Annex Documents, the lords of Ourville Park

National archives (Paris), quotations P/289/4.  This document is in very poor condition and is illegible in parts.  The ellipses indicate the parts of the text that cannot be read.

“To all who may read these letters, Guillaume, lord of Tresmouville, knight, council chamberlain to the king, my lord and guard of the provost of Paris, greets you.

Let it be known that before us is seen in judgment Collibeaux de Cricquebeuf, esquire, lord of the Park…who has sworn and swears to those present to hold but one faith and allegiance to the king our stated lord and swears to that which here follows.

This is to make known that a quarter of the feudal fiefdom held plainly and nobly at court as well as in practice the fief known as the Park (Part ?) situated and established in the bailiwick of Costentin and in the viscountcy of Valongnes and in the lordship of Plessys and within the boundaries of the sergeant’s office of Beaumont, whose chief is established at the parish of Saint Lo of Ourville and extending as far in this parish as the parishes in Goue, Port Bail, Saint George in la Riviere, Saint Martin of Mesnil, Saint Pierre d’Alonne, Sainte Susanne in Bautois and in the surrounding areas.

Such are the revenues that are known of the manor and lands, the dovecot area and the watermill named the Rouynel mil which is situated in the parish of Ourville, which mill is at present in ruins and has no value, and contains the . . . of the manor as much in (prairies ?) as in workable land forty acres of earth or around there.  What is more  in marshes, twelve acres or around there.  Furthermore three areas (of mills) … in addition to the Castellet mill which mills at this time in the wake of a watermill, and the two other mills called the Faulx mill and the Mote Mill, which are at present in ruins and have no value.

And owe the men of the aforementioned fief of the Park and part from the men of the… stated, who is at present Mr. Guillebert of Combray, knight, certain services for the aforementioned watermill, let it be known to clean out the areas and rebuild the dyke and the locks and to solve and find the rye straw to cover the aforementioned house of the aforementioned mill of the king…cease and are obliged to quarter the woods and the millstones which come with the aforementioned manor and must with these…the fallow lands, plots of land and other areas and several other services.

In addition, Jehan Flesques, esquire, holds through his pledge of loyalty and homage a fief with vassals, the fief of Lanquentot held honestly and nobly at court and in practice in low justice  and on the site of the manor in the parish of Port Bail and…or the surrounding area in the parishes of Saint Georges en la Riviere and of Saint Martin of Mesnil and (an acknowledged right) esquire…thirty sols tournois  on Saint Hilayre’s day each year of an income given in the morning at the door of the residence of the aforementioned esquire of the Park under pain of an 18 sols fine.

And if there is any leftover, thirteen, costmary aids to the aforementioned esquire according to the custom of Normandy whenever the case arises.  And it contains…the manor… and the domains twenty-eight acres of land or thereabout, and the two areas of the watermill and the…men in, hold . . . in . . . eight acres of land or thereabouts.  Furthermore, Thomas de Campion, esquire, holds one . . . in rent named the fief of Fauchoy honestly and nobly in court and  on practice, and which extends to the parishes of …, of Port-Bail, Saint Georges en la Riviere, and for which owes the aforementioned squire loyalty and homage, leftovers, thirteen  and customary help whenever the case should arise.

Furthermore, seventeen vassals who owe twenty bushels of wheat are thereabouts each year around the time of Michaelmas to be measured at [Barneville].  In addition they owe in …six…or thereabouts…at Saint Ylaire at least one golden pair of spurs and two pairs of iron spurs and of leather and one pound of wheat at the aforementioned time of Michaelmas.  Additionally thirty chickens at Christmastime and six cockerels or thereabout.  Additionally eighty bushels of wheat measured at Barneville at the time of Michaelmas.  Additionally the aforementioned fief is and owns a quarter of the pastures and lands of…of which each…of a bushel of oats measured at the aforementioned Barneville. Additionally for the other ____ lands belonging to the mill of Rouynel.  Concerning these men of the lord of the aforementioned fief, of the aforementioned Provost the aforementioned squire…about the aforementioned fiefs…the manor and the enclosed area of the aforementioned esquire.  Additionally to the aforementioned squire belongs, because of his fiefdom of the Park, half of kelp which comes from and…the ditch of Nez and…generally all of the men and tenements owe to the aforesaid esquire to serve provost, reliefs, treiziemes and costmary aids in the custom of Normandy when the occasion arises.

