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CHAPTER 2 The Huault de Montmagny family in the Seventeenth Century n 19November 1623,1 Charles Huault, "received as a Knight of the Order of SaintJohn ofJerusalem presently in the Island ofMalta/'2 was on his way to Paris. He stayed with his brother Louis on the rue des Barres. The purpose of his journey, "before making the vows of religion in the aforesaid Order,"3 was to come to an agreement with his brothers and his sister regarding the goods that he had inherited from his parents. In return for a life pension of 2,400 livres per annum, he left them his entire estate. He obtained from them a promise to pay up to 9,000 livres in ransom, in the event that he should become a prisoner of the enemy. He was even entitled to ask them for an advance on his pension of the sum of 15,000 livres, if an opportunity arose to purchase a boat - he wasalready thinking ofbecoming a privateer. "These present donations," it was added, "being made on account of the friendship that has always existed, and still exists, between the said Sr chevalier and the said Srs and lady, his brothers and sister."4 This agreement was profitable for the chevalier; it helped him finance his privateering expeditions. As well, it illustrates his relations with his immediate family, which certainly seem to have been good, even cordial - in keeping with the foremost recommendation oftheir mother on her deathbed.5 Until the end of his life, his pied a terre in Paris was the residence of one or the other of his brothers. It was to them that he constantly entrusted the care of his interests during his absences, which, as we shall see, were lengthy. Soit is important to try to know these persons who, as it were, remained close to him in spite of his distance. This will allow us to identify an evolution which will turn out tobe very different from that which the family had experienced throughout the sixteenth century. Here we will focus on the first halfof the seventeenth century (the period which corresponded to Charles's career), and give only a few facts about the second half, which saw the end of the Huault de Montmagny line. O 38 THE CHEVALIER DE MONTMAGNY We shall therefore concentrate above all on the immediate family, beginning with Montmagny's mother, Antoinette Du Drac, who survived her husband by eight years. She was greatly preoccupied with the future of her "twoyoung ones," Adrien and Charles. These two brothers stayed in constant contact from their early childhood until the death of the chevalier in Saint-Christophe in 1657. Adrien died ten years later, and some pages are dedicated to him. About the older sister, Charlotte, who married a country nobleman, AnneAntoine de Gouy, some explanations are also necessary. She left the family home when Charleswas three, but continued her relations with her childhood home. Louis Huault became head of the family upon his father's death in 1610. There are some interesting observations to be made about his career, his numerous changes of residence, and his marriage to Catherine Lottin - an alliance which had decisive effects on Charles's career, since Jean de Lauson, the "intendant" (as the documents generally described him), or, rather, the director general of the Compagnie de la Nouvelle-France, was the son of Isabelle Lottin, Catherine's aunt.At the end ofthe chapter we shall touch very briefly on the descendants ofLouisHuault. The last male bearingthe Montmagny name died in 1699. 1. The chevalier's mother, Antoinette Du Drac (1588-1618) At the time of her marriage in January 1578, Antoinette Du Drac was not yet twenty. She had been baptized on 7 September 1558in the chapel de Braque (her parents, as we have noted, lived on the street of the same chapel) by the cure of Saint-Nicolas-des-Champs. Her godfather was a priest, Antoine Le Cyrier, dean of the chapter of the cathedral of Paris.6 She had at least seven children, five of whom were baptized in Saint-Jean-en-Greve between 1579 and 1586.7 Three of these died at an early age; the only survivors were Charlotte, baptized on 22March 1583, and Louis, baptized on 31 January 1585. Apparently the births were then interrupted, to be resumed only on 2June 1598with Adrien;8 they ended for good with Charles, baptized on 11March 1601 in SaintPaul .9 Widowed in September...

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