page 2 already prepared in the church of the Carthusian monks. Seven years after, it was deposited there in its turn. While the lord de Jonvelle guerroyait, following Philippe the Bold one, against the English and the Flemings, Guy de Demangevelle led a troop of partisans against the duke Charles of Lorraine. This forwarding, company with the contempt of the law of nations and of the faith of the treaties, makes a success of strong evil: Guy was made prisoner, with Jean and Philibert de Raincourt and several others. ANTOINE married JEANNE DE CHESNEL. Origin and etymology of name QUESNEL: Origin: resulting from the environment of the habitat. "the nickname" of or LED quesnel ", Picardy form or Norman of "chesnel", derived from "chesne > quesne", were allotted to the one of your ancestors, towards XIème, XIIèm... " Regarding the castle of Chesnel in Charente: N Saint-Georges de Didonne (Charente-Maritime), August 30, 1843, D. 1898. Engineer of arts and manufactures, architect with Cognac since 1868; since 1873, it carries out three to four hundred and thousand francs of work per annum. It is recommended by the senator E. Pelletan and Rene Péricard, appointed and former mayor of Nevers and is named inspector of the buildings diocesans of Limoges by decree of March 31 1881 with the salaries of 1 200 Fr. As from November 27, 1883, it receives an additional allowance of 1 200 Fr. because of work of the cathedral. October 19, 1885, the minister announces to Bailly, the architect diocesan that Geay does not supervise its work seriously (i.e., each day) the building site of the cathedral; the vaults would be without shelter of cover, which would cause water infiltrations and accidents.