And they must bring all of the…of those which….of the Park each year…the tournois stated above.  And the vassals must clean out the river, the barn as well as the fields and the marshes of the aforementioned esquire as far as his property extends.  And in…the aforementioned esquire must give loyalty and homage to the king, our stated lord and ten days of army service…in time of war at the castle of Plesseys and a quarter of oats from his establishment measured at Barneville each year as a fee to be paid by hand by the men of the aforementioned esquire in the lordship of plesseys and…himself…

Additionally four last tournois  pieces as a fee each year for the spurs paid during the Easter season to the counter of the king my lord at Valognes.  Additionally the aforementioned Jehan Flesques and Thomas de Campiont esquires owe the aforementioned esquire the most part of their army service mentioned above by reason of the holdings declared above.

And he moreover attached and attaches himself to the aforementioned squire held to a single loyalty and humble allegiance to the king my lord.

In witness of this, we have placed the seal of the provost of Paris to this declaration, which was submitted and copied by the aforementioned squire in the year of our Lord one thousand four hundred and three on Saturday the twenty-third day of November.

Son of Collard d’Estouteville, knight, lord of Criquebeuf, and Alix d’Argences, lady of La Serre, daughter of Robert, lord of Argences, and Jeanne de La Serre, he is a part of the branch of the Cricquebeuf family from the house of Estouteville.

He married Jeanne de Missy, lady of Brucourt, d’Anneville, The Park, daughter of Colin de Missy and Guillemette Suhard.

Lord of Ourville Park by marriage, he swears loyalty for this fief on November 24, 1403.

He will have two children: Simon, died without descendants, and Perrette who will marry Richard de La Rivère, thus passing the fief of Ourville Park down in the La Rivère family.

Several years before becoming lord of the Park, he was, with his brother Jehan, on hostile terms (that is the least we can say) with a man named Charles d’Autré although, we don’t know the motives for the quarrel:

“January 13, 1400, forgiveness is granted by the king [Charles VII] to Collibeaux and Jehan called Cricquebeuf, esquires, brothers born in the order listed, to Guillaume de Criquebeuf, esquire, for having taken and led on horse throughout the various parts of the kingdom, against his will, without doing him any further harm or maltreatment, Charles d’ Autré, with whom they were on bad terms.”

Hostilities having again been taken up with England (Henry V lands at Chef-de-Caux during the night of the 13^th to 14^th of August, 1415 and undertakes the siege of Harfleur which falls on September 14^th ) Collibeaux de Criquebeuf is in the service of the king of France.

On October 8, 1415, he is a Rouen with his son Simon where he passes for  inspection 18 men-at-arms among whom are 6 horsemen (J. Le Hérichier, S. d’Ausseys, Ph. Travers, J. de La Mare, G. Muldrac and J. du Val).

Several days afterward, he gave the men of the company their wages.

After the victory of Azincourt, Henry V embarks again, this time to Calais.  On August 1, 1417, Henry V disembarks at Touques and undertakes the systematic re-conquest of Normandy.  Le Cotentin will be conquered during the course of the first few months of 1418, but the king of England meets with resistance at Mont-Saint-Michel.

We don’t know about Collibeaux de Criquebeuf’s participation in this war if not that he rejoins at Mont-Saint-Michel in 1417:

“There are 119 gentlemen who, after each one defended their castle or whatever property they may have, rejoined d’Estouteville (1), and on the banner, painted in honor of these workers of the first hour one could see along with the full coat of arms of the lord of the house (3), three other shields of the house of d’Estouteville two with different cinquefoils and the other broken with bend sinister overall.  These are Collibeaux, lord of Criquebeuf, and Jean his brother, and Robert the bastard son of Auzebosc (4)” (5).

Collibeaux de Criquebeuf paid dearly for his fidelity to the king of France with the confiscation of his properties:

Henry V of England decreed the “universal confiscation without return of goods, under the form of a gift, except of those who have been despoiled-people of the church, nobles, townsmen, merchants-who take an oath of allegiance which states that they are, in reality, English subjects” (6).

Henry V stripped Collibeaux de Criquebeuf, rebel, of his fief of The Park in order to give it to Jean d’Argouges (7).

A declaration of loyalty to Henry VI of England by Roger de Camprond, on December 17, 1423, confirms this (8):

“What is more, the aforementioned esquire swears to hold the fief of du Saussey and Saint-Georges-de-La-Rivère…formerly held through faith and homage by Colibeaux de Criquebeuf, esquire, who held it and occupied the land and the lordship of Parez (9), who is currently in a state of disobedience to the King our proclaimed lord”

According to certain authors (10), the son of Collibeaux, Simon, lord of Criquebeuf, Chamelles, Missy, du Han, Anneville and of the Park, lost his properties which were given by Henry, king of England, to Colart de la Porte in 1421.

This is contradictory, as far as the Park is concerned, to the original documents that we have cited (notes 7 and 8) and, whatever the case may be, it is indeed to Jehan d’Argouges that Henry V of England gave the Park he confiscated from Collibeaux de Criquebeuf.

If one is to believe Albert Descoqs, an investigation was made in 1419, by the lieutenant general of the Viscount of Caen into “the worth of the inheritances of Perrette de Criquebeuf, daughter and heiress of Jeanne de Missy, while living, the wife of Nicolas de Criquebef” (12).  This is referencing Collibeaux de Criquebeuf, who, as Albert Descoqs specifies, is sometimes called Nicolas: “Nicolas de Criquebeuf, who is either called Criquy, or more accurately Collibeaux.”

1. Sources:

-Vicomte Oscar de Poli. The Defenders of Mont-Saint-Michel (1417-1450), Paris Heraldic Council of France, 1895.

-Albert Descoqs, the 11 knights of Mont-Saint-Michel, their history, their exploits, 1418-1450, G. Letellier, Mortain, 1934.

-Gabriel de la Morandière, History of the House of d’Estouteville in Normandy, Delagrave, Paris, 1903.

-Père Anselme, History of the Royal House of France, t. VIII, 1733.

-La Chesnaye-Desbois, Dictionary of Nobility, t. VII.

2. Louis d’Estouteville, son of Jean, lord of Estouteville and of Valmont, brother of Cardinal Guillaume d’Estouteville.  He marries Jeanne Paynel in 1415.  Defender of Harfleur (1417) and of Mont-Saint-Michel (1424-1425) for which he was named the governor by an authorized letter of September 2 1425.  Royal Wine Keeper of France (1435), grand seneschal of Normandy and governor of Rouen, lieutenant-general governor of Normandy.  Louis d’Estouteville, lord of Estouteville, Hambye, Bricquebec, Moyon, Chanteloup, Gacé and Apillé died on August 21, 1464 and was buried next to Jeanne Paynel, in the abbey-church of Hambye.
3. The banner of knights painted on the wall of the abbey-church of Mont-Saint-Michel across from the altar of Saint-Sauveur (today it has disappeared).
4. Louis d’Estouteville, head of the oldest line of his house: “Barry of silver and gules of 10 ordinaries of black lions debruised overall, armed, langued, and crowned with gold.”
5. Guillaume Bellet, called the bastard son of Auzebosq, son of Collard d’Estouteville of the branch of lords of Auzebosq, cited in 1419 and 1421 at Mont-Saint-Michel.  Coat of arms: That of Estouteville with the bend sinister of bastardization debruised overall.
6. We must add the name of Colinet de Criquebeuf who died in 1426 in the defense of Mont-Saint-Michel, son of Jehan de Criquebeuf and the nephew of Collibeaux.
7. Gabriel de la Morandière, op. cit., p. 263.
8. Vicomte Oscar de Poli, op. cit.
9. Departmental archives of la Manche, H6538 (document destroyed in 1944, printed inventory of the summary).

(10) National archives in Paris, P304 n. 173, cited by the Viscount Oscar de Poli, op.cit.

(11) “Parez” is a bad reading, this is really talking about the Park.

(12) La Chesnaye-Desbois, Père Anselme, Gabriel de La Morandière, op. cit., et de Caumont. Statistique Monumentale du Calvados, +.1m p. 203.

(13) Op. cit.

The oath of loyalty was made up of the description of property, defining the domain which was not part of the fief (also known as the reserved domain) operated directly by the lord or his farmer, comprising the seigniorial manor and the surrounding lands, from the domain which was part of the land given in fief to the peasants which peasants farmed the land in exchange for a usage fee.

The fief of the Park was a held for the king by Jacques de Thieuville, horseman, under the lordship and viscouncty of Valognes for a quarter of the feudal fiefdom (a quarter of a knight’s fief).

The domain not included in the fief (a reserved domain managed by the lord’s men or by his farmer) included:

-The manor situated at Saint-Lo d’Ourville, with moat, earthen mounds, watermills, and a dovecot adjacent to the manor (1), as well as a chapel.  The lord’s vassals were obliged to keep the earthen mounds in good repair (2), clean out the moats, ---and rivers going through the prairie of the lord.

-80 acres of land in the form of prairies (3)

-A windmill called “Cattelet”, a working mill, two other mills in ruins, the one called “Motte du Dicq” and the other the “Cross of Scythes”, in addition to the lord’s mill named “Rouinel” located at Ourville which the lord’s men were obligated to keep in working order with the men of the lordship of Dicq (4), clean out the ---, upkeep the road and keep the lock watertight, cover the house of the aforementioned mill, transport the wood and the ricks.  This mill was then passed into the possession of Pierre Vivien’s inheritors, who, while living was lord of Dicq.

Three noble fiefdoms depended on the fief of the Park:

-The fief of Saussey located at Saint-Georges-de-la-Riviere and extending to Gouey and Port-Bail, owned by Jean Beaugendre, horseman.

-The fief of Lanquetot located in Port-Bail, extending to Saint-Georges-de-la-Riviere and to Saint-Martin-du-Mesnil, owned by Jean Voussey, horseman:

“Who owes me on Saint Hilaire’s day in the morning thirty sols of income as a usage fee which he is obligated to bring to me at my manor of the Park on pain of a 18 sols fine and ten sous of income to act as a pledge (5), in addition to which he owes me reliefs, traiziemes, and customary aids (6) according to the custom of this province whenever the need may arise, concerning which fief and holding I am in a lawsuit with the aforementioned Besnard and Jean Voussey, lord of Saint-Georges, before Mr. le Bailly of Costentin or his Lieutenant in Vallognes because I maintain the aforementioned pledge, which belongs to me.”

-“Another fief in Saint-Pierre d’Alumpe (7) called the fief of Mandenaville, owned by Guillaume le Breton, horseman, who was raised by an eighth of a knightly fief, and who has several men and tenants in the parishes of Saint-Lo d’Ourville, Goe, Pourtbail, Saint Georges and Saint-Jean de la Riviere, Saint-Martin du Mesnil, Saint-Pierre d’Alumpe, Sainte Susanne en Bauptois and in the surrounding areas where there are 17 vassal held lands (8) or commoners with birthrights  (9) and has a warren at present populated on my domain and owes me 69 pounds in silver, 60 bushels of wheat, 16 bushels of oats, 20 bushels of white salt, all according to the Barneville measurement (10), 42 individual chickens as many hens (11) as cocks, 90 eggs, 5 quadroons of pepper (12), a pair of gilded spurs, two pairs (of spurs) in iron and 8 days (of labor) and belonging to me also is half of the pasturage of the lands of Goe which is for each animal that pastures there a half a bushel of oats, in addition rights to the kelp and wreckage (13) by half with the aforementioned lord of Dic from the ditch of the harbor of Port-Bail until the harbor of Goe which is in the aforementioned parish of Goe, Pourtbail, Saint-Georges and Saint-Jean-de-la-Riviere prohibited to all others and the dunes in the area of the aforementioned parishes belong to me by half along with the lord of Dic, my men and tenants owe me the service of a provost-- (14), allowances, thirteens, and aid (15) in the custom of Normandy as the case arises, on account of which fief I owe the king my acknowledged lord fidelity and homage, allowances, thirteen, and ten days of military service (16) of an armed man when the occasion arises in a time of war at the castle of Plessis (17), with this duty also a quarter of oats from my stock according to the Barneville measure each year as an annuity which will be paid in person by my men to the counter and receiver of Saint-Sauveur Lendelin.  In addition four pieces of silver of income for a pair of spurs at Eastertide to the counter of the king our lord at Vallognes and the tenants of the noble fiefs owe me aid, those with birthrights and vassals for the aforementioned military service, and what’s more I swear on my honor to expand, correct, or diminish this present oath if expansion, correction, or diminution is necessary, and in witness of these things I have signed the present oath with my own hand and sealed it with the seal of my coat of arms, the eleventh day of February of the year one thousand six hundred and thirteen.

“Signed: de Thieuville, and sealed with a red, wax seal”

(Departmental archives of la Manche, notes from the abbey of Hulmel taken in the register of Mangon du Houguet, viscount of Valognes, preserved in the Grenoble library).

1. This dovecot has disappeared, it is not part of the first land register (beginning of the 19^th century), probably destroyed during the revolution, its exact placement is being investigated in the area close to and surrounding the Manor.
2. The question is where this earthen mound was located.  No characteristic nickname gives a clue as to where it is located.  If we were to suppose that it could have been situated in the location of the quadrilateral where the seigniorial residence is found (this is plausible) and if it was again completely surrounded by water at the beginning of the 19^th century, this implies that this earthen mound had no longer existed in 1612 for two or three centuries (having been flattened to allow the construction of the residence).

The fact that it is mentioned in the oath of 1612 with an obligation to maintain it is only a reminder of the very ancient duty of the lord’s vassals.  It is also, for the lord of the place, proof of the age and importance of the fief of the Park.

3. 80 acres: 320 orchards: 64 hectares.  The current domain, of which the lands are still grouped together for a single tenant, has a surface area of 52 hectares, 19 acres, 85 centiares.
4. This duty, common to the vassals of the two distinct fiefs, is astonishing.  It can be explained by the fact that, in the 13^th and 14^th centuries, the Park and the Dicq were in the hands of a single family: the d’Argences.
5. In French “Gaige Plege”: An assembly of all of the vassals of a single fief in order to elect a provost and acknowledge the incomes for which they were indebted. The provost was an officer who judged similar processes between the common vassals of the lord and who led them into war.
6. In French “Relief”: a fee paid at each transfer of lord or of vassal.  “Treizieme”: fees collected by the lord on the transfer or sale of properties.
7. Saint-Pierre d’Allonne.
8. In French “vavassorie”: a small or “arriere-fief”; in most of the cases, this meant common land; the “vavasseur” (vassal of a vassal) is the holder of a “vavassorie”.
9. “Ainesse”: a domain shared between several inheritors who, in regards to the dominant lord, form a group for which a single person is in charge and is qualified as the “oldest”.  The co-holders are called “Puines” or the “youngers”.

(10) In French “Boisseau”: A measure of capacity which varies depending on the region; a “boisseau” was worth two “cabots”.  The “boisseau” of 18 jars of a Barneville measure was the same as 32,796 liters; the “boisseau” of 28 jars according to the Barneville measure was worth 51,016 liters.

(11)”Guelines” or “gelines”: a chicken fattened to be given as payment to the lord.

(12) “Quarteron”: a quarter of a pound (in weight), a quarter of a hundred.

(13)”Gravage”: the right to kelp or wreckage was attributed according to the custom of Normandy to the lords of the fiefs which neighbored the sea who could appropriate for themselves “everything which the water throws onto the land by the turning and chance of the sea, and which arrives near enough to the land that a man on horseback can touch it with his lance.” The exercise of this right was the cause of numerous abuses and began a number of endless legal proceedings.  It was strictly regulated by the royal “Marine” ruling of August 1681 (Colbert).  To go to salvage (in French, Aller à gravage) is translated: Look for wreckage on the beach.

(14) “Service de Prévoté”: Functions guaranteed by the provost.

(15) “Aides”: primitive subsidies allowed by the States of the realm in order to help the kings to wage wars.

“Reliefs”: A tax which is paid at each transfer of a lord or vassal.

(16) “Service d’ost”: Military service in the armies of the king or of the dominant lord in case of war.

(17) Probably Plessis-Lastelle, in the municipality of Periers, where there was a significant castle with an earthen mound of which there remains some vestiges.  The town was established in 1964 by the merger of Plessis and Lastelle.

Division of the inheritance of Jacques-Alexandre de Pierrepont, October 3, 1699.

[Departmental archives of la Manche, 5 E 11952]

October 3, 1699, the surviving sons of the late Jacques-Alexandre de Pierrepont and of Catherine du Fay:

-Robert de Pierrepont, knight, teacher at the French guards, oldest son.

-Francois-Jacques de Pierrepont.

-Charles de Pierrepont, knight of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem (Order of Malta), “younger” son.

They shared amongst themselves the inheritance of their father (the distribution of the lots was made by their mother and was delivered, on June 13, 1699, to Thomas Mauger, royal notary based on heredity for the headquarters of Saint-Sauveur-de-Pierrepont.

Catherine du Fay, their mother, obtained “for her care and usufruct as much as her dower of acquisitions and conquests according to the custom”:

“The noble fief and lordship of the Park which is located in the parish of Ourville and the surrounding areas, consisting in seigniorial income from several areas, dovecot, common mill, dunes, wreckage, warren, services, subjections, honorary rights and uses of the aforementioned fief belonging in all of its expanse, without reservations, with the lands and buildings of the farm of the above mentioned place of the Park in the state in which it is enclosed, in the reservation of the lands and other goods located in the aforementioned parish which will hereby be used in the other lots.

“The presentation (2) of the chapel of the aforementioned place of Ourville Park.

“The lordly income of the lordship of Ourville Park

“The mills, lands and prairies located in the aforementioned parish of Ourville which Pierre Basneville is enjoying the use of(3)

“The lands which are held by Guillaume Bataille and one called Piton”

The three brothers keep the rest; notably:

-The “noble fief, land and lordship of Saint-Nicolas-de-Pierrepont which consists of a fifed and non-fifed domain, lordly manor, presentation for the benefit of the cure of a small portion of the aforementioned place and the chapel of the aforementioned place, the dovecot, common mills known as the lower and middle mills, the lordly income from all venues, the farms and buildings of the court of Pierrepont with all of the houses of the village of Launay”.

-The farm of Bouttemont, in Saint-Nicolas-de-Pierrepont.

-The farm of Tourelle, in Saint-Lo d’Ourville

-The farm of the Hurie, in Saint-Nicolas-de-Pierrepont, with the house of la Detrousse.

-The watermill, the High mill and windmill, in Saint-Nicolas-de-Pierrepont.

-The fief, land, and mill of Lhommey, in Canville-la-Rocque.

-The fief and land of Vesly in Saint-Lo d’Ourville.

-The farm of Gennetot, located in Ourville and Gouey.

As well as several plots of land at Ourville and Saint-Nicolas de Pierrepont, rented out to several individuals.

1. That is to say “the fiefs, lands and buildings, heritage of acquisition and conquest owned by the late lord of Ourville…”
2. Presentation: the right to bring forward a chaplain who will be named as the tenured holder of the chapel by the bishop.
3. This refers to the mills of Ourville, on the dyke blocking the harbor (D132).

Lease of Ourville Park, August 13, 1703

“The year one thousand seven hundred and three, Monday the thirteenth of August,

“Present was the noble lady Catherine du Fay, widow and dowager of the late lord of Ourville Pierrepont, while he lived a knight, lord of Ourville Park, Saint-Nicolas-de-Pierrepont and other spaces, which is leased by this present lease agreement and farm and  price of money for the length and space of five consecutive years to begin on the day and feast of Saint Michel this upcoming  September which will terminate on the same day after the expiration of the above mentioned length of time, to Guillaume le Goupil, son Pierre, in the parish of Saint-Lo d’Ourville, let it be known that:

“The houses and legacies of the lordly manor of Ourville Park, the press room and stables outside the court, watermill, colomby (1) which is in the high garden, with the vegetable garden below, fruit garden and the maintenance of the aforementioned press room with the two grazing prairies and two pond prairies with the field named the Saint-Morisse field divided into two, as well as the piece named La Perruque, the apple tree garden, the garden of La Fontaine, what’s more the small and the large Cauvinery  and all that they contain, in addition the piece named the Vaulx with the field below the aforesaid piece (2), in addition the portion named the High Door and the portion named la Croutte adjoining these pieces, in addition the piece named La Croutte de Haut, all of these plots planted in apple trees, in addition the small, adjoining woods between the large Cauvinery and the piece named les Vaulx (3) to be trimmed down once during the present lease”.

Clause dealing with the upkeep of the buildings

“In regards to reparations on the house the aforementioned Le Goupil will only be obligated to maintain the carriage house and stable behind the chapel with a rock covering and the aforesaid houses, barns, stables and pressroom, and mill all covered in straw which he is in charge of putting for the aforementioned lady in good repair in order to insure that at the end of the lease they are in perfect condition and watertight.”

Maintenance of the apple trees

“In charge of maintaining the apple trees which are on the aforementioned heritages  in case they should fall or die the one taking possession should make a profit and will only furnish for each apple tree instead of a graft (4) the sum of eight sols”

Cutting of the woods

“He shall not cut any woods except branches from the trees, brambles, and thorns for feeding the fireplace only…in the same way he can trim one time during the period of lease the willows all neatly into a circle (5) if he finds them in the hedges bordering the prairies.”

Cleaning of the waterways

“In regards to the rivers the aforementioned Le Goupil can clean them as he would like without being under any obligation to reparations at the end of the lease”

Usage of the barns, cellars, pressroom…

“As also the aforementioned lady of Ourville will lend him twelve good barrels and sufficient to put cider in on the condition that he returns them in similar condition at the end of the sixth year.  As well, to have the barns, attics, cellars and haylofts until the Saint-John’s day after the last year as well as returning the vats of the pressroom in the same condition that the aforementioned lady left them in with the blade of the press and in regards to the straw the aforementioned lady has promised to the aforementioned tenant a thousand of wheat straw and a thousand of barley straw and the thin straw which will come from the winnow with the obligation to return the aforementioned straw at the end of the present lease.

“It has been agreed upon by the aforementioned lady and the aforementioned Le Goupil that he will reap the fruits and crops of the farm which he will enjoy in the houses of the manor of the lordly Park (6)”

Sowing of the workable land

“In regards to the pieces (of land) mentioned above which Le Goupil will leave ready to be planted with wheat in the last year, the Large Cauvinery rotated twice and pastured  (7) ready to plant wheat, the apple tree garden planted where he will also be able to plant buckwheat in the aforementioned apple tree garden, as well as the small Perruque which the tenant will plant with wheat after having planted peas or vetch, except for six fields in this piece which are currently planted with barley and to plant and fertilize these heritages during the present time according to custom of the land.”

Settlement of the Leasing Price

“All of these clauses and conditions cited above make up the present lease according to the price and sum of one thousand four hundred pounds payable in four terms at the price of 200 pounds on the feast of All Saints’ day in one year’s time, 400 pounds at Christmas, 400 pounds at Easter and on Saint John the Baptist’s day (8) and continuing on from term to term during the aforementioned five years.  And following the present lease the lady of Ourville has promised in advance to Le Goupil the sum of two hundred pounds next Saint Michael’s day which Le Goupil is obliged to return at the end of this lease.”

Specific Clause concerning the house of residence

“It is agreed that Le Goupil will concede to the aforementioned lady the houses of the lordly manor including the great hall, bedrooms, cabinets and attics, cellars and expenditures because the aforementioned lady promised to provide a room with a smoke hole and all ready to make a fire and also in the same way to put a pallet on the floor boards as well as the windows and all of this done to make it livable in case the aforementioned lady is obliged to take up residence (9).

What’s more she has promised that in her absence the aforementioned Le Goupil may make use of the great room”.

Signature of Catherine du Fay

This lease was composed under private agreement, was deposited on September 19, 1706, to Thomas Mauger , royal notary based on heredity for the office of Saint-Sauveur-de-Pierrepont by Guillaume le Goupil at the request of Catherine du Fay.

Lease of Ourville Park, October 11, 1710.

[Departmental Archives of la Manche, 5 E 11846]

“Saturday before noon on the eleventh day of October, one thousand seven hundred and ten, at the manor of Ourville Park, in the presence of David Roger, royal notary for the office of Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte and its dependencies

“The noble lady Catherine Du Fay, widow of the lord Jacques Alexandre de Pierrepont, lord and patron of Pierrpont, Ourville, and various other places, residing at present in the aforementioned manor of Ourville Park…has leased for six years beginning on Saint-Michael’s day and ending on the same day after the complete enjoyment of six years by Mr. Jean and Guillaume Chuquet, brothers, workers of the parish of Saint-Pierre d’Artheglise…

“The houses and lands which comprise the farm of the aforementioned place of the Park or the manor of Ourville which the aforementioned lady has been enjoying the use this present year with the exception of the great residence where she resides, the courtyards and ---  behind, the stables, the carriage house, the attic above the barn next to the chapel, the apple tree garden, the garden of la Fontaine, the heritages  at the other side of the (?) “dempar” the street which goes to Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte which the aforementioned lady serves the right to avail herself of as she wishes, with the vegetable garden in which is located the dovecot of which the henhouse will remain exclusively to the tenant, comprising at the moment all of the other houses of the farm as well as all of the lands which depend even more  on plowing, pastures as much as prairies without any other exception than those included above.

“Which houses included at present the aforementioned lady will be held responsible for repairing the roofs at which point the aforementioned tenants will be in charge after this reparation of up-keeping the covering and ensuring that they are watertight and return them in a similar state.  For these heritages, plough or graze the pastures or cut the prairies as is the custom for each”.

The maintenance of the hedges and fences and the pruning of the trees was the responsibility of tenants who used the wood “to warm themselves”.

The maintenance of the mill in “large repairs” was the responsibility of “the aforementioned lady”.

Lease was an average of 1300 pounds a year payable in 4 equal periods: Christmas, Easter, Saint John the Baptist’s day, and Michaelmas.

1. In French “poullier”: bird droppings, which, mixed with other soil-enriching products, was used as fertilizer.

Goods belonging to the inheritors of Robert, Marquis of Pierrepont, held at the abbey of Lessay

 [extracts from the “journal of private income property owed to the Baronnacy of Avarville dependent on the here mentioned abbey of the Holy Trinity of Lessay for the post and provostship of Avarville for the term of Michaelmas and others following for the year one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine and one thousand seven hundred and ninety-one” (National archives S 3303 2)]

Fief of Riquetet # 172. The inheritors of lord Count Thère, horseman, inheritor of the lord marquis de Pierrepont, horseman, representing Guillaume le Griffon: 4 bushels of wheat, 2 bread, 2 chickens, 20 eggs.

Fief of Planquais # 179. The inheritors of lord the Count of Thère, horseman, inheritor of the lord marquis of Pierrepont, horseman: 6 bushels of wheat, 24 bushels of oats, 4 sous in silver, 2 bread, 2 capons, 20 eggs.

Fief to Digier # 197. The inheritors of Jacques Alexandre de Pierrepont, horseman, acquirer by decree of the inheritances of Jullien Vauttier and the inheritors Charles and Martin Levart: 5 bushels of wheat, 3 breads, 3 chickens, 30 eggs.

Fief Jouxtel # 201.  The representatives Jacques Alexandre de Pierrpont, horseman, acquirer by decree of the inheritances of Jullien Vauttier: 4 bushels of wheat (the birthright of the fief is a piece of land named the “Horned” area).

Fief Richard de la Mer # 212. The inheritors of the lord count of Thère, inheritor of the marquis of Pierrepont, representing Charles Le Monnier: 21 bushels of wheat, 5 breads, 5 chickens, 50 eggs.

Bill of Sale for Ourville Park, October 25, 1798.

Sale of Ourville Park (1)

4 Brumaire year VII (October 25,1798)

“The year seven of the French Republic, the fourth of Brumaire, after noon, in the presence of the public notary of the department of la Manche residing at Valognes, the undersigned.

Here present was Anne-Eustache-Rose-Charlotte Osmond, living in the community of Golleville, municipality of Saint-Sauveur-sur-Douve, who with a promise of guarantee and a promise to make good in all troubles, eviction or whatever the impediments may be, has for the present voluntarily sold for the benefit of Jean Francois Coquoin, residing in the community of Bricquebec, here present and willing.

A land and farm named the land of Ourville Park consisting of buildings of diverse usages, court, watermill, pond, gardens, workable lands in several pieces planted in apple trees, prairie pasture, coppices and finally all that comprises the aforementioned farm in every circumstance and dependencies as Jacques Lelion enjoys the use of it and preceding farmers, the aforementioned land of an area of around two hundred and thirty orchards of pastureland and also prairies, without any exceptions or any holding back of all the rights attached without provision nor repetition of the same, so that the buyer has and possesses the totality of the aforementioned land of Ourville Park with the dependencies  attached to it to count this day that he becomes the owner and remain subrogated to rights and actions of the sale without  novation and in regards to its use and enjoyment.  He will take possession of it in the year twelve in the era of the eight vendemiaire and five nivose (2), as well as having the right to the farm itself.  From which the aforementioned acquirer will receive the price of possession for the rest of the duration to begin on the next 5^th of nivose (3) as well as in place of the  sale which reserves for itself the terms of the 8^th of last vendemiaire and before (4), and to pay for the current lease it has remained in her hands according to promise to help the acquirer in need and to give back to her after the completion of the two terms that were reserved.

“This is made the responsibility of the aforementioned citizen Coquoin to pay upon the acquisition from the seller either to the persons which she will be able designate or to her herself, the rents now stated:

1. Three hundred and forty-five francs on the one hand
2. One hundred francs on the other
3. Again twenty-six francs on the other
4. And finally twenty tubs of wheat.

All of these funds will go onto the account of the acquirer who will pay the first of these annuities due from the beginning of the 8^th Vendemiaire last and so on and so forth.

“Under these conditions and otherwise is made by means of four thousand francs exactly these last francs going to the seller in whose hands was previously paid in metal coinage twenty thousand francs thus declared and recognized and the other twenty thousand francs was presently paid also in metal coinage by the aforementioned citizen Coquoin, touched and received instantly in my presence, I the notary, and here the undersigned witnesses by the aforementioned seller who by this means has acknowledged herself satisfied and fully paid, for which according to the guarantee here stipulated she has transferred all responsibility for her present and future goods.

After reading this document, they have signed with me remaining for the registering of the document, made and passed at the aforementioned Valognes in the house of citizen La Bretonniere (5) street of J.J. Rousseau in the presence of Henry Gabriel Lefebvre de Montressel (6), residing at Saint-Sauveur-sur-Douve, and Pierre Alexandre Thomas Marcotte, residing in Periers, the undersigned witnesses.

Five words were here crossed out

Charlotte Osmond           Coquoin (with initials)

Lefebvre Montressel            Marcotte

                                        Langlois, notary

“Registered in Valognes, the 9^th Brumaire in the year VII of the Republic

Nineteen hundred and eighty-four francs received

                                                           Heneaux”

1. Departmental archives of la Manche, 5 E 15112
2. 8^th of vendemiaire year XII = the first of October, 1803

the 5^th of nivose year XII = December 27, 1803

3. 5 nivose year VII = December 25, 1803
4. 8 vendemiaire year VII = September 29, 1798
5. The Hotel de Briges, called Sainte-Suzanne de Foucault, of La Gretonniere, situated before 1944 at number 57 Street of de Poterie (which is in modern days number 25 on the street named de Poterie) was destroyed in 1944.
6. Henry Gabriel Lefevre de Montressel (1756-1829), called the knight of Montressel, godfather of Jules Barbey d”Aurevilly.

The tomb of Anne-Eustache-Charlotte-Rose d’Osmond-Medavy in Golleville.

Anne Eustache Charlotte Rose d’Osmond Medavy, last lady of Ourville Park and wife of Charles Adolphe de Mauconvenant, marquis of Sainte-Suzanne, died on August 20, 1813 at the castle of La Bretonniere in Golleville and she was buried in the cemetery of this parish.  Her sepulcher is situated north of the church, in the corner of the north side of the nave and of the west wall of the bell tower.

On the tomb, following an initial line, which is illegible, one can read once again (1):

“…Of Anne Charlotte

Rose d’Osmond

Of Sainte Suzanne

Died the [20^th

Of August, 1] 8[13]

Requiescat in Pace”

Four lines in small letters, which are in very bad condition are illegible.

At the head of the tomb (on the west face) it reads:

“My gratitude consecrates

this stone to she whose

kindness protected my youth

and who lies here in the peace

of Our Lord”

1. Restoration was done on the first of April 2002.

Return to the summary or towards the end of “The Owners of Ourville Park”.